Letters on the side of a train

[francisoldfield]

Does anyone know if there is a website that lists what the abbreviations are on the sides of trains.

IE i was looking at the side of a class 158 today and the amount of different letters was amazing

PBIC is the only one i can remember, they are the underside equipment labels

 

[TheExmoorBeast]

Should we be discussing safety critical items, such as underside valves & switches here on a open forum? Personally I don't think so.

I don't think we want the identities revealed, just in case someone wants to try them out.

 

[Daniel]

TheExmoorBeast has a point. I know things such as this are interesting, but perhaps it's not the thing to discuss in public, where less... trustworthy people can view it. Equipment on the outside of trains can do some very dangerous things.

 

[asylumxl]

TheExmoorBeast has a point. I know things such as this are interesting, but perhaps it's not the thing to discuss in public, where less... trustworthy people can view it. Equipment on the outside of trains can do some very dangerous things.

I'm pretty sure that if someone intends to do something to a train, they'd do it anyway. Highly doubt they'd look on here for information. They'd do it whether or not they had the knowledge.

I've known of ****s pressing the buttons on the end of 319 carriages to close the doors. They didn't need to come on here. They simply just have to watch staff when the train terminates.

 

[Vulcan]

Worst thing anyone could do is kick the emergency engine stop button, which doesn't have abreviated labels anyway. I don't see how anything said on here about the various meanings of these things could be seen as a safety risk myself.

We need a mod to give a 'yay' or 'nay'

 

[TheExmoorBeast]

I'm pretty sure that if someone intends to do something to a train, they'd do it anyway. Highly doubt they'd look on here for information. They'd do it whether or not they had the knowledge.

I've known of ****s pressing the buttons on the end of 319 carriages to close the doors. They didn't need to come on here. They simply just have to watch staff when the train terminates.

We're talking about stuff that is below floor level, stuff that fitters and drivers use in depots and in emergency, not end of coach door buttons.

 

[mumrar]

We're talking about stuff that is below floor level, stuff that fitters and drivers use in depots and in emergency, not end of coach door buttons.

I'm in agreement about what stuff is available down there. If someone expected to utilise the system covered by the PBIC to find it isolated it could get as serious as a runaway train, depending on the location. These thoughts are probably fostered by the nervous state of mind engendered in to society over the last two decades, convincing everyone there's criminals everywhere and they're all out to get us and our stuff!

 

[Daniel]

Worst thing anyone could do is kick the emergency engine stop button, which doesn't have abreviated labels anyway. I don't see how anything said on here about the various meanings of these things could be seen as a safety risk myself.

No, trust us when we say there is alot of equipment underneath trains which can do some dangerous things.

 

[ralphchadkirk]

There are a lot of switches and other things underneath a train which are used in emergencies, some of which can do dangerous things (as said by other posters). I don't think it should be discussed, as the last thing we want is some chav knowing how to isolate certain things.

 

[rail-britain]

There are aleady books and websites that not only list what the abbreviations are, but also identify the parts

Some time ago there was a post asking what the driver was playing about with. the response included details of the switches being played with and what they did

However, such information could easily be abused, and we already know of one person that has been doing this (but one person out of millions is nothing)

 

[TheExmoorBeast]

It only takes ONE idiot, to cause a major problem!

 

[Failed Unit]

It only takes ONE idiot, to cause a major problem!

Yep, who will see a level at the bottom of a train and pull it anyway, idiots don't care what it does and are happy to find out the hard way.

 

[francisoldfield]

good points on both sides. i must admit i hadnt even considered the problems with finding out. ill just wait until i one day do traction training!

 

[455driver]

I was at a terminus a while ago and this muppet decided to muck about with the Air pipe between the units, he soon let go when he got an earful of escaping air.
And yes I did tell him EXACTLY what I thought of him!

 

[Aictos]

I was at a terminus a while ago and this muppet decided to muck about with the Air pipe between the units, he soon let go when he got an earful of escaping air.
And yes I did tell him EXACTLY what I thought of him!

You won't be the first or the last, I had some idiots holding the doors open so gave them full barrels and got the train out.
Not the same thing I know but they were given more then enough notice to just board and find a seat or two.

 

[TheExmoorBeast]

I think you're missing the point, we're concerned about what's below solebar (I believe that's the correct term) & what the consequences could be if information put here was used in a malicious manner.

 

[Vulcan]

Do people here really thing any idiot wanting to cause trouble will ever think 'Hmm, I wonder if I can annoy some railway staff by pulling the levers on the bottom half of a train. I'll search this train spotter's forum to see if they have discussed what each lever does.' ??

No, they won't. And furthermore:
1) They likely can't read in the first place,
2) They are too stupid to know what any of it means
3) They are too thick to remember any of it anyway
and 4) They'll be too busy laughing imaturely beacuse it says the word 'cock'

No, trust us when we say there is alot of equipment underneath trains which can do some dangerous things.

Whats the worst thing that could happen? theres no 'self distruct' button down there, so worst situation is a runaway? If any train has a parking brake that can be released from the outside, that is really bad and dangerous design, so I can't quite believe it myself.

