Law1 min ago
Speeding on the railways
23 Answers
Yes - I know - I'm a sad SOB but I have just got into rail simulations - and gone back to my childhood as a train driver.
Most of the scenarios you have to do involve keeping to a timetable and also speed limits on any particular stretch of line and most of my errors are in that area - either too slow or too fast.
However it got me wondering is there any form of speed check done on the real railways?? Are there any warning systems for the drivers other than the signs at the side of the line?? There couldn't have been in the days of steam but were they checked too??
Most of the scenarios you have to do involve keeping to a timetable and also speed limits on any particular stretch of line and most of my errors are in that area - either too slow or too fast.
However it got me wondering is there any form of speed check done on the real railways?? Are there any warning systems for the drivers other than the signs at the side of the line?? There couldn't have been in the days of steam but were they checked too??
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I think locos had speedomemters in the later years of steam.
For line speed, the experienced loco man would be able to judge his speed quite accurately, even passengers could in the days of jointed track.
For keeping to the timetable, all but the smallest stations were staffed and the stationmaster could report early departure of passsenger trains. Every signalman kept a register in his signal box of the times each train was accepted and passed the box, so management would have a check of early / late running.
For line speed, the experienced loco man would be able to judge his speed quite accurately, even passengers could in the days of jointed track.
For keeping to the timetable, all but the smallest stations were staffed and the stationmaster could report early departure of passsenger trains. Every signalman kept a register in his signal box of the times each train was accepted and passed the box, so management would have a check of early / late running.
All trains in the UK are fitted with 'black box' recorders, which constantly monitor the speed of the train and the actions of their drivers.
Further, Network Rail's TRUST (TRain Running SysTEm) detects and records trains passing designated timing points, and compares those times with the scheduled passage of each train.
On top of that, there's now a newer computer system which maps and records the movements of all trains in the UK. The system allows anyone with access to it to obtain detailed information about any train, and to 'rewind and replay' the mapping to examine any data which might need to be queried.
In the same way that pilots and air traffic control staff are always expected to report anything unusual (even if the problem has arisen because of their own errors), all railway staff have similar safety obligations. In the days of steam signallers would have known the times at which trains were expected to pass, and they would have logged and reported any train which seemed to arrive well ahead of schedule through speeding. (Similarly, I've spotted a train on TRUST leaving a station 14 minutes early. I didn't hesitate to pick up the phone!).
Chris
Further, Network Rail's TRUST (TRain Running SysTEm) detects and records trains passing designated timing points, and compares those times with the scheduled passage of each train.
On top of that, there's now a newer computer system which maps and records the movements of all trains in the UK. The system allows anyone with access to it to obtain detailed information about any train, and to 'rewind and replay' the mapping to examine any data which might need to be queried.
In the same way that pilots and air traffic control staff are always expected to report anything unusual (even if the problem has arisen because of their own errors), all railway staff have similar safety obligations. In the days of steam signallers would have known the times at which trains were expected to pass, and they would have logged and reported any train which seemed to arrive well ahead of schedule through speeding. (Similarly, I've spotted a train on TRUST leaving a station 14 minutes early. I didn't hesitate to pick up the phone!).
Chris
Boxtops:
There are some fairly primitive speed restriction systems in place but I certainly wouldn't put much trust in them. As an analogy, there are 'hot axle box detectors' at regular intervals along railway tracks but a train managed to arrive at our station, having passed a whole series of the detectors completely unnoticed, with an axle box glowing red. The engineers who examined it stated that, had my colleague not spotted it in time, the train would have almost certainly derailed on the 100mph stretch of track just uproad from the station.
With regard to train drivers 'getting lost':
All drivers must have the relevant 'ticket' for each section of track that they drive on. If, unusually, they are required to drive along a section of track for which they don't hold the relevant paperwork, they must be accompanied by another member of train crew (referred to as a 'pilot') who has the required route knowledge.
Even when there are no engineering works, trains occasionally go the wrong way. About once or twice per year, trains travelling between Liverpool Street and Norwich are accidentally routed towards Southend or Clacton because of signalling errors!
There are some fairly primitive speed restriction systems in place but I certainly wouldn't put much trust in them. As an analogy, there are 'hot axle box detectors' at regular intervals along railway tracks but a train managed to arrive at our station, having passed a whole series of the detectors completely unnoticed, with an axle box glowing red. The engineers who examined it stated that, had my colleague not spotted it in time, the train would have almost certainly derailed on the 100mph stretch of track just uproad from the station.
With regard to train drivers 'getting lost':
All drivers must have the relevant 'ticket' for each section of track that they drive on. If, unusually, they are required to drive along a section of track for which they don't hold the relevant paperwork, they must be accompanied by another member of train crew (referred to as a 'pilot') who has the required route knowledge.
Even when there are no engineering works, trains occasionally go the wrong way. About once or twice per year, trains travelling between Liverpool Street and Norwich are accidentally routed towards Southend or Clacton because of signalling errors!
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Maybe they can't reverse now, Eddie, but they used to. I remember a local newspaper report when two old dears once got on a train at Dundee for Leuchars. Unfortunately, it was one of the few Aberdeen to Kings Cross expresses that didn't stop there. Finding that the train wasn't stopping, one of them pulled the communication cord. The train backed up to let them off!!
Can't help adding an apocryphal story from the days of the great railway races, and the 'Stirling Single' locomotives used on the East Coast line. Just north of Berwick was a very sharp S-bend that was supposed to be taken at a much reduced speed. The tale is told that to make up time, some trains would take the first part of this bend so fast that one of the Single's huge driving wheels would actually lift off the line, coming back onto the rail just in time for the second part of the bend, when the other driving wheel would lift off Ooyah!!
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