Drivers who need to utilise the...facilities

[codesam]

So my second post here is going to be just as inane as my first =)

I was wondering the other day, what happens if a driver needs to visit the little boys (or little girls) room during a journey? Can they just pop back into the train when they're at a station? Is there a procedure to follow?

I guess when you've been doing it for a while you learn to time yourself so you don't have too much coffee but I'm sure it must have been an issue at some point.

 

[rdeez]

I'm sure we'll hear from some drivers themselves, but as a passenger...I've heard the driver's door open more than once on the cross city line while we've been stopped at a signal and wondered whether it may be for some 'relief'!

Recently on an XC journey we were stopped at a station and the driver dashed out of the cab, through 1st and into the toilet, and had all of about 15 seconds before the train was ready to depart and he zoomed full speed back into the cab! Poor guy, must have been desperate.

 

[codesam]

I'm sure we'll hear from some drivers themselves, but as a passenger...I've heard the driver's door open more than once on the cross city line while we've been stopped at a signal and wondered whether it may be for some 'relief'!

Recently on an XC journey we were stopped at a station and the driver dashed out of the cab, through 1st and into the toilet, and had all of about 15 seconds before the train was ready to depart and he zoomed full speed back into the cab! Poor guy, must have been desperate.

I'd never thought of doing a quickie out the side door. Wouldn't want to do it in a 3rd rail section, just to be safe =)

 

[JB25]

I know loads of drivers who have had a quick one out of the side door when stopped at a red signal before.

I tell you something, TOCs say about all these distractions, people, mobiles, etc. Trust me when you are busting for the loo and driving a train it is a hard one to concentrate on driving when you really need to go. hock:

 

[crispy1978]

Emergency plastic bottle which can then be "disposed of"?

 

[185]

A York driver discovered if you climb up on the seat at 95mph and lower the cab window....

1) At 95mph what goes out, often comes back in & all over the MCBs/electric panel
and
2) The 1015 East Coast from Kings X, full of passengers often without warning overtakes that service at Skelton Junction.

Oopsy.

 

[A-driver]

Emergency plastic bottle which can then be "disposed of"?

I noticed a memo on the east coast drivers board at kings cross the other day asking drivers to stop doing that as the cleaners were fed up of finding the bottles in the cabs. It pointed out that (as any TOC will say) they have no problem with delaying a train by a couple of mins if you need to go.

I relieved a driver (poor choice of words I know) a while back and the cab stank or urine so I'm pretty sure he was using a bottle to.

If its not going to put me in danger (ie the middle line of a 4 track railway) then I don't have a problem jumping out the cab door at a red signal or at certain island platforms but generally will try to wait until turnarounds. If its an emergancy then its common courtesy to let the signaller know first and then nip to the loo at the next station. Holding it in for the length if a 5 hour driving stint isn't healthy and as said above is a huge distraction. And it's easier said than done to control fluid intake around driving hours, especially when the weather is hot or early mornings/late nights when tea and coffee are essential for keeping ones eyelids open.

 

[A-driver]

A York driver discovered if you climb up on the seat at 95mph and lower the cab window....

1) At 95mph what goes out, often comes back in & all over the MCBs/electric panel
and
2) The 1015 East Coast from Kings X, full of passengers often without warning overtakes that service at Skelton Junction.

Oopsy.

I know a driver who jumped out whilst at a red signal on the up Sydenham spur on the crystal palace-Sydenham line and went up against the side of the train. He didn't take into account the 8 car train he was driving was sitting on a very tight left hand bend so it was hardly discreet-don't think he noticed until he was midflow and it was too late to do anything about it.

 

[yorksrob]

I noticed a memo on the east coast drivers board at kings cross the other day asking drivers to stop doing that as the cleaners were fed up of finding the bottles in the cabs.

Wouldn't a memo reminding drivers to take their "bottles" with them when they leave make more sense !

 

[Cherry_Picker]

Most routes will have a station or two where the toilets are close enough to where the train stops for the driver to nip out and have a piddle.

You know what the really annoying thing is though? When a passenger walks directly from the train and into the station toilet before the driver has chance to get there. WHAT WAS WRONG WITH THE TRAIN TOILETS THAT YOU COULD HAVE USED AT ANY POINT ON YOUR JOURNEY?

 

[dtaylor84]

WHAT WAS WRONG WITH THE TRAIN TOILETS THAT YOU COULD HAVE USED AT ANY POINT ON YOUR JOURNEY?

Often quite a lot, in my experience.

 

[1e10]

Often quite a lot, in my experience.

Voyagers toilets actually seem to be cleaner than the station toilets at BRI.

 

[Eagle]

WHAT WAS WRONG WITH THE TRAIN TOILETS THAT YOU COULD HAVE USED AT ANY POINT ON YOUR JOURNEY?

