What happens when you pull the emergency handle?

[TEW]

On the Voyager this may be the fire alarm rather than a passcom. I remember once incident where I was on a Voyager heading to Devon, an alarm went off over the PA, train stopped and then a few minutes later the guard came over reminding us it was illegal to smoke anywhere on the train.

On the HST it may have been a call for aid alarm. On the GA Mk3s there is a call for aid alarm, triggered in the disabled loo and seating area. Simply sounds an alarm throughout the train for the attention of traincrew but doesn't impact the progress of the train.

On Voyager it could also be a crew call. They all use the same sound over the PA but different tones have different meanings.

 

[bronzeonion]

On older, vacuum braked stock such as a Mk1... the activation of a PassCom causes the vacuum to drop to 8 inch/Hg, this can then be reset by using a 'butterfly' on the outside of the carriage. Normally, these are at a horizontal position, however will drop to indicate which carriage the PassCom has been pulled in. To reset away from a platform, you either need long arms to reach from a droplight window or a ladder!

TP

I thought it was 15 inch it dropped to which would cause a light application, 8 is quite fierce!

 

[SamS]

On Voyager it could also be a crew call. They all use the same sound over the PA but different tones have different meanings.

Whenever I've heard it it's always the same tone, and is either ignored, or in one case for the retail services manager to talk to the first class host.

I'm not sure it's used for a crew call, as yesterday the first class host made an announcement for the train manager to make his way to coach A. I don't think I've ever seen a train manager rush through so quickly. Not sure what it was but he mentioned something about coach E (which obviously doesn't exist).

 

[No Fault Found]

On a Class 180 the driver can override the passcom brake application and is able to speak to the person concerned at the other end of the line. This doesn't apply to the egress handles that provide emergency door release and do apply the brakes outright. (if I remember rightly!). From memory the toilet passenger alarms also don't connect to the braking system.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong...

Correct, the call for aid alarms in the toilets do not activate the brakes.

The passcom will put the brakes in, which you quite rightly said the driver can overide. This overide is on a 3 minute timer so after 3 minutes the brakes will come back in if the passcom hasn't been reset, although the driver can push the overide again for brake release.

I am pretty sure that the egress handles can also be overidden though. The doors do have a shootbolt that operates over 6mph though that prevents the door from being opened. I'll have to double check later though as it's got me thinking now.

 

[sarahj]

The problem with the speaking pass coms is folks who push them by accident, and in the small lav of a 377 quite easily done, its in a silly place, but then ignore the driver asking if they need help. On a DOO this means a stop somewhere, on a guard worked train it means me rushing through a train to find out what gone wrong, and its always coach 2 when I'm in coach 12. It them sometimes means me hammering on the door, sometimes having to unlock from the outside. Once had a pass who pushed the alarm, said nothing, when when I tried to gain access kept relocking. We were about to halt the train just in case, when after much hammering and comments from me, they came out. Sometimes i just wished I could impose the 'penalty for missuse'.

 

[LowLevel]

The problem with the speaking pass coms is folks who push them by accident, and in the small lav of a 377 quite easily done, its in a silly place, but then ignore the driver asking if they need help. On a DOO this means a stop somewhere, on a guard worked train it means me rushing through a train to find out what gone wrong, and its always coach 2 when I'm in coach 12. It them sometimes means me hammering on the door, sometimes having to unlock from the outside. Once had a pass who pushed the alarm, said nothing, when when I tried to gain access kept relocking. We were about to halt the train just in case, when after much hammering and comments from me, they came out. Sometimes i just wished I could impose the 'penalty for missuse'.

That's why I love working 15x units - no difficulty with relocking the door - just isolate the air on power operated doors and/or trip the breaker for the door and there's nothing anyone inside can do about it - works with fare evaders as well! Manual doors = t key gives far more leverage than the little knob inside!

 

[M60lad]

Out of interest while we're on the subject of Pascoms and emergency egress handles, how often these days are fines actually issued for the misuse of these as quite often when I'm on trains I'll see the usual Penalty for misuse notices above them

 

[davetheguard]

The older 'pull the chain' system in vacuum-braked stock only caused a partial application to indicate to the driver and the guard that there was a problem. If on a bridge, in a tunnel or other place where stopping would cause more problems, the driver could carry on driving to a better spot. If in some more modern stock the alarm system applies the brakes fully, that seems to me to be a bit dodgy.

