(C-Stock) Emergency Brakes and Door Lights

The driver was, as you say, going a little too fast. In order to bring the train speed down he released the Combined Traction Brake Controller (CTBC) in order to activate the deadman device briefly (causing a loss of trainline air - which was the sound you heard). This has the basic effect of applying the brakes harder.

The reason why the Outside Door Indicator Lights (OSDIL) came on is because the sudden deceleration caused the doors to open slightly against their push back tolerance. This will result in a loss of doors closed visual (Pilot Light) in the leading cab and the OSDIL's to illuminate on the car exteriors. There was no risk to the customers with regards to this as the doors are still held at their pushback tolerances by the door arms, which are locked in place.

If any "Boss" saw the exercise would that mean censure of some sort?

Thanks for the quick reply, understand 100% now! I still evily wish drivers would take it to the limit and emulate Central Line's ATO! ;D


Going slightly off-topic but do new tube stock have an automatic safety device that if the door was open to open a tiny bit, would the train automatically stop? I was on the Northern Line sometime back and the train stopped in the tunnel abruptly.

"Please do NOT lean on the doors as it would activate the train's automatic stop." was what the t/o said...

Sounds like a slight exaggeration in order to get the desired reaction!

Strictly speaking the driver should move the TBC to emergency rather than releasing the deadman to get an emergency brake application (or even better not need emergency in the first place, but as prjb says we've all done it! )

So you mean new trains which are supposed to be at the forefront of technology will now be able to travel along at top speed with all their doors wide open? Whereas on NR if a door opens whilst the train is in motion, the emergency brakes apply?

Whats the difference and where is the logic, as I cannot see it!



Yes you should, because you get a stronger application by going to emergency as you get Full EP and Full Westinghouse. Where as if you just drop the handle you get a full westinghouse application.....I think??

And yes we have all been there, or seen people do it. We all make mistakes from time to time and misjudge things.

No, I mean that new trains at the forefront of technology will continue to operate quite safely as other rolling stock has done on LU since we introduced OPO with air operated doors. The Pilot Light will be lost and the traction will be cut, it is then the responsibility of the professional Train Operator to take appropriate action.
Furthermore, I fail to see how this will cause trains to travel along at full speed with all the doors open. Coventional stock out there on the railway today cannot do this and future stock will not be able to either. The future stock will be fitted with a raft of safety features which would prevent this from occuring, including (but not limited to) Door Interlocking/speed sensing/Emergency Door Opening (a more modern Correct Side Door Enable system)/APR's etc.
You cannot compare NR to LU in this respect. We have a vastly higher amount of short start/stops and carry much higher passenger numbers. If we introduced a train to the railway that EB'd (Emergency Braked) every time it lost the doors closed visual I dread to think what would happen.
Indeed, in the example given which started this thread the train would have applied full emergency brakes and come to a complete stand. All the driver actually needed here was a little more brakes, not a complete EB application.



On a 'C' Stock, in this scenario, it is better from a drivers point of view to 'drop the button' briefly rather than apply the emergency brakes for a number of reasons. In this instance the driver kept better control as he only wanted a small amount of extra braking rather than the full EB application that would have been received had he moved the CTBC into Emergency. The difference in terms of psi between dropping the handle and applying full emergency brakes isn't actually that great (Solidbond will be along shortly to confirm the actual additional braking force!).
Also if you are in MAX and move the CTBC into Emergency, on a 'C' Stock, you get an occurence which most drivers do not find preferable. Drivers will know what I mean here, and other LU staff are welcome to PM me!

In my post (Number 6, not 11) I quite clearly stated:

As this was discussing the question of trains EB'ing when the doors are opened it was posted in that context.



I think this just stems from misreading my post Number 6. Hope this is now clarified for everyone?





No it doesn't, perhaps your not sure what I mean here? PM me and I will ellaborate.