Hi Steve
A really comprehensive answer as always.
I've never really got the hang of notching. We still have
class 313s (Wikipedia link) which have a camshaft selector. You put the controller into whatever notch you want, then quickly pump the handle up to 4 and back to the notch you're on as many times as you want subnotches. I always forget to count how many times I've pumped - I think there are 7 subnotches. It gives a much finer control of power - which is a hoot as most 313s couldn't pull the skin off custard. We use notch 3 with 4 subnotches for climbing up the hill on our underground section on the
Northern City Line (wiki link) If you time it right you can go all the way without touching the handle again, though I've never achieved it mysel
f.
Also with the camshaft system you can't notch back down - ie, If you're in 4 and you want to reduce to 3, you have to shut the controller off and then go back up to 3
. Real 1960's technology, but much harder work to drive. And of course they're on the inner suburban routes where you're powering up and down all the time. You can go all day on those services without seeing a green, (but I'm sure that's true of any suburban railway anywhere in the world).
An yes, 'Fanning the brake' - or 'Fannying with the brake' as my DI used to say. My first traction was
BREL Networker 465s (wiki link) which are ElectroPneumatic brakes. As you know they're fed directly from the Main Res Pipe and never run out of air (normally). But my instructor's generation grew up on the 'autobrake' where you could exhaust the air quite quickly if you kept applying and releasing the brake. So when I was learning, he kept nagging me that I was fanning. After a few weeks I bet him that I could never run out of brake, and so for several days whenever I was rolling slowly I just sat there repeatedly putting the brake on and off gently. After a while he got really annoyed, and we agreed that I wouldn't irritate him, and he wouldn't nag me about fanning.
To be honest, I was using the brake too much. As you mentioned, modern trains blend (mix) the friction/air brake with the dynamic. Dynamics work brilliantly at speed, but tail off as the train slows down. At some point (~ 8mph on 465 if I remember) the dynamic drops out and the friction drops back in to bring the train to a stand. At the time, the blending algorithm was awful, and as a trainee driver it was a hard to get to grips with the fact that the braking rate suddenly and unpredictably reduced significantly just when you needed it most at the end of the platform! Many trainees, including myself, would be throwing in great lumps of brake just before the end because they hadn't anticipated the brake fade. Since then several generations of train have improved on the blending, and modern trains have very smooth & predictable brakes. Nowadays one of my little mental challenges is to see if I can do the 100 mile trip with only 1 (or possibly 2) brake handle movements at each stop (well it keeps my butterfly mind focussed).
I agree with you about MSTS. I never really took to that because you don't get the 'bum on the seat' sensation of braking that you do in the real world. But I have spent too much time on MSFS. Quite alot of train drivers harbour a secret desire to be a pilot and I'm one of them. I always thought my dream job would be a helicopter pilot, but IIUC most heli pilots here in the UK are ex-military. Anyhow I've footled around over the years building cockpits and controls for flight sims. It pandered to my electronics abilities and the online flightsim world is quite sociable. Don't think I could be real world pilot though, too clumsy.
Best wishes, BW