Four methods of stopping a train

[A-driver]

Actually, the egress is not guaranteed to stop a train. Class 377 egress has two stages. Pull. It and an alarm goes off in the cab. The door can not be fully opened for the first 80secs until the train is below SFF speed (around 6mph). The brakes aren't applied automatically until the 80secs are up.

Plus egress ing doors is a little stupid at speed simply as people may fall out...

As a passenger stick to the passcom. There are no situations where a passenger would need to do any more than that.

 

[cjp]

Yes it would. Off course it kicks in the brakes, hard and people might go flying. Using the pass comm, and saying, stop, emergency. The driver would bring the train to a controlled stop in a safe place. eg not in a tunnel. Pass comms need to be over ridden due to mass false alarms. The one in the little lav on a 377 gets pushed all the time. Its badly placed and easy to knock.
And of course with the door handle pulled, once the train stops, you would have the issue of people then trying to exit the train as the doors are open.

So yes, can be used, and will stop the train, but only in serious emergencies.
Even in a fire I would rather have a controlled stop while getting people into other coaches.

Thank you for your detailed and considered reply
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Actually, the egress is not guaranteed to stop a train. Class 377 egress has two stages. Pull. It and an alarm goes off in the cab. The door can not be fully opened for the first 80secs until the train is below SFF speed (around 6mph). The brakes aren't applied automatically until the 80secs are up.

Plus egress ing doors is a little stupid at speed simply as people may fall out...

As a passenger stick to the passcom. There are no situations where a passenger would need to do any more than that.

and your reply.

Happy Easter

 

[sarahj]

Cheers for the details A driver. i just knew that on a 377 you pulled it, the train stopped, then when it was going slow, you could fully open it. I never knew that the driver had to intervene. Since I've only ever had to pull it during static training in a depot, i never knew about the timings etc.

I do have to laugh that the emergency handles on a 442 etc are still called pass coms, when there is no communication involved.

Anyway, now off to night shift. the 02.00 TBD to Vic and the 04.00 Vic to Btn awaits.

 

[edwin_m]

It was known as a communication cord since the time it was invented - originally it rang a bell on the engine (or didn't if it hadn't been connected up properly) - this was probably before the days of continuous brakes.

I think there is or was a regulation requiring the use of a "communication device" which allowed passengers to alert the driver. With continuous brakes venting the train pipe was the easiest way to do this, until the advent of relatively cheap and reliable intercom systems.

 

[Muzer]

Because you can see that it's the back of another train...? Sheesh!!

O L Leigh

Not if it's dark and it's just appeared in your vision, I wouldn't have thought - even if you could recognise the pattern of lights, it could be diverted stock that rarely uses that line, for example, that has a pattern you're not used to. I obviously wasn't talking about when it's daytime and you can clearly tell it's a train...

Route knowledge. If a driver needs to stop trains on the opposite line from in the cab they put reds on the front of their train. If I'm driving on a 4 track line and I see reds on the other line which shares the same direction of travel then I will not react at all to it. If one of the lines with the opposite direction of travel or on a 2 track line if I see reds on the front then I would react.

Basically it's common sense. You know what you are expecting to see (ie traffic lights on adjacent roads at night, red lights attached to buildings, signals which don't apply to your train etc) and if you see something out of the ordinary, such as a red light where not expected, then you react to it, even if not stopping then reducing speed until you can work out if there is any danger.

That makes more sense - obviously it's easier than I assumed to tell on which track something is when it's far away and it's dark. Presumably then if someone needed to signal a driver to stop they'd need to make sure they wouldn't stand where you'd normally pass trains (though hopefully they wouldn't be standing on a running line anyway) - or if they did, they moved the light around enough/put it at a different height such that it's easy to tell it's not a train.

 

[A-driver]

Not if it's dark and it's just appeared in your vision, I wouldn't have thought - even if you could recognise the pattern of lights, it could be diverted stock that rarely uses that line, for example, that has a pattern you're not used to. I obviously wasn't talking about when it's daytime and you can clearly tell it's a

I don't know any drivers who have eve confused the back of another train for an emergancy stop signal at night.

In a genuine emergancy no one would just stand lineside holding a red lamp out. They would be jumping up and down and waving it about to draw attention to it, if nothing else it is human instinct and comes with adrenaline. I'm sure it would be pretty obvious if someone was genuinely holding out a red lamp in a real emergancy. Regardless of specific rolling stock, you know when it's another train.

 

[LowLevel]

Not if it's dark and it's just appeared in your vision, I wouldn't have thought - even if you could recognise the pattern of lights, it could be diverted stock that rarely uses that line, for example, that has a pattern you're not used to. I obviously wasn't talking about when it's daytime and you can clearly tell it's a train...



That makes more sense - obviously it's easier than I assumed to tell on which track something is when it's far away and it's dark. Presumably then if someone needed to signal a driver to stop they'd need to make sure they wouldn't stand where you'd normally pass trains (though hopefully they wouldn't be standing on a running line anyway) - or if they did, they moved the light around enough/put it at a different height such that it's easy to tell it's not a train.

Forgive me please, but I feel I must say it - why on earth are you telling a train driver what your opinion of what you think it must be like to drive a train is?! I'm sure the chap is quite well acquainted with it, whizzing about at the front of trains all the time as he does - he's told you what the crack is, if you've never driven a train in your life, what you think it must be like in your own mind is not worth typing the 'I wouldn't have thought'.

I honestly don't mean to offend but seriously, if someone who does something is telling you what the crack is, if you haven't done it yourself you haven't really got anything to add by taking what they say and putting 'I wouldn't have thought' against it.

I spend quite a lot of my time in the rear cabs of trains (not as much time as a driver spends in the front obviously because I have other things things to do) and I can promise you, you become very familiar with how things should be, and also when things don't 'feel' right. I know which red lights are signals, which are buffer stops, which are to do with trains and which really probably shouldn't be there.

 

[Muzer]

Apologies. I was more combining a question with musings on my own experiences of approaching things with lights in the dark (obviously not in a train). I didn't mean to come across as rude, arrogant, or anything of the sort. A-driver's excellent responses made it clear to me that I was indeed being a little thick, and it is clearly easier than I expected to tell the difference especially when used to a line (as a driver needs to be, of course!).