What happens if a train driver gets a nosebleed or needs the toilet?

[david_VI]

I couldn't help but ask this.. why not? .

While thinking about train drivers, myself and the woman wondered what happens if the driver needs the toilet?
It seems one of those things you'd not really think about. When you get trained is there guidance on drinking and toilet breaks? I can imagine needing the toilet could cause your concentration to go down a lot!!

Needing the toilet can be avoided by drinking/eating at decent times but what if while driving you suddenly get a nosebleed out of nowhere?

Is there procedures for this type of thing?
Just one of those things we thought about so I thought why not ask!

Oh and Hi, i'm new here! (Well registered years ago, lurked a bit but posting now!)

David

 

[Crossover]

Someone will be able to advise better than me but I have heard of Emergency PNB's (Personal Needs Break) before which would allow a driver to make an unscheduled stop if approved by the relevant people, if nature calls

Nosebleeds may be a different matter though, I'm not sure.

P.S. Welcome to the posting world

 

[RPM]

You stop the train and deal with it. Better to do that than be so distracted you miss a station or worse, a red signal. Report delay and reason to signaller (and/or control), keep calm & carry on. Obviously, if this is happening on a regular basis your suitabilty as a driver may be called into question!

 

[Grantham]

Some engines in our freight service have running boards with handrails down each side, and carry two crew members. It is technically against the rules, but it has been known to happen, that one might go out onto the walkway at low speed, take a slash and return, while the other driver/second person/observer/fireman presses the vigilance button in one's absence.

Late one night on a low speed stretch of track, a mate of mine told his fireman he was going for a "wee walk" and would be back in a mo.

So there he was, standing outside, extremely busy, when he suddenly smelled smoke off the brake shoes from the bogie below him...the vigilance button had oviously not been pressed, and the air had been dumped (the engine brakes come on far sooner than the train brakes, due to the length of train...half a mile). My mate marched back to the cab after he was done, to find his mate coming back in from the other running board from an identical mission...

 

[jopsuk]

About eight years ago I was sitting up the front of a Stansted Express servcice. It got stopped at a red light just outside Liverpool Street. I heard the crew door slide back, and saw, from the window, a golden stream arcing out the side of the train!

 

[Grantham]

About eight years ago I was sitting up the front of a Stansted Express servcice. It got stopped at a red light just outside Liverpool Street. I heard the crew door slide back, and saw, from the window, a golden stream arcing out the side of the train!

The correct euphemism for taking a slash from the train is "checking the couplings"

 

[jopsuk]

surely you can only do that out of the connecting door at the front?

 

[Whistler40145]

I can imagine that it's less of a problem if a Train Driver needs a pee whilst on the move, but must be difficult if he/she has a bad stomach!


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[driver9000]

If I need the toilet then I go at the next station. I always try to go before I take a train out though. I've never had a nosebleed while driving but I have a rag or tissues in my pocket anyway.

 

[KA4C]

Odd question, but anyway, drivers, once they get into a routine, know what / how much to drink and where they would normally use the toilet on each turn that they do. In terms of an "emergency situation" they would be expected to use facilities as available and to advise signaller that train will be delayed at xyz and why

In terms of something like an upset stomach, nose bleed, something of that kind, I would expect them, again, to advise the signaller so that they can be relieved (pardon the pun) of duty ASAP given that this kind of thing is going to cause distraction to the driver and therefore we don't want them driving at that time

 

[CSC]

Didn't the older locomotive types have some sort of toilet/urinal tucked away in the engine room area?.As,on the technical diagrams featured in Locomotives Illustrated for example if you look closely it seems class 50 and 81-85 had one and presumably other types did as well.If this is so,then don't the newer types i.e 66,67 and 70?.....

 

[GB]

Cant remember the last locos to have WC facilities but certainly nothing built post privatisation has. In the case of freight its either go before you leave, wait, or use a bottle! (or hope you get put inside a loop somewhere)

 

[ex-railwayman]

Driving a passenger train would be rather awkward for the driver if he got caught short, freight drivers on the other hand aren't too fussy, they used to have a small urinal in some locomotives anyway many years ago, mostly the drivers would climb down from the cab and go behind some bushes, it depends on where they were. A physical needs break was built into the timetable for some drivers where they could use a messroom in a marshalling yard, or, MPD, for instance, of course, you trained your body on the intake of liquids not to be having to go for a pee every 3 miles.

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.

