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Post by rheostar on Aug 29, 2018 19:54:31 GMT
Slightly off topic, in the early 1980s on the Piccadilly line, there was a problem with T/Ops and depot staff forgetting their J door keys so they’d smash the glass in the J door lock to get into the cab.
At a Sectional Council 3 meeting the union and management discussed the problem trying to find a solution. One of the NUR (It was still the NUR then) reps came up with a cracking solution. It was to use unbreakable glass in the J door lock. Apparently, there was a stunned silence from all present at the meeting...
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Post by rheostar on Aug 9, 2018 21:07:47 GMT
Does anyone know where things stand with the commissioning of the Piccadilly Line Interim Control Upgrade (PICU) project? I have not seen any recent announcements about the project although a while back it was suggested that the first part would go live this spring. Perhaps this is now bundled into something else like the new 4LM control centre? Piccadilly Line service control and signal operation from Cockfosters to Chiswick Park are, since 5 June based at South Kensington. This controls all signalling Barons Court to Chiswick Park. And it's very nice there too!!
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Post by rheostar on Jul 15, 2018 9:31:53 GMT
Are the brakes less effective than they used to be? That's probably a question for Fish. The main issue is that no two trains are the same and driving at the other end of the same train is also not the same. Added to that, the performance of the motors dictates to an extent the performance of the rheostat brakes. Theoretically, if we start braking when the speed of the train is above around 21mph, the rheo brake replaces the friction brake on the 4 motor cars. Sometimes this is the case, sometimes it isn't. Some trains the rheo brakes don't work at all. Also, if you release the brakes halfway down the platform, you get a surge when the rheos release and it takes a couple of seconds (seems longer) for the friction brakes to apply. It doesn't take long to get a feel for the train and what it's likely to do but sometimes, the unexpected happens so it's good to err on the side of safety. From memory, the rheostat brake comes on at 37 mph and goes off at 7 mph. When I was a road trainer, I'd train new drivers to enter a platform fast enough so that they wouldn't have to go into 'off and release' half way down the platform, thus avoiding the 73 stock's little foible of all of the brakes going off and the train seeming to surge forward. That surge catches a lot of inexperienced drivers out.
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Post by rheostar on Jun 25, 2018 15:15:51 GMT
Signal systems failure according to Piccadily line "Twitter". Piccadilly line is now controlled from South Kensington ( the Steve Crawshaw control room ) Note signalling west of Barons Court to Heathrow and South Harrow is still controlled from Earl's Court. Out of interest who is/was Steve Crawshaw? I suspect he must have been a respected member of staff. Steve Crawshaw started as a Station Supervisor at Northfields, becoming a Line Controller at Earl's Court and lastly a Duty Operations Manager/Service Manager for the Piccadilly line. Steve was one of the best Line Controllers the Piccadilly line ever had. His knowledge of the railway was phenomenal. If there'd been service disruption drivers were pleased to hear Steve's voice on the radio as they knew the railway would be soon sorted out. As a manager, Steve led by example, never shirking from what was required. After the 7/7 bombings, Steve was seconded to the team recovering the railway giving technical advice to the police and railway inspectorate. Sadly, Steve died of cancer in October 2013. As a lasting tribute, the Piccadilly line named the new control room after him. On a personal note, I'm proud to say that I knew Steve as a friend and colleague for over 25 years.
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Post by rheostar on Mar 2, 2018 19:24:17 GMT
Is WD32(C) the WB Hammersmith Multiple Home with harbour lights to left? That’s the one. Neither route would clear.
