I've just been listening on the BBC site to an interview with Richard
Parry of LU, in which he said "we'd attempted to slow the train down as
it came through Mornington Crescent by using the points there". Is
there a crossover there? Perhaps the thinking was that switching to the
northbound track would move it clear of the queue of southbound trains
in front of it, as well as slowing it down, or even derailing it.
--
Richard J.
(to email me, swap 'uk' and 'yon' in address)

On Aug 13, 3:42*pm, Roland Perry wrote:

In message
, at
07:28:21 on Fri, 13 Aug 2010, Mizter T remarked:

I did assume that maybe the works overran because
the train had run away, but maybe there were other problems.

Perhaps they over-ran because the train broke down, which was why it was
being towed away...

The broken down train and tow-away elements of this story are new i.e.
the BBC story has been updated - which is why earlier comments made by
MIG and myself now seem as though we never read the story (because at
the time of posting we hadn't read those parts of the story coz they
weren't there).

Those elements were there originally iirc.

Err, ok, I suppose I may have just read the text quoted by the OP
rather than clicking through to the site, though I'd normally do the
latter if possible (and it's sloppy if I didn't do that, can't
remember though).


What's fundamentally changed
(I think) is that originally it said that the broken down train chased
the towing train, which would have meant it was being towed southwards
not northwards - which had it been true, might have explained the lack
of collision because the towing train would be clearing the track ahead.

On 13 Aug, 17:57, Mizter T wrote:
On Aug 13, 3:42*pm, Roland Perry wrote:





In message
, at
07:28:21 on Fri, 13 Aug 2010, Mizter T remarked:

I did assume that maybe the works overran because
the train had run away, but maybe there were other problems.

Perhaps they over-ran because the train broke down, which was why it was
being towed away...

The broken down train and tow-away elements of this story are new i.e.
the BBC story has been updated - which is why earlier comments made by
MIG and myself now seem as though we never read the story (because at
the time of posting we hadn't read those parts of the story coz they
weren't there).

Those elements were there originally iirc.

Err, ok, I suppose I may have just read the text quoted by the OP
rather than clicking through to the site, though I'd normally do the
latter if possible (and it's sloppy if I didn't do that, can't
remember though).

I'd read the story before the link was posted here. I don't think so
much detail was included then, but I could be wrong. I didn't check
again when the link was given.

Anyway, there will be a report eventually.

This evening the High Barnet branch was apparently running again, but
the Charing Cross branch wasn't. Seems to be out for the evening.

"MIG" wrote in message
...

I'd read the story before the link was posted here. I don't think so
much detail was included then, but I could be wrong. I didn't check
again when the link was given.

Anyway, there will be a report eventually.

This evening the High Barnet branch was apparently running again, but
the Charing Cross branch wasn't. Seems to be out for the evening.

There's an explanation going around that they intentionally ran the train [a
track grinding train modified from tube stock] through a set of trailing
points near Mornington Crescent to take some of the speed off, ie set the
points for the other line.

This could damage the points, depending on the exact type used there.

Paul S

"MIG" wrote in message
...

This evening the High Barnet branch was apparently running again, but
the Charing Cross branch wasn't. Seems to be out for the evening.

According to the TfL site the CX branch is now open. I wonder how they
got the runaway train out of the way without messing up the rest of the
line?

Peter Smyth

On 13/08/2010 11:23, Paul wrote:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-10964766

A driverless train ran for almost four miles on the London Underground
on Friday morning.

The engineering train on the Northern line was allowed to roll between
Archway and Warren Street stations, TfL has confirmed.

The incident, which happened at 0640 BST, is now being investigated by
London Underground.

Transport for London (TfL) said the train moved at slow speed with no
risk to the safety of passengers or staff.

A TfL spokesperson said: "A full investigation has been launched into
this incident."


So this is why the Northern Line was, and is still suspended. It was
described as "late finish to overnight engineering work"

Would not the deadman feature on the controller have prevented this?
Indeed, this is one of the reasons that it exists.

If somebody tried to override the deadman and then left it, then I
imagine that this individual is in serious trouble.

In message Zag9o.3685$7E.1580@hurricane, "
writes

Would not the deadman feature on the controller have prevented this?
Indeed, this is one of the reasons that it exists.

If somebody tried to override the deadman and then left it, then I
imagine that this individual is in serious trouble.

Even if a deadman's handle exists on engineering trains (and I'm not
sure it does, as they are not passenger-carrying vehicles), it would
have been of no use here as the train was not drawing power (it was
being towed by another train before the coupling broke).
--
Paul Terry

On 13/08/2010 20:03, Paul Terry wrote:
In message Zag9o.3685$7E.1580@hurricane, "
writes

Would not the deadman feature on the controller have prevented this?
Indeed, this is one of the reasons that it exists.

If somebody tried to override the deadman and then left it, then I
imagine that this individual is in serious trouble.

Even if a deadman's handle exists on engineering trains (and I'm not
sure it does, as they are not passenger-carrying vehicles), it would
have been of no use here as the train was not drawing power (it was
being towed by another train before the coupling broke).
|
Are they not carrying in any event the same equipment that a regular
passenger train would carry, so that the train would go into emergency
should a coupling break?

I would also think that these trains would be equipped with the same
types of controls as passenger trains, regardless of their operation.
That is, you cannot simply release the brakes without either having
pressure on the controller or expecting it to go into emergency.

On Fri, 13 Aug 2010, Paul Terry wrote:

In message Zag9o.3685$7E.1580@hurricane, "
writes

Would not the deadman feature on the controller have prevented this?
Indeed, this is one of the reasons that it exists.

If somebody tried to override the deadman and then left it, then I imagine
that this individual is in serious trouble.

Even if a deadman's handle exists on engineering trains (and I'm not
sure it does, as they are not passenger-carrying vehicles), it would
have been of no use here as the train was not drawing power (it was
being towed by another train before the coupling broke).

At which point Mr Westinghouse's ingenious air-brake would have come into
operation, had it been fitted. The whole point of railway brakes is that
they're fail-safe: if at any point they are not connected to an alert
operator, whether because they have become disconnected, or the operator
is no longer alert, they apply. This evidently did not happen here, which
is alarming. I will be very interested to find out why.

This also raises the point that the line controllers don't have any way of
stopping a runaway train. I wouldn't expect anything radical, but some
sort of big rubber boot you could jam on to the side of a passing train to
stop it, or a bargepole or something, would seem like a sensible
investment for stations on slopes.

tom

--
the themes of time-travel, dreams, madness, and destiny are inextricably
confused

On Fri, 13 Aug 2010 11:39:50 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote:

I saw a rather different odd thing last time I was in Paris ... an
engineering train proceeding wrong-track through the opposite platform
to the one I was on (at about 8am). I crossed my fingers that my train
would not be delayed, and wondered what happened next. Presumably it
crossed over to the tracks my side and made its escape. Funny thing was,
trains were supposed to be passing on both tracks about every three
minutes.

It's not unknown for platforms 13 and 14 at Manc Picc to end up
getting swapped over in normal operation. It's a bit more intricate
to swap them back, though.

Neil
--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
To reply put my first name before the at.