Smoke Detectors and Driver Comforts.

[LesG]

Originally Posted by Foghut

I wonder if it's anything like the story I heard about the Class 66 purchase options. Alledgedly the people at London Ontario offer 7 levels of cab comfort - needless to say most British locos have level 1. I expect the accountants over here have calculated that it's cheaper to medically retire a deaf driver or two rather than fork out on expensive sound insulation.

There's one thing, You know you've done an 11.5 hour shift when you've been on a 66 for most of it.

The noise is absolutley abismal, you are thrown about from one side to the other, cab doors open on the move and when you are in the little cab (No 2 end) and the fans start up you just can just about hear the vigilance when it goes off, the heaters have only two temps extremly cold or extremly hot.
Apart from that they are grrrrrrrrreat, they do tend to keep going. A fault booked at happening at 75mph you know nowt been done when it come out tested on shed no fault found.

Class 67s although a bit quieter in the cab, practically the same driver comfort level. The doors to the engine room tend to open on the move normally going up hill in notch 8 (full power) and because we are sat in the middle of the cab we can't reach them to close so we are deaf by the time we can shut off power a bit.

Oh the trials and tribulations of an EWS driver

Three things a railway fitter must be able to write before being passed out:

1. tested on shed no fault found NFF
2. For home depot attention
3. Unable to fault.

Les

[Upney Sidings]

I passed on one of the more cynical responses to this thread to a nephew who is a mainline driver. He sent me the two links hereunder:

http://www.aslef.org.uk/information/...adline_issued/

http://www.aslef.org.uk/information/...class_66_cabs/

Mike

[Foghut]

Originally Posted by Upney Sidings

I passed on one of the more cynical responses to this thread to a nephew who is a mainline driver. He sent me the two links hereunder:

http://www.aslef.org.uk/information/...adline_issued/

http://www.aslef.org.uk/information/...class_66_cabs/

Note that the February 2007 deadline passed without a squeak - so no surprises there then.

It's just so typically British that instead of paying a few extra grand per loco at the time of purchase, the FOCs are now wasting money in Heath-Robinson style bodges with headphones and portable aircon units. By the end of this fiasco they'll probably have spent far more and still end up with a loco that isn't as quiet and vibration-free as GM could have originally made it.

(PS - apologies to Swisstrains for shamelessly hijacking his thread )

[LesG]

Originally Posted by Foghut

Note that the February 2007 deadline passed without a squeak - so no surprises there then.

It's just so typically British that instead of paying a few extra grand per loco at the time of purchase, the FOCs are now wasting money in Heath-Robinson style bodges with headphones and portable aircon units. By the end of this fiasco they'll probably have spent far more and still end up with a loco that isn't as quiet and vibration-free as GM could have originally made it.

(PS - apologies to Swisstrains for shamelessly hijacking his thread )

100% totally agree,

But I will say that on the 2nd link it say GBRF and Freightliner are positivley looking at improvements but what about the countries largest freight operator. EWS appears to avoided all union contact on the matter and the drivers can not take action without union backing.
This matter sems to have died a death.

Les

[swisstrains]

Originally Posted by Foghut

....................
(PS - apologies to Swisstrains for shamelessly hijacking his thread )

No problem John.
Most people know how noisy and uncomfortable life on the footplate could be in the days of steam but it does no harm to point out that working conditions on modern traction often leave a lot to be desired.
In a way I hope that you and Les have well and truly gone off-topic because I would hate to discover that modern British locos aren't fitted with fire suppression systems simply to save money as appears to be the case with driver comforts.
At the moment I am trying to find the specs for the Class 66 type locos operating in Mainland Europe (not the EWS ones ) and also what the Germans fit as standard on their modern diesel locos both in terms of driver comforts and fire suppression.

[swisstrains]

Originally Posted by LesG

There's one thing, You know you've done an 11.5 hour shift when you've been on a 66 for most of it.

The noise is absolutley abismal, you are thrown about from one side to the other, cab doors open on the move and when you are in the little cab (No 2 end) and the fans start up you just can just about hear the vigilance when it goes off, the heaters have only two temps extremly cold or extremly hot.
Apart from that they are grrrrrrrrreat, they do tend to keep going. .....................................

Some good news for Freightliner drivers

http://www.railwaygazette.com/news_view/article/2007/11/8009/ge_enters_uk_loco_market.html

[Foghut]

Well that's certainly a step in the right direction. Let's hope that this time they actually consult real drivers when they put together the cab design, and do some field trials.

I've never heard of a GE JS37ACi - I wonder if it'll be a scaled down version of those thumping great Dash locos (UK loading gauge permitting).

Also I note that they mention AC, so presumably they are talking about a hybrid diesel/electric ? Makes sense I suppose.

[swisstrains]

Originally Posted by Foghut

......................Also I note that they mention AC, so presumably they are talking about a hybrid diesel/electric ? Makes sense I suppose.

I assume they are referring to the type of traction motors. I think the Class 66 still uses DC traction motors whilst most new diesel-electrics nowadays use the more efficient AC type.

[Foghut]

Originally Posted by swisstrains

I assume they are referring to the type of traction motors. I think the Class 66 still uses DC traction motors whilst most new diesel-electrics nowadays use the more efficient AC type.

OK, I've just re-read it and I think you're probably right - I didn't realise the 66s had DC motors as I just assumed that they went out with the ark.

[Foghut]

In fact you're quite right. I've just seen it on Chris Barrie's Machines - He's been crawling all over a FrightLiner 66.