Northern 331 with spotlight on the roof

[RichardAsh1981]

I noticed that 331 106 stood at Liverpool Lime Street today had what looked like a spotlight on the roof pointed at the pantograph. Is this part of OHLE monitoring of some sort? Was much more obvious in person than on the picture because of the brightness, even in daylight.

 

[skyhigh]

Is this part of OHLE monitoring of some sort?

Yes, they have CCTV of the pantograph. The whole fleet is fitted.

 

[RichardAsh1981]

Yes, they have CCTV of the pantograph. The whole fleet is fitted.

Thank you.

 

[norbitonflyer]

700s have this as well, and doubtless other classes too

 

[swt_passenger]

I think it became a standard thing on every unit in the fleet with the Thameslink 700s, so any pantograph fitted unit since has the lights? Do newish electric locos have lighting and cameras?

Then I think it was mentioned here that 700s kept the light on all the time, because pantographs were also catching tree debris while on the “Southern”?

 

[scrapy]

Ive been told it's now a requirement of any new AC electric unit to have CCTV monitoring of pantographs. Its to prove liability when a train brings wires down whether it's the TOCs fault (pantograph fault) or network rails (overhead fault/object hanging).

 

[Lknowles78]

So when GBR brings track and train back together they won’t need them?

 

[61653 HTAFC]

So when GBR brings track and train back together they won’t need them?

Not for delay attribution purposes, but it's still useful to know exactly what's gone wrong when things do go wrong!

 

[Jturner98]

Think the 379s were the first to have these

 

[transportphoto]

Not for delay attribution purposes, but it's still useful to know exactly what's gone wrong when things do go wrong!

This will all still happen, I should expect, with money moving around just as much as it does now.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

This will all still happen, I should expect, with money moving around just as much as it does now.

You're probably right. Same hell, different smell!

 

[62484GlenLyon]

Do these cameras actually achieve what they are are supposed to in the majority of cases or are there many occasions when the camera is too dirty/covered in dead flies/scratched from being in contact at high speed with small bits of debris that get blown about to be effective?

 

[endofthetunnel]

They normally give a good enough view to determine if the wires are in the air or the pantograph wrapped around them, or if there was a bird strike or big kink in the wires.

 

[800301]

Do these cameras actually achieve what they are are supposed to in the majority of cases or are there many occasions when the camera is too dirty/covered in dead flies/scratched from being in contact at high speed with small bits of debris that get blown about to be effective?

During the day yes, during darkness depending if the camera has been cleaned it’s a bit hit and miss

 

[62484GlenLyon]

Thanks for the replies. Sounds as if the camera is worth having even if there is room for improvement. Also, is any footage from the numerous day-to-day uneventful runs ever examined to spot problems on the OLE so that preventive action can be taken to avoid a major dewirement?

 

[AM9]

Thanks for the replies. Sounds as if the camera is worth having even if there is room for improvement. Also, is any footage from the numerous day-to-day uneventful runs ever examined to spot problems on the OLE so that preventive action can be taken to avoid a major dewirement?

Such as a broken dropper.

 

[fgwrich]

Ive been told it's now a requirement of any new AC electric unit to have CCTV monitoring of pantographs. Its to prove liability when a train brings wires down whether it's the TOCs fault (pantograph fault) or network rails (overhead fault/object hanging).

Not only that, but it also helps Network Rail for monitoring purposes too. In fact, it probably won’t be long before we see OHLE monitoring removed from the duties carried out by the NMT (if it hasn’t already), with nearly all modern electrics able to feed live data back now.