I can’t believe I’m watching this to help me drive the unit on Train Simulator World 2020 over the Pennine route...! Just brilliant. Thanks for posting.
What a fascinating film. Not only for learning how they drove them, but seeing the engineering of the time and the footage of the lineside equipment, crossings etc from that time - absolutely fascinating.
My thoughts exactly. What a look into the past. I think stuff like this often conveys more history than any official "history" films, since at the time this was just made as an instructional film for the people of those days, not with any intent of conveying a specific message.
I worked on those Self Chasnging gears transmissions when serving my Apprenticeship . It didn't take much for a driver to kill one. Common problems were melting the fusible plug in the fluid flywheel from overloading in top gear. . Engine damage was caused by drivers using the trans to slow down in a hurry, going from 4th to 2nd for example. The engines we had were Fiat (Mussolinis revenge) and Leylands and the Fiats would throw conrods if over revved to any degree too often .
i've been staying up past midnight,i'm retired, to watch these train videos!..great stuff. here in Minneapolis Mn we have what called a Light Rail system that runs from downtown to the airport with stops close by.overhead electric and very quiet and cheap to ride. thanks again..
Start the two diesel engines up in a shed with the doors closed. Walk round and do your checks, put destination indicators right and then ring for an ambulance to get treated for carbon monoxide poisoning!
Yes it must have been hell in the colder months, presumably the roller shutter doors were opened first (hopefully!). I have great memories of the class 114s in South Yorkshire. Did Skegness station have any platform seats then (1956), it certainly hadn't by 1992! Thanks for putting this series of films on.
@@jacquesblaque7728 From time to time I work in an ex. RAF WW2 full size aircraft hanger - say 150ft by 200 ft by 24 ft high. It's a big building. If someone starts a dmu size diesel engine up in there, as they regularly do, it becomes very unpleasant fairly quickly, even in that size of place. I will admit I put carbon-monoxide in my original comment without specifically thinking about it in detail. Regardless, being in an environment where the air is that thick with diesel fumes can't be good for the health.
What a fascinating series of films, especially Pt2 on driving the train - wish I had seen this years ago, when I was glued to the window behind the driver! It makes understanding their movements so much clearer. Thanks for posting these - fantastic!
I remember back in 1981 sitting behind the driver on a DMU train from Guildford through the Surrey Hills to Dorking. It was fascinating to be able to look ahead and see the lineside signals as well as the frequent changes of gradient on this hilly route. Unfortunately with the modern Class 165 units which work the North Downs line, you can't see where you're going any more!
Using a cloth or rag was standard practice for most of the railway men,the signal box operator rarely touching levers without the cloth. The driver has to be familiar with every part of his route along the way,speed restrictions,crossings,every signal,and incidental repair or maintenance work being undertaken. A big responsibility,rarely appreciated by most of the passengers,but absolutely vital for everybody's safety.
I notice the instruction on starting a cold engine, the narrator says "don't race the engine" yet the driver does exactly the opposite... Leyland engines do require a fair bit of throttle to start, but not full revs...
Thanks for uploading this, it's a fascinating video. Like 055Deltic, I used to sit behind the drivers and watch (usually this was on the push'n'pull between Greenford and Ealing). This explains really well what was going on. What's obvious is that driving these isn't just a case of point and squirt... the starting procedure in particular looks really complicated.
Remember these units in the valley lines by the late 80 s they were knackered when departing stations remember the blue exhaust and the fumes but were fun to travel on with the rattles and the engine on full power traveling on the steeply graded valley routes
Common problem with these cyclic boxes was the traction bands ripping off if a driver did a racing gear change , ie changing gear with the throttle still open. You were supposed to wait a few seconds before taking power or it would cause terminal damage. Also coasting in neutral is a no no .
I remember these trains, as the engine accelerated when pulling away there was a peculiar rasping sound from the exhausts at a certain RPM. You can't but help think that the transmission would be very efficient, I bet they do more MPG's than modern DMU's?
Far and away better on fuel than modern DMUs. The quoted figure was 12mpg per power car. Modern DMUs will do about 4or5 mpg. And locos its gallons per mile!
