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Driving a train with the door open

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RailwayDan

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I was travelling from St Pancras to Nottingham today and just past Corby I saw a 222 for Corby on the 3rd line (not sure what the line name is, but not the Up or Down fast) travelling with the driving door open.

Is this unique to 222's or are other trains able to have leading cab doors open while in operation. Obviously this is not subject to the interlocking that is on the passenger doors.

If this is possible on all trains, is it also possible on sub-surface lines like LU, or in long tunnels etc?
 
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Crossover

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I don't think 150s with slam doors are interlocked, and 507/508 units didn't used to be but this may have changed now
 

RichmondCommu

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I was travelling from St Pancras to Nottingham today and just past Corby I saw a 222 for Corby on the 3rd line (not sure what the line name is, but not the Up or Down fast) travelling with the driving door open.

Hmmm, did you mean to say Kettering? If so that would be the bi-directional slow.
 

Mojo

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Lots of LU trains do not have cab door interlock - if you go there in the summer you will see most C/D stocks with the door open! I am not sure about newer stocks though...
Stocks (cannot speak for post-92) do have cab door interlock but the standard position IME is to have the cab door interlock cut out switch set to cut out the interlock to enable the cab doors to be open whilst the train is moving. Indeed, whilst I was told it was not part of the official procedure for train prep, I was reminded when prepping a train to check that the cab door interlock is cut out!

The cab doors on Voyagers and Meridians are manually operated doors and not electric.
 

156441

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As far as the rule book is concerned this would be a 'door open in traffic' incident and certainly within my company is dealt with very seriously!
 
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Seen this often on East Coast with the HSTs and Electra's cab doors.

Now looking back it is seen in allot of my youtube videos with the door open, I understand on hot days it is an exception to have the cab door open gets pretty hot in there.
 

ash39

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As far as the rule book is concerned this would be a 'door open in traffic' incident and certainly within my company is dealt with very seriously!

Do you know if this also applies to freight tocs? Certainly in summer it's rare to see a 66 with the doors shut!
 

185

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Certain driver of a 158 some time ago thought it wise to prop the front connector door half open with his bag behind it. Slight error. The grey cab door behind him, had so much wind force on it at 85mph, it ripped off it's hinge, fell back and cracked the glass in the saloon doors.

That one got covered up too :o
 

asylumxl

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I've seen this quite often with 222s. I was told that the cab can get quite stuffy so some drivers prefer to leave it open. I've only seen this happen at lower speeds though.
 

Monty

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And I know 455s don't have door interlock as I see guards opening/closing the door as the train is moving (albeit slowly) a lot of the time!

Class 455s do have interlock on the cab doors, however if a guard or driver was to have his key on in one of those cabs the interlock is overridden but only in the cab that the key is 'on' in.
 

150001

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I saw one XC 221/220 driver once have his cab door open as it went past me. Never saw any class 150 drivers keep their doors open though.
 

TDK

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class 67's in the summer it was a must to keep to door open, al long as it does not affect the guage of the train for example a 67 door opens inwars and so do most, I am nor familiar with a 222 but if it has plug doors like a 158 the train will be out of guage and this is a serious violation
 

ModernRailways

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On the new S Stock for London Underground they have to have the door shut to move. I understand this is because of the air con. Having been in the cab on a warm day (26C) it was fairly nice and cool in the cab!

Haven't seen many passenger trains with the door open but I have seen a lot of freight trains with the doors open.
 

Daniel

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Never stocks on LU have no forward movement with the cab door open - an ongoing argument re that on the Met at the moment, with the S stocks having no openable windows in the cab either.
 

asylumxl

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class 67's in the summer it was a must to keep to door open, al long as it does not affect the guage of the train for example a 67 door opens inwars and so do most, I am nor familiar with a 222 but if it has plug doors like a 158 the train will be out of guage and this is a serious violation


It does not go out of gauge as far as I know. I believe it opens inwards from what I've seen.
 

Harbon 1

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Do you know if this also applies to freight tocs? Certainly in summer it's rare to see a 66 with the doors shut!

the 66's have a door on each side, then a central door into the cab, so it may be a case of the driver has shut the cab door, then forgotten to shut the external door.
 

Dstock7080

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All LU passenger Stock have door interlocks, '72/'73/'92/'95/'96/'09/C/D/S.
On automatic lines/stock it is not possible to have the cab door open.
On '72/'73/C/D it is customary for the door interlocks to be cut out.
D Stock will shortly only allow the off-side door to open with the interlock sealed.

