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Post by countryman on Dec 25, 2019 22:12:51 GMT
How does a timetable result in drivers being disciplined for SPAD's? Blaming fatigue caused by the timetable and lack of PNBs? ? ? ? ?
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Post by countryman on Nov 30, 2019 9:02:25 GMT
Battersea in the late 60s,a tanker lorry used to come around once a week and dispense gallons of Paraffin from a tap at the back. You could also go and fetch it from a hardware type shop...these were going quite a while,I was buying Paraffin by the gallon for use as a degreaser for working on motorbikes well into the nineties. The smell of Paraffin was very pervasive,and it was said that for every gallon of Paraffin burnt,a gallon of water-vapour was given off,leading to immense condensation problems in those pre-double-glazing days. With my chemist's hat on, I did a quick calculation. Based on the assumption that the average molecular formula for the hydrocarbons in paraffin is C15H32, and a gallon of paraffin weighs ~3.6kg, burning this would give ~1,3kg of water, quite a long way off the 4.5kg a gallon of water would weigh. Still potentially a problem though. Also note that generally paraffin is now referred to as kerosene, ie jet aircraft fuel. Heathrow stinks of it!
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Post by countryman on Nov 30, 2019 8:43:50 GMT
Paraffin stoves (many people of my age will remember the jingle for Esso Blue) were in every house. I believe the Aladdin brand stoves were made in West London,in a rail connected factory somewhere near the new North west line.Someone here may remember it. Aladdinique stoves were quite stable, but some of the drip-feed type were not,and cause horrific fires. Paraffin was about 2/- a gallon;posher folk had it delivered in 5-gallon drums, by the pink paraffin man, but I had to carry it home from Bob's (AKA Chingford Hatch Post Office/builders merchants) and the scent of paraffin, kindling, and sold-loose Brillo pads I can smell to this day! If I remember correctly, the Alladin place was on the A40 Western Avenue between Greenford and Northolt Target roundabouts, were it crosses the Grand Union Canal.
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Post by countryman on Nov 22, 2019 9:38:17 GMT
the Clean Air Act if the early 1960s saw the demise of domestic coal traffic in London. all the former BR bits of LT had goods facilities as a left-over from main line days. The district had coal depots at High Street and West Kensington. There's much discussion about those facilities elsewhere on here. I remember seeing the goods depots on the Central Line in operation when I used to bunk off school and ride round the Underground all day. Col trains on the Central would gain access via Leytonstone from Stratford and in earlier times via the Ilford-Newbury Park connection. The CL goods trains were worked by Brush Type 2s (class 31) and the other early diesels. On a pedantic point, I suspect the Clean Air Act was 1956, but its effects were felt almost immediately. Pea soupers stopped at once and we suddenly acquired a plethora of - highly dangerous - paraffin stoves for the flat in Ealing where we lived. At the western end of the LU system, house coal traffic to individual depots lingered on with steam traction, especially on the Uxbridge Line, until the early '60s, usually worked by Cricklewood's grimiest. Although there was a vast improvement there were still a couple of smog events. ,Aftermath Smog and its health effects continued to be a problem in London. During the London fog of 2–5 December 1957 smoke and sulphur dioxide concentrations reached levels comparable to 1952 and there were 760–1000 deaths. Another episode in 1962 resulted in 750 deaths.
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Post by countryman on Nov 21, 2019 18:47:42 GMT
Interesting though this is, there is a cause of wear that this will not mitigate. This is simply that with solid axles, the inner wheel on a curve will always have to travel a shorter distance than the outer. For a 90 degree turn the outer wheel travels ~8 feet more than the inner, so there must be friction and wear. What the wear is compared to the mitigation by this system, goodness knows. I wonder how much it costs to fit this system to every axle (32 sets on a Central Line train) compared to replacing rails and wheelsets.
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Post by countryman on Nov 14, 2019 20:04:03 GMT
Only Clapham Common is south of the river? ?
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Post by countryman on Nov 14, 2019 14:09:35 GMT
A fascinating film, but the commentary is a little stilted.
I remember travelling on the Cravens units on the Central in an 8 car formation in the mid sixties. IIRC, the interiors were quite pink! But my memory isn't what it was.
A bit off-topic perhaps, but were the Cravens 4 car units able to run coupled to a 4 car 62 stock unit?
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Post by countryman on Nov 13, 2019 8:46:11 GMT
I believe the Jubilee solution was no longer considered acceptable by the time Crossrail and Battersea were planned, requiring larger diameter tunnels. I recall the Battersea tunnels' external diameter is approx. Crossrail internal diameter. A quick Google, so no guarantee, but legacy tube tunnels 3.6m. Victoria line 3.85, Jubilee extension 4.35m. Battersea 5.2m (same as DLR!), so probably Lewisham extension also! Crossrail 6.2 internal in 7.1 metre bore. QED. My understanding is that the Central line tunnels are slightly smaller than the other tube lines, requiring a slightly different positioning of the outside power rail, and has, in the past, caused issues with the shoegear.
