Nicky Sapey, Driver at York.

I once pulled into platform in Donny with window open and an elderly couple were stood on the platform, as I came to a stand the lady said ‘oh my word it’s a lady driver… ‘ The old man said ‘oh dear shall we get the next one?’ The lady said yes and off they walked!

Lindyloo, Facebook (not sure where this lady is from).

During my training when I was getting some handling hours in with my instructor, the guard (yes, the GUARD) came and spoke very politely to me, asking about the weather, if I was having a nice day etc. He looked a bit confused until I explained that I was new. Relief washed over him as he thought I must have been the drivers (instructor’s) wife! Bring your wife to work day? Ha! What would the passengers think?

A classic was pulling into a station late running one afternoon with my window open to hear a gentleman grumble to his friend “bloody women drivers!”. I turned and said “I know, they let us get up to allsorts these days!”

However my favourite…
Pulling into a station with a young boy dancing on the spot he was so excited about the train coming. I gave him a cheery wave and his face dropped as I stopped. “Mummy!” He whined disappointingly. “It’s a LADY”. I felt like a dream crusher.

There are advantages though. My daughter is 2, and train obsessed. She makes me feel like a goddess with her admiration – “Mummy drives TRAINS!! GREEN trains!”. I hope that one day she will be strong and confident enough to carry out a role that is perceived as a ‘man’s job’. I want her to be whatever she want’s to be.

There are downsides. My boss had no idea how to deal with my during my pregnancies, and largely ignored me, and I’ve heard a few catty comments over the years, but I adore my job, and I love surprising people by telling them what I do 🙂

Collette Gibson, Driver at Paddington.

One Saturday evening I pulled into Hitchin there was a group of young men on the platform. They were dressed smartly for an evening out and were being quite loud on the platform. It was summer so I had my window open. They were quite surprised to see a female train driver and thought they’d be clever and started making sexist comments about women drivers.

One of them shouted (for my benefit) that they wouldn’t get on as there was a woman driving, as though I would somehow be offended, and they were trying to provoke a reaction. It backfired on them some-what as I shut the doors leaving them on the platform, feeling smug because the next train was in another half hour and I knew that it had a female driver!

Here’s another, not particularly about women but it amuses me.
I was working early one New Year’s Day. As I arrived at Biggleswade there was a manager waiting on the platform with a man and a young boy. They got into the cab and the manager explained that the man had arranged a cab ride for his son’s birthday treat.

As we made our way through the journey I glanced across the cab occasionally and noticed that the boy was sitting down playing with his new electronic toy. The father however was beside himself with excitement, full of questions and desperately trying to pretend that the treat was not really for him. Whizzing along at 100mph was completely lost on the child!