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Post by norbitonflyer on Apr 16, 2018 9:56:58 GMT
I’ve heard figures quoted that there were approximately double the number of SPADs on the Underground as on the national network, for what is obviously a much smaller network. Most of the NR network runs at much lower headways than the Underground (several hours on some lines!), so the chances of encountering a red signal in the first place are much lower. If an error does occur, the higher speeds and lack of automatic trainstops make the potential consequences much more serious - see Harrow (1952), Lewisham (1957), Southall (1997) and Ladbroke Grove (1999) for examples
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Post by norbitonflyer on Apr 15, 2018 14:06:23 GMT
How many amps are on LU I've heard in the past from one of the Tube documentaries that its 3000?. The current drawn by a train depends on what it is doing - it will draw the most current when on full power, for example on starting. I can't find any figures for installed power on Tube trains, but assuming the figure is the current drawn when on full power, 3000amps on a 750 Volt supply equates to only 2250kW or about 3000hp. Unless we are talking about the 4-car trains on the Waterloo & City Line, that seems a bit on the low side - an 8-car class 700 unit has 3300 kW installed.
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Post by norbitonflyer on Apr 14, 2018 7:09:31 GMT
I once witnessed a TFL member of staff at London Bridge directing a lost travveler heading to Lewisham to get the Northern line and change for the DLR. This is nothing new - I recall, back in the day when there was an LT travel centre at Victoria station, seeing a visitor directed to Hampton Court by taking the District Line to Richmond and then the 267 bus! The notion that there might actually be a station rather less than five miles away from Hampton Court Palace simply hadn't occurred to the LT man behind the desk, despite the travel centre being actually on the concourse of the British Rail station. But even on TfL's own services I've seen them get it wrong - once when the Piccadilly Line wasn't working, passengers at Holborn were being advised to change at Tottenham Court Road for Kings Cross.
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Post by norbitonflyer on Apr 13, 2018 21:59:31 GMT
There were two "Iris"'s - the first was an early Derby "Lightweight" single unit, the second a class 101 Metrocammell twin unit, aka Lab 19. The one in the film is a class 103 Park Royal set
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Guards
Apr 13, 2018 16:24:01 GMT
Post by norbitonflyer on Apr 13, 2018 16:24:01 GMT
, the guard would give the buzzer signal to the driver it was clear to move and after the train was moving would give another buzzer signal to let the driver know all was good and that the guard was actually on the train.. Surely this isn't as safe? How does one signal a stop? It's usually one bell, so that the action can be taken immediately. Two bells is ready to start. The two bell signal is repeated back by the driver to confirm that it was received correctly. I understood him to say the guard gave two buzzes to go, the driver acknowledged it with another two buzzes, and the guard then sent another two buzzes once under way to confirm he is on board. If the driver hears one buzz after the train has started it obviously means the guard is on board, but that he wants the train to stop.
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Post by norbitonflyer on Apr 11, 2018 13:42:35 GMT
The 2nd hand trailers in some of the SWR trains have a much lower profile than the rest of the train. Presumably the trains being replaced in Merseyside might fit but they are well past their sell by date. The Merseyrail trains to which you refer are to the same design (generically known as PEP stock) as those secondhand trailers. Indeed, the trailers were originally formed in those very units (class 508) - the units were converted from four-car to three car when they were transferred from SW London to Merseyside, the spare trailers being then incorporated in new class 455 units.
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Post by norbitonflyer on Apr 11, 2018 12:26:56 GMT
Re-reading upthread, why was it necessary to consider A and D ends? Presumably because they were converted from "handed" vehicles, and making them ambidextrous would be expensive? There are very few opportunities for LU trains to be turned round, and even fewer occasions when a specialist unit like this would need to couple to anything else anyway.
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Post by norbitonflyer on Apr 11, 2018 12:16:49 GMT
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Post by norbitonflyer on Apr 10, 2018 20:08:00 GMT
Interesting. I'd never seen pics of the old Bakerloo line trains before. Which tube stock would that have been? The captions explain it - most of the shots are on the Watford extension, which originally ran with new motor coaches borrowed from the Central London Railway (whose Ealing extension was delayed by WW1) Bakerloo's own Watford extension stock being delayed for the same reason. Other shots are of the extension stock itself.
