So i’ve been kinda AWOL off this for the past few. I’m currently writing this resting for day 3 of 4 night shifts. That’s a 1900-0700 shift, covering the ECS moves to depot and overnight workings. Tonight is the only time that we are allowed to have only one staff member on. We have a stop in all services between 0100 & 0800, so there’s no need for multiple staff.
Sleeping for night shifts is a killer. Over the past few days, i’ve been kinda alright, but my body wakes my at 1300, struggling to get back asleep. Furthermore, it’s gonna be a pain to transfer back to 0700-1900 from next Friday.. See this tweet from Stephen Champion, a driver at SWR. Working Time regulations are there for a reason, but like any competitive industry, sometimes staff are asked to do the impossible: https://twitter.com/champs707007/status/1570697701515464706?s=46&t=LeNgTF8X93Enjw8encIk5Q
Quick summary of the past few nights from my lowly perspective:
15th-16th – Not much happened, BAU for the station, which is weird.
16th-17th: Oh lord, what fun. I knew something was gonna go fun but not what I expected. Outside the station, we have a party project that over 2021 was absolutely rammed. Wasn’t too busy tonight but we could hear EDM blasting from miles away. Got to about 0100 and we put in place a plan to keep passengers moving due to a P Coded service alteration that terminated with us instead of it’s destination. Short term notice rail replacement is a pain in the arse at the best of time. Long story short, we were told 2x 16 seater vehicles. One rocked up 10l, pretty standard for the railway, and the other couldn’t find the station. Ended up running out of the station, chasing the vehicle down, jumping in and directing the driver where to go.
Eventful. Also, weird info, AWC are running night services to Euston for this weekend. That’s a useless fact that you now know.
Now I have about an hour to prepare and get ready for my shift. Guten Nacht!
