SWT Simulator, Basingstoke
July 31 2006
On Monday 31st July 2006 ten Young Professionals had the chance to visit the South West Trains driver simulator based in Basingstoke.
The Young Professionals were greeted by Andy Nash the Simulator Centre Manager who gave a brief history on his career within the railway industry.
We were shown one of the control rooms from which the simulators are operated and a brief discussion took place on how the simulators work and what benefit they give to the drivers and the industry alike.
Andy then took the group to the mock driving cabs and explained how the driver can use the touch screen outside of the cab to check the train's fault management system to cure faults and problems with the train.
The group then split into two groups and one group had a chance to play the driver's role whilst the other part watched Andy and Roland of the YPs on the controls changing weather conditions, track conditions and other issues that a driver faces whilst driving a train.
During the afternoon the whole group had a chance to play the role of driver and controller. Due to the success of the afternoon a few people decided to stay on after the event to brush up on their driving skills; time will tell if any budding drivers were born!
Written by Daniel Storey.
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