Daily Train physical inspections?

[Geezertronic]

I was just wondering whether a physical inspection is carried out on each train on a daily basis before it goes into service by either a technician or a driver? By thay I mean is the train mecanically sound and are all of the front and rear lights working?

I only ask as I have seen a couple of XC Voyagers where the headlights are on (during the day) but the offside headlight is not working. Is this by design or does it need replacing? And generally when should things like this be picked up?

Cheers

 

[222001]

I only ask as I have seen a couple of XC Voyagers where the headlights are on (during the day) but the offside headlight is not working. Is this by design or does it need replacing? And generally when should things like this be picked up?

Cheers

Thats is how it is designed. They have the right headlight on during the day and the left headlight on during the night so they can read trackside signs better. How having one headlight on is better than two I don't know!
You can see that this class 185 is the same too - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/185103_at_Castleton_East_Junction.jpg

 

[Juniper Driver]

I think there is a reason for the one headlight thing but am not fully sure why.

All I can think about at the moment is a train with two headlights could be mistaken for motorised traffic as some railways run alongside roads although this may be bullcrap.

At one time though the slammers didn't have a headlight although 455s/315s were built in the early 1980's with headlights installed.

Of course trains fitted with two headlights could easily be wired so both were lit at the same.

I'll ask at work.

 

[90019]

Of course trains fitted with two headlights could easily be wired so both were lit at the same.

I've seen a fair few pictures of HSTs with both headlights on

 

[Juniper Driver]

I've seen a fair few pictures of HSTs with both headlights on

Good point there.

At one time 455's second man side light never worked.Perhaps the bulb was there but we couldn't turn it on.

HST headlights though are not as bright as a desiro headlight?

They look more like marker lights even though they aren't.

More sort of a supressed light whereas a desiro can dazzle drivers at night coming the other way.

 

[90019]

The older HST headlights weren't that bright, but the ones in the newer clusters are much brighter.

 

[westcoaster]

at the toc i work for each morning before the units enter service they have to be preped, we walk around the out side off the unit checking all the air cocks are not isolated, all hazzard lights work, no smashed windows, no graffiti, check the pantograph, check both head/marker and tail lights work, nothing is dangling off. on the inside check all lights work, check the heating is on, all doors open and shut, no motors isolated, all mcb's on, in the cab all safety systems are working, power test, radio test, think thats about it, hope that helps.

 

[Geezertronic]

Thanks for all the replies.

Is it the responsibility of the driver (or the first driver of the day to drive the train) or is it the responsibility of the engineers onsite to check the mechanical condition of the train before it goes out?

 

[GB]

The reason most stock dont use two headlights at the same time is mainly due to A, there is no need and B, to prevent on coming drivers from being blinded.

During the day the headlight is purely there to mark the presence of the train to any one that may be on or near the line. They do not afford any benifit to the driver of the train in terms of increased visability so having another one on at the same time is not really required.

During the night, as some one pointed out above, its there to aid the driver in viewing line side signs and staff. Having another headlight on will almost certainly daze other drivers.

 

[Stonesourscotty]

What are the procedures during fog? as ive never been on a train during fog.

 

[driver9000]

Thanks for all the replies.

Is it the responsibility of the driver (or the first driver of the day to drive the train) or is it the responsibility of the engineers onsite to check the mechanical condition of the train before it goes out?

That depends on the location, some turns require the driver to fully prepare the train for service others will have the driver collecting a prepared train. It is the responsibility of whoever is booked (driver,shunter etc) to prepare the train to carry out the task.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

What are the procedures during fog? as ive never been on a train during fog.

driving in fog has no special procedure except reducing speed if the driver thinks he/she needs to, headlights remain the same.

 

[whoosh]

Is it the responsibility of the driver (or the first driver of the day to drive the train) or is it the responsibility of the engineers onsite to check the mechanical condition of the train before it goes out?

At East Midlands Trains, drivers 'prep' HSTs before they leave the depot. Bombardier fitters 'prep' Meridians, as Bombardier are contracted to do the maintenance on them, and provide so many to be available for service each day.

The day headlight (on the right-hand side if looking out of the cab) is aligned to be seen by trackworkers at a distance, and is actually brighter than the night headlight (certainly on newer trains anyway) - think of a candle, it's easy to see in the dark, but hard to see in the day, especially from any kind of distance. The night headlight (on the left-hand side if looking out of the cab) is angled slightly down and to the left to pick out speed boards etc. Apart from signs picked out by the headlight you can't really see a lot at night, but the headlight's main function is for people to see you - after all, you don't really need to see where you're going, you're on rails and you'll go where they take you, but trackworkers and members of the public using footcrossings etc. need to see you coming.

On HSTs with original headlights there was a setting where you could have both on at once, and I think there had been an instruction at some point for both to be used. Eurostars have both left and right switched on if I recall.