 

[GearJammer]

Funnily enough i was chatting to a freight driver on Saterday and this came up, he said they usually get out the loco and pee in the ballast while stopped in loops or at signals, although he did laugh and say that you can be absolutely guaranteed that the one time your desperate for a pee will be the one time you get constant green lights, sods law i guess, lol

 

[KA4C]

Cant remember the last locos to have WC facilities but certainly nothing built post privatisation has. In the case of freight its either go before you leave, wait, or use a bottle!

or the washer bottle, or the sump plate

(All loco's that did have urinals had them removed years ago)

 

[ex-railwayman]

(All loco's that did have urinals had them removed years ago)

Yeah, Deltics and Class 40s had them in No. 2 end, if I remember correctly, I must check that the next time I go to the DPS at Barrow Hill.......

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.

 

[Phil6219]

Bottles tend to work - so I hear, apparently Locazade tends to be the preferred choice since it has a bigger neck.

If anyone happens to have the Viz Dictionary check out the entry for "Truckers Tizer" and also "Guards Parcel" though I hope the latter one was a joke...

Phil

 

[Grantham]

I find it amazing that freight locomotives in a first world country not only don't have a toilet, but don't have a radio so you can listen to music!

Are you sure that you blokes have all paid your taxes and all? I must admit I'm a bit shocked!

Every freight engine (except a handful of shunting units) in Australia has a toilet, although some of the older ones are a bit rugged. Most have a radio for music, although they mute when the train radio crackles into life. Suburban trains don't have them, but they stop at stations that do.

 

[calc7]

Bottles tend to work - so I hear, apparently Locazade tends to be the preferred choice since it has a bigger neck.

If anyone happens to have the Viz Dictionary check out the entry for "Truckers Tizer" and also "Guards Parcel" though I hope the latter one was a joke...

Phil

Funnily enough I have a copy of Das Krapital right next to me. Guard's parcel is a good one.

 

[Flamingo]

I have seen memo's telling drivers not to widdle on the engines of HST's!

 

[All Line Rover]

Ah... I'm sure the RMT will use this as their new reason for why all trains must have two drivers!

 

[Michael.Y]

Yeah, Deltics and Class 40s had them in No. 2 end, if I remember correctly

Suitably named.

 

[tsr]

Suitably named.

...or not, if they're just urinals...

:P

 

[GB]

I find it amazing that freight locomotives in a first world country not only don't have a toilet, but don't have a radio so you can listen to music!

Are you sure that you blokes have all paid your taxes and all? I must admit I'm a bit shocked!

Every freight engine (except a handful of shunting units) in Australia has a toilet, although some of the older ones are a bit rugged. Most have a radio for music, although they mute when the train radio crackles into life. Suburban trains don't have them, but they stop at stations that do.

Different strokes for different folks. The distance covered and environment covered by you Australian drivers probably exceed what a typical UK freight driver covers...(with a some exceptions).

Music is deemed a distraction.

 

[VTPreston_Tez]

What about long-distance drivers on their journeys from like Euston to Preston non-stop or King's Cross to Newcastle non-stop? Are there two drivers or do they make a stop at the next station they can stop into? (e.g. emergency stop at Northallerton or Euxton Balshaw Lane for example)

 

[Cliveblackpool]

This is where your empty Costa coffee cup comes in useful!!

 

[MidnightFlyer]

What about long-distance drivers on their journeys from like Euston to Preston non-stop or King's Cross to Newcastle non-stop? Are there two drivers or do they make a stop at the next station they can stop into? (e.g. emergency stop at Northallerton or Euxton Balshaw Lane for example)

I think the same still applies:

You stop the train and deal with it. Better to do that than be so distracted you miss a station or worse, a red signal. Report delay and reason to signaller (and/or control), keep calm & carry on. Obviously, if this is happening on a regular basis your suitabilty as a driver may be called into question!

For the record, there are no KGX-NCL non-stop runs (only one pointless one a day southbound).

 

[Rugd1022]

We have enough distractions as it is without having Chirs Moyles / Jeremy Vine / the latest Indie beat combo types etc. invading our lug 'oles!

Last time I got 'caught short' in Bordersley Down Goods Loop I resorted to filling a soup can, the contents of which I'd just consumed. Starting from Oxford I'd already downed three cups of tea as well so it all has to go somewhere! Difficult to answer the call of nature down on the ballast at Bordersley with passenger trains passing on both sides....

On paper, we're supposed to be able to take our personal needs breaks away from the cab environment with access to the appropriate facilities, but on the freight side we often end up in places bereft of all mod cons.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Nobody has mentioned the reason you occasionally get a tube train stop briefly in the tunnel when the preceeding train was too far ahead to cause a red signal...?

 

[tsr]

Nobody has mentioned the reason you occasionally get a tube train stop briefly in the tunnel when the preceeding train was too far ahead to cause a red signal...?

I am told there are staff halts in LU tunnels, some of which probably do have rudimentary (or otherwise) toilet facilities.