I am back after 5 rest days. Still with my DI at the moment and am still clocking up hours. Bad start this morning as well, after having the time off (and being quite busy over the weekend!) I come back and seem to have forgotten how to drive a train. Fratton was the first stop, and past the stop car mark I went. Had another go at Hilsea and had to brake quite hard to stop at the end! By Bedhampton, I'm starting to get the hang off it again and managed to stop well as Havant.
Then my DI said the cursed words... "Something is going to happen today..." So for the rest of the day were driving between Portsmouth and Waterloo waiting for something to happen, but nothing does. The weather has been mad today with it being dry but cold in Portsmouth, dry and bright coming up to Havant, little bits of rain up towards Guildford and when we get to Woking it is really raining. As I approach and brake to stop at Woking were sliding all over the place, but fortunately we get it under control and stop on the mark.
Come Waterloo, and there is cold wind, heavy rain (which turns to hail) and then even a few rumbles of thunder. I know enough about railways and weather to know that we really want to get as close to home as possible before it gets bad, as signalling doesn't tend to like thunder!!
Apart from a large emergency speed restriction which practically goes from Clapham Junction all the way to Wimbledon delaying us by Petersfield we are back on time and at Havant after some amazing work by the signallers we are a little early. Even as we approach Fratton where would normally approach and be checked down to a red as we come through Portsmouth we see nothing but greens! Arriving at the Harbour (routed straight in and not waiting for anything!) I made a bit of a mistake and stop no where the buffer stops (supposed to be 6 feet) but the train is definitely accommodated and seeing as how we are taking it back out in a minute we left it!
Despite the weather and the great work by Havant signallers nothing really has gone wrong and were starting to think that this would be a nice easy day. We leave the Harbour with our train empty back to the depot and even get the route set all the way to the depot (which is very unusual, you normally get held all over the place until the depot are ready for you!)
So I slow the train down to 3mph to go through the carriage wash thinking almost done, and as I come out of the carriage wash I hear an almighty bang and see a flash. My DI sticks his head out the window and says he can see smoke coming from under our train. I'm getting warning lights on the cab panel in front of me, so on go the emergency brakes. The shunter comes running towards me shouting have you had a SPAD (signal passed at danger)? I'm shouting back saying NO, No (the signal was definitely clear) and so he says "whats wrong then?" So I'm shouting at him to cut the power to the third rail as something has gone bang and affected my train.
He does and also calls for the Network Rail Manager to come and have a look. So everyone starts looking round my train and the power is discharged. Bearing in mind at this time of day there are lots of trains that are behind me waiting to come into the depot and so delays are starting to build.
Eventually, nothing can be found so they decide to recharge the power and see what happens. While I am sat in the cab, the power is put on and I'm watching to see if any fault appear. Quite a few do (as seen in the picture below) but they can all be attributed to the power being off. The shunter then gives us permission to carry on into the depot, and so I try and take power to move the train and nothing happens. A new red fault appears on the saying traction package fault. Fortunately, I manage to clear this fault by turning power off and starting again. Once I did this, the train started to move which is a relief so I take it all the way into the depot and shut it down. As were walking back down the depot we bump into the Network Rail Manager and ask him what happens. He believes that a piece of foil he found had blown onto the third rail and shorted against something which knocked all the power off! Amazing to think something so small, broke our train and blocked an entire depot. Even when I got home after writing the report there are still delays in the Fratton area because of empty trains making the area congested why they wait to enter the depot!!
So my DI was right and the moral of this story is never say you think something is going to happen!!!
list of my faults caused by the power being cut... (except the bottom two which are just air con faults!)
my train stranded in the depot why we try and find out what happened. Where the man is stood is roughly where the bang came from!
No comments:
Post a Comment