"77002" wrote in message
...
On Oct 26, 12:28 pm, 77002 wrote:
On Oct 26, 10:09 am, "Peter Able" stuck@home wrote:



"Peter Masson" wrote in message

...

"Jeremy Double" wrote in message
...

Denis McMahon wrote:
On Thu, 25 Oct 2012 09:28:58 +0100, Peter Able wrote:

Dft: It takes over 15 minutes to attach a diesel locomotive.

I've never understood this. If the diesel loco is properly designed
to
interwork with the unit(s) that it's expected to haul, then surely
(de)coupling should take no longer than splitting and combining any
*MU
stock.

In the days of ETH-fitted Peaks on the Midland main line, they used to
reverse some trains at Nottingham in 5 minutes or so, and this
included
uncoupling a loco at one end of the train and coupling another one on
the
other end.

Time was when 2 minutes were allowed to detach Sarah Siddons (or one
of
her sisters) at Rickmansworth, send her into a siding, back on a steam
loco and couple up. The shunter had to go between the loco and the
coaches, despite the presence of the 4th rail. These days H&S would
have
kittens.

Peter

I think that the issue is, if it does take more than 15 minutes - and it
now
appears that this figure was quite bogus - but whatever it takes, it is
claimed to be due to the need for the train to re-boot and be
acknowledged,
then the question is why do we make such over-complicated systems
nowadays?

The same thing is true regarding 3rd-rail DC. The over-complicated
systems
cannot deal with momentary supply fluctuation such as occur during cold
weather. This, combined with the foolish change to lightweight collector
sandals (you really can't dignify them with the word, shoes) has lead to
foolish condemnation of third-rail systems.

In both cases, over-complication is the underlying problem - and no-one
in
DfT has the wit/guts to challenge this underlying, fundamental error -
and
no-one in the industry dares to.

Corrected version:

The light weight shoes are probably part of the reason NSR's EMUs fair
so badly in snowy conditions.

In the 1960s I can recall leaving Waterloo on a 4EPB during a light
sprinkling. Even today SWT's Siemens units make some progress. NSR
(an otherwise excellent railway) cancel services when there is snow in
the forecast.

Quite - and I can vouch for the even earlier 4SUBs, and even the pre-1920
3SUBs. There were pyrotechnics, but they got through. Nobody in the press
seems to be recognising technical over-complication as a really serious
issue, although I noted Tony Miles picking up on the issue of collector
sandals as a bad move in a recent Modern Railways - an issue first raised in
this group some time ago!