From the BBC site at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4335994.stm :

"Services on the Northern Line ... have been suspended and may remain
closed on Thursday. Union bosses called for trains to be withdrawn on
Wednesday, after one ran through a red light at Mill Hill East, and its
emergency brakes failed. [I think this means the driver was instructed
to pass a red signal with the usual precautions, but the tripcock reset
itslef without stopping the train.]

It was the fifth incident on the line, and dozens of drivers are
refusing to work on safety grounds. Commuters trying to get home on
Wednesday struggled to get onto overcrowded buses, after the gates
closed at Northern Line stations.

Last Friday almost half the line's fleet did not run as a result of
brake safety checks and an extra driver being put on each train."

I would have thought that in light of this latest incident,
double-manning would have been reinstated. But it sounds as if LU
expected its drivers to continue driving single-manned trains, and many
drivers refused. Anyone know what's really happening? At the moment,
all the LU site is saying is that the line has no trains "due to
signalling system problems".

BBC1 London news this evening showed pictures of the rope that is
supposed to be at the heart of the problem. It looked like the rope that
used to be the manual tripcock resetting device on older tube stock. Is
that still its use? Seems a bit primitive for 1995 stock.

--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

Richard J. wrote:
BBC1 London news this evening showed pictures of the rope that is
supposed to be at the heart of the problem. It looked like the rope that
used to be the manual tripcock resetting device on older tube stock. Is
that still its use? Seems a bit primitive for 1995 stock.


Indeed the 95 and 96 stocks still use the rope reset, as do the D
stocks. The C stocks have a push-button reset. Not sure about the
others.

It's no problem simply pulling on the rope to reset the tripcock.
After all, it's (hopefully) not that often that it should need to be
used!

I've never seen the news due to working, but I'm not sure how the rope
could be the problem. This is only used for resetting the tripcock.
As I understand it, the tripcock wasn't activating when hit by the
trainstop which is the problem? Obviously I am happy to be corrected -
as I say, I'm always working when the local news is on!

In message .com,
writes

Indeed the 95 and 96 stocks still use the rope reset, as do the D
stocks. The C stocks have a push-button reset. Not sure about the
others.

It's no problem simply pulling on the rope to reset the tripcock.
After all, it's (hopefully) not that often that it should need to be
used!

I've never seen the news due to working, but I'm not sure how the rope
could be the problem.

According to the report, the ropes have been replaced with ones that are
several millimetres too thick. I presume they are therefore getting
stuck, making it very difficult to reset the tripcock.

--
Paul Terry

In article , Paul Terry
writes
In message .com,
writes

Indeed the 95 and 96 stocks still use the rope reset, as do the D
stocks. The C stocks have a push-button reset. Not sure about the
others.

It's no problem simply pulling on the rope to reset the tripcock.
After all, it's (hopefully) not that often that it should need to be
used!

I've never seen the news due to working, but I'm not sure how the rope
could be the problem.

According to the report, the ropes have been replaced with ones that are
several millimetres too thick. I presume they are therefore getting
stuck, making it very difficult to reset the tripcock.

Or perhaps the rope is too thick and doesn't move when the tripcock is
hit and so the tripcock is prevented from working?
--
John Alexander,

Remove NOSPAM if replying by e-mail

"John" wrote in message
...
In article , Paul Terry
writes
In message .com,
writes

According to the report, the ropes have been replaced with ones that are
several millimetres too thick. I presume they are therefore getting
stuck, making it very difficult to reset the tripcock.

Or perhaps the rope is too thick and doesn't move when the tripcock is
hit and so the tripcock is prevented from working?

Just heard on BBC London this morning that service is still suspended.

:-(
--
Brian

In message , Brian Watson
writes

Just heard on BBC London this morning that service is still suspended.

:-(

According to TfL this is now due to signalling problems affecting the
entire Northern line.

--
Paul Terry

wrote:

I've never seen the news due to working, but I'm not sure how the rope
could be the problem. This is only used for resetting the tripcock.
As I understand it, the tripcock wasn't activating when hit by the
trainstop which is the problem?

I have heard that the problem is that trains *are* being tripped, but are
then immediately resetting themselves without any manual intervention. The
thickness of the reset rope could well influence this. Just rumour, though,
at present.



MetroGnome

Just rumour, though,
at present.


Oooh, we all love a bit of rumour;-)

Excuse my ignorance, but why in the 21st Century are saftey-critical
devices on one of the most heavily-used urban metro systems in the
World reliant on a bit of string?

Neill

On 13 Oct 2005 06:16:55 -0700, "Neillw001"
wrote:

Excuse my ignorance, but why in the 21st Century are saftey-critical
devices on one of the most heavily-used urban metro systems in the
World reliant on a bit of string?

What would you prefer? A switch, a relay, an actuator and a bit of
wire? Why be complicated if a simple mechanism works?