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Post by countryman on Nov 8, 2019 15:50:32 GMT
I don't think it was exclusively used on the shuttle though - a 3car 1959 unit could be substituted when 1750 was being overhauled or otherwise hors de combat. I don't know whether it was ever used, or even could be used, with a 4car 1959 stock unit to form a 7 car train on the Picadilly's main line. I read on here that 59 and 62 stock, although different in some respects, were compatible to run together, and, in fact, did so on the Northern Line after the mid 90s. That is assuming that there was no specific reason why the 1750-1751 unit was significantly different from the 3 car 59 stock.
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Post by countryman on Nov 8, 2019 9:07:31 GMT
Video 1 Starting of at Seven Sisters? Then a train pulling into Green Park. Then the Northern line (Edgware Branch?). Back to the VIC where I can just make out the “High Bury” of Highbury & Islington. Double barrel escalators could be Oxford Circus. The crowds coming off the train might well be the Central Line Eastbound at the same station. Back to a double barrel I think at the same again. Video 2 All the shots focusing on the guard are at Aldwych. You can see how hesitantly the train pulls forward just to get out of shot as there is not much track left! I thought it odd that the shots were at Aldwych, as the number on the DM is 1751. As this is a 62 stock number, and, as far as I was aware, the 62 stock only ran on the Central Line in the 60s, I was a little dubious. So I managed to dig out my Ian Allan London Transport Locomotives ans Rolling Stock book (can't find a date but the cover picture is dated 1965, price 4/6 so prior to 1971), and was surprise to find 1751 not on the Central list, the highest number listed being 1749. So I checked the Piccadilly entry, as this was the only place I thought I'd find it. And there it was, as far as I know, the only, to that date, 3 car 62 stock unit. (1750, 2750, 1751) The other thing that is unusual is that in the video car 1751 is adjacent to car 2750, normally an odd numbered DM would be coupled to an odd numbered NDM, such as 1749 and 9749. So, was this unit originally formed as a 4 car unit for the Central, then transferred with the removal of car 9751 to the Piccadilly. I travelled to school every day on the Central, and my recollection is that 1750-1751 was on the Central during my time (1964-1971)
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Post by countryman on Nov 6, 2019 13:31:27 GMT
I think the smoking ban on trains [not stations] started 9-7-84, but did that apply to staff? Presumably a motorman could get away with it in his (/her?) cab, but there was certainly one recidivist guard on the Central Line who smoked in the open stretches at least, keeping the guard's door open to disperse the evidence. I used to avoid smoking cars unless I had to travel in one. The state of the car interior roof panels gave away what happened to the lungs of those who smoked/lived with smokers; they were off white in the non-smoking cars and light umber in the smokers... I thought that they were painted those colours. I seem to remember newly overhauled units having white ceilings in DMs and yellow in trailers and NDMs. You could always tell newly overhauled units as the roofs were a much lighter colour.
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Post by countryman on Oct 28, 2019 8:20:32 GMT
I thought there were some sets made up of 2 x 4cars. A train formed A-B + B-A + A-B + B-A would look like two double-ended four-car trains coupled together, but it would still really be four two-car units. But I don't think I've ever seen such a formation - there is usually at least one B-C unit (and usually two, of course) in each train. Just a thought. Would it be possible in theory to run 6 car trains (A-B + B-A + B-A or A-B + B-C + B-A)?
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Post by countryman on Oct 25, 2019 9:14:17 GMT
Yes - Seltrac has the functionality to 'turn up the wick' when the service is running late or is disturbed. I was wondering if they could turn down the wick.
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Post by countryman on Oct 25, 2019 7:52:07 GMT
I wonder whether ATO could, in theory, be programmed to run the trains hard when required in rush hours. Then when the service is less intense to modify the acceleration and braking parameters to cut down on stress and power consumption. Would a new computer control programme be required, or would it require new hardware? Or does it already happen?
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Post by countryman on Oct 9, 2019 16:11:38 GMT
Will they represent the round-topped doors? As they are generic, not based on a prototype, it is extremely doubtful that the fairly unusual round topped doors will modelled.
