Tornado and Train

[Scorpius]

You're not kidding, Chris! I've had a look at the link you gave and am now completely bewildered. Fortunately the British signalling system is much easier to understand - which is just as well as I'm tested on it every two years!

That'll be your Traincrew rules then?

[speedbird591]

The compooter sez NO! :@
"This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by BNSF Railway Company"

Bob

It's still around on other sites, Bob. Here's a link to Metacafe. Catch it quick before BNSF find it!!!

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/717099/train_crash/

That'll be your Traincrew rules then?

Yes. We have to know a lot about the signalling in the event we have to assist the driver in the event of various situations. And of course for starting from stations and shunting. The Rules exam itself is quite stressful as it can last 5 or 6 hours every two years. No multichoice either - one to one with a competence manager and spoken answers. It doesn't help much having an old brain that isn't that interested in railways :-( I only do it for the money

Ian

[Scorpius]

Mine are due in March next year, on my birthday, such joy. Worst bit is swotting up.

[delticbob]

Thanks for a (new) link....as it turns out it is the clip I was thinking of.

Wasn't the driver of the approaching freight (alledgedly) on 'something' ? Alochol, drugs...Penthouse :o

Bob

[forthbridge]

This is interesting.....

Many years ago, travelling by train, you could see out the front (in fact I made a point of sitting behind the driver when I was a lad). I remember bells going off, and I was reading about 'AWS' which is what I must have heard. Basically a bell rings if it's 'Green' and if it isn't a klaxon goes off.

Now, presumably that noise tells the driver that the next signal is not 'clear'. So, you wonder why any signal can be 'run on red' - is there a system like that on American trains?

[speedbird591]

Basically a bell rings if it's 'Green' and if it isn't a klaxon goes off. Now, presumably that noise tells the driver that the next signal is not 'clear'. So, you wonder why any signal can be 'run on red' - is there a system like that on American trains?

I don't know what happens on American trains, Jim. Hmmm. Actually I don't know much about what happens on UK trains, either! But a wee bit.

The AWS bell doesn't need to be cancelled but the 'klaxon' (more like a raspberry ) has to be cancelled by pressing the button on the desk within two seconds or the emergency brakes go in. It sounds on approach to a yellow (caution) or a red signal. It often triggers a brake application if the driver's half asleep and I have to make up some story for the punters about why we've come to a rapid halt in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes, and on certain types of trains, the brakes may come in whether they cancel the AWS or not. But in all honesty, a couple of minutes delay is better than another Ladbroke Grove SPAD :-(

There are still plenty of SPADs but since AWS was installed the train comes to a halt very quickly just past the signal so avoiding a possible collision. Even so, a small overlap of points at the wrong time is enough to cause a disaster. I don't know how drivers do it, to be honest. To concentrate on signals day in and day out for up to five and a half hours with no break - and it's always a very rare chain of events that catches them out. It's very easy for them to lose their jobs and I don't envy them at all. Even if they've cancelled a klaxon they can still forget whether the signal they just passed was green or yellow (A bit like the 'have I locked the door?' syndrome). If they don't decide quickly they may miss the braking point for the next stop signal and overshoot it by a few yards. We all lose concentration when we're driving cars, don't we? Or is that just me?

The trains I work are usually 2 and 3 car sprinters. Stopping a 10,000 ton freight train, as in the video, with or without AWS, might be a slightly different proposition!

Ian

[airboatr]

Leif,
waterspouts are more common than tornados here in Florida
lightning is even more common than that....those


as for the late reply ....I been busy .ain't even been simming

:think: .........there was a waterspout in wp?

[Chris Trott]

This is interesting.....

Many years ago, travelling by train, you could see out the front (in fact I made a point of sitting behind the driver when I was a lad). I remember bells going off, and I was reading about 'AWS' which is what I must have heard. Basically a bell rings if it's 'Green' and if it isn't a klaxon goes off.

Now, presumably that noise tells the driver that the next signal is not 'clear'. So, you wonder why any signal can be 'run on red' - is there a system like that on American trains?

We don't have any standardized warning to signal changes (yet) on non-ATS territory, but again, as they had a "clear" signal until only moments before impact, the system wouldn't have warned them in time.

That's the problem with a lot of accidents like this. Having driven BVE and seeing the system in use in the UK, I can tell you that this particular accident would have still happened. The engineer would have canceled the klaxon as he passed the "Approach" (yellow) signal at the head end of the siding. He was doing an appropriate speed for the signal. His warning of the "Stop" (red) signal would have been his first sign of it and even with ATS, he would have most likely still not have been able to stop before passing the signal with sufficient distance to foul the track and still cause the accident.