Atomic Systems

The Helsinki Metro vehicles are set up for dual-mode operation too. Normally the doors are all opened by the driver at every stop for maximum loading speed. However, when on the surface in winter, the doors are merely unlocked, and passengers have to open them. This helps to keep the inside of the vehicle warm.

Incidentally, there is a single six-car set - from the pre-series M100 production - which remains with the latest round of refurbishments undone. These are readily identifiable because they lack the multi-second pause while the hustle-alarm sounds. Instead there is a single chime, after which the pneumatic cylinders have finished charging sufficiently to start the doors moving.

It turns out that, for able-bodied passengers at least, the hustle-alarm is actually a safety *hazard* - because it encourages people to make a mad dash for the doors if they have just reached the platform. With the older behaviour, there is no such window of opportunity - it is just a concise way of saying "mind your feet/bags/arms/children".

I've found there are both good points and bad about both the old system and the new.

If it's not an automatic-open situation (i.e. most stations) the new ones do take about 1.5 seconds longer to open compared to a nice firm pull on the handle with the old ones. The old ones also allowed for manual closing, which is a godsend in even our relatively mild winters (I pity you in Finland!) or a noisy Adelaide Station full of DEMUs with engines on, which the new ones don't.

With the old one, you had a very analog-sounding four chimes before the doors started closing, and the whole train would get the whole routine. The new system done as part of the Bombardier refurbs does the beeping and "please stand clear of the doors" announcement only near each set of doors that is actually open. The newer system is a more annoying noise but does have the advantage of being heard externally which the old one didn't, but also has the disadvantage of each set of doors closing automatically after two minutes open which can disturb people at Adelaide Station who think the train is leaving early.

The biggest advantage of the new system is accessibility. The new ones have four buttons per opening (to the left and to the right on both the inside and outside) rather than a handle which must be pulled to the right. In addition, the new ones will re-open automatically if there is something in the way, which can be detected by both light sensors and resistance to closing.

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I do want to make a point about all this interesting discussion of door operation that is at least mildly on topic! It would be good if at some point in the future of the RW/TS platform some different door operation models became possible, especially if it coincided with more intelligent loading/unloading of passengers. Having an [optional] random element to departure times due to passenger factors would make operations with unpowered doors much more interesting, especially if RS.com gathered some stats on how often people on current Mark 3 stock leave the door open for somebody else to close.

Passenger pickups in the scenario editor could have sliders to select the number of passengers getting off and on, and different coaching stock could have different parameters that would be editable, mainly around door location and door operation. For example if you stopped in the wrong spot you might lose time as hundreds of people charge down the platform, or you could be suspended pending investigation (or at least lose lots of career scenario points!) if a coach goes past the end of the platform and somebody falls out in an area without selective door operation.

Mk3 doors left open... is that likely to be more or less often than the gangway doors on the Sm1/Sm2?

I do remember a Guard being somewhat grateful when I spotted and closed a Mk3 door when he was some distance down the platform. I think the train was already running late - this being Virgin before the Pendolinos had been fully rolled out.

A few more questions...
I've seen pictures of, for instance class 67s runing top and tail ( I believe it's called ) with a number of coaches in between.
when doing this, can both engines be powered ?

When running a loco hauled passenger train, is it common to mix and match of both mark 2 and 3 equipment, or will the railroad stick to one type?

When doing research for the above, I came across quite a few recent pictures of coaches in BR blue/beige livery running for some of the major companies. Is it still possible to see BR colored equipment used for "main line" oprations?

Sorry about all the stupid questions, but I really appreciate the help

-Peter

Top & tail is *usually* just the front engine being driven and the rear idling. Not always true, but most stock isn't wired for push-pull. It's just to avoid running the engine round the train ( quite often you can't ). Unfortunately RW will assume any engine in a train is to be driven unless it's switched off . Fragonset on the Wessex Trains services seemed to run their top&tail in tandem mode - driver at each end - sometimes, so you can occasionally get away with it.