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Post by countryman on Oct 6, 2019 20:53:33 GMT
Just to update on previous points: The Experimental 1935 Tube Stock ran on the Aldwych branch 1954-1957 in two-car formations. The Standard Stock trailers weren't added (in 1958) until after they went back to the Central for the Epping-Ongar branch in November 1957. The Piccadilly Line's 3-car units of 1938 Tube Stock were (until c.1971) in UNDM-T-DM formation. The remaining three-car units (by then M-T-M on reformation) most likely would only have had one compressor because of the compressor problems on the 1938s from late-1969 (caused by the craftmen's strike in late-1969). The 69 three-car units with two compressors were on the Northern, where they could work singly off-peaks, generally (but not always) on the City branch. Traffic offering on the Aldwych branch didn't justify more than a two-car Pre-1938. 1959/62 three-car units only came to the Aldwych service because there was no stock of two cars that could replace the Standard Stock. The Standard Stock operated the Aldwych service every 5 minutes (every 4 minutes in times past). The 1959/62 three-car trains operated every 7½ minutes (and the 1973 Stock operated every 9 minutes). A bit picky perhaps, but weren't the 62 stock exclusively 4 car units, even numbered DMs from 1400 to 1750? In the 60s, 62 stock ran exclusively on the Central, the 59 stock as 7 car trains on the Piccadilly, along with a minority of 38 stock. (I used to travel to school on the Central from 1964 to 1971).
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Post by countryman on Sept 30, 2019 19:15:37 GMT
Hey I got a little problem, I'm wondering about the safety hoops that are installed so the district trains don't go into pic tunnels. Do these hoops disconnect the power or put the next four signals to danger? thanks
Pretty sure they only affect the signals. You can see the one at Hounslow West at around 1:06: with an explanation of what happens if the system is activated.
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Post by countryman on Sept 24, 2019 9:50:23 GMT
Chingford has had mostly 315s.317s are rarer.But yes,passengers won't like the wholly transverse seating. Why did LT change the original spec? Do you mean transverse, or is the seating longitudinal?
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Post by countryman on Sept 6, 2019 10:28:23 GMT
I'm no technician, but having the converter in the signalling equipment room feels like tempting fate. Unless you have every piece of equipment in its own blast-proof room, there will always be the chance that something will explode and take out something on the critical path. There comes a point when you just have to accept that the cost of protecting against 1 in multi-decade events is too great. This is known as BATNEEC. Best available technology not entailing excessive cost.
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Post by countryman on Sept 3, 2019 14:38:40 GMT
All Chesham/Amersham-Harrow trains are fast to/from Moor Park today and tomorrow Probably because 36 trains are required for this service, the same as a normal Saturday but trains are unable to operate Wembley-Aldgate until after 1200, so they must be use on other services TfL website shows no Metropolitan Line trains between Wembley Park and Aldgate today and Sunday, nothing about through running after 12.00 today. I was at Liverpool Street on Sunday at ~19.30, and an S8 came through for Aldgate.
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Post by countryman on Aug 10, 2019 7:25:55 GMT
On the topic of poor reliability - albeit of the service and the trains - having just missed a train at Ealing Broadway - I was somewhat surprised to find that the next train would be in a 12 minutes! This was around 3pm today. Maybe a train was cancelled due to no available trains? Or there was a delay, perhaps no releife driver at White City? Off-peak M-F services from Ealing Broadway are scheduled unevenly every: 5, 5, 10, 5, 5, 10, 5, 5, 10 etc So one of the ‘10’ intervals was just 2min late ? Very good service now, compared to when I used the line to and from school in the late 60s. In the morning from Perivale the service was 3-4 minutes (and I assume similar from Ealing Broadway), but in the afternoon, around 3.45, it was an even 6 minutes from East Acton, obviously giving a 12 minute service on each branch.
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Post by countryman on Aug 10, 2019 7:19:20 GMT
I doubt many people give a second thought to how electricity gets into their house, and if they have a problem they first ring their supplier (the people they pay their bills to). Indeed I was under the impression the whole distribution network for electricity, like gas, was run by Transco, but it seems they only run the National Grid (the high-voltage trunk electricity network). But I'm a bit out of touch - when my late father worked in the industry, it was all CEGB (Central Electricity generating Board, who ran the power stations) and the local distribution companies like Norweb, SWEB, and the LEB (North West Electricity Board, South Eastern Electricity Board, London Electricity Board etc) Really ? The first thing when I called my supplier recently to query a bill was a recorded message that said they cannot help if you’ve got a power cut, and that you should call your D.N.O on 105. There was a widespread marketing campaign the other year when the 105 telephone number was launched. The D.N.Os are effectively the old electricity boards which were then converted into regional electricity companies and then privatised. I've never heard of this 105 number. Is it local to London?
