Class 86 and train braking

[KeithThomson]

Theres a new RIAB report out on an incident involving a Class 86 powered freight train that ran through a couple of red lights:
http://www.raib.gov.uk/publications/inv ... 022011.cfm
It's quite an interesting read after having "driven" a fair few Class 86 services over that stretch on Railworks.

I wonder how many drivers on Railworks carry out a brake test at the beginning of a journey, or carry out repeated brake tests during snowy conditions?
Implementing some form of these rules could make the career mode a bit more fulfilling than just a race from A to B.

[ightenhill]

The one scenario that baffles me is the Clansman.. On being given the double yellow at Lockerbie how on earth do you bring it to a nice gentle stop before spadding two blocks further on (easy when you know its coming the second time but the first time I ran it, by the time I had read the pop up I was almost on top of the single yellow anyway)

[plewsy2105]

I wonder how many drivers on Railworks carry out a brake test at the beginning of a journey, or carry out repeated brake tests during snowy conditions?

i do although that's probably out of habit seeing as i drive fright trains for a living , at the beginnng of last year when we had all the snow i had a similar experience although the train was still in the yard and was stationary and the brakes wouldn't come off for love nor money why you ask....they had frozen on well i had been sitting for an hour and a half and it was snowing most of the time to cut a long story short some men with hammers came to sort out the brakes snow, ice and trains don't always mix.

plewsy2105

[transadelaide]

Having the opposite experience while sitting in a yard sounds a lot more healthy than the incident described in the report while in motion.

Having read through the contents and the summary I do plan on reading the whole thing as it looks like being rather interesting as a snapshot of how some aspects of rail safety work. One thing which did catch my eye was Appendix E, an explanation of how single-pipe braking works. It definitely helped connect the dots and understand what happens when I hit the apostrophe key!

[Kariban]

Hmm. Wonder if you can pick up the weather from the train somehow... be interesting to script in the need for brake tests.

[trainsmit]

The one scenario that baffles me is the Clansman.. On being given the double yellow at Lockerbie how on earth do you bring it to a nice gentle stop before spadding two blocks further on (easy when you know its coming the second time but the first time I ran it, by the time I had read the pop up I was almost on top of the single yellow anyway)

From reading the report two yellows should make a driver apply full service. I've never done that before this scenario. I started braking at a speed dependent distance from the presumably red signal.

Braking for the Motherwell call in the Clansman scenario seems a bit tricky. It is necessary to subtract gravitational pull from the braking force, when calculating the stopping distance on a slope.

[transadelaide]

From reading the report two yellows should make a driver apply full service. I've never done that before this scenario. I started braking at a speed dependent distance from the presumably red signal.

Well you are correct. Two yellows means "stop in two blocks" and if it takes a full service application to do it then I guess that's what you do. In the report the driver was charging downhill, so going to full service straight away makes sense. As it was the train still did not pull up in the required space, so full service was not enough.

[ckmemphis]

Having read the entire doc, I do believe that there are many factors at play. At one point, the fingers were pointed at the driver, but the report says he was not to blame. It's weird how small factors can change situations, like in this one, snow collection on the brake assembly, rendering them useless in full service application. One thing about the report did make common sense, that the braking performance of the train increased the longer the train was in braking mode, due to heat from the disks melting the ice off the assembly.

Again, it's a small reminder that you can't just sit back and maintain track speed. You have to be alert and prepared to react if something goes wrong. For me, I do believe that this is a case of an experienced driver relying on what he knows about driving trains in snow, and not really following rules and regulations that was required. It's the same as when you drive a car, you are relaxed, you occasionally go above the speed limit, do silly things on the road because you know what you are doing.... Not so with a learner driver......

But the facts of the report had me sitting back in astonishment, to think that something so small. like ice, would prevent a train from stopping in time. So, rules and regulations are there for a reason, but how many drivers out there follow each and every one, all the time............?

[phill70]

Running brake tests, are the order of the day.

There used to be an old saying, during fog, ice and falling snow, forget the timetable. (or words to that effect )

The press run with the APT ring any bells ?

Snow and Ice, and railways, do not really mix.

[metrobus]

This may be appropriate here
http://www.railnetchannel.tv/avc-view.a ... tegoryid=5
regards
Edward