South West Trains tricked me today! Maybe they read this blog (yeah, right :-S) but I never saw the 0208 number on my phone! No, they were far too clever for that - they called on the land line!!!
The call came at around 1240 - could we find two buses to help replace the Eastleigh - Fareham line, closed by flooding at Botley? In fact I could only provide one - we have six o-licences and use five of them on weekdays, so even if all seven vehicles are available I can't use them all. So I offered one, to be required at Eastleigh 1330-1345.
The bus had to be 303, but this was due in for service, so a quick call to Brenhaul, our maintenance contractors, and this was rescheduled for tomorrow just in the nick of time!
Driver-wise I took Ant at his word. Having asked him to come in for our short five hour duty 5 today, he said to me this morning that if anything extra came up during the day, to let him know. So I texted him that I would cover his last scheduled trip - 1320 service A Eastleigh-Botley-Eastleigh - and could he please do the rail rep? Next I spoke to Taz and asked him to cover the trip on the A.
All straightforward enough except that Ant didn't read the text, so was surprised when Taz turned up to relieve him on the A, but was up for it nevertheless!
I went round to Eastleigh station with Ant, arriving dead on 1345, only for the station staff to tell us that we would not be used until 1430! Not to worry, Ant did two trips - at 1430 and 1630 from Eastleigh to Fareham (curiously the northbound line was open and trains running throughout) - and was stood down at 1825, so another successful day playing trains!
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4 comments:
I'm increasingly impressed by how quick-witted and flexible you are when it comes to these emergency rail replacement duties. Very nice work!
Incidentally, I'm officially addicted to this blog - it gives a terrific insight of what it takes to live up to the 'bus operator' tag, and as someone who is shortly to enter the industry, it is required reading. Don't let up with the frequency of posts, please! :-)
"So I texted him that I would cover his last scheduled trip - 1320 service A Eastleigh-Botley-Eastleigh - and could he please do the rail rep? Next I spoke to Taz and asked him to cover the trip on the A.
All straightforward enough except that Ant didn't read the text, so was surprised when Taz turned up to relieve him on the A, but was up for it nevertheless!"
Note to self; look at messages at the earliest possible opportunity rather than forget all about them!!! However it was a very pleasant surprise - and great fun!! More please!!!!
ebor buses - who will you be joining in York when you arrive in the industry? Would be interesting to read about your experiences given my parents might, depending on what you're doing be regular customers!
I must say I enjoy reading this blog - perhaps a number of Velvet's customers read this too. Whilst I've discovered what goes on behind the scenes (and miss it terribly) this blog illustrates it perfectly.
Look forward to seeing more posts over time.
It's interesting to hear the goings on of a decent small firm.
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