Atomic Systems

yyyyamst wrote:Driver Fatigue is certainly taken very seriously within all TOCs. We have various safeguards built in. However Passenger Drivers don't face the same type of fatigue as Feight Train Drivers. The environment is totally different. Also remember Train Drivers don't have nice flight computers with programmed routes and procedures all at Hand. Next time you are flying along on the West or East Coast in thick Fog remember the Driver is working entirely from memory, Route Knowledge!

As someone who has worked night shifts in a multitude of different jobs then I have complete and utter sympathy for how hard it must be for train drivers to stay awake at night on their own in a cozy cab. I felt so sorry for the driver in that report above as he was clearly a very competent and experienced guy and he must have been distraught over what happened. It's impossible for anyone who has never worked nights to understand the toll it takes on you. In my busy life I've done night shifts as a baker, in the navy, the army and on a production line! In each of those varied roles I found night shifts to be a terrible battle against tiredness. The only time I fell asleep however was on those occasions where I was on my own. The first time I ever fell asleep on duty was in the navy where I was the on-watch engineer in the control room of a minesweeper. I'd been working night shifts for years on big ships as part of an engineering team where it was impossible for you to sleep as you were always with at least 3 other duty personnel at the same time or you were out on rounds in the various machinery spaces and engine rooms. On a small ship like a minesweeper however, there was only one engineer on-watch. Similar to a train driver in some respects you basically sat at a control console monitoring all the ships systems to make sure they were running correctly. Watches were 4 hours long with the worst being midnight - 4am. It was practically impossible to stay awake on your own through this period with the hum of machinery and the rolling of the ship.

I found it slightly amusing that the RAIB completely avoids the only and obvious solution. The report includes dozens of complicated mathematical models, analysis of fatigue, scientific reports etc etc but completely avoids the obvious answer - double manning! That's a dirty, old-fashioned word in this modern world of lean efficiency, technology and automation. However the fact that all the high-tech and complex automated systems failed to stop the train in this scenario shows that the only way this situation could have been averted was by having a good old fashioned secondman!

yyyyamst wrote: Also remember Train Drivers don't have nice flight computers with programmed routes and procedures all at Hand.

Automation, another cause of fatigue, with little to do other than monitor systems staying alert is a problem.

Regards,

Len

I was not intending to buy this route at first. But after looking at pictures and comments on the forum, I was indeed won over by this route. I usually go for commuter routes like London to Brighton, but recently I've been wishing to drive on some intercity routes. I tried Bristol to Exeter, but it just didn't cut it for me. WCML Over sharp has given me the feeling of driving on a real intercity route. I don't even know where to begin with the scenery! You may not pass a station every 5 minutes but the scenery alone makes up for that. I have done my first scenario for the route which I hope to release in the next few weeks. Nice work Mr K Ross! Highly recommended to anyone!

I was wondering if anyone could tell me how to swap the default sounds of DPS's Virgin era 87 with the Armstrong Powerhouse alternative?

Much obliged

Crundles wrote:I was wondering if anyone could tell me how to swap the default sounds of DPS's Virgin era 87 with the Armstrong Powerhouse alternative?

Much obliged

Hi Crundles, for me they were applied automatically

msey0002 wrote:

Crundles wrote:I was wondering if anyone could tell me how to swap the default sounds of DPS's Virgin era 87 with the Armstrong Powerhouse alternative?

Much obliged

Hi Crundles, for me they were applied automatically

Same for me, I all did was download the updated pack from AP and ran the installer,

Hope this helps,

jimmyshand wrote:

yyyyamst wrote:Driver Fatigue is certainly taken very seriously within all TOCs. We have various safeguards built in. However Passenger Drivers don't face the same type of fatigue as Feight Train Drivers. The environment is totally different. Also remember Train Drivers don't have nice flight computers with programmed routes and procedures all at Hand. Next time you are flying along on the West or East Coast in thick Fog remember the Driver is working entirely from memory, Route Knowledge!

As someone who has worked night shifts in a multitude of different jobs then I have complete and utter sympathy for how hard it must be for train drivers to stay awake at night on their own in a cozy cab. I felt so sorry for the driver in that report above as he was clearly a very competent and experienced guy and he must have been distraught over what happened. It's impossible for anyone who has never worked nights to understand the toll it takes on you. In my busy life I've done night shifts as a baker, in the navy, the army and on a production line! In each of those varied roles I found night shifts to be a terrible battle against tiredness. The only time I fell asleep however was on those occasions where I was on my own. The first time I ever fell asleep on duty was in the navy where I was the on-watch engineer in the control room of a minesweeper. I'd been working night shifts for years on big ships as part of an engineering team where it was impossible for you to sleep as you were always with at least 3 other duty personnel at the same time or you were out on rounds in the various machinery spaces and engine rooms. On a small ship like a minesweeper however, there was only one engineer on-watch. Similar to a train driver in some respects you basically sat at a control console monitoring all the ships systems to make sure they were running correctly. Watches were 4 hours long with the worst being midnight - 4am. It was practically impossible to stay awake on your own through this period with the hum of machinery and the rolling of the ship.

I found it slightly amusing that the RAIB completely avoids the only and obvious solution. The report includes dozens of complicated mathematical models, analysis of fatigue, scientific reports etc etc but completely avoids the obvious answer - double manning! That's a dirty, old-fashioned word in this modern world of lean efficiency, technology and automation. However the fact that all the high-tech and complex automated systems failed to stop the train in this scenario shows that the only way this situation could have been averted was by having a good old fashioned secondman!

Thats an imperfect solution at best though. I can point to an accident report for the Settle and Carlisle where a Class 40 headed freight ran into the back of another at Selside, with both the driver and the fireman both asleep because the air intake to the cab had been blocked by newspaper, the effort of someone to keep the draught out. There is at least one occasion in Canada where a freight train ran headfirst into a passenger train because both the driver, second man and the man in the caboose were fast asleep. It may well help, but the only full solution to the problem is to keep people on hours where they are not exhausted. This is true for aircraft, for some reason trains seem to be regarded as different, which is a bit strange when you get down to it.

Crundles wrote:I was wondering if anyone could tell me how to swap the default sounds of DPS's Virgin era 87 with the Armstrong Powerhouse alternative?

Much obliged

If the horn is causing you bother then install the patch included in this scenario

WCML Down AC Electric [114241 bytes] - WCML Down AC Electric.zip File ID: 32292 Date: 30 Jan 2014 - 472 Downloads

Has anyone heard any news on the Windermere branch scenery extension? Is anyone working on this at the moment?