Train Drivers - has train driving affected your car driving?

[Tomnick]

Im willing to bet most train drivers DO carry on like most car drivers....... when driving their cars.

Its actually quite concerning the number of you that are admitting to not concentrating on what you are actually doing (driving a car) but have your minds elsewhere (at work).

Nice to see a few people say that driving a train in no way affects the way they drive a car as they are both completely diffrent.... that's the response I prefer to see.

From most responses on here, including my own, I don't think it's at all about trying to apply procedures and techniques from work to driving a private car in a completely different environment. It's a lot more about the link between safety-critical jobs, their selection criteria and the aptitude required to be a good car driver. Those who can concentrate on the job at hand (contrary to what you've posted above), read the road ahead to anticipate hazards and plan a few hundred yards in advance, react to a developing situation, obey the rules of the road and so on are far more likely, I believe, to pass the psychometric testing to carry out a safety-critical role. Those who drive in their own little bubble, oblivious to all around them, planning for no more than their own braking distance and showing little consideration to other road users are the ones without that ability, and in turn aren't likely to be found driving trains, signalling them or doing anything else that requires those abilities! It certainly isn't true that everyone who drives a car does so badly (although far too many do seem to), just as it isn't the case that every professional (road) driver is a beacon of high driving standards (although, quite rightly, most are).

 

[321446]

If when I'm picking someone up, they haven't got into the car quick enough, I just lock the doors & drive off, checking to make sure they haven't fallen off the kerb etc

 

[Mutant Lemming]

Bit of a shame that it seems you need to be a train driver to regard the speed limit as a rule and not a suggestion.

Difference being though that my car would be illegal with a duff speedo but they quite often put trains in service with dodgy or none working speedos.

 

[Tomnick]

Difference being though that my car would be illegal with a duff speedo but they quite often put trains in service with dodgy or none working speedos.

Do they? Often?

20 Speedometer
The people responsible: driver, train preparer

20.1 Entering service
You must not allow a train or traction unit to enter service unless there is a working speedometer in any driving cab which is required to be used.

20.2 When in service
If a speedometer fails or cannot be read and there is no other working speedometer in the driving cab, you must:
• tell the signaller immediately
• not move the train until instructed to do so
• carry out the instructions given.
If the train is to be moved, you must proceed at a speed that will make sure you are keeping to all speed restrictions.

http://www.rgsonline.co.uk/Rule_Book/Rule Book Modules/TW - Train Working/GERT8000-TW5 Iss 5.pdf

Does the fact that it's illegal also mean that no car is ever taken on the road with a dodgy speedo?

 

[Domh245]

Are train speedometers calibrated more or less accurately than car speedos? I remember hearing that there is a 10% tolerance on car speedometers, is it similar for trains?

 

[PermitToTravel]

10% tolerance for overreading only on car speedos, they're not allowed to underread at all. I think I've read stories on here of underreading train speedos

 

[notadriver]

Are train speedometers calibrated more or less accurately than car speedos? I remember hearing that there is a 10% tolerance on car speedometers, is it similar for trains?

I think train speedos are usually quite accurate similar to the tachograph on a coach. I'm often quite surprised at how many cars keep up with trains doing 90-100 mph.

 

[PermitToTravel]

I was on a Pendolino through Watford Gap at full whack and was very surprised to see a car on the M1 overtaking us!

 

[455driver]

Difference being though that my car would be illegal with a duff speedo but they quite often put trains in service with dodgy or none working speedos.

Really, I have never had a train go into service with one, and the one time the speedo went defective on me the train was re-marshalled to box it in immediately.

Can you provide some evidence to support your allegation please!

 

[carriageline]

Really, I have never had a train go into service with one, and the one time the speedo went defective on me the train was re-marshalled to box it in immediately.

Can you provide some evidence to support your allegation please!

