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Post by District Dave on Jan 12, 2008 9:18:53 GMT
The observant amongst you will have noticed that the DR is suspended between Embankment and Whitechapel this weekend.
As Embankment is not an often used reversing point, it's been decided that we'll have at least one I/O there at all times to conduc/refamiliarise T/Ops who need reminding.
I've drawn the short straw - so will be hanging around at the east end of the eastbound platform from about 14:00 each day.
What fun!
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Post by railtechnician on Jan 12, 2008 10:14:31 GMT
Well it could be worse, there are plenty of places to get lunch in Villiers Street. When I worked at Embankment in 1979/80 of course I was able to enjoy not only the delights of Peter's Sandwich Bar or MacDonald's (quite a novelty then) but I was also able to sample the local beverages including the alcoholic variety. On a good day I would go to 55, Broadway for a proper lunch (the old canteen) and then into the staff bar for a couple of jars rubbing shoulders with the governors before walking back to Embankment. of course in those days we had a lunch hour, washing up time and travelling time one way to the nearest canteen which gave us enough time. Of course a trip to Goldring's Jewish bakery in Farringdon Road was an occasional treat too, although a bit of a trot from Blackfriars as it was nearer to Farringdon but good exercise and worth it for the best Eccles cakes in town at the time!
Of course I should add that if Goldring's is still there it won't be open on Saturdays!
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Post by superteacher on Jan 13, 2008 12:38:19 GMT
Out of interest, when drivers are road trained, do they have to do all of the moves possible on whichever line they are on?
As for the closure this weekend, it was totally rammed yesterday, particularly between Embankment and Earls Court. Things were made worse by the fact that Chelsea and West Ham both had home games against other London clubs (Tottenham and Fulham respectively) - do TFL not take this into account when planning works? At around 1pm, Earls Court eastbound platforms were totally packed - the Wimbledon and Ealing services were running to High Street Ken, and the Olympia trains were terminating at Earls Court, then main line shunt. This left the Richmond service to run to Embankment. At some point yesterday evening, there was also a signal failure at Gloucester Road, which suspended the service from Earls Court to Embankment.
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Colin
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Post by Colin on Jan 13, 2008 12:58:30 GMT
Out of interest, when drivers are road trained, do they have to do all of the moves possible on whichever line they are on? We don't physically do all of them, but we do have to know the extent of each move. This will be taught by the I/O's using various methods which can include going to a site and talking/visualising the move through, being shown the location of shunt limits etc whilst driving in service or issuing diagrams etc. All moves are also described in the line supplement (which also carries line diagrams) and each driver is issued with a personal copy. That said, if you don't do a move for sometime, well it doesn't hurt to ask for a reminder - it's certainly better than risking your job by making a silly mistake. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2008 14:17:12 GMT
Don't forget the wonderful route-learning DVD we were all issued with!
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Post by londonstuff on Jan 13, 2008 15:10:24 GMT
Is there a way of getting to see the route learning DVD - it'd be fascinating to see things pointed out that as passengers we don't get to see or realise. Here's hoping  |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2008 15:39:27 GMT
And I must say, Dave, that your hanging around on Saturday was world class.  We don't physically do all of them, but we do have to know the extent of each move. This will be taught by the I/O's using various methods which can include going to a site and talking/visualising the move through, being shown the location of shunt limits etc whilst driving in service or issuing diagrams etc. All moves are also described in the line supplement (which also carries line diagrams) and each driver is issued with a personal copy. That said, if you don't do a move for sometime, well it doesn't hurt to ask for a reminder - it's certainly better than risking your job by making a silly mistake. Well said Colin. Yesterday was a gift for me road training, reversing at Embankment and Earls Court Yard! Most trainees wouldn't have chance to reverse at Embankment - I had been a driver for 5 years before I did it for the first time. |
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Post by superteacher on Jan 13, 2008 16:03:53 GMT
Could almost see a "top ten" unusual moves league starting here, line by line!
