Stepping/storage

Not every machine has a storage unit. I don't know how many numbers can be held.

If there are no more trains then you can just cancel off those train set numbers that you haven't had. Or if you have lots of storages because you've had extra trains over a route but not extra trained the machine, then you either have to wait until the next train for that route that has a storage to come along and extra train that to remove the storage.

In some areas it became local policy to disable storage altogether! This was done by removing the appropriate fuses semi permanently as storages caused other issues.

Acton Town and Ealing Common were two sites I used to maintain where storage facilities were effectively disabled most of the time.

From memory the storages were so frequent because of trains forever running out of turn that the storage units tended to become remanent so we'd be forever 'knocking off numbers' anyway. By not having storage at all we would still have to visit the IMR to 'correct the rolls'.

You might say it was something of a chicken and egg situation, i.e. if trains were running as timetabled (in programme) and in turn the odd out of turn creating a storage would not be an issue and the system worked as designed on the other hand the PMCs were often in FCFS or PUSH due to incidents of one sort or another eleswhere and that created endless accumulated storages thereafter.

The storage issue seemed to be worse in the summer when the IMR got very hot. Of course there are different types of storage unit, relay or electronic. Those at Acton and Ealing Common being relay gave us lots of trouble whereas those at Ealing Broadway, South Harrow, Boston Manor and Northfields were electronic and gave us few problems.

Surely this stuff is all out now?