Driving in fog, you'd use the day headlight if it's (foggy) daytime, and the night headlight if it's (foggy) night-time. There aren't any 'fog lights' like on road vehicles. If you feel the need to you can reduce speed, but it's actually easier to drive at the speed you normally do - you don't get lost then. I'll explain - every day you are accelerating and braking in the same places, the gradients are the same, the stations are in the same place - it's the same everyday pretty much. If you drive as you normally do, you can 'feel' your way in the fog. Count the signals (helped by the AWS bell or horn), watch the speedo rise and fall so you know when there's a certain gradient, listen for the sound of overbridges whooshing by - you hear and feel where you are. Of course you'd be crawling upto red signals though, although the AWS would help you there, but you need to know which signals have the AWS magnet located nearer to the signal than usual.
Basically you need to know your route thoroughly!

 

[jon0844]

What is it like driving in fog when it's so bad you can't see far in front at all? Doesn't it feel weird - like I'd imagine it does for a pilot in thick clouds?

Or is it just like night driving?

Obviously you guys get used to it or we'd crawl along at 5mph when it's dark or foggy.

 

[O L Leigh]

What's it like driving in fog...? Hold a sheet of grey paper a foot in front of your nose, then run at the world at 80mph. I've driven in fog so thick that you can't see the aspect of a colour-light signal until AFTER the train has passed over the AWS magnet and objects close to the line, like OLE structures, only loom out of the murk at 25-50 yards. It can be great fun belting along at full linespeed under such conditions.

I was going to add to what Whoosh says about driving in the fog, but he's really said it all. It does require concentration and is probably the stiffest test of a driver's route knowledge, but it is both possible and safe.

After you've driven a route for a while you can quite effectively visualise it even when it's hidden in the murk. Therefore, because you can feel what the train is doing under you, you can follow where you are to a fairly high degree of accuracy. I don't tend to count signals, but I know from the movements the train is making and the sounds I can hear exactly when it's turning left or right and when I'm going over features such as junctions and bridges.

Whoosh is also correct about the need for (and dangers of) slowing down if you lose track of where you are. You can't go tanking along at full clip and risk missing a station, so you do need to slow down until you get your bearings again. However, by slowing down it's likely to be harder to work out precisely where you are. You have a kind of mental timetable so that you know roughly how long it should take to get from A to B, but slowing down throws that right out the window and you become totally reliant on actually seeing a familiar landmark. This is fine on most routes, but on a featureless line such as the Kings Lynn road it can be hard to know your exact location even in broad daylight. It's for reasons such as this that any landmarks I use for braking points are always within the boundary fence. That way I know I can always see them even in the thickest fog.

All that said, you do need to be a little more cautious than normal. We have a lot of foot crossings on our routes, so I always whistle long and loud for every single one whether there's a board or not. The last thing I want is a family out walking Rover to suddenly materialise just a few tens of yards in front of me and to collect the lot. Likewise any cautionary aspects get a positive response. Brake straight into Step 2 at a double yellow and down to as low as I can get the speed before the single yellow. If it hasn't come off to a less restrictive aspect by the time I get there the speed comes straight down to 15mph so that I'm already going nice and slow when I hit the AWS for the red.

Mind you, "look back" DOO working with an 8 car train can be trying under such conditions.

O L Leigh

 

[westcoaster]

in the driving role i think the worse thing is driving in fog (especially as you enter a tunnel at 100mph , you know its coming but when a brick wall appears out of know where?), its not so bad in built up areas whese it tends to be less dense, but get out into the sticks and it gets 10 times worse you really do need to know where you are, as stated above you concentrate so hard that at the end of the journey you really feel drained, a few weeks back i did bedford to brighton at silly o'clock in dense fog all the way 2hr 30 min it felt like 5 hours, had a break then all the way back again but on the way back it was patchy so not so bad.

 

[Juniper Driver]

Thanks for all the replies.

Is it the responsibility of the driver (or the first driver of the day to drive the train) or is it the responsibility of the engineers onsite to check the mechanical condition of the train before it goes out?

It's the responsibility of the depot mechanics although if a driver does find a fault on prep he is not permitted to leave a maintenance depot i.e Wimbledon being an example.Could be headlights not working.Door fault's/wipers or whatever.

If a driver finds a fault in service then he is obliged to report it and await further instructions.

The only thing with the headlight answers on here was that the 455/315 headlights wern't really calibrated for anything and for years only worked on the drivers side.Slammers didn't even have them.

 

[73110]

I have a video of an approach to a station in the fog. Worst I have seen for years so I whipped my phone out and filmed stopping at the station. Can't put it up here 'cos I will get sacked then won't I!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[O L Leigh]

Just to add to the headlight point.

Even though a train appears to have a headlight on both sides of the cab it doesn't mean that both of them work. The Cl317/6's have a headlight housing on both sides but until recently only the driver's side headlight actually had a bulb in it. There was certainly none of this day and night beam business, just a single toggle switch marked "headlight". Even now, the headlight on the opposite side is just to be used as an emergency headlight in the event that the main one fails. To reinforce this, the switch for this headlight is on the far side of the cab.

O L Leigh