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Post by rheostar on Mar 2, 2018 19:13:46 GMT
Well I'm hoping for a less eventful evening tonight. Last night was another challenging shift. Slow all the way West although it seems a lot of people didn't risk going to work yesterday. Was supposed to go to T4 but got reversed at Hounslow Central (customers delighted to be tipped out on a freezing cold platform) and slow all of the way back to Arnos Grove. The Hammersmith problem reared its head as I was going through there on the East. Issue with WD32C so trains were being routed through Barons Court sidings and then that stopped and then started again. Then there was another problem at Acton Town and I think we could only use one platform. ! At Acton Town, 40 points kept failing in reverse due to ice in the point blades. These points take trains from the fast to the local and the Northfields depot trains use this route to they don’t block the westbound fast at Northfields when tipping out. Due to this failure all of the service was using the fast. At Barons Court, WD32c kept failing intermittently. One train was held up in section, then the signal cleared on its own accord. A second train had the same problem, so the service was diverted via Barons Court sidings. That worked for about five trains, but then the route for the sidings WD35r2 failed. In the end, 17 and 18 points were secured up normal to allow trains to be worked through on the fast. As it happens, once the points had been secured up WD32c didn’t fail again. It was a horrible night on the Piccadilly line.
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Post by rheostar on Mar 2, 2018 8:51:27 GMT
Acton Town was the fact the point heaters wasn't working to the east sidings I can not comment on the 47's which take a train into the west sidings Despite SSL saying that the point heaters were working.
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Post by rheostar on Feb 3, 2018 9:56:27 GMT
When this sort of incident happens, the District line train will have to be worked to South Ealing. The South Ealing CSS will pilot the train to Northfields, then a spare T/Op (if available) will pilot the train into the depot and back out again.
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Post by rheostar on Dec 14, 2017 7:58:36 GMT
How is that possible? 1938 stock was withdrawn from the Piccadilly Line at the end of 1975. It ran occasionally to Hatton Cross, which opened a few months earlier, but Heathrow Central did not open until 1977. 1959 stock certainly ran to Heathrow Central though. Probably confused by pictures like this. Heritage train at T4. There’s a right pair of reprobates in the rear cab of that train. ;-)
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Post by rheostar on Nov 22, 2017 12:05:16 GMT
I like being paid 13 times a year, it means that once a year I get paid and my mortgage, bills, council tax, etc. don't come around until after the next pay day. Same here, it's like having a bonus payment once a year.
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Post by rheostar on Oct 4, 2017 9:35:42 GMT
The Picc has suffered from having two superdepots located some way from the platforms, an error of judgement which has only recently been (partially) rectified. A decade and a half of chronic blocking back through Arnos and Acton during disruption was the legacy of the person who decided to create the two superdepots. You're right, the two superdepots on the Picc have caused problems ever since they opened. At the time though, LU was under pressure to improve conditions for T/Ops. The T/Op's accommodation at Wood Green was in a dingy room opposite the escalators, with the Duty Managers around the corner in a room off the eastbound platform. Oakwood was better, with the T/Ops being in a mess room on one side of the stairs and the DMs on the other, although it needed some serious refurbishment. Acton Town and Northfields depots weren't quite so bad, but a superdepot was built to fit in with the concept. However, the main advantage of these four locations was that they were very close to the railway. A spare driver could be on a late running train in under 30 seconds, if that. Now, at both Arnos and Acton, a spare driver's seven minutes walk away. I'm not too familiar with the build of Acton depot, but I know a little about Arnos Grove. At Arnos Grove, it was decided that a new depot would be built on the unused ground to the north of the sidings. At the time, some of us said that the depot would be in the wrong place and too far from the railway. We were told quite bluntly that if we didn't like it we could always go somewhere else. The build was beset with problems from an early stage. The original design had used girders of a certain length being delivered on standard size lorries. Unfortunately, on the first delivery of the girders they found that the lorries couldn't go around the 90 degree turn at the top of the building site. The old signal cabin and IMR are on one side, with residents back gardens on the other, so nothing could be moved. The whole building had to be redesigned using smaller girders that could be delivered on smaller lorries. In consequence, the costs soared and it opened about a year later than originally planned. Once the depots opened, to their horror the powers that be realised that the T/Ops duties had become less efficient with increased walking times for picking up their trains. Remote booking on had to be introduced at Oakwood as the T/Ops were based at Arnos, but the trains were in Cockfosters depot. I could go on, but for the Piccadilly line the two superdepots have been a disaster. It's made service recovery so much harder, with the resulting blocking back into both Acton and Arnos.