Tay TYLERIENMAM Station that's only 4 power cars; the shortest distance to work would only be to the next car, via the 2 driving cabs; the longest would be 3 cars.
Brilliant, and fascinating. I didn't know there was so much work and preparation involved. Now I also have some idea why there seemed to be long pauses while gears were changed. Are modern diesels much simpler?
@@DoctorBastardo you are right, as the class 114's depicted in the film originally had 150hp leylands x2, however they were underpowered so they fitted 230hp leyland albions x2 instead which were much better.
They must have changed the instructions at some point as by the 1970s the destination blind would have different destinations at each end, for example Darlington at the Darlington end and Saltburn at the Saltburn end.
Having been a Locomotive Engineer (Train Driver) in the "Yewess" (U.S.) since 1988, most of which has been in Passenger Service, this is quite interesting! I first learned about vacuum braking while on a "Busman's Holiday" in Ireland in 1997 (I think they only used vacuum brakes on their sugar beet trains); I wonder if vacuum brakes were used on the Continent, or if it was just limited to the British Isles?
Seán Thomas Bickerton My understanding is that they were very widely used, as the engineering was much easier to create vacuum rather than pressure with steam as an ejector could be driven directly by steam, while pressure would have required a seperate pump.
The vacuum brake is not as harsh as the airbrake going in , it is more sensitive in use . It also has the advantage of starting to operate from the rear of the train, not the middle or front, so drags the train to a stand .
The vacuum brake is essentially a thing of the UK and its sphere of influence. It was used to an extent on the Continent, but the air brake has been standard there - at least, on the standard gauge - for about 100 years now.
6:04 "75psi, the minimum satisfactory working (air) pressure for cabin control" I'm surprised pneumatic actuation had been invented and adopted in what... before 1950s. It's awesome.
1938 tube stock had pneumatic control & equipment governors to ensure that the train could not be operated with insufficient train line & main line air. It was commonplace by the 50s
UP_trains_&_reviews interesting that BR used canisters for the detonators. On LT they were contained in a “tool box” (actually a built in cabinet) sealed with a glass plate over the handle. The toolbox contained detonators, a red flag and “presspahn shields” which should used if the train was being coupled to another in an emergency while the wrong way round. (Older LT stock had different couplers each end)
Was this video recorded here in Kenya during the colonial period? 😂 some places i see are similar Like dagoretti station Nairobi railway station ,Thogoto and Kikuyu? maybe or maybe not . i really appreciate that piece of engineering
Somewhere on RU-vid there's a video of tips for bus operators that talks about this same style of transmission, with its "brake bands," and the necessity of giving it a moment before pouring on the power again.
They mentioned a " Fluid Coupler " , massively oversimplified , think of it as a simplified version of a torque converter in an automatic transmission .
When the throttle is set to idle the clutch automatically disengages. railcar dot co dot uk has a great site on "DMU Technology - The Basics". If you want to know these worked percisely that is the place to go. Later models, not too soon after this film was made (1959) were basically automatic versions with hydraulic torque convertors.
At 09:40, they say to put into gear and release the brakes FULLY. I don't drive trains, but, wouldn't you only release the brakes as you get a 'bite', and start moving, like in a car etc.?
can i now help my uncle with his work? (he drives trains) and btw it acctually sounds like a lorry, can somebody tell me what kind of engine is in there?
In the 114 shown a couple of Albion engines by then renamed as Leyland or Leyland B.U.T. These and AEC lumps were the most common in 1st generation DMUs! Checkout railcar.co.uk for much nerdtastic info...
So many ways to damage the engine... yet the controls were electrical so it seems to me (from my probably naïve modern perspective) they could have designed circuits to avoid most of the potentially damaging scenarios without relying on the driver doing the right thing. For example if you can only coast in 4th gear, it could automatically engage 4th when the throttle is moved to coast, and then go back to the previously selected gear when throttle is applied. And when changing gear it could ramp down the throttle (via something like a capacitor), change gear, then ramp it up again, to save the driver having to do that step by step. But maybe this was viewed as more likely to go wrong than a well-trained driver.