Depending on what kind of train it was, the problem with the train toilets might have been that they were somewhat nonexistent :P

 

[sheff1]

You know what the really annoying thing is though? When a passenger walks directly from the train and into the station toilet before the driver has chance to get there. WHAT WAS WRONG WITH THE TRAIN TOILETS THAT YOU COULD HAVE USED AT ANY POINT ON YOUR JOURNEY?

If travelling alone, you need to leave your belongings unattended if you go to the loo and, as we are constantly warned, doing so means they may be removed and destroyed by the security services

 

[deltic1989]

A York driver discovered if you climb up on the seat at 95mph and lower the cab window....

1) At 95mph what goes out, often comes back in & all over the MCBs/electric panel
and
2) The 1015 East Coast from Kings X, full of passengers often without warning overtakes that service at Skelton Junction.

Oopsy.

I can imagine the looks on the faces of the passengers now, seeing a driver dangleing his meat and two veg out the window at 95.

Would teach window hangers a lesson on slam door stock though.

 

[JB25]

How did the driver jump on the seat without his DSD or Vigilance going off?

I have also been told stories of drivers urinating into the Screen Wash fluid tank on 456s. I have been in a few which do tend to smell of stale urine I have to be honest.

Beckenham Junction is a frustrating one. 35 mins from London Bridge you either get a 7 minute turn around or a 16 minute turn around. There is a toilet on the station but often it is locked. When you get to London Bridge again you usually only get 7 minutes to turn around, nowhere near long enough to get to a toilet and set up.

 

[Carlisle]

I can remember the old class 47 locomotives had a small metal urinal in their engine compartments probably others types of locos had this as well in sure others know more about which did

 

[455driver]

Either an oasis bottle (wide neck) or large coffee cup.

 

[34D]

Either an oasis bottle (wide neck) or large coffee cup.

Bet that's what you tell all the ladies

 

[455driver]

Its just because my aim isnt what it used to be, no other reason!

 

[TOCDriver]

No excuse for it really. I'm very rarely at the controls for more than an hour and a half at a time and if you can't hold yourself for that long, there is something wrong. Would be interested to know the experiences of high speed drivers though who can be two hours plus at the desk. If I was so desperate though, I would inform the guard just before a station stop and go to the onboard toilet. Better to be a couple of minutes late than risk losing your concentration and doing something stupid because of it

 

[theageofthetra]

Well there is of course the option of purchasing "Stadium Buddy" now available in mens and womens versions. Only someone in the US could come up with this product!

 

[Donny Dave]

A driver could always use the toilet on another train in the station ....

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showpost.php?p=146854&postcount=1

 

[Eagle]

How did I already know what the outcome of that would be before I read it?

You don't get many delay reports that end in an exclamation mark.

 

[jopsuk]

WHAT WAS WRONG WITH THE TRAIN TOILETS THAT YOU COULD HAVE USED AT ANY POINT ON YOUR JOURNEY?

far too often, everything you could think of...

I was once sat up by the front of a 317 approaching Liverpool Street. Window seat, facing forwards. Held at a signal outside the station, I heard the cab vestibule door slide open, then saw a golden stream arching out onto the ballast. If a GW train had trundled past they'd have got quite any eyefull...

 

[TOCDriver]

A driver could always use the toilet on another train in the station ....

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showpost.php?p=146854&postcount=1

That's why it's best to use your own toilet! Health and Safety is the priority and if you feel you can't do your job safely because you need to go, you go and do it.

 

[Phil6219]

Funnily enough yesterday whilst on my way back from the GCR Gala (footage now online - hint hint ) Our 156 to Nottingham got stopped at a red for a couple of minutes to let a XC 170 come off the triangle and the driver of ours popped out of the cab and into the loo.

Proper locomotives did used to have p*ss stones in them, wouldn't have been much of an issue as the secondman could have taken over driving duties back then but since they started getting rid of them it kinda prevented the use of the onboard "facilities". 37s & 40s had them and our Hymek D7076 still has one, with a notice in 5 languages explaining not to use it whilst in a station or on shed. (French, German & some others I can't remember off the top of my head). Come to think of it, the biggest issue for me would be wandering through the engine room whilst going full pelt - not exactly the easiest of walks to make at 25 let alone 95 :/

Oasis bottles as said are the best thing to have, though I'm fairly sure would be frowned upon if there was someone sharing the cab

Phil

 

[Eagle]

I could never do it in a drinks bottle. Those things are only half a litre. There'd be a near-certain chance of catastrophe.

 

[185]

How did the driver jump on the seat without his DSD or Vigilance going off?

Assuming there was a bag on the pedal, seen it done many a time whilst brews were being made. Think you get a maximum of a minute.

 

[Rich McLean]

Assuming there was a bag on the pedal, seen it done many a time whilst brews were being made. Think you get a maximum of a minute.

One minute, unless you adjust the controls. Some drivers who I know do this when pulling away from stations. They will put their bag on the pedal, so they can stick their head out ensuring the platform is clear, then back in the seat and bag back off the pedal