wrote in message
...
Do the train operators require to drive manually on occasion in order to
keep in practice and if so is this done as part of normal service operation
pretty much at a time of the drivers' own choosing?


My recollection is that trains reversing at sidings along the route
(i.e.Victoria, Kings Cross) or entering or leaving service from / to
Northumberland Park depot (or turning on the depot reception tracks at Seven
Sisters) are driven in and out of the siding / depot by the ATO in coded
manual. So the answer to the above poster's question is "yes" and "no".
There is a requirement, but it is at clearly designated times, not at the
whim of the ATO.

If there was a failure of the train which meant it could only be moved in
coded manual on the "main line" then the train would operate out of service
until it could be stabled and the fault corrected. (Similar to over ride of
the 10mph circuit on the 1973 tube stock.)

Unlike the other Westinghouse fitted stock, driving the 1967 stock in coded
manual does not include a requirement to test the operation of the air brake
in the same way that was (still is?) required by those Westinghouse trains
at penultimate stations on the journey (Kings Cross on the Circle).