The west coast was the only route that employed loco-hauled Mk3s in any number, and they mixed whatever they felt like, it looked like :p nowadays it depends on the TOC, but Mk2s are getting pretty old these days, and there's a lot of Mk3s and very few locohauled services. You won't ever find anything except Mk3s in a HST though ( barring prototypes and the NMT, before anyone gets picky ).

The blue-grey stock you saw was some charter stock operated by Cargo-D. You might very occasionally find some Intercity liveried stock that someone's hauled out of a shed somewhere, but these days that will be practically never.

I know this region being my region, however first, what era are you after? I mix of 2000-2011 or somewhere in the '80s or '90s?

I can really only assist with 2004+ to be honest but if that's what you are doing I can assist

tubemad wrote:I know this region being my region, however first, what era are you after? I mix of 2000-2011 or somewhere in the '80s or '90s?

I can really only assist with 2004+ to be honest but if that's what you are doing I can assist

I'm mostly doing present day scenarios. Mostly because, there is a alot of data availible. I'm mostly doing freight scenarios, but a few passenger runs creeps in.

Peter

A bit of info picked up from first hand observation at Oxford this morning.

- Cross Country services run between Reading and Oxford and vice versa every half hour. Northbound services alternate between final destinations at Manchester Piccadilly and Newcastle, southbound I'm not so sure of, but some terminate at Reading and some at Southampton Central

-Intermodal container trains are operated by both Freightliner and EWS/DB Schenker. Many of these are also to and from Southampton I believe (and therefore on this route only between Oxford & Reading) but I think some are also bound for Willesden Freightliner Terminal and routed this way to reduce traffic on the WCML (these would leave the route at Acton I assume?). Traction is mainly class 66s with the odd class 70 (we don't have one of those for RW yet though).

-Local/stopping services from Oxford to Paddington seemed to be mainly class 165/1s (3 car sets mostly, with a few two car sets). However there are often one or two HST sets stabled at Oxford which I think form express services to Paddington. The slowest services starting from Oxford seem to stop at all stations except Taplow, Burnham, Langley, Hanwell, West Ealing and Acton Mainline.

Steve

Very nice, thank you.
so the oxford - Paddington express is mostly HST, nice. Haven't found many pictures of HST on that part of the network, so wasn't sure. I've been using 166 for all oxford trains, I'll change that.
Are all DMU's painted in "dynamic lines" livery, or are there still some to be seen with the "link" livery. I like to put in a few, to make it more colorfull.
Very nice, with the detoured intermodals, lots of excuse for filling some of the "gaps" in the traffic with some intermodal trains.

Thank you very much, again

Peter

The WR ... er, FGW doesn't operate anything else in the area. At some point they used class 180s to Oxford, but everyone hated using them so much the TOC handed them back and took more HSTs. There are through HST services to Worcester as well as the odd one that terminates at Oxford. There's also some Chiltern services to Bicester & Marylebone ( er, soon? dunno ).

166s are all in FGW dynamic lines nowadays, yes. I don't know what Chiltern are using, but it's either 165/6s or 168s, which are sortof like 170s, as that's pretty much all they own anyway :p

Kariban wrote:The WR ... er, FGW doesn't operate anything else in the area. At some point they used class 180s to Oxford, but everyone hated using them so much the TOC handed them back and took more HSTs. There are through HST services to Worcester as well as the odd one that terminates at Oxford. There's also some Chiltern services to Bicester & Marylebone ( er, soon? dunno ).

166s are all in FGW dynamic lines nowadays, yes. I don't know what Chiltern are using, but it's either 165/6s or 168s, which are sortof like 170s, as that's pretty much all they own anyway :p

They (Chiltern) do also have a couple of 67s + DVTs and a Bubble Car (121) although none of these operate anywhere near Oxford. It's actually not possible to get from Oxford-Bicester-Marylebone at the moment as there is no connection between the LNW and GW lines at Bicester