Instead, I drove from Arnos to Cockfosters Depot, back to Arnos, and then from Arnos back to Cockfosters Depot. Busy day!

I went over to the platform for my first train, and when I got there I found that there was a defective train in the middle platform - it was getting an intruder alarm in the rear cab which they couldn’t get to clear, and I think it was also not picking up the fact that there was a cab in the middle of the train. It had been given the signal to go west already so they had to wait for the signaller to take a release so that the train waiting in platform 4 could go, and eventually the defective one ended up on the sidings and things started moving again. But not for me, because I was taken off the first half to go for an interview with the TOM (Train Operations Manager) and when that I was done I was told to be spare until my second half. Which was, at that point, still about three hours away, albeit including the meal relief in that. Since I hadn’t expected this, all I had was a copy of The Times that I’d already half read, and as I hadn’t got as far as a train I hadn’t acquired any more papers yet, and my mind was nagging at me because I’d managed to dismantle my hamster’s cage and clean it out and make a lot of loud noise without her waking up once, which is pretty unusual, to the point where I was half-expecting she was dead - especially since the little box she sleeps in means it’s rather hard to see her, and therefore to check whether or not she was actually breathing. (Thankfully, when I got home, the food I’d put in the bowl had moved so it must just have been a verrrrry deep sleep. I’m aware that sometimes a hamster will hibernate but I’ve never had one do so yet. But I digress….)

The mess room was far too hot so I ended up curling up in the Quiet Room and trying to read slo-o-o-o-wly - I have a bad habit of skim-reading - and then did pretty much the entirety of the puzzles page, even correctly finishing the “Fiendish” Sudoku (thanks to some rather inspired thinking and flashes of insight). In fact, I think the only one I didn’t do was the “hard” Ken Ken. My mind was starting to regress into CSA mode, to the point where I probably wouldn’t have been surprised if someone walked in and complained that their Oyster card wasn’t working.

Meal Relief *finally* came around and I remembered I had a book in my bag (Down The Tube by Christian Wolmar, for the curious) so that saw me through the rest of the time, but I still ended up wandering over to the platform about fifteen minutes early for my pickup, since the messroom was again crowded and hot, and sitting outside was a little too cold. In the cabin at the east end of the platform someone had kindly left a copy of the Metro, so I skimmed through that. An Acton driver came along and a few minutes later I realised that the PA going off on the platform was not the standard service update, and that it was saying something about “Cockfosters to Kings Cross”. After a while it came through again, and it turned out that there was a person under a train at Wood Green on the eastbound (which we discovered later was non-fatal, thankfully), and as a result nothing was moving Kings Cross to Cockfosters eastbound, and although they were still (just about) moving on the west, they were obviously going to run out of trains eventually. They did manage to get an Arnos-Cockfosters shuttle going fairly promptly, and thanks to the new traction current indicators, we could see when the current came back on - about an hour after the incident. The DMT’s finally started phoning up and letting us know what to do; I was asked to travel to the depot and bring a train out, which was then changed to take a train into the depot and bring a different one out (Why? Anyone’s guess, though I presume the one being taken in had to go to Cockfosters for something specific - each depot specialises in a few things that the other does not), which turned out to be a bit chaotic since the time I got *into* the depot with the first train was the time I was supposed to be leaving with the second. Fun.

I was told I’d be relieved at Arnos, so of course I pulled up and found no-one there to take me off. They eventually sent someone over (and thankfully the train hadn’t been given the signal to depart anyway, so we weren’t holding too much up), and then I was told to go back over to the east end and see what else needed doing. Since my car was at Oakwood anyway, I eventually ended up taking another train to stable, and that was that for the day. Night, whatever. I was actually fairly close to my “proper” finishing time - a few minutes early I think, actually.

Nothing particularly exciting happened today, although one of the two decent DSM’s I used to have came by the end of the platform while I was waiting to pick my train up and so we talked for a little bit. Actually, it’s entirely possible exciting stuff happened and I just didn’t notice, because I think I spent the whole of the second half of my shift asleep.

