( Cab Ride 37 ) Woking Down Yard to Egham, A Freight Rambler Production... 

More like East Croydon lol

Probably Not anymore. From what I've seen locally it's all 'agency wallahs' with Pts cards out of a Cornflake box. Dont think they know how to use a Jack and a Shovel. Used to like doing wet beds. Ian 179 gang Shrewsbury. 👍

Yep Class 66, train was unloaded ( sand ) at Woking Down Yard, so running empty here, about 600 tnns...

Thanks.

It's a combination of speed limit changes and adverse signal aspects. For example, in the UK we have a system called approach controlled signalling, where the signals slow down a train before it reaches a junction where it turns on to a different line and, due to the tight bends on the junction, will have a drop in line speed. At 6:41 the driver sees a double yellow signal, meaning that the signal two sections ahead is at red. The driver slows the train really early on in an attempt to prevent the train from coming to a stand and subsequently loosing it's momentum; being a heavy freight train, the driver slows the train down in plenty of time for a possible red signal and the speed limit change at the junction at 9:40 when it drops to 20mph. The train then accelerates up to the new speed limit after the entire train has passed the 50mph speed board at 10:07. I hope that helps :)

Do drivers have to remember where the speed limits are, by reference to landmarks, (with only a sign at the start of the change in limit) or are there advance signs some distance in advance so you know when to start braking for the limit? It's something I've thought ought to be done on roads, especially where a 60 mph road has 40 or 30 limits through each village. How do you judge when the rear of your train has passed a limit sign so you know when you can start to accelerate, especially when the line is straight and you can't see the rear of the train as you could on a curve? I notice that none of the level crossings have a white flashing light in the train driver's direction to say "road has red lights, barriers closed", whereas I've seen this on other lines. What are the circumstances where there are or aren't white lights?

Yes, drivers have to remember speed limits, signal positions etc. before they can sign for that route, but in some cases speed limit warning boards are used such as at 14:39. They are a white up-side down triangle with a yellow border and have the upcoming speed limit that it is warning the driver about written in the middle, in this case a 40mph speed limit. And so at 15:35 the speed limit drops to 40mph. As for telling when the rear of your train has passed the board, the class 66s are fitted with a 'train length' button. The driver inputs the length of the train (calculated by how many wagons the loco is hauling and what the length is of each) into a computer in the cab. When, for example, the driver passes a 50mph speed board at 10:07 shortly afterwards the train length button is pressed and a beep is heard at 10:23. The computer automatically calculates how long it will take for the rear of the train to pass the board by monitoring the train's speed. Once the rear of the train has cleared the board a second beep is heard at 10:56, and the driver can accelerate up to the new line speed. And the level crossings; the flashing white light is only used on crossings which require the driver to manually close the crossing gates by pressing a button next to the train, or crossings which don't have barriers at all. The flashing white light system is not a signal as such as it only tells the driver if the crossing lights are flashing telling road traffic to stop not if the line ahead is clear or not. This system is only used on quiet branch lines. Nearly all level crossings on more mainline-style routes such as this in the video are integrated within the signalling system, so no driver input is required an all crossings have barriers. The only exception is the few manually operated gate crossings which are opened/closed by either gatekeepers or local signalmen, but still this is partially involved with the signalling as the signalman wouldn't clear a train over the crossing until he or she had closed the gates.

Drivers learn where speeds are when Route Learning a new route, some speed boards do have advance warning boards ( there is one before the 40 MPH for Chertsey at 14.40 ) all engines are fitted with Train Length Indicators, the length of the train is installed at the start of a journey, a press of a button will start the countdown. The white lights you refer to are used on locally monitored crossings.

I've often thought it must require a prodigious memory (somewhat akin to an actor remembering all the lines for a stage play, or a taxi driver learning "The Knowledge") for train drivers to remember that level of detail of a route. I know for roads that I drive frequently, I can remember a lot of the details but not necessarily the precise order of them or the distance between them. The difference is that it is usually possible to drive a car on sight, because a car driver can usually slow down within the distance that he can see an upcoming speed limit or bend sign, whereas a train driver has to know what hazards are approaching that aren't yet in view. How many times does a driver tend to do a route (maybe as a passenger in the cab) before he feels confident to sign for it?

Yes 15 mph there...

@@freightrambler7199 When I was a boy in the 1940's and lived in Chertsey. there was a south to west curve at Virginia water, so that trains could run from Weybridge or Woking directly on to the Reading (South) line. Of course, it has long since gone.