Hi all,
Had a rare glimpse at the inside of the NMR HST set at Bristol this evening, sat on the Up Through with all the interior lighting on. A couple of lounge/kitchen/accomodation cars, some bizarre-looking replacement coach seating in what looked like dirt proof vinyl, plus the business stuff full of James Bond-esque elctrical boxes and gizmos, inclduing the pantograph coach. Does anybody have a detailed answer as to exactly what goes on in there, and on NR's other stock? I presume the NMT takes measurements of alignment etc, but what is the panto for? Is this the same gear that takes footage of the track at high speed and scans it for defects?
Bristol also regularly sees the Class 31-hauled mixed MK1 & MK2 sets, the purpose of which is also slightly mysterious! Anybody know?! I understand that there is a mildly frightening-looking grey tubular vehicle (it's Bond again), which has a half-black coach either side of it, which measures clearances in tunnels I believe?
Most bizarre of all would have to be the Class 150-based unit, which presumably has less gear on board (and doesn't contain a lounge car I'd guess!). What, we have to wonder, does this creation do?
And out of curiosity, how many blokes crew these things? There were two lounge cars in this HST, out of only about five cars in total, so presumably they 'live' on it while it's out and about; how long are they on board it for? Fascinating stuff!
Where to start....I could write reams about this.
NMT: Crew is usually two or three depending on the workload. Two vehicles do the actual test work, the other three are conference, messing and generator vehicles. The test vehicles are the Production Vehicle, which houses two track geometry systems (Trackline 2 and LaserRail3000 using lasers and cameras to measure gauge and alignment and Lateral Vertical Displacement Transducers (LVDT) to measure bogie movement; this stuff is underneath the vehicle and bogie mounted) which do all the track geometry systems, and a couple of measurement systems for the 6ft clearance etc. The computers for all these are all housed in the two racks at either end inside the vehicle, with the operators workstations in the middle. The second vehicle is Development Vehicle. This houses the instrumented pantograph (rarely used) and the Fraunhofer non-contact OLE laser measurement system, and wire wear OLE kit. It's also, as the name suggests, the test bed vehicle for any new measurement kit; currently it sports an experimental Plain Line Pattern Recognition (PLPR) track video inspection set up, which is being tested. The power cars also have forward facing HD video recording equipment.
The hauled stock: If you see a 31 + 2 Mk1's plus a DBSO, chances are it's an Ultrasonic working. There are three complete rakes, UTU 2, 3 and 4. These scoot around using retractable wheeled probes that glide along the railhead using ultrasound to detect internal rail flaws. These test at 30mph, normally during the night due to the slow speed. The vehicles are a genny van for power, an instrumentation coach housing the computers and retractable probes, and the DBSO has messing facilities.
The ominous "grey tube" train is the SGT, structure gauging train. It used to use a white light radiating system to determine clearances between the train in relation to the rails, and any lineside structures. The white light system is now a secondary system, the primary is a radiating laser system mounted in a "dustbin" at the front of the Optical Car (the odd cylindrical vehicle). The other vehicles are a loco, genny coach, instrumentation coach and a DBSO with messing facilities. The DBSO and a pair of dedicated 31's have infra red lamps and cameras to record forward facing video at night.
Mark 2 vehicles are a few things. The Track Recording Coach (999550) is a Mark 2 vehicle used for track geometry recording on primarily the Southern region. It runs in a semi fixed rake of Mk1 and 2 vehicles, normally comprising a genny van, TRC, Electrification Measurement Vehicle (EMV) which uses non-contact laser kit to measure both conductor rail and OLE geometry, and normally a Radio Survey Coach (RSC) plus a messing vehicle. The usual traction is the pair of 73's (107 and 138). The strange contraption in the headcode box of 138 is a thermal imaging camera, designed to work in conjunction with the EMV to take thermal snapshots of any fault area of Conductor Rail Equipment (CRE). This is currently non-operational.
The Sprinter unit, the TRU 950001, is primarily a track geometry unit. It can also survey the formation underneath the track using two Ground Penetrating Radar units, the wear on the rails using a laser based KLD rail profiling unit, complete video recording in HD and radio surveys. It is laden with measuring kit and is cramped inside. Until recently it was the absolute workhorse of the fleet, as it can go just about anywhere, being a Sprinter. Currently OOS due to geometry equipment failure.
Track Inspection Coach (TIC), 999508, is the unusual Mk1 inspection saloon with the recessed windows. It runs in a loco hauled formation as standard hauled stock, it is not propelled, nor can it ever be again. It is only a track geometry measurement coach.
TRC, TRU and TIC use the same primary geometry system to measure the geometry. A laser unit called "Optel" which measures the gauge and alignment of the rails, and a system of accelerometers, gyroscopes and LVDT's (lateral and vertical displacement transducers) to measure the movement of the bogie as it passes over the track. It then translates the movement via signal conditioning and filtering into a visual representation like a seismograph called a trace. This indicates what type of track faults are present plus their severity based on the movement and distance of the measurement equipment on the bogie.
The RSC's, radio survey coaches, use telecomms equipment to test range and signal strengths of NRN, CSR and GSMR comms equipment. There are three coaches, 1, 2 and 3. 1 and 2 are standard, and 3 is the dedicated GSMR project test vehicle. Radio survey equipment is also fitted to the NMT and Track Recording Unit (950001, the Sprinter).
Mentor is the Mk1 vehicle with flat roof, observation dome and pantograph. It uses an instrumented pantograph to analyse and measure the forces and dynamics of a pantograph at speed on OLE, and the effect on the OLE. It has a Brecknell Willis high speed pantograph at one end only. It formerly also had a Stone Faively pan at the opposite end, but this was removed.
All loco hauled rakes can be run with any type of available loco, with or without brake force vehicles (ex GatEx stock, still standard inside) depending on required running speed, and in full multiple push pull; all stock is blue star through wired. Most measurement vehicles include messing facilities, a kitchen type set up. The NMT has the worst (a microwave), and the DBSO's have the best (hotplates and ovens). Somewhere in the middle lies the TRU and a couple of messing Mk2's for the TRC rake.
There is also an experimental MPV vehicle, used in trials for HD video surveying and patrolling of complex S&C layouts, to avoid the need for patrollers to inspect in dangerous station throats or in blocks disrupting traffic. This is not in use currently, pending trials results. It also carries a variant of the TrackLine 2 geometry system as seen on NMT.
Crew. Trains normally operate with a crew of two or three. Sometimes on complicated runs, the TRU and TRC can run with four due to the workload of reporting faults, operating the various equipment and monitoring the data output. The crews live and work away from home frequently. They are all based at Derby, and depending on the train, can be away for up to two weeks. The NMT crews stay away the least, maybe one, two or three nights a week, and everyone else can be anything from one or two to nearly two weeks. The crews stay in hotels. They used to live on the trains, but no longer. The trains primarily work Monday - Friday, but some shifts, especially Scotland runs will include a weekend.
I have a few interior pics of the vehicles in my sig link.
