Whats the worst shift to work on the underground as a train driver?

wrote in message
...
Whats the worst shift to work on the underground as a train driver?

If my lads n' lasses are to be believed, all of them :-)

Seriously, because of flexible rostering there are so many different shifts
that is impossible to pick out one "worst" shift. Late turns are less
favoured than early turns and (on the Picc) any 6 "pipe"[1] turn early or
late would be considered the worst of the shifts around that time.

At Arnos on a weekday there are 123 different running duties as well as 30
spare turns. The first early turn books on at 04:45 and the last at 09:28,
the first late turn books on at 12:13 and the last at 20:48, the first night
turn books on at 22:29 and the last at 23:17.

The shortest shift length is 4 hours plus 30 mins unpaid meal relief, the
longest is 8 hours plus 30 mins unpaid meal relief.

[1] A "pipe" is once through the tunnel (the main one, the Southgate tunnel
doesn't count), so a typical 4 pipe turn would be one that does pick up
Arnos east and do CK HR123 CK AGw, get off and have grub then pick up
Arnos west and do UX CK AGw, get off and finish.
Whereas a 6 pipe turn would be pick up Arnos east and do CK RL AG ATw,
get off and have grub then pick up Acton east and do AG HR123 CK AGw,
get off and finish.
--
Cheers, Steve.
Change jealous to sad to reply.

Steve Dulieu:
A "pipe" is once through the tunnel (the main one, the Southgate tunnel
doesn't count), so a typical 4 pipe turn would be one that does pick up
Arnos east and do CK HR123 CK AGw, get off and have grub then
pick up Arnos west and do UX CK AGw, get off and finish. ...

Interesting usage! Do staff on other lines use "pipe" this way?
The Piccadilly isn't the only one with a central tunnel and open-air
sections at both ends (okay, near both ends), but not all are like that --
does this affect the usage?

Is "pipe" also used for the main tunnel itself -- would you say something
like "I was driving east and it failed 15 seconds after I drove into
the pipe" and expect people to know exactly where you were?
--
Mark Brader, Toronto "Information! ... We want information!"
-- The Prisoner

My text in this article is in the public domain.

"Mark Brader" wrote in message
...
Steve Dulieu:
A "pipe" is once through the tunnel (the main one, the Southgate tunnel
doesn't count), so a typical 4 pipe turn would be one that does pick up
Arnos east and do CK HR123 CK AGw, get off and have grub then
pick up Arnos west and do UX CK AGw, get off and finish. ...

Interesting usage! Do staff on other lines use "pipe" this way?
The Piccadilly isn't the only one with a central tunnel and open-air
sections at both ends (okay, near both ends), but not all are like that --
does this affect the usage?

Is "pipe" also used for the main tunnel itself -- would you say something
like "I was driving east and it failed 15 seconds after I drove into
the pipe" and expect people to know exactly where you were?
--
Mark Brader, Toronto "Information! ... We want information!"
-- The Prisoner

My text in this article is in the public domain.

Wow sounds complicated.

In message , Steve
Dulieu writes

wrote in message
...
Whats the worst shift to work on the underground as a train driver?

If my lads n' lasses are to be believed, all of them :-)

I can't believe that, Steve. After we exchanged our pleasantries this
morning (and I just caught that staff train) All I did was CFS - HRC -
HAM - NFD and cancel due to the 4 1/2 hour long signal failure at KX.

That strikes me as a pretty good shift for 7.5 hours! Life is
(generally) good.

In answer to the OP - any duty that does the minimum on the first half
and then all the 'work' is on the second half makes me want to cut my
throat.
--
Steve Fitzgerald has now left the building.
You will find him in London's Docklands, E16, UK
(please use the reply to address for email)

In message , Mark Brader
writes

A "pipe" is once through the tunnel (the main one, the Southgate tunnel
doesn't count), so a typical 4 pipe turn would be one that does pick up
Arnos east and do CK HR123 CK AGw, get off and have grub then
pick up Arnos west and do UX CK AGw, get off and finish. ...

Interesting usage! Do staff on other lines use "pipe" this way?
The Piccadilly isn't the only one with a central tunnel and open-air
sections at both ends (okay, near both ends), but not all are like that --
does this affect the usage?

Dunno, never been on other lines, but I'll ask the question.

Is "pipe" also used for the main tunnel itself -- would you say something
like "I was driving east and it failed 15 seconds after I drove into
the pipe" and expect people to know exactly where you were?

Generally, yes. On the Picc., a pipe is about 40 mins and we do talk in
pipes - sad but true. 'The pipe' for us is the main Arnos - Barons
Court section - other bits don't count.
--
Steve Fitzgerald has now left the building.
You will find him in London's Docklands, E16, UK
(please use the reply to address for email)

Steve Fitzgerald wrote:

On the Picc., a pipe is about 40 mins and we do talk
in pipes - sad but true.

Could you give some examples? Might you say "When Only Fools And Horses
started, the episodes were only three quarters of a pipe long"?

On Sat, 21 Jul 2007 16:25:14 GMT, wrote:

Whats the worst shift to work on the underground as a train driver?

Any shift on the Waterloo & City, surely?

In message , asdf
writes
On Sat, 21 Jul 2007 16:25:14 GMT, wrote:

Whats the worst shift to work on the underground as a train driver?

Any shift on the Waterloo & City, surely?

There are some who would kill to get a W&C duty.

These are actually Leytonstone (Central) duties and the W&C doesn't have
a train crew depot as such
--
Steve Fitzgerald has now left the building.
You will find him in London's Docklands, E16, UK
(please use the reply to address for email)

In message , John Rowland
writes
Steve Fitzgerald wrote:

On the Picc., a pipe is about 40 mins and we do talk
in pipes - sad but true.

Could you give some examples? Might you say "When Only Fools And Horses
started, the episodes were only three quarters of a pipe long"?

No, Picc duties are generally referred to as to the number of end to end
journeys (pipes) one travels in a 'half' (two halves being a full duty).
I have been known to comment about only having to do half a pipe after a
Down Street or Kings Cross reverse but the perceived wisdom is that once
you go into 'the pipe' it's still a full pipe even if you're turned
short.

So, a fair turn would be two pipes on both halves (CFS - HRC - CFS for
example, lets ignore the Arnos - CFS bits for this).

Many drivers will complain about duties that do 3 pipes on one half, so
they end up at Acton for their meal break. This usually involves going
right up to the limit of your driving parameters (which is a maximum of
4.25 hours of driving without a break).

My personal hate is a single pipe on the first half; meal break and then
3 pipes on the second half - at last if you do the 3 pipes first you
have most of your work out of the way when you return from your meal
break.

Last Friday was a good example of what I consider to be a bad duty.

CFS - Rayners - Acton (2h 2 mins driving)
Meal Break
Acton - CFS - Heathrow - Arnos (4h 13 mins driving)

As we had a number of signal failures after the weekend's enforced
drought reduction scheme, I finally ended up 30 mins late at Arnos Grove
- having now driven constantly for 4 hours 45 mins without a break.

As you might imagine, I was rather glad to get home!
--
Steve Fitzgerald has now left the building.
You will find him in London's Docklands, E16, UK
(please use the reply to address for email)