Quote:
Originally Posted by Fearless
Good to hear from you, Steve! I'm so jealous that you get to drive them. I really wanted to be a driver but my eyesight let me down.
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Hi & welcome to the forum. I also love EE traction, especially
Class 37s
On another vein entirely, I don't know how bad your eyesight is, but the UK railway has relaxed its eyesight requirement over the years.
For example one of the drivers at my depot had to start as a guard in the 1980s, since
British Rail didn't accept traction trainees with glasses in those days. This seems crazy now - I can understand the
RAF refusing to take on fighter pilots who wear glasses, but train drivers ? Come on !
Anyhoo, by the time privatisation came along in 1996ish the train operating companies suddenly found themselves short of hundreds of drivers, and hey presto, suddenly you could wear glasses so long as your corrected vision was 5/6 (or something like that).
At that stage you weren't allowed to wear contact lenses....and then about 5 years ago they started accepting them.
Needless to say laser surgery was right out...but guess what ? Just at the moment it's starting to become allowed. Thanks to political fiddling it's down the individual employer to decide.
So nowadays your vision can be pretty dodgy, so long as you can see alright with correction. In fact you are required to carry 2 pairs at all times, just in case you sit on your first pair. Never done it myself, but I have come close.
Links to eyesight stuff...
Railway Group Standards
Traindriver.org website - medical standards
Best wishes, BW.