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Post by countryman on Jul 17, 2019 17:35:36 GMT
Part of the issue is that the current refurb will need to be altered again to meet RVAR requirements in the coming months ... What does RVAR stand for? Rail Vehicle Accessibility (Non-Interoperable Rail System) Regulations 2010 (RVAR 2010)
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Post by countryman on Jul 12, 2019 7:05:15 GMT
Whilst interesting, we are drifting into RIPAS territory here. Back on topic please. What does RIPAS mean? A google search is no help here. Realistic Railway Ideas, Proposals and Suggestions. It is the second to last topic on the home page.
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Post by countryman on Jul 6, 2019 8:22:55 GMT
Would these trains be the ones that used to stop all stations from Acton Town to Hammersmith? I caught one very early in ~1996 when I needed to get to Waterloo for Eurostar, but I can't remember if it went back to the Piccadilly tracks at Hammersmith.
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SPADs
Jun 3, 2019 7:48:06 GMT
Post by countryman on Jun 3, 2019 7:48:06 GMT
Sorry, but I have to ask: What is 'chasing reds'? Driving up to them as fast (too fast) as possible, perhaps? Driving along a section of track fast in the hope of catching a red so you can tie your shoelace/redo your nail varnish? Driving rapidly such that you are continuously seeing red signals that then change to a proceed aspect ahead of you. This will get the most capacity out of the signalling system, but there is a higher risk with this driving style that as you hurtle towards a red signal expecting it to change (just like all the other ones you've seen are) it won't and you'll then SPAD. Driving defensively is a style of driving that I was taught on my motorcycle, it's always assuming the worst might happen so having a plan to mitigate it (eg in this context it means planning to stop a slight distance from a signal just in case the brakes aren't as good as you they could be). There are many cab-ride videos on Youtube of New York subway trains, and on many of them you can see 'chasing reds' happening.
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Post by countryman on May 18, 2019 7:03:19 GMT
I've not seen a a map with Tramlink on it before, Makes it look like it is a short hop from Beckenham Junction to Woolwich Arsenal!
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Post by countryman on Apr 16, 2019 9:12:59 GMT
If there's nowhere to park your car at the Tube station you can always take the bus there. Or cycle. Or walk Khan said he wanted fewer cars on the roads and encourage more people to use public transport, cycling, walking, etc. #cunningplanmlord And when the cycle isn't practical, the bus doesn't go there and it's too far to sensibly walk? I feel for the poor so and sos living near these stations who will find that their streets get blocked up by people who would have parked in the station car parks. Not to mention the implications for the occupants of the new social housing who may "benefit" from the policy decision to ramp right down on parking provision near to stations. And, no, superteacher , I don't think that the death of the private car will be upon us for many years yet. They just meet too many needs that public transport can't sensibly deliver on. And when I drive from the country to Hounslow West to park, and find it built over, what do I do? Please don't suggest coming in by train, as that would entail a 20 mile journey to the nearest station, then a 3 hour train trip in a packed train at vast cost, and be lucky to get there by late morning. As it is, it's only 2 hours by car.
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Post by countryman on Apr 11, 2019 16:15:37 GMT
No. As per my post higher up this page, the 24 hour service clock cannot be extended. Firstly let's take an example on a day with no night tube: Let's say a train is stabled by a late duty driver just after midnight, having done its days work on the railway. It's taken through its checks by depot staff and this is completed at 1am. So the depot prep clock starts at 01.00 Having completed their checks an early duty driver takes the train out of the depot at 06.00. The depot prep clock is now overidden and becomes spent. The 24 hour service clock now takes over. On non night tube lines, all trains are stabled by about 01.45 - given that the service clock will expire on our train at 06.00, a new depot prep will be carried out overnight and so the process repeats. Now onto a night tube example: Theoretically, a night tube line could keep our train out in service until 6am by use of reforms but a timetable wouldn't schedule a train out to its limits like that. As I've previously said, night tube lines will usually put freshly depot prepped trains out, say ones that have been depot prepped around 20.00 or 21.00 - these will enter service around 23.00 so their service clocks run until 23.00 the next evening. Once stabled they'll be depot prepped again and drop back into the routine of the earlier "normal" example above. Even with night tube in the mix, the 24 hour service clock cannot be extended so service control and depot staff have monitor their trains and take care when doing reforms to ensure none are out in service longer than 24 hours. I'm sorry, but this confuses me. In the example shown the train is in service for 26 hours, or does the stabling time during the day not count.
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Post by countryman on Apr 11, 2019 15:08:33 GMT
So if I read it right, in theory in the second example, the train can enter service at 00.00 hours, run in service until, say 20.00, re-enter service at 23.00, then run continuously in night service and day service until, say, 20.00 on day 2 (ie 44 hours)
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