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Post by norbitonflyer on Apr 10, 2018 18:29:00 GMT
What is an IEP? Individual Education Programme? Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy? Institutional Evaluation Programme? Sorry, Intercity Express Peogramme - also known as classes 800, 801, and 802, or Azuma, or Nova 3, or Hitachi A-Train
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Post by norbitonflyer on Apr 10, 2018 17:11:32 GMT
Honestly - people are not going to use a train because of the quality of the seats? I think the original comment was made in respect of IEPs, where driving is perhaps more of an option than it is for commuting. The added hassle of getting to Paddington/King's cross, plus possibly the need for a taxi at the other end, makes train less attractive anyway - poor seating may well be the last straw.
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Post by norbitonflyer on Apr 10, 2018 12:53:12 GMT
Actually, given the house prices there, what are the odds on Higher or Upper Battersea being 'suggested' & then adopted before long? South Chelsea? Battersea Riverside? Four Chimneys?
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Post by norbitonflyer on Apr 10, 2018 8:43:52 GMT
Never mind all that. Why does "Hammersmith via Paddington" get two slots? Maybe one for Circle and one for H&C? As they are near each end of the list, it may be to avoid having to wind the blind very far, which involves wear and tear on both the blind and the operator. I note that Barking (the other end of the H&C) and Edgware Road (the other end of the Circle) are close to the respective Hammersmiths "Not in service" also appears twice
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Post by norbitonflyer on Apr 10, 2018 6:29:10 GMT
it is known Stagecoach are not keen on the poor seating [on the IEP, which are already in use by First]. Interesting that on the SWR it is the other way round - Stagecoach ordered the class 707s, and when First MTR took over the franchise they decided they were not good enough.
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Post by norbitonflyer on Apr 9, 2018 20:26:46 GMT
Are my eyes fading me or are the priority seats of a different shade to the other seats for the "new" moquette? That has been the practice for all recent new moquettes, as seen here or here
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Post by norbitonflyer on Apr 9, 2018 16:15:34 GMT
The excuses made about crashworthiness and fire retardance don't really stand up to inspection. Car seats have to meet similar criteria, but are much more comfortable than train seats.
And I'd rather spend three hours in a car than in many modern train seats, even if I do have to drive the thing. (Although, interesting, modern train drivers' seats are quite well appointed. Time was that every train passenger could expect a cushioned seat, and the driver was expected to stand. How the tables are turned!
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Post by norbitonflyer on Apr 9, 2018 16:11:22 GMT
An ungainly name for an ungainly building. Why it wasn't demolished along with most other redundant London power stations is a mystery to me. They even replaced the chimneys with plastic replicas!
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Post by norbitonflyer on Apr 8, 2018 13:15:49 GMT
having 1 billion amps available will do you no harm whatsoever if the available potential difference is only one volt.) Not sure what you mean by amps being "available". Either the current is flowing at that rate or it isn't. It is electric charge which can be stored (measured in coulombs) A billion amps across 1 volt gives a power of 1GW, or about 1.3 million horsepower. (The resistance would be tiny, 1 nano-ohm!) You could do that sort of thing, but only for fractions of a second, by short circuiting a million coulomb capacitor in one millisecond, but please let everyone know beforehand so they can get along way away first! Lightning is the other way round, huge voltages but tiny currents. The power, and energy, delivered is the same either way. Power is the product of volts and amps, energy is power multiplied by the time the current flows.
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Post by norbitonflyer on Apr 7, 2018 23:59:58 GMT
The headcode, as its name implies, used to be displayed on the front of every train. Older locos used discs but from about 1960 they were fitted with blinds. The Southern used stencilled codes all the way back to 1916.
Some real time apps display the codes too.
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Post by norbitonflyer on Apr 7, 2018 23:52:34 GMT
There are places where the negative rail is at 0V, usually where track is shared with NR trains. But surely any requirement for on board supply at less than line voltage is taken from the main supply using a potential divider, not by a separate feed from one or other rail?
As for the effects of electricity on the human body, it depends more on thevroite it finds through the body and therefore which muscles are triggered than on whether it's AC or DC. A shock to the leg muscles can make you hurl yourself across a room. To the fingers can cause you to be unable to release your grip. To the heart can stop it. You can also get severe burns.
