The latest episode of Greater Anglia's 'Life on Rails' features an interview with one of their first female train drivers

The latest episode of Greater Anglia’s ‘Life on Rails’ features an interview with one of their first female train drivers

The podcast’s latest episode hears how Sarah Swanston began her lifetime career in the railway following two weeks of work experience whilst at school. Sarah is now a right time railway manager for Greater Anglia and is responsible for ongoing improvements in punctuality and was put off from joining the police force by her dad and chose the railways instead with a focus on becoming a train driver

Sarah took part in a Youth Training Scheme (YTS) when she was 16 and never looked back, carrying out an array of jobs and undertaking driver assessments before becoming a “Train (wo)man Driver” fully qualifying as a driver in 1997, beginning on routes out of Norwich.

Sarah’s career progressed to driving other routes, instructing trainee train drivers before moving into management.

In the podcast you can enjoy Sarah’s fascinating look back on becoming the first female train driver based out of Norwich and hear the sound advice given to her by her grandmother when she found out she was off to join the railway.

You can listen to the podcast at https://www.greateranglia.co.uk/podcast

The Life on Rails podcast also includes interviews with other guests offering an insight into life at Greater Anglia, a ‘travel surgery’ segment featuring local TV star David Whitely. This episode sees David reveal his dream day out in East Anglia and podcast hosts Juliette Maxam and Lucy Wright from Greater Anglia challenge him to work out his ideal destination using the Greater Anglia network.

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The podcast also includes fascinating facts such as why getting new trains meant installing brighter lights and new signs at stations throughout the network as Greater Anglia’s client and programme director Andrew Goodrum discusses the necessary requirement to prepare the railway for the new trains.

Greater Anglia site manager Phil Hogg will talk on location about a wildlife garden at Norwich station which features a honeybee hotel that was created from old scraps which were destined for the bin and layout further measures to boost local biodiversity.

Norwich Stations Honey Bee Hotel — Credit: Greater Anglia

Resident podcast fare guru, Ken Strong will also be back explaining how to find the cheapest tickets online whilst Juliette and Lucy discuss travelling on busy trains with some helpful ideas from finding a seat to keeping safe.

Juliette Maxam, senior media and PR manager at Greater Anglia, said:

“We think this is a cracking episode with a really interesting mix of guests.

“Why not listen to it next time you’re travelling with Greater Anglia to discover what goes on behind the scenes and get ideas for your next leisure trip.

“Lucy and I would love to hear what you’d like us to cover in future episodes. Please tweet us @GreaterAngliaPR.”

The podcast can be found on all usual podcast platforms and also via Greater Anglia’s website or Facebook page.