As someone who is just beginning his driving training I'm curious as to the advantages/reasons for having the option to drive standing up? I will end up driving 465/466/376 & much later 375's
Comfort mostly. Standing allows you to stretch your legs a bit and get the circulation going. It's also helpful if you're busting to pee because it takes the pressure off your bladder.
You
can drive a Turbostar standing up using the DSD Holdover button, but it's far from ideal. You have to stand next to the seat which puts the AWS reset a little bit too far out of reach and doesn't give you a very good view forward. I normally only do it on the depot so that I can see exactly where to stop on the fuel road, but have done it once on the mainline when my right leg went to sleep and wouldn't come back to life simply by shifting in the seat.
To come back to the CPBC, I'm not sure why the change was made either. However, it's what we have now for whatever reason. Those among my colleagues who found them the hardest to get used to tended to be those who use the old "two stick" brake and power controllers like they were playing the one-armed bandit. You can't throw the CPBC around like you're yanking on a chain and quite a few colleagues were accidently chucking the brake full in when they were simply trying to shut off power because of it. Admittedly I nearly did the same thing once or twice when I first drove Cl379s, but I soon adjusted my technique and never had a problem after that. Rather than throwing the controller around using a full arm movement I run it up and down the notches gently just using finger pressure. If I want to shut off in a hurry I can still run it down quickly but gently until I feel it going across the "gate" and the spring pressure pull it over to the right through the dog-leg, then all I have to do is pull it back against the stop to make sure I haven't inadvertently applied the brake. Simples.
**EDIT**
The Electrostar CPBC is slightly easier to use than the Turbostar CPBC because it has fewer power notches and the reverser switch is smaller and less intrusive than the lever that the Turbostars have. For the Cl379 I could rest my left hand next to the CPBC and operate it simply using finger and thumb movements against the side of the controller handle. It was very easy and, because I wasn't actually holding the controller, the spring would pull it across the dog-leg very easily. It wasn't even necessary to use the hill start on them because, contrary to what a lot of my colleagues said, they simply don't roll back. In any case, the button is on the desk not the handle.
The Turbostar CPBC can't really be used in this way. You really do need the use of the hill start button because these units really will roll if you're on any sort of gradient so you need your whole hand on the controller to operate that. Also there just isn't space to have your hand at the side of the CPBC. The first time I tried it I got my hand painfully wedged between the end of the CPBC and the reverser (much to my instructor's amusement) and had to shut off power to free it. However, the operation is very similar and it can be pushed up and down with finger pressure alone and I have been known to apply the brake in exactly the same way I did on the Cl379s just by putting my hand at the side and pushing the controller with my thumb.
Personally I never had a problem swapping between units with different numbers of controllers. I had a technique for each one that served me well.
O L Leigh