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Post by miztert on Jan 13, 2008 21:40:49 GMT
Could almost see a "top ten" unusual moves league starting here, line by line! Waterloo & City line - being craned out of the depot pit and put on a low loader to Doncaster? |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2008 21:53:43 GMT
do TFL not take this into account when planning works? They're certainly supposed to, but on at least one occasion the Picc had a shut-down from Wood Green to Cockfosters on the day of an Arsenal match. That hurt. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2008 22:06:25 GMT
do TFL not take this into account when planning works? They're certainly supposed to, but on at least one occasion the Picc had a shut-down from Wood Green to Cockfosters on the day of an Arsenal match. That hurt. Ouch, how did they get round that make every walk :D |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2008 23:25:00 GMT
Things were made worse by the fact that Chelsea and West Ham both had home games against other London clubs (Tottenham and Fulham respectively) - do TFL not take this into account when planning works? I belive that TfL / LUL notify the Football League of planned engineering works in advance of the fixtures lists being decided. The Football League then seem to make no allowance for the works in scheduling their matches with the blame unfairly falling on TfL / LUL ! |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2008 23:37:36 GMT
Things were made worse by the fact that Chelsea and West Ham both had home games against other London clubs (Tottenham and Fulham respectively) - do TFL not take this into account when planning works? I belive that TfL / LUL notify the Football League of planned engineering works in advance of the fixtures lists being decided. The Football League then seem to make no allowance for the works in scheduling their matches with the blame unfairly falling on TfL / LUL ! The Chelsea match was a late change not published in the Traffic Circular - the first I'd heard of the Chelsea game was when a passenger asked me what time the kickoff was! |
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Post by tubeprune on Jan 14, 2008 7:39:11 GMT
Well said Colin. Yesterday was a gift for me road training, reversing at Embankment and Earls Court Yard! Most trainees wouldn't have chance to reverse at Embankment - I had been a driver for 5 years before I did it for the first time. Charing Cross (as Embankment used to be called) used to be a regular reversing point on Sundays. It even had its own marker light code. To save time, some drivers would back shunt, i.e. change ends in the platform with the guard and detrain at the same time, drive eastwards from the west end cab with the guard as lookout at the east end, drive west over the xover as soon as the shunt signal cleared. You could do platform to platform in 3 minutes. Of course, weekend traffic in those days was a lot less than now, particularly in the evenings. East of Embankment, if there was anyone on the train apart from the driver and guard, it was crowded. One Saturday evening I carried a couple making whoopee in the front car of a Circle all the way from Embankment to Liverpool Street and they were uninterrupted! They obviously knew it would be quiet - they never even stopped for the stations. |
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Post by District Dave on Jan 14, 2008 10:46:19 GMT
The Chelsea match was a late change not published in the Traffic Circular - the first I'd heard of the Chelsea game was when a passenger asked me what time the kickoff was! I believe the Chelsea/Tottenham fixture was tonight (it appears in this weeks TC as such) and I believe it was changed due to another fixture Spurs have over the next couple of days. So - on this occasion - TfL are not at fault ! |
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PGtrips
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Post by PGtrips on Jan 16, 2008 0:26:07 GMT
I believe the Chelsea/Tottenham fixture was tonight (it appears in this weeks TC as such) and I believe it was changed due to another fixture Spurs have over the next couple of days. You are always going to have this problem with cup games (and especially, cup replays) as opposed to league games. The league fixtures are sorted out well before the start of the season, in consultation with police and other interested parties and some effort is made not to have too many home games too close to each other, etc. At that stage, transport operators would be consulted for major engineering works, etc. However, the problem with a cup competition, of course, is that a) each round is drawn after the last round, and b) there are considerable pressures to get the cup games played on the correct weekend, otherwise the whole competition grinds to a halt - and this is particularly so for replays. If you then compound that with replays being called off due to flooding at short notice (as has actually happened in both the FA and Scottish cups this week) so it is impossible to do much contingency planning. So transport operators the world over have this problem. The detail required in planning the logistics for a game is quite staggering. I live near a significant rugby stadium which had a short notice cup game arranged. Unfortunately, nobody relayed this to the section of the police responsible for putting out traffic cones to restrict parking. Result, people parked where they liked, away supporters coaches got stuck, the local area went into gridlock, the local bus service was decimated and kick off was significantly delayed whilst all the fans tried to get through the resulting chaos. So my very best sympathies to anybody on the District, or any other transport operator, who has received abuse because of similar situations. |
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