Fun and games at West Kensington

I was the driver of train C. Just before I finished as well. Fortunately I had two other I/Os on the train to keep me company!


Signaller.

Yes - on train B. Unfortunately they initially didn't move it quite far enough - I was able to proceed as they were able to clear the shunt, but the west end of train B was still in advance of the signal when I went past, they were trying to sort it out.

Well, that's not so bad then



Ouch! I wonder if the SOP applies or if they will get an extra special rough time from their colleagues...



Yeah, I noticed that too - for some strange reason the T/Op at the "rear" didn't tell his buddy at the "front" that he hadn't cleared WB3.



Yeah, I somehow neglected to say that in my OP

aetearlscourt was the first person to say that, which is how I knew about it, and how I knew that a Wrong Direction Move would be needed to fix the problem.

well am going to take pictures tomorrow at west ken etc...........well see if the same thing happens again??

Aren't you lucky



Does it involve blocking the interlocks? If it does, say no more.



No, the crossover itself worked fine - it was just that pesky track locking in the w/b road doing its job!

But OTOH, I would have thought that the weekend TTN would have explicitly told the T/Ops not to pass WB3 until the previous train has returned to the e/b platform.



That was what I had in mind - you yourself stated elsewhere that it has been done at least once before in IMR 'WC'.

The full procedure can be found in THIS THREAD.



Ah. I wonder if that was the case tonight.

It's called lifting the lock.

Thankfully I was resting today (Edit: I mean yesterday) - but I'm spare tomorrow (now today ;D ;D), so I'll keep me fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong ;D ;D Anyway, I'd like to pick up on these questions:

In the first instance, the wrong direction movement procedure involves paperwork and an operating official (normally the station supervisor) - the operating official's job is to ensure that appropriate protection for the move is in place, that the signaller (and anyone else that may be involved) is liaised with, and that the movement's limits are clearly defined (and stated as such on the said accompanying paperwork). No paper work? = No movement!!

Moving onto the setting up the train, and onto your observations first, both cabs opened at the same time? That would almost certainly produce some interesting problems!! ;D ;D The train would be set up such that there are red lights at the rear and red & white lights at the front (this being in the direction the train will head) along with one or two other actions according to particular stock requirements.

If two drivers were used to move the train, as appears likely in this case, we'd use the assisting driver procedure which includes: The complete understanding between train operators [assuming one is at the back and driving] involves the terms used to move and stop the train (usually go, coast & stop) and maximum speed that would be used. Also the most important part, which is that the operator driving at the rear should apply the emergency brake if he/she looses communication with the person at the "front". They're the main elements.

In this instance, I would suspect that some of that would have been applied in this scenario, but that the train would have actually been driven from the end which was going back east (the "front") and that the operator in the rear cab was simply there to confirm that the train had completed the full extent of the move.

Yes - the wrong direction movement procedure requires that "pop whistles" are used throughout the entire move...........to that end, I'm pleased the train operator in question remembered this important point as others have been 'crucified' in the past for not doing so!

As for the blind curve part, this is irrelevant providing the operating official has done his job correctly............in fact this may, in part, answer your question regarding the shut down train in platform 3 at Earls Court.

Thanks for the info. In this case, you were right - I was unclear about which end was opened up on the train; it was in fact the east end that was acting as the "front".



Interesting - it must be easy to forget.



Then someone was clearly thinking ahead, because an Olympia service went through just before I decamped to Cromwell Road - I suspect it was being positioned for the "off" after the completion of the WDM.

I remember seeing that story on your website!

I am surprised that the guard didn't get the sack as well - surely it fell within his duties to act as a backup to the driver, to prevent this type of scenario.

Indeed. Seeing as how there weren't even any replacement bus services from West Kensington (that I could see), surely it would be easier to simply reverse off Earl's Court pfm3, using EC16, and just deal with the punters there.

I noticed at Earls Court on Saturday afternoon that the platform indicators still showed Ealing Broadway as a destination for some trains. I'm sure this contributed to the numbers of none English speaking (or understanding) passengers arriving confused at West Ken.........where, incidentally my wife works the weekend ticket office shift!!

And of course it doesn't help that there were a lot of unrefurbs going 'round at West Kensington too - they can't show that station on their blind, so a lot of the drivers showed either Earl's Court, Special or the yellow blank.

Well the TTN for it did state that the TD system would show Ealing - but it didn't state what the trains should show, which is unusual..................scheduling services doesn't seem to know either then! ;D ;D