 

[GB]

If any train has a parking brake that can be released from the outside, that is really bad and dangerous design

That will be most wagons, coaches and locos then!

 

[ralphchadkirk]

Whats the worst thing that could happen? theres no 'self distruct' button down there, so worst situation is a runaway?

Well, death, if they try fiddling with the shoe gear and associated equipment - that copper strip fuse thing for instance.

 

[Daniel]

Whats the worst thing that could happen? theres no 'self distruct' button down there, so worst situation is a runaway? If any train has a parking brake that can be released from the outside, that is really bad and dangerous design, so I can't quite believe it myself.

Get a job on the railway, have basic stock familiarisation, then you'll understand what we're talking about, eh.

 

[Vulcan]

Daniel, get off your high horse and don't patronise me. This forum is not just for railway staff and I have as much of a valid opinion as anyone else on here. if you don't like it, you don't have to read it.

And I though we were talking about the various letters that label the levers and buttons accessible from the platform? I'd have thought you'd have to be on the lineside to be able to get at third rail stuff.

As well, (i've just thought, since I remembered that things do indeed have external handbrake wheels and such,) a vehicle running away from a platform from having a lever messed with is unlikely, since track through platforms tends to be level.

Anyway, I'm not even trying to argue that its not unsafe to meddle with things on the undreframes of trains. All I said was it doesn't need to be as top secret on here as some people think it should be. As I've already said, people will mess with things if they need to, and whats posted on here or not will not change that in the slightest.

 

[TheExmoorBeast]

Well, death, if they try fiddling with the shoe gear and associated equipment - that copper strip fuse thing for instance.

Most new stock doesn't have that anymore, well I noticed that the Southern Electrostars seem to have a strip fuse, whilst the SWT Desiro's & 458's don't.

 

[142094]

If people are really that desperate to find out what all the letters etc mean, you can always look on eBay. I've seen a good few manuals and other items which tell you how to drive/start up a train on there, most are copies from the BR era.

 

[Vulcan]

Thinking further about this, some stock has what I'd imagine to be the most safety critical (as regards stuff rolling away) labels spelled out in full anyway. On the DBS bogie coal hoppers 'Handbrake' is spelled out in full, as is the labels for the on/off indicator.

 

[O L Leigh]

If someone expected to utilise the system covered by the PBIC to find it isolated it could get as serious as a runaway train, depending on the location.

While your motives are laudable, your traction knowledge is woeful. If you expect a PBIC would cause a wreck you are mistaken, as it does not work in the way you imagine.

Do people here really thing any idiot wanting to cause trouble will ever think 'Hmm, I wonder if I can annoy some railway staff by pulling the levers on the bottom half of a train. I'll search this train spotter's forum to see if they have discussed what each lever does.' ??

No, they won't. And furthermore:
1) They likely can't read in the first place,
2) They are too stupid to know what any of it means
3) They are too thick to remember any of it anyway
and 4) They'll be too busy laughing imaturely beacuse it says the word 'cock'.

Then you grossly underestimate the calibre of toe-rag that makes the railway his/her playground. My experience is that they know exactly what everything does, which keys provide access to which parts of the train and even which trains have CCTV and which don't. The assumption is that these idiots are ignorant, but that is a fallacy.

O L Leigh

 

[Vulcan]

I beg to differ, I have had to live with these people throughout my school life, which isn't that far in the past. And we often have to cope with them at the ALR. They really are thick and stupid, just sometimes they get lucky.

 

[O L Leigh]

Then you are living in cloud-cuckoo land. Either that or the ones you get really are just stupid and lucky.

O L Leigh

 

[Vulcan]

Will people please stop suggesting I don't know what i'm on about?

These people are absolute idiots, especially when they think its somehow 'hard' to outrun a 1943 shunting engine.

Granted, some of the vandals that target the real railway are sneaky, particularly cable thieves, but the type that are likely to want to cause trouble just by pressing buttons on trains, and the people we mostly get at the ALR, arn't. Theyre just stupid, bored kids/teenagers with F-all else to do in their life.

 

[O L Leigh]

Will people please stop suggesting I don't know what i'm on about?

Like it or not, when it comes to the mainline railway you are totally clueless.

I have examples that demonstrate just how smart and knowledgeable these people are when it comes to mainline trains. Part of it is watching what staff do and copying it, but they also know more than you would expect just from watching. They often have keys and know what they are all used for too.

I respect what you say about the ALR, but the situation is not the same elsewhere. I'm not going to get indignant about this, but I will just say this. While you know your own patch, I know mine. You cannot necessarily extrapolate what happens on your line to what is happening on a wider scale.

O L Leigh

 

[Vulcan]

I still maintain that theyre not going to look on here to see what the abreviations mean, and therefore we don't need to treat it as some deep dark secret. As already mentioned on this thread, the meanings are explained in other places on the internet, and quite often the important (and most dangerous things to meddle with, handbrake for example) are labelled without any abreveations at all.

This is all I'm going to say on this matter now, as I am fed up of being set up as though I havn't a clue, or as just some amateur that hasn't any grip on reality or the 'big railway'.

Any words of apology (yeah right) can be PM'ed to me.