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No carriage lighting

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MarkyMarkD

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I travelled with Chiltern from Marylebone to Stratford on Thursday, and was rather surprised (when we went into the first of quite a few lengthy tunnels) to find that there was no carriage lighting at all in our unit.

I thought that it was against "health & safety" to permit the use of units with non-functioning lighting?
 
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lauraGeeGee

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Essex
Did the lighting not come on at all?

No emergency lighting? Which would just be a couple of bulbs lit in each coach, usually at the doors. If not, it sounds as if the driver may have forgotten to put the lights on. Very easy done!

If we take a train out of service, we travel without the coach lights lit. Must remember to put them on when the train then enters service though!

I have done it myself but realised very quickly.
 

Pacerpilot

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If the unit has laid over at Marylebone for a length of time, the lowe voltage protection may have kicked in. it shuts down lighting to preserve the battery voltage when the engines are shut down.
Its easy to start the unit up and forget to reset the saloon lights.
 

philjo

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the 317 I was on yesterday had no lighting until Hitchin - someone must have told the driver.

I have been on trains through the Welwyn tunnels with no lighting at all !
 

Class377/5

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I travelled with Chiltern from Marylebone to Stratford on Thursday, and was rather surprised (when we went into the first of quite a few lengthy tunnels) to find that there was no carriage lighting at all in our unit.

I thought that it was against "health & safety" to permit the use of units with non-functioning lighting?

You need lighting for the train to be in service but if it's failed during the day and no-one reports it o staff then it's understandable why it's still running around.

Sounds like a fault with the system or lights not switched on to me.
 

Tramfan

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I was on a 3 car 158 a couple of months ago which had no lights in the middle car. An off duty employee travelling as a passenger had a go at fixing the problem, but the lights only came on for a few seconds before going off again. This was very early morning as well, so I was surprised the unit wasn't failed, but it made for a pleasant, atmospheric journey as it was dark outside as well!
 

Wyvern

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Last time I was on a train where the lights had failed in one of the coaches, the guard locked it out of use.

:?:
 

Nym

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Had this on a Manchester - Hull due to an engine failiure in one if the units and the crossfeed (if Bombardier even fitted one) not working, so emergency lighting to Leeds, then the batteries died and that failed, now a cold coach with cylumes for lighting handed out by the guard, rather than failing the unit or locking the carriage OOU. Nicely done TPE Guard, thanks :)

Beautiful views over the Eastuary when I came in home.
 

Tomonthetrain

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I had a ATW 150 once without lighting. Was really interesting in the tunnels approaching Birmingham New Street!
 

jon0844

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the 317 I was on yesterday had no lighting until Hitchin - someone must have told the driver.

I have been on trains through the Welwyn tunnels with no lighting at all !

I've been on 313s, 317s and 321s without lighting, sometimes with the first opportunity to tell the driver being Finsbury Park.

Surprisingly common 'problem', as I presume drivers are instructed to turn the lights off when they're not in service - and forget to turn them back on.
 

ert47

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I've been on a 456 without lights, it was trailing behind a 455 on a Caterham/Tattenham Corner service. Unfortunately we didnt go through any long tunnels (Crystal Palace Tunnel might have been fun).
 

sprite

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I have been on an XC HST with the lights out in coach B. The guard kept everyone upto date with information as the train was delayed from Bristol Parkway (origin station), and showing as cancelled. He was getting people to move along the train (over the tannoy) and said "I am sorry to say that due to the lighting failure in coach B, passengers cannot occupy any seats in it, however you are health and safety does not prevent you walking through. Try working that out, but please do take care."
 

Crossover

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Been in a carriage on an ex WSMR loco hauled which had no lighting (one of the non-refurb coaches). I suspect it had a fault but that no-one knew about it. We happily occupied it and the tunnels were rather fun!

Was on a 185 the other week from York (it had been laid over there for a while) and it seemed the driver forgot to turn the lights on, so there were only a handful of lights on in each coach. Very nice given that it was somewhere around 9pm. Unfortunately, the staff realised and not long after leaving York, it became like the Blackpool illuminations again! :(
 

causton

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I get this on buses a lot - Mercedes Citaro buses in particular, my local operator uses them and the drivers seem to use a mode which has 3 tiny strips of light. Which is nice when you don't want a headache from staring at bright lights all the way home!
 

KiddyKid

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6 Apr 2010
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I failed 165029 at Marylebone last week with zero lighting in the London end vehicle, I suspect the batteries were flat due to a charging fault as the alternator would not kick in. prehaps this was the same vehicle.
 

brillopad

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Scrotes in Cornwall have discovered the full/half bright switches on HSTs and how to operate the panel - lights get turned off at Truro, Redruth, Camborne & St Erth quite often.
 

michael769

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I have been through the tunnels between Haymarket and Waverley in unlit carriages a few times. It is quite eerie with just the emergency notices glowing in the dark.

Most times the omission is noticed and the lights come on at Haymarket!

I also a coup,e of months ago was on a train whose engine kept stalling, As the line is downhill all the way to Haymarket they decided to let the train coast into Edinburgh. The lights inevitably packed in about 5 miles short of the station. At the time someone was in the loo and started knocking on the door when they could not get out, so someone shouted through the door to them: "There is no power in the train you will need to wait".
 

RPM

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This has become more commonplace since a rule was brought in about a year or so ago requiring unit engines to be shut down on arrival at Marylebone (a NIMBY appeasing noise abatement measure). When you start up a unit you can't reliably put the interior lights on until it has been running for a few minutes. Sometimes if you do it a bit too early they can come on, only to go off again a minute or so later. Normally I hit the lights-on button again on the approach to the tunnels, but if there are other distractions this can get forgotten. Unfortunately there is no in-cab indication to prove all the carriages are illuminated so, on a DOO service, if nobody comes up to tell the driver then the lights stay off.
 

jon0844

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To be honest, turning engines off (or lighting in the train if out of use) is good for the environment.

However, trains should have some way of alerting the driver. At the very least, once a driver keys in the details to activate the CIS (if present on the train) it could automatically turn the lights on (and off if ECS). Naturally that means connecting different systems together, so probably something for new builds.
 
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