Engineering trains

[1018509]

I just saw, from Realtime Trains, 379F 1855 Eastleigh Alstom to Eastleigh Alstom on it's way to Sway.

Does anyone know what these trips are for?

I'm thinking track recording bot don't know.

 

[Qwerty133]

379F.

awaits someone to say that this means nothing :roll:

 

[1018509]

awaits someone to say that this means nothing :roll:

Yes but it wasn't a 444 or 455 just an EMU the only engineering move passing sway around that time which has been activated.

 

[Tomnick]

RTT shows it as cancelled for today, if I'm not mistaken - so you've probably seen something else! No doubt it'll have been a path for a test train, RHTT or similar, rather than an engineering train as such - which usually run as class 6 or lower.

 

[Freightmaster]

awaits someone to say that this means nothing :roll:

379F? hock:

379F????

You do know that's not the 'proper' headcode, don't you...??

Is that arrogantly indignant enough for you?


Seriously, the real headcode for the train in question is 3S85,
and it is a path for one of many MPV-operated RHTT 'leaf busters'
which cover the 3rd rail Network each October and November.

It's easier to leave (or leaf!) the paths 'in the system' all year round so
that they are not nicked for anything else in the intervening 10 months.


MARK

 

[DarloRich]

awaits someone to say that this means nothing :roll:

it means nothing

Is this not a seasonal treatment train? I doubt it will be running at this time of year and will be left in the system as it is easier to do so than delete it then create a new entry

 

[carriageline]

Question for the gurus, dont the recording trains normally run as a 'Q'? I.E 1Q11?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Tomnick]

Not a guru, but yes, the recording trains usually run as xQxx to indicate that they shouldn't be diverted off booked path, though purely transit moves probably wouldn't be.

 

[carriageline]

I thought so, I know on our route they tend to run as xQxx, wasn't sure if it was a national thing


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[Freightmaster]

Is this not a seasonal treatment train?

Isn't that what I said in my reply?


MARK

 

[DarloRich]

Isn't that what I said in my reply?


MARK

which i hadn't read when i typed the response - sorry!

I am not one for deleting my mistakes so left it!

 

[Muzer]

For a signaller, how important relative to other important things is it to keep the "Q" trains on their booked paths? If it would cause significant delays to other services (say, due to a points detection failure into a loop that it's booked in), would they divert it then? I'm guessing yes. What about something that would cause a minor delay, like having to talk them past a signal or two at danger due to a track circuit failure, or having to keep them waiting in the station throat for their booked platform to become available?

 

[1018509]

379F? hock:

379F????

You do know that's not the 'proper' headcode, don't you...??

Is that arrogantly indignant enough for you?


Seriously, the real headcode for the train in question is 3S85,
and it is a path for one of many MPV-operated RHTT 'leaf busters'
which cover the 3rd rail Network each October and November.

It's easier to leave (or leaf!) the paths 'in the system' all year round so
that they are not nicked for anything else in the intervening 10 months.


MARK

How do you find the headcode is it elsewhere on RealTime Trains.? The number I used indicated the train I meant whether it was a headcode or not.

 

[Tomnick]

Unless it's a WTT service, and therefore shown in the documents on the NR website, there's no reliable means of finding out headcodes of such trains. Asking here, or looking at 'gen' sites, is probably your best bet! Probably better to say nothing than to say 379F though .

For a signaller, how important relative to other important things is it to keep the "Q" trains on their booked paths? If it would cause significant delays to other services (say, due to a points detection failure into a loop that it's booked in), would they divert it then? I'm guessing yes. What about something that would cause a minor delay, like having to talk them past a signal or two at danger due to a track circuit failure, or having to keep them waiting in the station throat for their booked platform to become available?

Missed this one earlier - it'd be Control's decision in every case, as they're in a much better position to determine the effects of diverting from booked path (in terms of scheduled recording not being carried out), though in some cases, with more significant delays involved, it'd be a no-brainer. I don't know how crucial the recording trains are to the compliance of the assets involved, but - to take an extreme example - a two minute delay to a following train would be preferable to an important running line being blocked because it hasn't been inspected!

 

[1018509]

Pardon my dimness but why is saying nothing better than saying 379F as I only wanted to indicate the one particular train and this seems to have worked?

 

[Tomnick]

I don't know about others, but the only way I could find the schedule (in RTT or on the internal systems) was by searching for it at the origin location, not by using the 379F reference.

 

[Boothby97]

You'd probably just be better off asking, for example, what's the 1855 Eastleigh Alstom to Eastleigh Alstom.
As has been mentioned, no point using '379F'

 

[Freightmaster]

Pardon my dimness but why is saying nothing better than saying 379F...

Because that is just a random code which changes from one day to the next.

Probably easier to 'say nothing' about the headcode if you don't know it,
and just describe the train in terms of origin/time/destination, but if you
prefer to quote a 'code' from RTT, use the schedule UID, which is what
I use to track trains, as it doesn't change from day to day.

For example, for the train in question (3S85), RTT shows the following:

WTT schedule UID H69451
Runs SSuX between 09/12/2013 to 16/05/2014
Service code 95998501
Operational Information
Schedule from ITPS
Timed for 60mph max
Diesel Electric Multiple Unit

The part highlighted in blue is the schedule UID,
and can be used to look up the train on RTT by others.


MARK

 

[1018509]

OK. I accept what has been said and thank you all.

What's the 379F for then?

 

[Tomnick]

379F, in this case, is simply an obfuscated (what a cracking word!!) version of the real train description (3S85) - apparently concealed as such for reasons of commercial confidentiality. I think it'd cause much less confusion if it was presented as 3*** (it still shows the correct class of train, indicated by the first character) personally!

 

[Muzer]

Yes - the story I've heard most frequently is that it was at large customers' requests, like supermarkets. All trains without a TOC (so freight as well as engineering trains, and railtours run by freight operators) have their headcode obfuscated in this way to make it harder to follow a service. Completely pointless operation since you can see all the other details of the train (including other unchanging IDs) and put two and two together very easily, but if it keeps freight operators happy and so allows us to have freight in the realtime open data, it's a small price to pay.