On Fri, 01 Sep 2006 19:30:03 +0100, Paul Corfield wrote:

I've noticed a small black and yellow stripped plate in the cab windows
of
Met line trains. Might be in others too, not sure. What are they?

Does it look like this
http://www.trainweb.org/districtdave...d78_stock.html

Yes, that's it! But, I'm afraid that after having read all that, I'm still
none the wiser. Will read again and if I still don't get it, I'll stop
worrying about it.

In simple terms the driver has a handle (CTBC) which he pushes forward
to accelerate and pulls back to slow down. This is a very simplistic
explanation as stock vary as to the exact design.

The top speed and level of acceleration are affected by which of the
"flags" are set. They are a form of cruise control to use a car analogy.
If both flags are up then the train is in "turbo" mode ;-)

I'll now await the arrival of various drivers and train managers to make
me look a right idiot.

Perhaps this is a silly question and I'll kick myself when I see the
answer, but why would you want to deliberately restrict the speed of
trains in this way (i.e. beyond that required by line speed limits and
the signalling system)? Is it to do with saving energy?

Surely if the trains travel faster, with the same distance between
each train (which is externally determined by the signalling), you'll
have more trains per hour and therefore higher capacity, as well as
improved journey times.