The amps are relevant, but the current flowing through you will depend largely on the electrical resistance of your body (and anything between you and the electric supply or the ground, such as your shoes). If the short circuit from rail to ground passes only from toe to heel of one foot, the resistance is low and the current therefore high. You will get a very nasty burn but the current will only pass through your foot. If it passes from one foot to the other the resistance will be greater and the current less- but it will pass through more vital organs (and those powerful leg muscles)
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Post by norbitonflyer on Apr 6, 2018 6:43:52 GMT
There are five pictures in that article and, to be fair to the Sun, for the most part they do appear to be accurately captioned. The first, showing open wagons, is captioned as a pre-opening trial run. Two others depict Gower Street (one has the name displayed on the wall, the other is captioned as such) after opening, with roofed carriages clearly visible in one of them. (I don't think open carriages were still in passenger use anywhere by the 1860s).
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Guards
Apr 5, 2018 9:02:52 GMT
Post by norbitonflyer on Apr 5, 2018 9:02:52 GMT
Trying to imagine it - I would guess the door itself, as it is trying to close, holds you more firmly than a handrail could (provided the remaining gap is smaller than you are!) And it's probably harder to hit the close-door button on a lurching platform with the doorway still fully open, especially if you have to let go of the handrail to do so. Evidently the door engines did not fail (or re-open!) if they encountered such an obstruction, but whether this was deliberate design or fortuitous, who can say?
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Post by norbitonflyer on Apr 3, 2018 18:11:14 GMT
Geoff Marshall isn't allways the most reliable of sources Like, elsewhere in that video, asserting that Barbican was a joint Met/MDR station?
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Post by norbitonflyer on Apr 3, 2018 13:58:04 GMT
I don't know if the District ever had any aspirations in that direction - the Met had the area of North Kensington pretty much sewn up as it already owned the H&C.
As originally envisaged, the District was intended to complete the Circle and provide connections from it to the West London Line at both Addison Road (Olympia) and West Brompton. (The Hammersmith extension came later) Hence the double triangular junction centred on Earls Court (High Street, Gloucester Road, Olympia, West Brompton). After the Great Falling Out the District went its own way. The bays at High Street (and the infamous Cromwell Curve) meant that it could keep its trains off Met tracks.
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Post by norbitonflyer on Apr 2, 2018 22:17:51 GMT
Seem to recall reading the two bay platforms at High Street Kensington were originally intended to be through platforms as a result of unrealised plans to extend the High Street Kensington branch northwards. It's quite possible - relevant to this is that the line north from HSK, and the east side of the Cromwell Triangle, were built and owned by the Metropolitan Railway. There were no through District services (other than their joint operation of the Circle) until 1926.
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Post by norbitonflyer on Apr 1, 2018 8:55:30 GMT
Until a decision is made to build CR2, I don't expect anything else to happen at Euston: any interim improvements would not only have to be torn up again when CR2 is built, but they would also reduce the financial case for building it in the first place.
Or to look at it the other way, TfL are holding out for the gold plated CR 2, and won't be fobbed off with a cheap and cheerful scheme which would cost less, but be less than ideal.
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Post by norbitonflyer on Mar 31, 2018 21:40:15 GMT
. The question is whether the 323s end up finding their way to Northern allowing the older and less popular 319s to be dispensed with. . There are 323s already on Northern, unless you mean the ones on West Midlands (and, like their Northern sisters, their replacements are on order). Did you mean the 332s? And older is not necessarily less popular. Many regulars prefer 365s to 700s, or HSTs to IEPs.
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Post by norbitonflyer on Mar 31, 2018 18:55:43 GMT
On paper, 332s + 333s in West Yorkshire, 323s concentrated on Manchester and Liverpool . I understood the 331s are to replace all the 321, 322 and 323s on Northern.
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Post by norbitonflyer on Mar 31, 2018 13:57:10 GMT
Makes sense, thanks. The fact that trains have to wait for each other to pass the junctions in front of terminal stations must make even frequencies even more difficult to achieve I understand departure intervals from the termini are slightly asymmetric in order to allow more time over the scissors for those trains doing so. The intervals are evened up by adjusting dwell times at the next station.
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Post by norbitonflyer on Mar 31, 2018 12:21:00 GMT
Makes sense: then the separate electrified networks each side of the Pennines would each have a uniform fleet Fourteen 332s could not displace all thirty-two 319s anyway.
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