Sir Richard Branson yesterday declared the driver of his crashed Virgin train to be a hero for staying at his post and continuing to 'steer' the train.
Am I missing something? I was always under the impression that trains didn't have steering wheels, and that their direction was determined by the track and points. Further, that when they leave the track their trajectory is determined purely by Newton's Laws of Motion - not by anything which the driver might do.
Is this not correct?
Indeed. This was later corrected to 'he stayed in the cab to make sure the brakes were continually applied, rather than running for it back down the train'.
I thought trains had "dead man handle" brakes so they came on if the driver let go of the handle anyway.
Dave Baker pretended :
SFAIK that only comes into operation if the driver fails to acknowledge a warning signal, produced regularly, or in response to a track side signal.
I think that puts the brakes on in a more controlled fashion but It was explained on News 24 this morning that in an emergency the driver operates a handle to pull the brakes on and then pulls another handle but I can't recall exactly what that does .
It was back to 'steering' on the R4 lunchtime news. I suppose it's a vaguely technical term so of no interest to journalists.
Further to that..once the train leaves the tracks, there is nothing the driver can do to affect its path in anyway at all AFAICS.
Like jeremy clarkson saying 'this car has one thousand *torques*' whatever that means.
That's a different (parallel) system.
I thought so too. It may have been something other than the 'emergency' braking, however.
I put it down to being populist. I think a CT (Clarkson Torque) equals one N-m. If he said N-m he'd confuse people. As long as he's consistent, it's a good relative unit.
Unless there is an obvious risk of an impending collision, the sensible move would be forwards, or, if you're the driver, to stay where you are.
The reason is that derailments rarely propagate very far forwards: the sequence in most derailments is that one wheelset derails, and may run derailed for anything up to a few miles. When that wheelset encounters either a set of points, or timber sleepers, the real mayhem begins, but the portion of the train that's already over them only feels a relatively small lateral force. The stuff behind, however, is either forced wide by the points, or if the sleepers or track fastenings are smashed, subsequent wheelsets drop into the widened gauge and cause further destruction.
If there is a gross track failure, a physical obstruction on the track, or even more rarely a gross mechanical failure, it may be the leading wheels of the loco that derail first, in which case the whole train is likely to follow into derailment.
As for braking - remember that an emergency train brake application, while accompanied by deal of noise and dust, actually achieves perhaps
0.15g - less than most cars manage with their handbrake.
Irony?
But it made I laugh...
I think that this was more to do with having to give s press conference with little or no preparation.
Normslly he is quite articulate and smooth during interviews, but looking at the video clip of the news interview it was a very different story - lots of Umms and pauses and in some cases even conjecturing which is probably unwise in his position.
Perhaps he was genuinely upset or possibly jetlagged after traveling back from his holiday, who knows.
Either way, I don't think I'd set any store by what was said.
It will be interesting to see if there are now calls to take Notwork Rail back into private ownership.
This train of his seemed to work very well considering there is no call for restraining straps or even for passengers to remain seated at all times.
Once in the ballast the stopping effect is greatly increased I would have thought. And the ability to hold sway seems to have dealt well with any wave of whiplashing traversing the train.
All told, a win for the design for the loss of one train. Not a bad record at all considering Virgin's start, where it inherited all the worst of the stock the other bottom feeders had left in the feeding frenzy that was Thatcherism.
Imagine the carnage had the government kept control of BR and followed the guidelines of the other governments following WW II; never repair nothing, never replace nothing and never improve nothing.
If it could stand up to the Luftwaffe it could stand up a few more decades if you just close a few stations now and again..
Italian engineering... by Fiat.
_Branson_
He's talking s**te, same as he did about Concorde.
They do, but you get more useful retardation if you apply the brakes gradually and try to avoid the wheels locking up. This is particularly important after a derailment, as a still-rolling derailed train is _much_ safer than a derailed toboggan. It's quite likely that the driver _did_ behave in a selfless and heroic manner to try and stop the train sliding, which isn't recogised by Branson talking rubbish about "steering"
I don't know what happens if the emergency system on a Pendolino comes into effect. They're disk braked, so a full application would lock the wheels instantly. They're also fairly modern and sophisticated, so maybe they still keep the anti-lock system effective, even in such a case.
Maybe it is a blingmobile with 1,000 gold torcs.
Owain
Doh... I was there thinking ft/lbs not N-m
Next you'll be telling me power is measured in ps and not bhp.
:¬(
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