{"id":1965,"date":"2018-10-18T08:12:48","date_gmt":"2018-10-18T08:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.c2c-online.co.uk\/meet-trina-and-andrea-barclay\/"},"modified":"2021-05-13T13:57:56","modified_gmt":"2021-05-13T13:57:56","slug":"meet-trina-and-andrea-barclay","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.c2c-online.co.uk\/about-c2c\/we-are-c2c\/meet-trina-and-andrea-barclay\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Trina and Andrea Barclay"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The dynamic duo driving trains for c2c<\/h2>\n

To celebrate International Women\u2019s Day, we spoke to two of our most recognised members of the driving team, Trina and Andrea about driving trains and life at c2c.<\/p>\n

Trina has been a driver for 20 years and Andrea is now an Operations Training Manager. We met them for a coffee and they told us what they love about their work \u2013 aside from that they really (really) love driving trains.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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We meet Andrea and Trina in the office after a day on the trains. They both have a wicked sense of humour and hearty, thoroughly infectious laughs. Trina has just finished an early shift and we talk about the challenges of the 2am alarm clock. \u201cIt\u2019s the hardest part of the job\u201d she tells us. In fact, in the whole time that we talk (which is a while, because 20 years of train stories take time to tell), it\u2019s the only genuinely negative thing that she can find to say about a job that she\u2019s done for so long. And, in typically jolly \u2018driver banter\u2019, she\u2019s not complaining. It\u2019s \u201cjust a bit of a drag now, as you get older\u201d she says, then adds, \u201cBut it doesn\u2019t spoil the good points. When you get to work it\u2019s fine.\u201d Cue more laughs, more banter.<\/p>\n

Trina applied to be a driver on a friend’s\u2019 recommendation after years of self-confessed indifference towards jobs that hadn\u2019t really inspired her. \u201cOnce you\u2019re on the railway, you\u2019ll never leave\u201d she was told. And 20 years later, she\u2019s proof. \u201cI thought, ah, I\u2019ll give it a year\u201d she laughs, adding \u201cBut I love it. It\u2019s like a little family here, because it\u2019s a small railway. We are a family really.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ironically, despite her almost accidental move into the railway, Trina had always loved trains – even from being a tiny tot. When asked if she\u2019d always wanted to be a train driver she laughs, \u201cApparently so. My mum said when I was a toddler I used to tell everyone I was going to be a train driver.\u201d Aside from playing with her Uncle\u2019s Hornby rail sets, \u201cwith real points\u201d, she can\u2019t remember that early childhood fascination \u2013 although she feels it was probably fate that got her here in the end (and her excellent driving skills!).<\/p>\n

Driving skills, of course, as a woman, fit somewhere between \u2018driver banter\u2019 \u2013 which crops up with regularity throughout our conversation \u2013 and the challenges of being a woman train driver. Andrea joins the conversation at this point to discuss the banter, sharing some of her one-line retorts for the drunken comments and outdated opinions directed at her over the years.<\/p>\n

Like Trina, Andrea was also a late-comer to the railway; however she\u2019d had no childhood ambitions. \u201cNever did I ever think that I would be driving trains. I just fell into the job. I needed a job and applied\u2026 And I wasn\u2019t expecting it really.\u201d She\u2019s clearly well suited, having just been promoted to Driver Training Manager. During our chat people pop in and out of the office to congratulate her \u2013 the family in action.<\/p>\n

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Discussing International Women\u2019s Day and the challenges of being a woman on the railway, Trina and Andrea both concur (and are living proof) that, \u201cBeing a woman is great on the railway. We have a great time. There\u2019s so many funny little things and stories that go on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of these stories are bizarre: \u201cPeople wander on the tracks. I\u2019ve had a horse chewing grass, just staring up at me\u201d says Trina. Andrea recalls a day when, \u201cThere was a cow on the line between Leigh and Benfleet, then a drunk bloke was walking around the track. And then the train doors wouldn\u2019t shut. I think the signaller thought I was making it all up.\u201d There are of course, more sombre days, too. \u201cThere have been memorable days for all the wrong reasons, which aren\u2019t nice, but they happen\u201d. We briefly discuss the tougher aspects of the job, but thankfully they are few and far between. And \u2018the family\u2019 always rallies round.<\/p>\n

We lighten the tone, returning to the aforementioned one-liners. Unsurprisingly, after their collective 30 years, they seem to see them as a challenge for that railway banter they love. Aside from the decision of one man not to travel on her train, it\u2019s usually \u2018just\u2019 shouts and jeers \u2013 particularly from drunk people. One of the most common questions is \u201c\u2018Are you alright driving that train, love?\u2019 Now I just open the cab door and say, \u2018Oh no, where\u2019s the steering wheel?\u2019\u201d laughs Andrea. Trina joins in. \u201cSometimes they shout, \u2018Are you the driver?\u2019 or \u2018What\u2019s in your flask then?\u2019 I reply with \u2018Vodka\u2019\u201d she adds. \u201cAlways makes women laugh, that one\u201d.<\/p>\n

Laughter is a constant in the presence of these two formidable characters. Their contagious humour has us all engaging in (more) banter and we get onto the subject of their 2014 wedding \u2013 they met and married through the railway. \u201cWe had such fun. It was a Steampunk themed wedding; it was incredible\u201d. Trina remembers. Again, as is the pattern of our meeting, talk returns again to their team, \u201cEveryone at work got really into it and dressed up. I\u2019ve never met such a lovable bunch.\u201d Andrea adds.<\/p>\n

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Trina and Andrea Barclay on their wedding day – yes they met and married each other through c2c<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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After chat about weddings, life on the railway, the perils of being a woman driver in between stations (makes loo-stops slightly tricker!), we conclude our meeting.<\/p>\n

Before asking, I already know the answer to my final question, but ask it anyway: would they recommend train driving to women at C2C? Without hesitation they both say yes and launch into what could be an unbelievable few sentences, had I not got to know them and found them so genuinely happy in their jobs. \u201cWe need more women\u201d says Andrea. \u201cIt\u2019s a perception thing. People don\u2019t see us really, but we\u2019re here. We have 197 train drivers, 10 are women. So yes, definitely. It\u2019s flexible, it\u2019s fun. I love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The single best part of the job is driving trains, they both agree. \u201cSeeing new people get their licences; I\u2019m proud to train people and pass on the knowledge.\u201d adds Andrea. \u201cI\u2019m a manager now, but I\u2019d honestly love to drive more. That view, after leaving Chalkwell<\/a>, going to Leigh on Sea<\/a>\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrea’s favourite view from the train:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Chalkwell<\/p>\n

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The dynamic duo driving trains for c2c To celebrate International Women\u2019s Day, we spoke to two of our most recognised members of the driving team, Trina and Andrea about driving trains and life at c2c. Trina has been a driver for 20 years and Andrea is now an Operations Training Manager. 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