Dispatch method at Three Bridges

[newuser]

Hi all

Just curious as to what the method of dispatch at three bridges is, it seems it differs from platform to platform.

thanks in advance

 

[ComUtoR]

Not sure on Three Bridges but different platforms can have different methods of dispatch. Waterloo East has DOO or CD/RA depending on what platform you are on.

Beckenham Jn has Batnflag or DOO.
Grove Park has a platform which is DOO or Batnflag depending on which direction the unit is facing on the same platform.
Strood has a platform where train length determines dispatch.

No doubt there will be many many others.

 

[James Wake]

Platform 1-4 will have one dispatcher by cab, one by CD/RA indicators. Simple tip from middle of platform, relay to driver then when all clear, dispatcher with driver will tip again for RA to be lit.

Platform 5 has a mirror for 3-9 coach DOO 377 or if a 319 came down, 700s always seem to self dispatch on platform 5, but 10-12 car 377s have two dispatchers as on platform 1-4 but I don't think the indicators are used.

 

[E_Reeves]

What does CD stand for?

 

[ExRes]

What does CD stand for?

Close Doors

 

[tsr]

Platform 1-4 will have one dispatcher by cab, one by CD/RA indicators. Simple tip from middle of platform, relay to driver then when all clear, dispatcher with driver will tip again for RA to be lit.

Platform 5 has a mirror for 3-9 coach DOO 377 or if a 319 came down, 700s always seem to self dispatch on platform 5, but 10-12 car 377s have two dispatchers as on platform 1-4 but I don't think the indicators are used.

Mirrors are emphatically not used for 377s/387s - that's what the cameras are there for! Stock with bodyside cameras can be self-dispatched by the driver on Platform 5 now, as of a recent instruction, I believe. At one point, dispatchers were provided for both conductors and DOO services, at certain hours of the day (principally at peak times and overnight). Now, I believe it is just for DOO trains without functioning cameras, such as 319s, which in any case won't be working TL trains for that much longer.

Platforms 1-4 have the methods you mention.

What does CD stand for?

Close Doors.

Many stations in the area (including some platforms at Three Bridges) have RA indicators but no CD ones; this is mainly where the system was installed before the more recent widespread rollouts of DOO, and thus similarly applies to some platforms/directions at Victoria, Clapham Jn, East Croydon, Redhill etc.

* RA indicators could once have been used by platform staff to relay the guard's green handsignal to the driver on stock without bell/buzzer communication, and technically could still be. On stock with guards and especially on stock with slam doors, there is no need for the CD indicator, as door closure would be taken care of by the guard, or their instructions direct to the driver.

** It remains the case on Southern that their Rule Book Appendix forbids the use of telephone communication for conductors on non-DOO services to issue the ready-to-start signal, with the only approved methods being green flags/lights or bell/buzzer. Thus, in the highly unlikely event that a Southern conductor did dispatch a train with no working bells from Three Bridges, with the assistance of platform staff, said platform staff would use the RA to relay the conductor's handsignal.