None of this would be happening if I had a jerb...
^Bloody hell, I'd like to see some of the passenger train drivers here have a go at that, they can't even stop at the right part of the station. I had no idea that you were a train driver, although the avatar makes sense now.
^Bloody hell, I'd like to see some of the passenger train drivers here have a go at that, they can't even stop at the right part of the station. I had no idea that you were a train driver, although the avatar makes sense now.
). I imagine for a passenger/metro train the timetables would be worse because people get upset if the trains are late or early, and it's a very tight window.
So the company finally let me loose at the helm of the priority Sydney/Perth super freighter with several million dollars worth of train and locomotives! My trainer said that anyone can drive a train from point A to point B no problems, but the real test is staying within the parameters they give you for the run such as speed, time and fuel usage. If the track speed is 115kph, you go 115kph. No more and no less if you can help it. Which is challenging with gradients and having to plan in advance. You're given a time frame in which to complete certain sections and if you're a few minutes late (or even worse, early) you have to justify why. Which comes back to throttle usage and forward planning. Don't burn more than the target fuel L/GTK which is also pretty tight. So if you shut off the throttle too early, or brake in the wrong spot you'll lose speed and time and waste fuel opening the throttle again (in full throttle, a single 4000bhp loco will use 745L per hour). Don't throttle up or back too hard or you'll get a whack up the backside from the trailing 1.5km of train that is still travelling along at 115kph while you've already applied the brakes at the front of the train. And that can cause damage to the customer's load and our equipment. Alternatively throttling up too hard can snap the train in half, especially if the front half is going downhill and the back half is still going uphill (happens more often than you'd think!).
So it's a good challenge which I'm sure I'll get the hang of eventually. And then they'll put me on another job over another route and I'll have to learn it all over again
^Bloody hell, I'd like to see some of the passenger train drivers here have a go at that, they can't even stop at the right part of the station. I had no idea that you were a train driver, although the avatar makes sense now.
If it's anything like the passenger train drivers I experience, the only requirement is "go as slow as possible, who cares if you're late?"
I don't know much about passenger trains, although I'll be crewing the Indian Pacific out of Sydney very soon (not driving though, luckily. Customers paying up to several thousand dollars probably want to sip their chardonnay's without being hurled all over the car
I came from a bulk goods division (wheat, coal, flour, etc) before where they didn't seem to care so much about any of the stuff I mentioned above. They'd drive well below the limit, don't appear to give a stuff about fuel, and not worry too much about the timetables. So I guess I'm just a little impressed/awed at how tight the interstate division is run.
We got passed by a friggin bus FFS! (Sydney to Lindfield using phone GPS). Anyone who takes it a little faster I'll buy him a keg of beer.
Welcome to CityrailI measured a passenger train's speed once. Topped out at 45km/h with an average of 30km/h