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Post by rheostar on Oct 1, 2017 8:08:13 GMT
It’s going to be a long wait for resignalling on the Picc about another 10 years yet I was going to say don't hold your breath for that one. Last I heard it was mid 20s, so in reality it'll be late 20s early 30s.
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Post by rheostar on Sept 28, 2017 21:09:57 GMT
I understand that the four day week is only part of the dispute, but from what I've read and head, it's not been all that popular with the majority of people working it.
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Post by rheostar on Sept 5, 2017 7:32:36 GMT
Trackernet's Replayer function shows that the first trains were running with Heathrow and Cockfosters as the intended destinations right up until they were reversed ay Kings Cross and Hammersmith. The closure was originally attributed to overrunning engineering works, there were no reported problems Sunday night so it looks as if the damage was done during engineering hours and not detected until after the start of traffic If there's a late surrender, trains will still come out of the yard with their correct TDs and will run as far as possible with the expectation of the LSP being lifted. Yesterday (Monday) trains were able to get as far as King's Cross and Hammersmith, the closest points to the buffer sections where trains can be reversed. We quite often get late surrenders of protection (LSP) due to overrunning engineering work, but they're lifted before trains start to run so outside of Service Control and TAC no one knows about them.
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Post by rheostar on Aug 19, 2017 17:37:57 GMT
And what do you think is running it It was a funny one. We only lost the westbound fast and local, both eastbound roads and the west IMR were working as normal.
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Post by rheostar on Aug 19, 2017 16:13:33 GMT
Earls Court lost control of the Acton Town area for a few minutes the new PICCU system had a little rest That was the new scanning equipment on the westbound that decided to fall over during the peak.
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Post by rheostar on Aug 19, 2017 14:15:55 GMT
Out of interest, I've had a look at Monday and Wednesday's service at around 09:25 hrs on Trackernet. On both days I can't see any gaps of 6-7 minutes. I've attached links to screenshots of Tracker around that time. flic.kr/p/WAv3Vjflic.kr/p/XghVNjTuesday morning there was a signal systems failure at Acton Town, so there were many gaps in the service following that.
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Post by rheostar on Aug 19, 2017 7:33:47 GMT
I have been changing from the bakerloo to piccadilly line at picc circus this week, around 9.25, and ive noticed the gap between trains on 3 occasions has been relatively large. On 2 occasions, the gap between the 1st and 2nd train was 7-8 mins, the other time it was 5 mins. Is the picc suffering from some sort of rolling stock shortage? Given that there have been issues with the night tube, could anyone explain if there is an underlying problem Depends on what day this week you were travelling.
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Post by rheostar on Aug 16, 2017 8:45:58 GMT
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Post by rheostar on Aug 14, 2017 19:55:07 GMT
Last Friday I did check Trackernet and found a service going Westbound at Houslow West and the next one behind was at South Kensington Just needed a bit of regulation. 😉
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Post by rheostar on Aug 9, 2017 20:44:28 GMT
The test track used to be on the Westbound fast in the late 1980's. Yeah, you're right it was on the westbound fast. Back when I was a Motorman, we'd left South Ealing coming east and I could see that the water was still spraying on the westbound fast test track. Much of it was coming over the eastbound road and would go all over my train. As we approached the water spray I called up my guard and told him to open up his cab door. Being stupid, he did. Seconds later, all I could hear down the phone was a string of soggy expletives aimed in my direction...
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Post by rheostar on Aug 9, 2017 8:42:45 GMT
The eastbound local's used more often than people realise. If there's a defective train in the eastbound fast at Northfields, then a train will be put on the local to Acton Town. Similarly, if there's a signalling problem on the fast then the local will be used. It's not a dedicated test track, it's the eastbound local with the facility to test trains. But was there a time when it was purely a dedicated test track? No, it was never a dedicated test track. Originally, the test track was on the eastbound fast, but was changed to the local about 30 years or so ago. It was safer for the test track to be on the local. When the local's being used for testing, a possession's taken from South Ealing up to the signals protecting Acton Town. We can still use Northfields eastbound local platform if needs be.