Got a feeling Stafford will be bought up her although that's a very isolated case

 

[455driver]

Got a feeling Stafford will be bought up her although that's a very isolated case

Yeah and I was referring to qualified drivers with the required traction and route knowledge which wouldnt be relevant in that case!

 

[carriageline]

Yeah and I was referring to qualified drivers with the required traction and route knowledge which wouldnt be relevant in that case!

Okay, fair point as you say, it doesn't happen!! And if it does, I would love to know how a passenger knows!

 

[PermitToTravel]

Mutant Lemming is a driver actually!

 

[carriageline]

Mutant Lemming is a driver actually!

Fair enough, didn't know that! If he's letting trains in service with dodgy speedos though... (Or his colleagues)

 

[notadriver]

I was on a Pendolino through Watford Gap at full whack and was very surprised to see a car on the M1 overtaking us!

Wished I could have seen that. I've not yet seen a car keep with a Javelin on HS1 and there are a fair few places that runs alongside the motorway.

Another reason it's important train speedos show the right speed is so they can keep time. I read in a magazine that on the east coast they fixed one of their class 91 sets which was doing 121 mph instead of 125 and therefore losing time.

 

[Mutant Lemming]

Really, I have never had a train go into service with one, and the one time the speedo went defective on me the train was re-marshalled to box it in immediately.

Can you provide some evidence to support your allegation please!

I must admit I am going back a few years but A60s had notoriously poor speedos. Even working ones were pretty inaccurate and liked to dance about a bit.
I think it was never as much an issue then because you knew every inch of the track that well you could actually drive (and gauge temp speed restrictions) without one.

 

[PermitToTravel]

And no OTMR - plenty of stories abound about >90mph down Amersham Hill when the trains were young

 

[Mutant Lemming]

And no OTMR - plenty of stories abound about >90mph down Amersham Hill when the trains were young

The track was up to it as the Marylebone trains could do it. Not so sure the RAT was meant to though. But as we all now know it's a different railway these days.

 

[PermitToTravel]

The bogies on the remaining few are reportedly so shagged that they'd probably not be capable of that anymore

 

[Mutant Lemming]

The bogies on the remaining few are reportedly so shagged that they'd probably not be capable of that anymore

Probably part of the reason to head for ATO.
Would a driverless train need a speedo ?
Does a TBTC train really need one ?
How would the on board computer work out how to cope with the approach to Chorleywood on the South in leaf season ?

...as to the original question it would need to have been asked the other way round as I learnt to drive a train before I learnt to drive a car. I don't think it did - they are, I think, totally different disciplines.

 

[PermitToTravel]

Probably part of the reason to head for ATO.
Would a driverless train need a speedo ?
Does a TBTC train really need one ?

Vic line trains have one showing the current and target speed in Protected Manual - I think they do in Auto as well? It would still need to be there for the circumstance it's being manually driven

How would the on board computer work out how to cope with the approach to Chorleywood on the South in leaf season ?

I think leaf fall needs a special case coding - I don't know much about train driving, but would imagine a PID controller or similar wouldn't be much help as ramping up the braking power too late would result in skidding?

 

[Jonny]

Vic line trains have one showing the current and target speed in Protected Manual - I think they do in Auto as well? It would still need to be there for the circumstance it's being manually driven

I think leaf fall needs a special case coding - I don't know much about train driving, but would imagine a PID controller or similar wouldn't be much help as ramping up the braking power too late would result in skidding?

It would depend on the wheelslide protection system - equivalent to ABS on a car - which is meant to deal with such occurrences.

 

[Domh245]

The S40 system on the Jubilee/Northern has got a system where the driving style is adapted in bad weather conditions (snow, ice, leaf fall) although it is a bit of a case of 'either go full whack or creep around' I would suspect that by the time any mainline ATO systems come into effect, technology will have been developed a bit, perhaps to include some kind of running brake test, or by having some kind of reporting system for trains to report back to the control centre where there are poor railhead conditions, which in turn can be sent to other trains in the area, making them brake earlier and lighter.