Set it once stopped.
Looking at it that way I guess there is a point, fair play.
But in GTR's case as we're talking about it currently, you wouldn't set the DRA on the move and they're instructed to apply full service braking either way so it doesn't really matter. I honestly don't see many reasons to set it on the move in general, and on some trains it's not an option due to braking applications when doing so.
Don't you think if they've already set the reverser without checking the aspect, they will just reset the DRA too? The reverser having some sort of warning label could, as I said, work similarly as a reminder, or a voice announcement which the 700s and 717s make upon resetting the DRA. I do understand you can't have too much safety but I think its theoretical effectiveness as a separate unit is somewhat diminished nowadays.
Really this should never happen without the signaller first informing the driver (usually not at all). But I would assume you would just use it as normal.
Surely programmers are smart enough to write code that says if at a stand don’t allow traction power to be taken but if moving allow dynamic/regenerative braking.
I guess I must have, although to be honest I only drove them for a couple of years before they went west in the form of castle class sets, and in that time I didn't actually attempt to set it on the move, so I was wrong to assert that the DRA applies the brake. The reason why I never attempted it was because of this in the professional driving policy regarding DRA usage:
We set the DRA on the move on our HSTs, all ex GWR. There's no link to the brake.
Then I stand corrected!
It has to physically cut power somehow though, and you can't have regenerative braking without being connected to power lines! It isn't possible to have it one way but not the other (except with some overly complex electronics maybe). Rheostatic braking is different, as power would need to be disconnected before the resistors are connected (or you'd have a fire), and should be possible to keep active.
Possibly, but
To be honest, I think it's more of an electrical engineering problem than software here. The software would be relatively simple to do this (likely no more complex than how it currently disables traction), but you'd need to prevent current from flowing back into the motors. I'm not in electrical engineering and have little knowledge of how electric traction works, but as I understand it, it might require a whole second traction setup. It just isn't a justifiable cost when asking drivers to set it once stopped works just as well!
True. But given the robust coding used in aircraft autopilots and flight management computers for decades it’s difficult to believe the railway standards are going to be more demanding.
Tried it on a 360 once to see if it did knock the dynamic brake out. If it did I didn't notice much difference.Weirdly I never set them on the move on a 360 but I do on a meridian. I have a love hate relationship with the DRA on a meridian being active. It was the one thing I occasionally forgot to do , was setting the DRA after a single yellow and stopping at a station and the red is out of view and so that really helped me. The flip side though is that on one or two occasions I tried to take power with it still set and of course the alarm starts screaming , made me jumpThe other annoying thing is coming in on double yellows or a speed restriction and still having to set it at a yellow.
Turning DRA off is just a physical reminder of red ahead, same as you would take a lower power notch out of the station as a reminder of danger ahead, physical actions as reminders.
Yes I know that. But really, is setting the reverser to Forward from Neutral (again, a warning label or voice announcement could be used to instill its use as a reminder) any different in the sense that it's a physical reminder?
Yes, because that's something you do at every station, therefore can't be a reminder that's something's different this time.
That’s all we have in our units (374) to act as the “DRA”!
No I guess but it's a 2nd physical reminder that won't physically let you take power until you disable it thus acknowledging the red. If you had no DRA and just the reverser and you forgot that's it your off with no idea your about to SPAD. Because Brake 3 and N is what you do at every stop not just ones with reds ahead. Brake 3 and N becomes the norm for regular stops, DRA becomes the norm only when there is red ahead, conditioning yourself to take care when disarming the DRA