Electronics at the time were very pricy and you would need quite a few of computing or measuring devices to achieve that. Way too fancy stuff for a diesel railcar at that time. The switching these levers do is pretty easy stuff, but knowing speed, revs, load and gear and making sense out of that was a bit too much to pack into those. I assume that was theoretically possible, yet not too short after that the Class 127 for example was basically completely automatic with an hydraulic torque converter, switching gears automatically depending on speed, introduced in 1959.
@@exb.r.buckeyeman845 Claggy, though. Round about 1970, I remember a stock movement at Reading which consisted of 12 cars, all single or two-car units. It would drift into the station laying down a smokescreen across the entire western endf
I worked on the railway over here in Britain for nearly 50 years . I remember when this DMU's first came into service . We were told they would be used for 15 years , no more , we had them for over 30 . We had some fun and games with the poor drivers learning to drive these . When they had driven only steam all there lives . Known as Z cars by signalman locally . Because they came up on the train describers as 4Z20 through to 4Z23 or so . (Maybe 0Z20 ? It's so long ago my memory may be at fault ). From the caps and robbers series on Tv at the time . Any one here remember this ? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wL1HnDGTAK8.html
As a kid I used to ride the DMU's on the Kings Cross to Welwyn Garden City line during the mid 70's, shortly before the line was electrified. I'm sure I saw the drivers use an old rag when applying the brakes. What was the reason for that?
It was on a complicated gearing described as as planet type as u chsnged gears diffetent cogs engaged to go up down gear there are pictures i guess on internet discription or get hold of a old br dmu manual
is it just me, or does it seem like these locomotives weren't engineered very well? 4th gear to stop? wait two seconds when switching gears or you'll wreck it? what what?
Very interesting and trying to identify locations keeps me busy. Wickenby crossing box is passed on the Lincoln - Market Rasen line, but the train ends up arriving at Skegness. I am not sure about the junction just before that, with all the gantry signals, but might be Barnetby?
50009 is the vehicle number of the motor car (DMBS) and 56009 is the number of the trailer (DTCL). Both form the two car set. As 50009 is the motorized vehicle I presume that that would be the more important vehicle number and the number on the satchel. What happened when units were reformed as was regular practice or if both driving vehicles were powered, I don't know!
Peter Thomson there is no difference in the importance between the 2 vehicles in this set, or any other for that matter. The driving motor vehicles were given numbers in the series 50000 to 52105 (inluding the hand full of non-driving motor cars from the Trans-Pennine units), driving trailer vehicles were given nembers in the range 56000 to 56504. Intermediate trailers were numbered between 59000 and 59832. Single car units were numbered between 55000 and 55999 (including the parcels units). The pre-production units were numbered between 70000 and 79999, and the Blue Pullmans were numbered between 60090 and 60749 There were many 2-car power-twin units (ie 2 power cars) as well as 3 and 4 car units. The operation was exactly the same as shown here, but with 4 engines to worry about instead of 2. The highest number of engines a driver of a single unit would need to keep an eye on is 8 on the Trans-Pennine units.
RWL2012 correct. They were typically used on routes with steep inclines, such as in the Pennines, or on services with swingers (parcels vans attached at the end of the train).
@@acquiesce100 sorry I don’t own one and as far as I know none of the Rolls Royce’s survive. I’ve retired from full time driving now and will still drive on a heritage line but normally just the larger diesels.
@@jdavis460 Brian, my company is looking to acquire one? My intention is then to learn how to drive it from a hobby stand point so am looking for a possible teacher. I would pay you well if you could teach me in you free time. There would be no set times or hours, just when you could do it.
Can't argue with you, but having driven Diesel cars for years they still have an accelerator. OK Diesels are always supplied with excess air, so they don't have throttles. I thought I was a pedant and all I ever want to insist on is the difference between mass and weight.
@@COIcultist Yes, that was a bit OTT of me. Mass and weight is far less pedantic by far. I've been driving diesel cars almost exclusively for the last fifteen years as well.
Detonators are small explosive devices that are placed on the track as a warning device to protect the train if it becomes stuck on the main line track for whatever reason.
It's there any reason why a rail company do not pay food allowance to field workers? Do their customers request on contracts to be fair to others? Do their CEO makes bonus out of this policies?! 😳 MN state