Track detonators

[Turbocharger]

Has anyone ever experienced running over track detonators and if so, what is it like?

Cheers
Dave

 

[Barrett M95]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x-FKMYJYP8&feature=related

 

[Turbocharger]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x-FKMYJYP8&feature=related

Wow thanks for super fast reply sir.

Louder than a shotgun then!

 

[Jonfun]

Nothing massively special really, they just make a very loud 'crack' sound as they're crushed. Admittedly quite impressive though when they're put down in succession, such as ceremonially marking the closure of a line or similar.

Somehow I suspect the experience of running over 3 in succession 20 yards apart unexpectedly would be somewhat different however!

 

[Turbocharger]

Nothing massively special really, they just make a very loud 'crack' sound as they're crushed. Admittedly quite impressive though when they're put down in succession, such as ceremonially marking the closure of a line or similar.

Somehow I suspect the experience of running over 3 in succession 20 yards apart unexpectedly would be somewhat different however!

Indeed! Quite a bang. I was only asking off the back of the Chinese Bullet train that got rear ended today. Wondered why the guard hadn't laid dets down. May be they don't bother over there.

 

[northernrail]

Last summer 144021 failed yards away from my local while i was waiting for it, driver put the dets out and when the 142 came to rescue gave everyone on the Platform the fright of there lives.

Second time i saw that 144 fail

 

[Turbocharger]

driver put the dets out

I thought it was the guard's job to lay dets first thing no?

 

[DaveNewcastle]

. . . . the Chinese Bullet train that got rear ended today. Wondered why the guard hadn't laid dets down. May be they don't bother over there.

I regret that I don't know anything about the regulations applicable to Chinese railways, but . . . . .
when we consider the stopping distances involved at those speeds (perhaps 2 - 3 kms) it seems a little impracticable and very time consuming to expect someone to walk that far to lay dets. Perhaps even the UK's remarkably safe railways would consider a different strategy to protect a dead train on dedicated high speed lines?

 

[John Webb]

Back in the late 1960s I was a regular commutor from North Woolwich to Stratford which by then was run by DMUs.

Being low-level ground close to the River Thames, the area suffered from fog from time to time. On one occasion I was riding in the leading coach and seated just behind the driver when we went over a detonator at a distant signal. The whole of the front of the DMU appeared to lift a bit with the thump!

 

[O L Leigh]

They are bloody loud inside the train, and deliberately so. But it's amazing just how much you actually feel the explosion through the floor of the train.

O L Leigh

 

[Turbocharger]

I regret that I don't know anything about the regulations applicable to Chinese railways, but . . . . .
when we consider the stopping distances involved at those speeds (perhaps 2 - 3 kms) it seems a little impracticable and very time consuming to expect someone to walk that far to lay dets. Perhaps even the UK's remarkably safe railways would consider a different strategy to protect a dead train on dedicated high speed lines?

With mobile phones, cab radios etc being faster than signals, I guess they want to cover all options to avoid liability?

If comms are down and the approaching train has passed the last signal all you can do is lay dets. 2-3kms to do an emergency stop? Surely less than that?

 

[Darandio]

If comms are down and the approaching train has passed the last signal all you can do is lay dets. 2-3kms to do an emergency stop? Surely less than that?

The D-Class involved wasn't even rated above 100mph so I presume not that far. Then again, I am not Chinese rail expert.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

The D-Class involved wasn't even rated above 100mph so I presume not that far. Then again, I am not Chinese rail expert.

Then I withdraw my uninformed assessment of likely stopping distances - I was perhaps reading too much into the name "Bullet Train" and referring to its Japanese counterpart.

 

[Turbocharger]

Then I withdraw my uninformed assessment of likely stopping distances - I was perhaps reading too much into the name "Bullet Train" and referring to its Japanese counterpart.

Well to be honest on the Beeb website they did say a D-Class and mentioned an average of 100mph, so it may have been traveling faster than 100mph.

But yes I doubt with the Chinese way of regulating information we will ever know what their official process is for an emergency train stop.

Thanks for you comments though, much appreciated.

 

[Hydro]

They make a big bang when tied to a fishplate and dropped off a viaduct.



Allegedly.

 

[Turbocharger]

Allegedly.

Yeah right

 

[flymo]

I've been on a train in service that has run over detonators and yep they are very loud indeed. This was a few years ago and on the Tyne Valley. It is a while ago so the memory is a bit hazy but I remember the train coming to a stop somewhere around the Gilsland / Low Row area. There was a conversation between the driver and someone on the line followed a few seconds later by the train moving forward again and running over the 3 detonators placed in close proximity.

This was in a pacer, (might have been a 143 when they were new up in the North East) and it was possible to feel the wheel running over the detonators as they detonated. I thought laughingly to myself at the time that the force of the detonating was going to turn the train on its side but the movement was just the effect of the wheel running over the detonator.....I think.

 

[Turbocharger]

From what I have seen on posts here and youtube it reads like once the dets have been placed they can't be removed?

Or do drivers just love running over them?

 

[DavidBusDriver]

Once detonators are placed they are not to be removed - the only exception being when you have agreed with the signaller that assistance is to come from the opposite direction to that you have proceeded (and laid the detonators down at) and are to return to the protection point at the other end of the train, agreeing a time by which you are to re-contact the signaller by. In that circumstance you are permitted to pick up the dets walk to the other assistance protection point and lay them at that location.

 

[krisk]

You can definitly hear them ok

Was on the last Oldham Loop train and they laid detonators down at Mumps station.

Hope no one near by was trying to sleep

 

[Wyvern]

In my childhood living near the railway a common sound when there was fog.

Nostalgic.

I remember the uproar in the village one time when some kids broke into the det hut next to the signal box and pinched some additions to spice up Guy Fawkes night.

 

[Hydro]

Once detonators are placed they are not to be removed - the only exception being when you have agreed with the signaller that assistance is to come from the opposite direction to that you have proceeded (and laid the detonators down at) and are to return to the protection point at the other end of the train, agreeing a time by which you are to re-contact the signaller by.

...and another exception being when they are placed for possession/protection purposes.

 

[driver9000]

I thought it was the guard's job to lay dets first thing no?

Driver lays detonators for assistance protection, portion of a divided train left behind, emergency protection etc. Guard can lay them when carrying out Emergency protection (mile and quarter) if need be. As other Drivers have said, you can certainly feel and hear them!

 

[Rugd1022]

I ran over three at Market Harborough a while back, I'd come bang road from Kettering and was crossing back over onto the down line and ran over them on the crossover.... dozy t**t had put them the wrong side of the points! And yes, they are loud! There was hell to pay afterwards apparently...

 

[Turbocharger]

Thank you all for your feedback. Very interesting. Still no official reason as to the Chinese Bullet incident. As if we will get one anyways :roll: