Tubeguru gets a new depot (and house)

[tubeguru]

Well, yesterday was an interesting day at work. I think they got their pound of flesh from me.

I had what most drivers say is the worst turn on the depot. You pick up the 07.41 Penzance to Paddington at 09.45, drive it all the way to London via Bristol, sit there for two and three-quarter hours, and then drive the 16.06 all the way back to Plymouth. That's a nine hour, fifty-seven minute shift, with seven hours, twenty minutes' driving!

Anyway, all week I have been followed around by a dodgy HST that is down on power. Maintenance are aware of it, and have travelling fitters on it when it is sent to Cornwall, which it has been most of this week. I'd been on it twice before yesterday and was fed up of driving it. So when I booked on and my train manager told me that our train was fifteen minutes late from Penzance, I wondered if we were going to get the rubbish set again. And we did! As it rolled, I got a thumbs-down from the driver, so I resigned myself to trying to get it over the Devon banks without losing much more time.

To be fair, it did hold time all the way to Taunton, where I was joined by a Westbury road-learner to Bristol. As we left Taunton, the train manager buzzed me up and told me that Control had decided to take the train out of service at Bristol and get the crew to work the 12.30 Bristol to Paddington. The passengers had another train laid on to take them on to London, but diverted via Filton and Hullavington to avoid getting in the way of other trains. So once I'd dumped the set on platform 5 and got across the platform 13, mobilised the 12.30 and departed, I was 30 minutes down on my booked departure time, but at least I had a train that could reach linespeed.

Now, the train manager was booked to be relieved at Reading, and despite us changing services she was still getting off there. However, Control had not thought of this during their earlier Bristol deliberations. As it turned out, as I was pulling into Reading my relieving train manager was on a train to London! So we sat there for 22 minutes before they decided to cancel the train. I called Control and reminded them politely that I would like to have my proper break if that was alright with them (slight sarcasm was used). They told me to take the train empty to Paddington, with the buffet crew on board. I was expecting to be put on the relief line and stuck behind slow services all the way in, but no - they had decided they needed the set at Paddington as quickly as possible, so I was sent main line and did it in 26 minutes. I arrived at Paddington at 14.50, one hour and 12 minutes after I was due in.

The journey back was much better - I had a speedy set which flew non-stop Reading to Taunton, except between Urchfont and Lavington, where I encountered a few single yellows as I followed what I assumed was an empty stone train going slowly into Westbury.

It wasn't all bad though - my wife had cooked dinner for me!

[RobbieM]

It wasn't all bad though - my wife had cooked dinner for me!

And this hopefully puts it all in perspective. Coming home to a delicious dinner makes everything right with the world!

If it were me, I'd have to cook my own dinner...

[Cheshire Cat]

What are the rules for how long you can drive without a break?

[tubeguru]

Well, I don't know how it differs between companies, but our local divisional ASLEF reps have told us that it's maximum FOUR hours driving before you have to have a 15-minute out-of-cab break. You should have at least 30 minutes for your break (excluding time taken to walk to and from the train). Maximum driving hours in one shift - eight.

[tubeguru]

Well, it's been an interesting week for me, as I've been out handling on Sprinters. For non-railway people, that's Class 150s and 153s. On Monday we decided to do three lots of Plymouth to Gunnislake and back, and soon wished we hadn't. Between Bere Alston and Gunnislake there are two open crossings. We have to stop the train at the crossing, sound the horn and proceed at caution over the crossing.

That's all very well on a flat, dry rail. But when you're on a 1 in 100 incline and it's leaf fall season, and raining, and you're the first train through since three days earlier, you've had it. I managed to get it up to 4mph. The linespeed was between 10 and 20. We hoped our first trip would clear the line a bit, but when we came back over an hour later, it was just the same.

We then decided to abandon the idea on Tuesday and instead we took a train to Par, and then on to Newquay. This wasn't so bad, but it takes bloody ages to get there from Plymouth.

For the rest of the week we decided to take the 08.14 to Penzance, and the 10.46 back to Plymouth. Despite being a "main line", the conditions were awful yesterday, with trains slipping and sliding all over the place. We had all the wheels pick up coming into Truro, where we saw an HST on the up line which had run through the station himself. He had to change ends and drive it back in.

At the end of today I was heartily fed up with 150s, as the seats are very uncomfortable, and my last driving seat was set in a low position and would not raise. Give me a dirty, noisy HST cab any day!

[nozzacook]

Probably being stupid but what is "all wheels pick up".

[tubeguru]

Sorry - railway slang.

When you put the brake on and the brakes lock the wheels, you go into a slide. The train will jerk all over the place, and the speedo will drop to zero. This is because the speedo sensor is on one of the axles, and that axle has stopped rotating. Hopefully, the axles will release as you find some purchase, but in the worse case scenarios you will slide for ages before stopping. This is why we have sand available to use when the brakes are on.

So yeah, when the "wheels pick up", you're not stopping ...

[tubeguru]

Did temporary block working for the first time today. I would explain it all, but I'm very tired. Ask me later!

[Sam]

Well done, you managed to pass some broken signals

[tubeguru]

I did.

[tubeguru]

The end is in sight.

Today I signed my last route - Par to Newquay. So I can now do every job at the depot, with the exception of the two sleeper turns. I need to learn 57s to do those. I believe that won't be long in coming though. I've been down here almost a year now, but it doesn't seem like it.

[nozzacook]

A question about HST power cars.

What are the three stood upright orange cylinders for. In the guard/baggage compartment.

[tubeguru]

They're the fire extinguishers for the engine and clean air compartment.

[nozzacook]

That's a lot of fire extinguishing. Only noticed them this week with the HST running reverse formation.

[RobbieM]

So what do you do when your normal rail route is suspended (as it is today, in more ways than one...)?