LU passenger Stock no longer have opening cab windows.
 

ATW Alex 101

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They do open inwards. Same as a Voyager.

Voyagers do indeed have inward opening doors. In fact there is a video I came across a few years ago, and the front door of the voyager has it's door open. Also note how the voyager is hauling a pendolino on the fast line!

[youtube]HGPers-Te9o[/youtube]​
 

matchmaker

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Bit OT, but when volunteering on the SVR many years ago, the best coaches to be a guard on were Mk 1's, as they had an inward opening guard's door - bliss on a hot day. LMS and GWR coaches both had outward opening doors :cry:
 

RichmondCommu

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As a line side spotter in the late 1970's / early 1980's I can remember 'Peaks' and class 47's always running with their cab doors open on warm summer days. These were also the days when guards on unfitted freights would stand on the veranda smoking a pipe......
 

O L Leigh

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It's not unusual for classes of train to be modded. Cl455s certainly used to be capable of operating with the cab doors open prior to refurbishment (I have seen this myself), but I'm not sure that this is still the case. I certainly have never seen a refurbed unit running with the crew doors open, but that does not mean that it is impossible.

The simple answer would be to ask a current Cl455 driver to test a unit on prep. Kick the crew door open and see if you can still take power against the brake. This was the test I used to use when prepping Cl317s to ensure the integrity and operation of the traction interlock circuit.

As for Voyagers, etc. These trains have inward opening hinged doors that are not on the interlock circuit. Theoretically you could run with them open, but I would imagine that doing so would make the cab environment particularly unpleasant and noisy. Quite how you would hear the vigilance, AWS or cab radio equipment under such conditions is a mystery.

O L Leigh
 

westcoaster

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I was once road learning on a southern 455 last year, after the driver change at selhurst the new driver didn't shut the crew door and drove of no problem, he realised at the next stop and shut the door valve with his foot.
 

Mojo

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D Stock will shortly only allow the off-side door to open with the interlock sealed.

Must be a bit of a nuisance. Outside of the depot, I never had cause to have the off-side door open whilst the train was moving, but regularly needed the driver's side door to be open; to check the platform-train interface, etc.
 

Jonfun

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Bit OT, but when volunteering on the SVR many years ago, the best coaches to be a guard on were Mk 1's, as they had an inward opening guard's door - bliss on a hot day. LMS and GWR coaches both had outward opening doors :cry:

I have to say, I've never been comfortable with having the guards door open when the train's moving and doesn't have a platform next to it. I'd probably end up either losing my phone, hat, or running sheet out of it, and it's quite a distance down if I were to fall! Both of the railways I'm a part of would have a quiet word about it these days if someone was spotted with the door open after you've left the end of the platform - suppose it was one of those things that was just done though, years back. :)
 

pendolino

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On a (Southern) 455: if the DKS is on in a cab then the slidy cab door can be open with no loss of interlock and there will be no BIL light lit when the door is open. Take the key off and, with the door open, interlock is lost and the BIL light comes on. Which means you must remember to close the cab door when changing ends or you can't get interlock from the other cab.
 

Monty

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In a rare moment if clarity I've decided not to add fuel to the fire.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
On a (Southern) 455: if the DKS is on in a cab then the slidy cab door can be open with no loss of interlock and there will be no BIL light lit when the door is open. Take the key off and, with the door open, interlock is lost and the BIL light comes on. Which means you must remember to close the cab door when changing ends or you can't get interlock from the other cab.

The same applies to the SWT 455s. :)
 
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Rugd1022

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the 66's have a door on each side, then a central door into the cab, so it may be a case of the driver has shut the cab door, then forgotten to shut the external door.

The outer cab doors often open off their own accord if the locks or handles are b*gg*red, if you're tanking along at speed and they bounce back and forth it can be a real earache sometimes. Likewise with the internal doors, as soon as they open all manner of noise and draughts enter the cabs. By the way, No1 end cab has two internal doors while No.2 end only has one ;)
 

AlexS

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There's a number of drivers with EMT who prefer to drive with the cab door open - on HSTs and 222s I believe the management are fully aware of this and have no problem with it as the driver sits well forward of the door and there's no risk of falling out. They generally shut the door at higher speeds though.

Having seen a few clips of slab fronted units like 323s doing 90 I have no idea how drivers on them manage to hear the vigilance etc going off full stop, the wind blast sounds ridiculous :D
 
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