No 26 Siding, Acton Town

Today the service was screwed up for apparently no reason that anybody knew, including the DMT handling it at Acton. After my meal break, I was scheduled to take a train from Arnos Grove, from the T4 loop, back to Cockfoster and then down to Arnos where I would be relieved. As I approached Turnham Green I was called and told to look out for “relief and reform at Acton, driver”. I’d picked the train up a little bit late (about five minutes) but I’d not had too bad a run through Central London, so I wasn’t really expecting that. When I got off the train, I was told to take 344 and reverse it in the siding to go back east, so I ended up hanging round at Acton for quite a while waiting for it to come in, and then spent some time sitting in the west siding - my first time in there, as I didn’t get to do it on training at all, apart from as theory. It’s track fused, meaning that the train is not given any current until the points are set ready for the train to go. I was in there long enough to get the MA Lost light a few times and the air dropped down to nearly 5 - ideally it should be between 6 and 8. Higher than 8 and the safety valve tries to let some go, lower than 4 and the train won’t move. Still, I eventually got out with no problems and then had a not-too-bad journey through Central London; there were a few reds but I didn’t lose too much time.

I was, however, starting to feel zombie-like. I couldn’t get the cab at a decent temperature so I was constantly switching the air con off and on at different levels, spending the whole time either shivering or overheating, until I gave up because I couldn’t make myself stand up. ‘Luckily’ as I pulled away from Manor House, the motors went, and lights sprang up all around. Traction current was… off. That woke me up a bit, and the thought sequence went something like:

Erm what? (as I suddenly felt the train lose the motors, and by reflex I went to off and release)
Lights!?
Oh, Traction Current..
Wait, that Rail Gap Indicator in front of me isn’t on!
That’s because you’re about to go over a rail gap, idiot.. there’s still current *ahead*.
Oh, right. Coast, and don’t bridge the gap.
How the heck am I supposed to know when my read end is clear of the gap, anyway?
Dunno, keep coasting and try to keep awake.

..so I wasn’t stranded, but I have no idea why the current went off. Since nothing came over the radio at all I assume it was momentary and just caused by too many trains using power at once, which happened at least once on training, possibly twice.

I had to do an incredibly quick turnaround at Cockfosters; the signal was clear ready for me to go before I’d even really finished getting out of the cab, let alone made it to the other end of the train and got ready to go. Despite all the kerfuffle, I arrived at Arnos only about three minutes late in the end, which I suppose wasn’t bad.

Tonight I’m supposed to be heading out to have a look at the S Stock mock up, although I’m not sure if I can actually stay awake long enough to do so. I’ll be the one passed out on the platform at Euston, no doubt.

Despite being turned early to get back on time, I was following reds and yellows again on the way back got to Cockfosters late. I still had to get back to Arnos to be relieved; the signal cleared for me to leave Cockfosters at the time I should have been at Arnos. Since there’s five minutes extra time allowed at the end of the duty, I was only officially five minutes late.. so in went an overtime form. Second in four weeks.

I also picked up a new timetable and duty book - changeover is on Sunday, I believe. When I haven’t got to go to bed half an hour ago I’ll try to remember to write up my air con defect..

No news on the outcome of the strike, by the way.

I had a Tubelines employee hitch a lift between Park Royal and Sudbury Town, because a previous driver had reported a bad ride. He decided it was fine and went for lunch. At Sudbury Town on the return trip (eastbound) he was on the platform with some others, but this time they travelled in the back.

There were no signs out at Holborn about the fact that Covent Garden is closed until 8am - thankfully there was a general service announcement put out on the radio as I got to about Russell Square; it had completely slipped my mind until then. The silly thing is that there *is* a notice up about the fact that it closes at 23:30. Why not cover both?

And talking of notices; one station (I want to say Caledonian Road…) had a PA sheet still up on the T/Op noticeboard concerning *yesterday’s* engineering works. The baffling part was that someone had taken the time to come down and change the handwritten date just above it to today’s date, but still hadn’t thought to take it down..

Today’s nailbiting moment occured at North Ealing, I think - somehow losing track of where I was, I didn’t start slowing down early enough, and hit the platform at over 35mph. Thankfully the brakes were good, it hadn’t rained and an immediate service brake four application brought me up a little short of the stopping mark, so I still managed to go to off and release and make it seem like a reasonable stop. Sole casualty: the only person waiting on the platform, who got the full benefit of my “Oh God Please STOP IN TIME!” face. Amazingly, she still got on the train.

I did end up with a newish CSA in my cab for a couple of stations yesterday evening and probably talked her ear off because I was babbling so much.

Oh, wait - I did have my first sleeper yesterday, at Heathrow T5. He woke up fairly easily and I think he said he actually wanted.. wait for it… Finsbury Park. Oops! Typically he was in the last car, and I hadn’t taken my handheld radio with me, so I’d have been a bit stuck if I *did* need help. The radio didn’t come with a belt clip so I do tend to forget to take it out of my bag when I’m doing stuff like detraining. Probably ought to!