I’m A Noob, Need Some Advice.

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by martin_smith, May 3, 2020.

  1. martin_smith

    martin_smith New Member

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    Hi. Im 33 and for a year or two now i have been looking into trainee train driver roles at companies in Hertfordshire and London and i literally cannot find a single opportunity, so i think it must be a dreadfully hard industry to get into as most roles are looking for experienced drivers already with at least two years experience.

    So i had a brainwave, how about i train myself using a simulator? If an opportunity ever does arise then at least i could show them my willing and desire to enter the proffession by doing all i can for a head start.

    So my questions are:

    1) am i being naive in that using these simulators would give me an insight into how to drive a train?

    2) would someone with zero idea of how to even open the door of a train cabin let alone be able to learn how to drive one be able to using this software?

    3) are there any tutorials in the game for novices?

    4) is there anything else anyone would recommend? Like using a different game? Or should i give up completely on the idea?
     
  2. 749006

    749006 Well-Known Member

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    [1] The use of these simulators would be a good tutorial in the way a real railway operates -
    But you generally need to know how the railway works
    Have a watch of this - it explains the signals which you would need to learn if you joined the railway - but they do train you


    [2] The simulator is based on driving the train and because it's not a get out an walk around game you are just in the train cab.
    But see TSW

    [3] There are some tutorials but probably not what you want

    [4] A newer version of the game is TSW and that brings more things to the game -
    You can ride on the trains, walk thru the train, there are different switches to use to get the train working
    And it comes on multiple platforms - PC, XBox and PS4


    [5] Do you need a simulator?
    If you are not going to be interested in trains apart from a job then probably no
    There is an outlay cost for the game and if you went for Train Simulator then you need a computer with a reasonable spec.

    And a train company would train you for around 6 months before you started driving
    There is an Aptitude test before you start.
    They train you on the rules and regulations and you have a number of tests before you lean how to drive
    At the end of the day driving a train is fairly simple it is the knowing of where to put the brakes on, what the signals mean.
    And most importantly what to do when you stop in the middle of nowhere

    Any more questions?

    Peter
     
    Last edited: May 4, 2020
  3. Reef

    Reef Well-Known Member

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    Peter, Point [2] and [4] I think you need to correct your typo's... You wrote "TSX" instead of "TSW", it's confusing enough as it is with the two games. :D
     
  4. Reef

    Reef Well-Known Member

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    martin_smith if you're serious about a career on the rail then you might want to join this forum https://www.railforums.co.uk/ , plenty of wannabe's head here for advice so would probably be a good place for you to start.

    Good luck ;)
     
    Last edited: May 3, 2020
  5. 749006

    749006 Well-Known Member

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    Oops - Corrected :o
     
  6. martin_smith

    martin_smith New Member

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    Thankyou very much everybody
     
  7. peterchambers

    peterchambers Active Member

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    You could join a heritage railway. Railwaymen are mad, they retire then spend all their days working as volunteers on railways. Therefore you will meet some extremely experienced people. Some are drivers who come onto the heritage rly after a shift. A teenager who came onto the rly I was working on learnt a huge amount, gained an apprenticeship with Bombardier and now has a flourishing career in the industry. He is still a hard working volunteer as well. Best of luck to you.
     
  8. Sabe20189

    Sabe20189 Member

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    As someone who worked on an American Railroad, and also as an engineer supervisor, I would say, no, to combining a computer game with the real thing. Although you would train in a simulator along with on the job and classroom training, there is nothing you can learn from this site that you could take into real life and no railroad manager would be impressed. As an example, if you were going down a steep grade in TS 2020 and lost control of your speed, you would crash and start over. In the real world, however, you would actually be feeling the adrenaline rush, anxiety and fear of what you need to do to bring the train under control. And maybe you would die in the process.

    So I would say enjoy this train simulator and stick with it like I do, but at the same time remember that a real train and its equipment are unforgiving and has no, "restart". Railroading was a great job that I truly enjoyed and Train Sim gives me a lot of enjoyment on a different level. I hope you get the chance to enjoy both of these the way I have.

    As a real engineer you will bring some of those feelings of adrenaline and stress to the table while you are on train sim because you experienced those feelings on a train. But, you don't want to take casual and flamboyant risk taking of train sim to the real world. Good Luck.
     

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