Post by roythebus on May 24, 2021 20:03:14 GMT
There's been mention on other groups on here of the use of Westinghouse brakes. As a former LT guard 1970-74 I was trained as an emergency motorman as part of the training so had experience of using the LT version of the Westinghouse brake combined with the EP brake, type A as fitted to Q stock and the D type fitted to later stock. Training was also given on the former CLR locos converted to sleet locos many years ago; these had a pure Westinghouse brake.
Later I joined BR as a secondman at Rugby, later at Kings Cross where I had experience of handling vacuum brakes, air brakes, EP brakes and trains with no brakes except on the loco! A promotion to driver saw me at Addiscombe for a while then a move to Waterloo introduce me to the straight Westinghouse brake agin, this time on the 4SUB units and the famous Waterloo & City line. There was no EP brake, just the Westinghouse and a handbrake.
We had thorough training at the South side school at Waterloo with practical handling of all types of stock with EP and Westinghouse brakes. I won't go into the ins and outs of airflows, or the difference between the various types of brake handles or positions, my memory has faded on the niceties of those over the years, but elsewhere someone said it was not possible to get a partial release on a Westinghouse brake on T stock. I'm not old enough to have worked on T stock except ESL118 A/B when I was a guard at Ricky in 1973.
Part of the BR training was to drive 4 and 8 car SUBs in service which gave valuable experience of handling the Westinghouse and what it was capable of. We were taught by some of the "old boys" who drove the 12 car "Nelsons" on the Portsmouth line and the older SR units. The limiting factor of the brake was the size of the auxiliary air reservoir, a tank under each car which provided air for the brake cylinders on each car. That tank was 3 times the volume of the brake cylinders, so the drive could have 3 brake applications before that tank literally ran out of air! The knack was mainly route knowledge, knowing how much brake to apply initially to get a "bite" before putting the brake handle into the "lap" position to hold the brake pressure, then apply a bit more and back to "lap" until the train was almost at a stand then realise for the final few feet to stop without a jerk with the brake released.
All this was ok with a 4 car train, but releasing the brake meant there was a slight delay in the change in air pressure reaching the back of the train, so that could cause some "bouncing" between units or cars. with a 12 car train it was possible to break the coupling as the rear unit would release later than the front 8!
The Waterloo & City was all 5 cars and the brake on those was excellent, but the driver still needed care when approaching the tsops at Bank as there was no leeway for error when stopping there. It was indeed possible in latter years after they installed a "train has hit the blocks" warning switch in the track to stop the train so close that the centre buffer plate would bounce forward on it spring and leave a greasy mark on the stop block then bounce back without tripping the train hit the blocks switch. During the 1982 Dempsey and Makepeace filming mentioned elsewhere on here the director wanted the train to stop "about this white line" on the platform, the usual stop mark. We had a practice run, then he wanted me to back out and have another run, could I stop on the white line was the question. the answer was this edge of the white line or that edge? It was indeed possible to precision stop within inches with the Westinghouse, something I doubt would be possible with any modern stock
Later I joined BR as a secondman at Rugby, later at Kings Cross where I had experience of handling vacuum brakes, air brakes, EP brakes and trains with no brakes except on the loco! A promotion to driver saw me at Addiscombe for a while then a move to Waterloo introduce me to the straight Westinghouse brake agin, this time on the 4SUB units and the famous Waterloo & City line. There was no EP brake, just the Westinghouse and a handbrake.
We had thorough training at the South side school at Waterloo with practical handling of all types of stock with EP and Westinghouse brakes. I won't go into the ins and outs of airflows, or the difference between the various types of brake handles or positions, my memory has faded on the niceties of those over the years, but elsewhere someone said it was not possible to get a partial release on a Westinghouse brake on T stock. I'm not old enough to have worked on T stock except ESL118 A/B when I was a guard at Ricky in 1973.
Part of the BR training was to drive 4 and 8 car SUBs in service which gave valuable experience of handling the Westinghouse and what it was capable of. We were taught by some of the "old boys" who drove the 12 car "Nelsons" on the Portsmouth line and the older SR units. The limiting factor of the brake was the size of the auxiliary air reservoir, a tank under each car which provided air for the brake cylinders on each car. That tank was 3 times the volume of the brake cylinders, so the drive could have 3 brake applications before that tank literally ran out of air! The knack was mainly route knowledge, knowing how much brake to apply initially to get a "bite" before putting the brake handle into the "lap" position to hold the brake pressure, then apply a bit more and back to "lap" until the train was almost at a stand then realise for the final few feet to stop without a jerk with the brake released.
All this was ok with a 4 car train, but releasing the brake meant there was a slight delay in the change in air pressure reaching the back of the train, so that could cause some "bouncing" between units or cars. with a 12 car train it was possible to break the coupling as the rear unit would release later than the front 8!
The Waterloo & City was all 5 cars and the brake on those was excellent, but the driver still needed care when approaching the tsops at Bank as there was no leeway for error when stopping there. It was indeed possible in latter years after they installed a "train has hit the blocks" warning switch in the track to stop the train so close that the centre buffer plate would bounce forward on it spring and leave a greasy mark on the stop block then bounce back without tripping the train hit the blocks switch. During the 1982 Dempsey and Makepeace filming mentioned elsewhere on here the director wanted the train to stop "about this white line" on the platform, the usual stop mark. We had a practice run, then he wanted me to back out and have another run, could I stop on the white line was the question. the answer was this edge of the white line or that edge? It was indeed possible to precision stop within inches with the Westinghouse, something I doubt would be possible with any modern stock
