The way the motors used to' drop out' and with not every one being a Westinghouse fan the other 'method' used to be popular among one or two. Not sure it was actually officially banned either though imagine it would have been frowned upon - or maybe they never twigged and put the increase in wear on the blocks down to WH use.
The way the motors used to' drop out' and with not every one being a Westinghouse fan the other 'method' used to be popular among one or two. Not sure it was actually officially banned either though imagine it would have been frowned upon - or maybe they never twigged and put the increase in wear on the blocks down to WH use.
The other method was common knowledge and would certainly have got a driver into trouble if found out because of the safety implications. One Guard complained that he was always having to pull the driver down and would always close his door before giving the bell in tunnel stations.
The rheo on the 72 MkI and MkII was very unreliable. One of the issues being that a rheo fault on any motor car would affect the rheo on the whole train
Another fault was that when the rho cut out at around 8mph, the EP brake didn't always take over straight away. This would usually mean that a nice controlled braking to the stopping marknormally ended up in the driver having to make a sudden heavy brake application or the train would have overshot.
The rheo on 73 stock was much better because any fault only affected the one motor car, this gave a much smoother, reliable braking. You could approach Hatton X WB at 60 and apply the brakes and make a comfortable, accurate stop every time. At least it was good when the stock first came out, I don't know what it's like these days.
Westinghouse was boring on a 72 compared to a 38 / 59 stock as it generally worked every time! There was more skill to braking on westinghouse on the earlier stock. However, if the westinghouse on that train was a good one and applied and released OK every time, it was a pleasure to use. Many a time I would use it for a whole trip on the Northern line, irrespective of whether I was stopping at an auto or semi, but only if I had complet trust in it.
Westinghouse was ideal on an early turn when drivers had a tendancy to fall asleep. Drive standing up for a while and if that didn't help, then use WH for a few stops. It's surprising how alert you then became!