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Post by rheostar on Aug 9, 2017 7:47:15 GMT
The eastbound local's used more often than people realise.
If there's a defective train in the eastbound fast at Northfields, then a train will be put on the local to Acton Town. Similarly, if there's a signalling problem on the fast then the local will be used.
It's not a dedicated test track, it's the eastbound local with the facility to test trains.
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Post by rheostar on Aug 7, 2017 8:59:19 GMT
From Finn Brennan's Facebook I wonder what Finn thinks should've been put out as the reason.
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Post by rheostar on Aug 6, 2017 14:50:20 GMT
Severe delays at present in addition to planned engineering works and no service 0125 - 0400 because of an absence of train operators. I wonder how many trains are moving at any one time during the night tube service on the picadilly line? At least passengers have been given clear information (relatively) in advance and can plan accordingly. At 03:00 hrs there should be 21 trains in service on the Piccadilly line.
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Post by rheostar on Jul 29, 2017 22:33:11 GMT
What I found strange was that the line wasn't operating with an emergency timetable. This seemed to cause very uneven gaps in the service. Emergency timetables work relatively well until around 21:00 hrs, but after then they start to fall apart as the crewing of trains becomes very difficult. A duty manager putting drivers onto trains 'on the fly' is never going to be as efficient as something worked out by duty schedules. An additional problem with an emergency timetable, particularly during the morning peak, is that four trains are used as an Acton Town to Rayners Lane shuttle. The trains come down from the Rayners branch fully loaded, deposit their passengers on the platform at Acton Town, them move into the sidings delaying the rest of the eastbound service. A full platform load of customers is then on trying to get onto already crowded trains coming from the Heathrow branch. Emergency timetables are usually a last resort.
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Post by rheostar on Jul 20, 2017 11:50:55 GMT
The reason both the Piccadilly and District lines were suspended was that in the Earl's Court control room all power was lost to the diagram and signalling frames. All of the signals on the ground were working normally, but there was no control of anything nor could we observe the passage of trains through an area. Power wasn't restored for just under an hour. Control room with nothing on the diagram
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Post by rheostar on May 2, 2017 10:04:25 GMT
... in my 20 years working on the Tube I've never head of a single incident where anyone has fallen out of the cab door while driving...
I can think of one incident many years ago. On a nice sunny day, a Picc driver was heading back from Uxbridge. He had the cab door open (as did most of us) enjoying the fresh air coming in and happy with life in general. He was so relaxed, he took out his false teeth and put them on top of the T/Op's consul. Everything was fine until he hit a rough bit of track when his false teeth bounced up in the air, onto the floor and out the cab door! He then spent the next ten minutes out on the track trying to find them.
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Post by rheostar on May 2, 2017 8:08:56 GMT
The 67 stock incident, as I recall, was a stuck door. The driver had already pressed the "go" buttons, so when he had unjammed the door, off it went, leaving him on the platform. Perfectly safe*, as the automatic system ran the train to the next station, bit there was no-one in the cab to open the doors. As was the Picc incident, which was stopped by the next red light it came to. The Picc incident could have turned nasty if the train had managed to find a signal with a compromised overlap as the one it SPAD'd. Sure a combination of events would have had to come together, like a fast section, a station starter with short overlap, and a train ahead having an out-of-course stop, but nonetheless it's complacent to assume a train travelling at full speed is *guaranteed* to stop in time. When I did my training nearly 40 years ago, we were taught there was always a 'safe braking distance' between the trainstop and the next section ahead. This was disproved when the was a SPAD on the Central at Holborn, I think. There was a train sitting in the platform when the train behind SPADed the home signal and managed to hit the train in the platform. After that, we were told it was now a 'braking distance' www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/eventsummary.php?eventID=806
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Post by rheostar on May 1, 2017 21:58:44 GMT
I remember 1959 stock with the M (cab front) door wedged open with a piece of wood! I've seen 73 stock with the nearside cab door wedged slightly open with a pen to create a breeze! An old 30 amp fuse was best for that. Most Picc drivers used to carry one in their bags.
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