Steph Cooke, Shunt Driver at Freightliner
It was in my blood. Being from Crewe, everyone had a family member on the railway, and I came from one full of them. Not that I ever wanted to join.
Almost three years ago now, I was wearing power suits and working for Britain’s most definitive luxury car manufacturer, and if someone had told me that I would be about to go full circle to the company I had done work experience with 20 years prior, I probably would have laughed.
But something niggled at me. I’d been made aware that Freightliner were recruiting, and I secretly applied. I didn’t tell my family until the time came to go to the interview and I needed to stay overnight. I didn’t think I could do it, and part of me wanted to prove myself wrong.
It’s hard to think about what an average day is. I currently book on for duty any time from 05:00 to 22:00. The start of my day always begins the same – ringing control to book on, and confirm I’m fit for duty, checking the notices, and grabbing all my PPE from my locker. From that point, every day is completely different but actually the same.
As a shunt driver working in Freightliner’s largest and busiest yard, there’s over 10 miles of track to cover. My day isn’t typically diagrammed moves, and in one shift, I can move anything from an intermodal train, stone trains, infrastructure trains, or the high-output ballast cleaner, to new passenger units. There are locos to be taken for fuelling or maintenance, and locos to be prepped to re-enter service. There are also countless brake tests, a few thousand steps, and almost as many cups of coffee!
For me, I’d say it was to ensure that I’m well rested. Fatigue is one of the biggest contributors to accidents, and after a few weeks of working shifts for the first time in my life, I understood why. This was such a bigger tip than I’d first thought. Everything else falls into place so much easier if you’re adequately rested.
I first became aware of RSSB in the first few days of my classroom training. We had all been introduced to our iPads, and pre-installed was an app named RSSB. I vividly remember being asked to open this, and one of my course mates reaching into his bag and pulling out a Rule Book binder that shook the desk.
I didn’t know what Right Track was. I’d seen it about the offices when I’d been in the classroom and noticed it was branded RSSB. I’d assumed it was something issued to management, definitely not something for me. But it wasn’t until I saw an issue with a very familiar face on the cover (Bessie Matthews – read her article overleaf) that I started to ‘borrow’ copies from the mess room.