Yes, as John Webb says, pulling the communication cord (called a cord but it was actually a chain) on B.R. loco-hauled Mk 1 & 2s opened a valve called a "butterfly" which destroyed the vacuum and applied the brakes. But there wasn't any of that full brake application stuff with the train stopping on a sixpence and people thrown to the floor that you see in films and on TV; that's completely inaccurate. The Driver would feel the drag, see the vacuum gauge dropping, and bring the train safely to a stand.

The butterfly was so-called because of its shape. To reset, the Guard would find out where the cord had been pulled, and then lean out of one of the end door windows, from where he or she could reach up and turn the offending butterfly back to its original position; thus resealing the pipe and allowing the driver to recreate (release) the brake.

With the train back underway, the Guard would then probably have to write down the details of why & by whom the cord had been pulled for his report and find out if it had been pulled with good reason or "for fun".

 

[A-driver]

Out of interest while we're on the subject of Pascoms and emergency egress handles, how often these days are fines actually issued for the misuse of these as quite often when I'm on trains I'll see the usual Penalty for misuse notices above them

I can think of 3 passcoms which have been activated on my trains in error (ie no genuine emergency) and it would never even occur to me to take anyone's details for prosecution. Technically we should get a name and address when resetting but when some one has (albeit stupidly) pulled the passcom to flush the loo and then apologises and seems very embarrassed when I have stopped the Cambridge express at oakleigh park station to reset it I wouldn't ever ask for their details. For a start if they refuse then there isn't much I can do and as far as I'm concerned mistakes happen. If they kept doing it deliberately then id report it to control and they can try to get police involved if they want but I would never go down the line of trying to get someone's details.

So in answer to your question, if imagine issuing of fines to be very rare.

 

[boing_uk]

Do they? Whenever I've seen (and operated) the egress on a 158 it just sets off a timer and the hustle alarm as an acknowledgement, once the timer has elapsed you should theoretically be at a stand and the doors will open.

Only if you count the driver being thrown forward on to the horn lever due to the emergency brake application...

Okay, I will elaborate a little further then as to what I experienced; Back in 2008 or 09, can't remember now, I fell asleep on the way back in to Blackpool ex Blackburn - Platform 1 as it happens - and woke up about 15 mins after arrival to find it powered down, lights off. Walked through the train, no cleaners, no staff on board, no platform staff visible and no charge on my phone to call out either.

Leading cab internal door was open, so thought "can I get out via the gangway door"... no, apparently not.

So last option was to use the emergency egress button on the door nearest the station. On pressing it, the horn sounded, the doors unlocked and sprang loose but they didn't half need a shove to open.

I remember the horn sounding clearly because I s**t myself at the noise and the echo around the empty platform areas (I was hoping for a clandestine escape!). So yes, that's my personal experience of using the emergency egress button on a 158... unless of course my recollection is severely wrong and the "horn" sound was something else...?

 

[A-driver]

Okay, I will elaborate a little further then as to what I experienced; Back in 2008 or 09, can't remember now, I fell asleep on the way back in to Blackpool ex Blackburn - Platform 1 as it happens - and woke up about 15 mins after arrival to find it powered down, lights off. Walked through the train, no cleaners, no staff on board, no platform staff visible and no charge on my phone to call out either.

Leading cab internal door was open, so thought "can I get out via the gangway door"... no, apparently not.

So last option was to use the emergency egress button on the door nearest the station. On pressing it, the horn sounded, the doors unlocked and sprang loose but they didn't half need a shove to open.

I remember the horn sounding clearly because I s**t myself at the noise and the echo around the empty platform areas (I was hoping for a clandestine escape!). So yes, that's my personal experience of using the emergency egress button on a 158... unless of course my recollection is severely wrong and the "horn" sound was something else...?

Sounds more like a coincidence that a horn sounded at the same time. I have never known it to be linked to the horn.

 

[Llama]

All the horn is is an air supply from the main res pipe to the horn valve on the drivers desk, which supplies air to the horn trumpets depending on which way the lever is pulled. Depending on unit type there will be a transducer or pressure sensor downstream of the horn valve for the benefit of the OTDR. There is no physical, pneumatic or electrical connection between the egress and the horn.