Train reporting by staff.

[northernrailer]

I visited Matlock on Weds and was talking to the conductor, on arrival at Matlock he had to phone York to let them know he had arrived. Is this common practice for Matlock arrivals?? Also who would the conductor have been ringing at York and why??

I do seem to remember also being in South Wales and they did the same, im not sure if it was somewhere like Coryton??

If anyone knows of any other stations where they ring to confirm arrival please post as id be interested to see how many still have to so this.

Cheers

 

[EM2]

It may not be the location that's the reason. The conductor may have got a message to contact Control, for example if they need to change his next duty.

 

[Tomnick]

It'd certainly make sense at Matlock, as there's no means of automatically reporting the arrival of the train (and departure of the return working) in TRUST. If they're ringing York, presumably it's Network Rail they're informing - certainly the delay attributors for the area are in York.

Many Absolute Block signal boxes have to manually report the position of trains (albeit directly into TRUST rather than by telephone) to update the various information systems.

 

[driver9000]

There are various locations around the network where a local instruction exists requiring the Guard to telephone the signalbox to inform them that the train has arrived complete with tail lamp. There is a usually a direct dial phone for them to use.

 

[AlexS]

Yes, it's part of the local operating instructions at Matlock to contact Network Rail.

 

[northernrailer]

I guess then Falmouth Docks and Gunnislake are direct dial then as you see the driver using the telephone on arrival.

 

[Daniel]

Train arrival and departure reports are made manually by signalling staff on London Underground at Rayners Lane, Uxbridge, Harrow, Rickmansworth and Amersham. Not quite the same as what you're talking about, but similar!

 

[heart-of-wessex]

If it was about train arrival at Matlock then it would be to Derby box not York, as mentioned it must be for something else, don't know if you have to call Derby each time for the Matlock branch.

Barnstaple still has the telephone proceedure, calling Exeter when the train has arrived and when it's ready to depart.

 

[Tomnick]

If it was about train arrival at Matlock then it would be to Derby box not York, as mentioned it must be for something else, don't know if you have to call Derby each time for the Matlock branch.

If it's purely for train reporting to update TRUST and the information systems driven off it, then it doesn't necessarily need to be the controlling signal box (who probably have better things to be doing!). AlexS might be able to confirm this though! This ties in nicely with your next example...

Barnstaple still has the telephone proceedure, calling Exeter when the train has arrived and when it's ready to depart.

Exeter isn't the controlling box here (Crediton is).

It's worth nothig that at some locations, I understand, the Driver must contact the controlling box to seek permission to return from the terminus - a rather different exercise. I'm sure this isn't the case at Matlock, but I don't know whether it is or not at Barnstaple.

 

[83G/84D]

There are also occasions where on arrival at a terminus where traincrew have to ring the controlling signalbox to ascertain if the line is clear to return.

An example is Chapel crossing on the Newquay branch where the farmer takes cattle over at least twice most days. If he sees the train pass going to Newquay and is then given permission to take the cows over, the signalman (at Goonbarrow Jn) has to,where possible, ensure the crossing is clear of cows before allowing the train to return from Newquay.The train will be "cautioned" if the user fails to ring back at the agreed time.

Additionally prior to GSM-R any new issues that might affect train running can be passed to the traincrew at the terminus station during their turnround.

It also a useful performance tool in that the arrival and departure times can be entered based on the information given by the traincrew.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

The guard had to do this at Kidderminster until it was resignalled last year. I guess it might have odd to onlookers given that the signal box could clearly see the front of the train in the station from it's windows, but absolute block signalling does require the signaller to see the tail lamp of a train before he/she can report it as being there in it's entirety and opening up the previously occupied section to traffic again. If the signaller cant see a tail lamp in a given location then somebody has to tell them it's definitely there.