ATO failure Vic LIne

Used to be very reliable,but now the equipment is 40 years old it's starting to show its' age.

Note, the Autodriver box was updated in the '70's, replaced in the '80's and is about to be replaced again prior to new trains

Safety box is a lot more original and is beginning to show its age!

Whatever the proposed changes to the ADB the 67TS won't be controlled in any way by the new signalling system.

during "overlay operation" the new DTG-R signalling system will be piggybacking on the old one - and as such it's functionality will be restricted compared to "final system operation" when all the signalling kit is replaced and only 09TS are running.

but new stock aside - i was wondering if any one had an idea of reliability figures for Auto operation for 67TS - even just a feeling - like how often a train might get taken out of service.

Who's responsible for the safety boxes now?Originally they were classed as "train borne signalling equipment"and were the responsibility of the Chief Signal Engineer,any defective ones were sent to their depot at Acton.

It took ages to get the Central line ATO right, although much of that was invovled in getting the trains to stop in the wet, which of course won't be an issue on the Vic.

All new systems have teething troubles - I'm sure it'll be sorted.

the teething troubles are where the reciever will not pick up the transmitted signal not even at 2 feet

no this is at chippenham (westinghouse hq)

I know this is a really stupid question but say... if someone took the top off the vic line and stuck a c stock on it... would the c stock run on ATO ? As it has an auto selection on the selector thingy.. and its pretty similar to a vic train isn't it ?

Well for starters the C-stock is missing the auto driver box! A switch with ATO on it doesn't actually allow a train to run automatically.

72Mk2's were also built with ATO wiring as new as the Fleet/Jubilee was going to be ATO originally.There was a 72 Mk2 doing ATO test runs on the Victoria for a short time in the 70's.All the ATO wiring was utilised in the OPO conversion and the refurbishment for other things.

Well well, this is the first time I've heard anyone mention this in a long time. 30 years ago when I started with LTE they were still talking about OMO although it had just about died a death by then and a couple of years later the OMO kit was being removed here and there.

For those who have never come across it the Circle Line was to be One Man Operated (no PC beeper sentex then!) and when I started my career on the Signal dept Circle platforms had yellow emergency buttons on all the platforms and there were yellow diamond shaped signal heads having white aspects with red crosses all around the Circle covered with sacks. Quite simply the Circle was intended to be OMO but the unions wouldn't wear it and in those days LT didn't fight too hard for it. Most of the buttons not removed were simply covered up and eventually disappeared during station modernisations and the signal heads were taken down over time I believe. This has always been the LT way, i.e. to leave things installed years after they became obsolete. Eventually another job will force removal of old equipment and cable so there was never a specific recovery budget built in to many jobs.

Brian

Well remembered! Isn't it great, this wealth of railway knowledge.... once we start training and producing railway people again we'll be laughing!