Staff entering the cab while train is moving

[aar0]

With the in cab phone, if it’s ringing away, is there a switch to flick it off? Like pressing ignore on a mobile?

 

[tram21]

Going back around 50/55 years ago (so no risk of dropping anyone in it) I was travelling back from Preston to Colne along with 10 others on a trip organised by school, we were chatting to the driver at Preston before departing and he invited us all into the cab for the trip, can't imagine that happening now. Quite cosy in that cab.

Going back ummm... a few months, earlier this year, I was travelling back from Fort William to Euston on the Caledonian Sleeper and I took a photo of the loco before departure, to cut a long story short, the driver invited me in to have a look when stabled, then invited me to ride all the way to Rannoch (once they established I wasn't going to press anything silly!) Don't think that happens much nowadays!!

 

[Krokodil]

Going back around 50/55 years ago (so no risk of dropping anyone in it) I was travelling back from Preston to Colne along with 10 others on a trip organised by school, we were chatting to the driver at Preston before departing and he invited us all into the cab for the trip, can't imagine that happening now. Quite cosy in that cab.

Rather more recent than that (post-privatisation but before the proliferation of CCTV cameras and social media) my Dad and I were the only passengers leaving Looe. So on my Dad's lap I got a ride to Coombe Junction in the secondman's seat of the 153.

 

[LCC106]

If a guard calls me on cab to cab and I’m on yellows I’ll ignore them and call back when safe, or if I know I can still answer safely I will.

I may call the guard while still moving along the platform when first taking over a service to confirm stops before they do their announcement. I don’t expect them to answer until they have done their despatch duty fully.

If I ring maintenance and then get yellows along the way I will tell them I’m on yellows and will call them back.

If I get a contact signaller message on approaching a red I won’t answer until stationary. If they call me when I’m on the move and I can’t answer then they will probably end up talking to me and have to wait until I can respond.

 

[Falcon1200]

Sometimes it's hard to tell whether you're a guard dialing on the cab-to-cab, or even a signaller/controller using a GSM-R exactly what stage of dispatch a driver is at or what the exact speed the driver is doing, or what colour signal / how far away a signal is for the driver.

Pre-GSMR the NRN (National Radio Network) system was operated by Control, and it was laid down that every base station should be tested by Network Rail (NR) Control at least once a month. This meant making test calls to trains, and while we always tried to avoid calling Drivers while approaching station stops, or red signals, this could not be guaranteed.

 

[LCC106]

The reception for the NRN where I drove was rubbish lol!

 

[driver9000]

The reception for the NRN where I drove was rubbish lol!

I think that was standard everywhere for NRN!