Are drivers trained on what to expect to feel from a derailment?

Out of interest, are drivers trained on what to expect to feel from a derailment? Or it is just a case of “that feels wrong, I’ll stop safely and inspect”?

I've certainly never been specifically trained on that.

I expect one issue with designing any training is that there are a range of ways derailments can happen and a variety of places they can happen which would result in very different feelings in the cab. If you trained for every eventuality you'd never pass anybody out and if you trained for only some eventualities, a driver might have a derailment but think 'oh that doesn't feel like what a derailment would' or something similar.

Didn't the driver at Potter's Bar only know something had happened because the brakes came on?

Had no training but have had 3 derailments ( in yard 5 mph ) if at the driving end it's a bit hard to miss !

contrex said:

Didn't the driver at Potter's Bar only know something had happened because the brakes came on?

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IIRC he felt a series of jolts, which was very shortly afterwards followed by the emergency brakes coming on. However he wasn’t aware it was a derailment until looking back along the train.

The report doesn’t actually say, but the fact that he looked back rather than commenced fault-finding on board the train suggests he had quickly formed the opinion something serious was wrong.

There was also a Railtrack manager in the cab who observed a signal briefly revert to danger, which may have been a factor. Again the report isn’t entirely clear, however it seems the driver didn’t notice this, presumably he might have been looking at cab indications to see if anything was indicated that could explain the jolts or brake application. All this would of course have happened within a couple of seconds.

No. We're taught what to do if there is one but not really what it would feel like.

In the case of the Lewes derailment, the coaches came apart so that would have dumped the air pressure and applied the brakes. The driver would have known something major had happened but wouldn't have immediately known that 3 coaches were on their side at the back.

aar0 said:

Out of interest, are drivers trained on what to expect to feel from a derailment? Or it is just a case of “that feels wrong, I’ll stop safely and inspect”?

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In a word, no.

I'd imagine they'd probably feel sad