[Foghut]

Originally Posted by Dynamo

I lost count of the number of cat B Spads I've had. I even had one last week when a signal went to red against me as I was approaching it because of a power surge at the signalbox controlling it. Its the cat A ones you gotta worry about.

Yup, amen to that

I remember when the old chestnut of leaves on the line first made an appearance in the newspapers. I'm pretty sure it was something to do with the Pacer trains that had just been introduced. When I first learned the 143's, they had some sort of a track circuit booster fitted to them because the engineers figured they'd have trouble activating track circuits because the vehicles were so light and only had four wheels per unit. Unfortunately the booster system proved to be unreliable and units were disappearing from the signallers panels because of the leaves which is the reason why there were so many problems.

I've heard of this, the legendary leaf fall 'stealth trains'

I am one of the few drivers on the network who has been issued with my own personal IVRS unit because I sign that particular section of track that the system is in place on. Being issued with my own personal unit is only a temporary thing because all trains will eventually have the units fitted as standard. Some have already been fitted to some Class 66's.

I've seen the IVRS units when I rode in the cab of a mate, but I didn't twig what the technology was behind them. The link mentions GSM-R masts. Does this mean that the IVRS you are using is GSM-R technology, or is it just that the people who wrote the link are having a good old rant at everything ?

Cheers,
Foggy.