Locomotive Performance & Timing

Well, given that Hidden was a response to a technician working excessive hours and making a mistake that led to dozens of deaths, I’d suggest not just the passengers on the same train, but all on the railway.


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The longest turn at Kettering I heard off was the railway mans special to Blackpool on Sunday 26.06.1955.Each area had a day out free of charge for all employes.It was worked by BR class 5 73003 with about ten coaches.The route was via Derby ,Millers Dale , round the side of Manchester and on to Preston, about 300 miles there and back.The driver was a man who had transvered to Kettering from Heaton Mersey just after WW2 .He signed for the road to Preston,although he had'nt been north of Derby since leaving Heaton Mersey!!.He had a conductor from Preston to Blackpool.It was what was known as a short rest job,where the driver and fireman worked a long distance train there and back in one shift.These jobs only came up now and again ,mostly one off summer specials.
I was on the train with a very good friend of mine who was a passed cleaner, he had brought his mother along as well . We done both the Blackpool sheds and Fleetwood ,in the five or six hours we were there.
On arrival back at North station for the train home we learnt that the conductor was going to drive to Preston, and the Kettering driver would be firing ,fireman on the cushions resting.My friend on hearing this volunteerd to fire all the way back,however ,it was ok by the the men on the footplate, but his mother said that would'nt be possible due to the fact he had his best trousers on.!
To make up we rode in the brake next to the loco ,it was the LMS type with front facing windows,both of us were big fans of the Midland line over the peak from Mancherster to Derby and vv .There were 16 miles of mostly 1 in 90 ,from Cheadle Heath to Peak Forest,and the other way, similar from Rowsley to Peak Forest.There was no blazing away just a nice steady plod ,chime whistle from 73003 thro ' the tunnels was also very nice.
The train left Kettering at about 6.30 am ,Blackpool 12 noon ,dept 6pm home about Midnight, 300 miles or there abouts Not a bad days work .It paid well tho' ,double time for Sunday working ,plus milage money ,that what is was all about afterall.

 

What hasn't been brought up, is how sticking to these rules also protects our jobs rather than just lives/rolling stock etc.

Each TOC varies in the exact nature of specifications regarding Personal Need Breaks, walking times etc, but will ensure that all are within the legal coverings of the HSW Act and Hidden Protocols. These will be regarded as bare minimum times, for example at my own TOC a shift of duration between 7hr 30 and 9hr mandates a 30 minute PNB, taken between the hours of 3rd and 5th into the shift. If this is disrupted in any way that means you do not get the full allocated time or it begins to fall outwith those hours, it is up to the Driver to alert their resource co-ordinators that their next service to be worked following will be delayed or requires covering. If we as the driver choose to ignore this and have a less than minimum PNB, we then leave ourselves open to foul should we have an incident following for not following company guidelines, leaving a more difficult defence to create for ourselves and our Union.

 

That's general railway-wide practice agreed with unions but it isn't law.

 

I well remember that in the mid/late 60s the goverment passed a law that stated no one was allowed to work 7 days a week,there must be one day off in a week ,if that was'nt possble they would have to have two days off together in a fortnight. .Also a 13 hour day was max,with at least 11 hours break between shifts.
I worked in the steel industry on locos,Saturday morning was part of the normal working week(washout and tube sweeping ) with Sunday morning overtime,at double time.Management had been wanting to get rid of Sunday morning working for sometime ,but we said what about repairs ,gland packing ,cleaning etc, that had put them of upto then.Now ,they had a good reason to stop the double time working on Sundays There was a right rumpus,even worse when it was found out that the rock shovell drivers ,they loaded the wagons, were on about double the amount of tonage bonus to us. After much haggleing, that was increased by about 50% making us not to worse of without Sundays .If loco repairs were needed one loco would be stopped on a monday morning,cleaning was a thing of the past .

 

On the CME 2022 thread,

With a traditional stopwatch or even a wristwatch with a stopwatch facility, you push a button to start and stop timing, and you can feel the button while you're looking out of the window to see the quarter-mile posts.

With a phone with a touch screen, how do you get your finger at the right place while still looking out of the window? Or do you spot the quarter-mile post then look at your phone's screen, and presume that the delay will be about the same at start and stop times?

 

I agree with your take on the use of the stopwatch on a mobile phone and would never advocate attempting to produce a full log using one. A stopwatch and wrist watch are both easier to operate, but not everyone owns a stopwatch or wears a wristwatch. These days I would suggest, many people have a mobile phone.

What I was suggesting, in lieu of spotting mileposts, was to start the phone stopwatch (or other stopwatch) when the wall at the south end of Ormside Viaduct comes to an end and stop it again as you pass the summit sign - both visible from either side of the train. As the recorded time will be in the order of 20-25-30 minutes any discrepancy in the start/stop reaction times will be negligible.

Sorry if I unintentionally misled, but I did say that the times were for fun only. There is no substitute for a log produced by an experienced timer (or a GPS track).

 

My posting of my query was prompted by Oswald's suggestion, but it is something that has puzzled me for some time. Does anyone try to time quarter miles (or any other short intervals) with a phone, and if so how do they do it?