I volunteer at the railroad museum of long island where we have the 16" Gauge 1964 NY World's Fair train and yesterday the train crew walked me through the prep of the loco for daily use. It was really fun actually getting to help prep it for the day and then assembling its train. While I'm not qualified to drive it yet its still so great to be involved in the process of keeping it operating all these years later!
Well done on the pass Lawrie! 🙂 I've been up in the cab of the 165 while the engine was running, and it was awesome! What a beast!🙂 I want to learn to drive the Wickham! And obviously be able to use all the bits that go with it! 🙂
It must be that time of year as I've just done my tri-ennial ( rules & regs ) with GA , all the routes, signaling , traction & PTS every three years everything you know with full exams all passed happily, but a lot to remember!
In Hungary, it's a little different. When you finish your first assessment, you get the licence for basically your whole life. But, we have an exam every 3 years, although only on paper/computer. And, if you don't drive a specific locomotive, or line for a year, you have to travel with a certified teacher for a day
With the railroad that I help at after you pass the written test and the test for running the locomotive there isn’t a total reassessment What we do is we just require everyone to do each of their qualified positions at least once a year so we know they are still familiar Only time that you will have an actual reassessment is if you weren’t active on the railroad for a couple of years
I'm just slightly jealous you get to "play" with a side-rod diesel regularly! There aren't too many of them knocking around over here in the states, sadly.
Congratulations on the pass, any re assessment even if you know your stuff it can still be a bit nervy. Over many years of being re assessed for different things, I always found that on the day it was down to that individual assessor. Thankfully now retired so don't have to go through that anymore.
If I didn't know any better, I'd almost say the reassessment is geared more towards making sure you're a true geek for locomotives, with practical tests and legallese mixed in for flavor.
Well done Lawrie. Did more assessments and reassessments than I can remember driving on the big railway. About to do it all again on my local heritage railway.
@@lmm Yes, it's yearly for us however the process is slightly different. There is a small bit of instruction as to preparation and operation of the equipment, and then the instructor will shadow you while you operate 2-3 round trips across the railroad (we run electric trolley cars with an overhead wire). Then there is a written exam, multiple choice, usually around 10 questions. If you pass the exam and the instructor is satisfied with your operation, you are good for another year. Most of our large "revenue commercial" railroads have a similar yearly requalification process too.
That was cool. With part of the assessment being about the local track work, leaver frames and signels... does this mean you have to do that at every railway you drive at? Or are there other assessments that cover how you've stood in for a driver or fireman in a few videos. I'm curious about it :)
I would have thought assessments hauling a load - goods and/or passenger and working with a guard in brake van comms and double loco working need to be covered ?
Hi Lawrie, Clad you past yor periodically test, as like you when you were driving trucks you would have to completed a cpc five year test. How I wish private(car and other road users). Had a compulsory test to. Well done.
Given the length of time it takes to get a test as a new driver in some parts of the country people could be off the road for years. Now there's an idea.
well done Lawrie, Do you have to be reassessed on each locomotive that you drive or is it on just one and that covers you for all locos. Do you also have to do a different easement for steam locos.
I volunteer down at the GCR and it is wonderful getting them running all weekend and even on Fridays and Mondays for gala's, it is amazing getting to work on the beasts that run on the railway, its definitely worth going down for a day trip
@@lmm One thing I have often wondered is what do you do if it is something unique that there is nobody else that is familiar with? For example, if I put a Detroit Diesel 16V92T in an old class 73. Only those who worked on the engine swap would be familiar with that loco and any more senior staff that are familiar with class 73s would only be familiar with either the English Electric 4SRKT or the MTU/Cummins repowered examples. Where would the person responsible for training and assessing the owner of a one off be trained on that loco? Even if it is possible to find someone familiar with both 73s and Detroit Diesel power plants, what if hypothetically someone had secretly bought Kestrel back from the soviet union and had been restoring it in private. Who would be able to train and assess the owner when it has not worked in the UK for many years? I guess a similar thing would apply to locos like D8233 and D5705 but I think there are a lot more people in the owning group so there is likely already at least one assessor familiar with them.
This one physically unlocks the points. If it changes away from the mainline you physically can't remove it until the mainline is set. So, if you have it, you know the route is set, and, you're the only train on the line.
@lmm yes it depends on the group and if there is any mainline movement as currently there is not much mainline excursions do to a loophole amtrak closed on heritage groups
