Why Choose Online Rail Courses?
Andrew Knowles accepting an award from the Institute of Engineering & Technology (IET) in 2014 for his contribution to improving safety of UK rolling stock.
My Transition Story
After serving six years in the Royal Air Force as an Armourer on Chinook helicopter squadrons, including multiple tours of Afghanistan, I decided it was time for a change. I enjoyed the job, but I wanted more freedom. I felt my career progression was restricted by the military system.
By 2009, I officially left the forces. Like many veterans, I faced the same challenge: how to translate hard-earned skills into meaningful civilian careers. I had a strong apprenticeship (NVQ Level 3 in Aeronautical Engineering) and plenty of hands-on experience, and I assumed those skills would be directly transferable.
But the reality of civilian engineering industries turned out to be more complex.
The Resettlement Challenge
When I PVR’d (Premature Voluntary Release), I left the RAF with £0 resettlement funding. During my 12-month notice period, I was put in touch with the CTP (Career Transition Partnership) in Aldershot. They offered free courses such as CV writing, which did help, but the approach was far too generic.
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Engineers, logisticians, chefs, soldiers, and admin staff were all grouped together in the same sessions. It felt like a “one-size-fits-nothing” approach…useful in theory, but not tailored to the specific challenges of someone like me trying to enter a civilian engineering career.
I left with the impression that, as with most things, you really do get what you pay for!
Searching for Opportunities
I travelled to a CTP employment fair with a mate of mine, Stu, we were both leaving the forces at the same time. The big difference was that Stu had resettlement funding and I didn’t.
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I went in expecting a room full of companies offering entry-level jobs for service leavers. Instead, it quickly became clear that most of the stands were promoting training courses with no job guarantee at the end. And these course weren’t cheap! The prices were far beyond what most individuals could afford on their own.
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It felt less like an employment fair and more like a sales pitch. My impression was that many companies were more interested in tapping into resettlement money than genuinely helping forces leavers into jobs.
A Lucky Strike
On my way out of the employment fair, I came across the Clemtech stand (a rail recruitment agency). Within fifteen minutes, they’d arranged a job interview for me. By that point in the day I was really suspicious, half-expecting a catch. But as it turned out, there wasn’t one.
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A few weeks later, I found myself interviewing for a Warranty Technician role with Bombardier Transportation (now Alstom), a company that designs, manufactures and maintains new trains. The process was tough: two written aptitude tests (one electrical, one mechanical) followed by a panel interview and practical assessment.
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Somehow, I managed to scrape through despite having absolutely no knowledge of trains at all. And when I say no knowledge, I really mean none… I didn’t even travel by train!
To say I was lucky is an understatement…it was the early stages of the project and they had multiple positions to fill. Had there only been one or two roles available, the outcome would have been very different.
Learning Rail the Hard Way
My first six months in the rail industry were tough. Switching from aircraft & weapon systems to trains pushed me into one of the steepest learning curves of my life.
Fortunately, I was surrounded by a fantastic team. Senior engineers took the time to bring me up to speed, teaching me how different train systems worked, how to fault find effectively, and even the contractual side of the job, such as warranty claims.
Outside of work, I’d spend countless evenings poring over train manuals just to keep up. It was exhausting at times, but it laid the foundation for everything that followed.
Off-the-Tools
After three years, I had become one of the top warranty technicians on the project. I felt I had served my time “on the tools” and was ready for the next step. For me, that meant pursuing an engineering route rather than moving into supervision or management and ideally finding a role closer to Manchester, where I grew up.
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That opportunity came with Merseyrail in Liverpool, where I was offered an office-based engineering position. It was another steep learning curve. I’d gone from working on a brand-new train fleet to one of the oldest fleets still in service. Older trains operate very differently to modern ones, and once again I found myself spending evenings buried in old British Rail manuals, determined to master how these legacy systems worked.
From Engineer to Consultant
After three years at Merseyrail, I moved on to join a Derby-based engineering consultancy as a Senior Electrical Engineer. This role opened the door to a wide variety of projects: different train types, systems, upgrades, modifications, and refurbishments. It gave me a much deeper and broader understanding of the rail industry as a whole.
Eventually, I launched my own independent rolling stock consultancy Trevally Engineering. Running my own consultancy not only gave me the freedom to choose projects and clients, but also the flexibility to pursue other passions, including motorcycle adventure expeditions (though that’s a whole different story!).
The Course I Wish I’d Had
My goal in creating Introduction to Rolling Stock was simple: to build the course I wish I’d had when I left the forces. I know first-hand how steep the learning curve can be when moving from the military into rail, and I wanted to make that transition smoother for others.
This course is designed to do two things:
1. Reduce the learning curve — giving learners a base level of rail-specific knowledge before they ever set foot in the industry.
2. Improve job prospects — equipping people with the tools to succeed at every stage of the process, from researching rail companies to writing a CV and preparing for interviews.
I’ll never tell anyone they need this course…I didn’t have it myself. But I know for certain that the early stages of my rail career would have been far easier if I had.
Introduction to Rolling Stock gives learners the confidence to step into a new industry with clarity about how trains work, how the rail industry is structured (which is more complex than most people realise), and what employers are really looking for.
Why Learn from Me?
I’ve worked in the rail industry for over 17 years, across operators, manufacturers, consultancies, and the wider supply chain. During that time, I’ve experienced almost every side of the industry, from hands-on technical roles to senior engineering and consultancy positions.
My career has taken me from “on the tools” work (day-to-day examinations, fault finding, commissioning, and type testing), through to technical authoring, design, scrutinisation, and even leading performance-enhancing modifications across entire train fleets.
I’ve worked on a range of rolling stock, both electric and diesel: from brand-new, state-of-the-art software-controlled trains to British Rail stock dating back to the 1970s, and most things in between.
The Introduction to Rolling Stock course distils all of that experience into a structured programme. It’s packed with technical knowledge gained over years of “on-the-job” learning, but also my personal insights, advice, and lessons learned the hard way.
It’s not textbook theory....it’s real-world knowledge designed to give you a head start.
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​Ready to Start Your Rail Career?
If you’re ready to step into the rail industry but don’t know where to begin, I’d love to help.
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The Introduction to Rolling Stock course has already become a recognised starting point for forces leavers and career changers entering the rail sector. Learners tell me time and again how it gave them clarity, confidence, and the practical know-how employers demand.
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Start with the course or book a free consultation call if you’d like to talk it through first. Either way, let’s turn your experience into opportunity and build the foundations of your future rail career.