Retrievable shoegear

[Deleted]

Will the new trains have automatically retrievable and depositable shoegear?

[prjb]

No. The shoe gear will be manually retractable by the ERU and is no longer a driver function. I can feel a flood of complaints coming my way here!
As the new stock do not arc as much as conventional trains and as they are fitted with arc barriers the need for operator intervention is no longer necessary. Honest Guv! ;D

[Deleted]

I can think of several scenarios where powered shoegear retrieval would be desirable:

- when the train mistakenly crosses a non-sectionalised rail gap and livens up a dead section. Bashing the shoe lift control would be done pretty sharpish IMVHO.
- when a shoe hits a misaligned conductor rail and gets jammed. Hit the lift button to kill the train, discharge the juice, and the ERU can fix the shoe in a jiffy.
- when the inevitable Big Train Failure happens. Unless the ERU wants to go manually lift every single shoe on a train that is suffering from a big failure involving the traction system, having the option to lift the shoes and push it out safely would be useful IMVHO.

Maybe the T/Op doesn't need to have access to the shoe lift controls (except in the first scenario), but IMVHO there should definitely be one...

[towerman]

prjb said:

No. The shoe gear will be manually retractable by the ERU and is no longer a driver function. I can feel a flood of complaints coming my way here!
As the new stock do not arc as much as conventional trains and as they are fitted with arc barriers the need for operator intervention is no longer necessary. Honest Guv! ;D

I would have thought the same system as on 92/95/96TS would have been desireable,where by you could either lift a unit or train of shoes pneaumatically,as for less arcing on new stock,watch a 92/95/96TS when the current rails are wet or frosty,they're as bad if not worse than conventional stock.

[Deleted]

I would agree that to allow Operator Intervention would be desirable... Would the TMS/DTS or whatever system is being installed, recognise a 'Traction Fault' and automatically raise the shoes???

[prjb]

theonekea said:

I can think of several scenarios where powered shoegear retrieval would be desirable:

- when the train mistakenly crosses a non-sectionalised rail gap and livens up a dead section. Bashing the shoe lift control would be done pretty sharpish IMVHO.

There aren't that many places where this occurs anymore, most rail gaps have been lengthened to be more than a cars length.

theonekea said:

- when a shoe hits a misaligned conductor rail and gets jammed. Hit the lift button to kill the train, discharge the juice, and the ERU can fix the shoe in a jiffy.

In this scenario if the shoe is jammed no amount of auto lifting gear will solve the problem. The ERU can still attend and remove the shoe without any auto lifting gear.

theonekea said:

- when the inevitable Big Train Failure happens. Unless the ERU wants to go manually lift every single shoe on a train that is suffering from a big failure involving the traction system, having the option to lift the shoes and push it out safely would be useful IMVHO.

The ERU will not have to manually lift shoes. There will be shoe lifting devices on the train, it just won't be available to the driver or be a function of the on board computer.

theonekea said:

Maybe the T/Op doesn't need to have access to the shoe lift controls (except in the first scenario), but IMVHO there should definitely be one...

You will be happy to know that there is lifting gear then!

[prjb]

towerman said:

I would have thought the same system as on 92/95/96TS would have been desireable,where by you could either lift a unit or train of shoes pneaumatically,as for less arcing on new stock,watch a 92/95/96TS when the current rails are wet or frosty,they're as bad if not worse than conventional stock.

This is my fault, by modern stock I meant 09ts and 'S'. Arcing for weather isn't really the issue here either, you wouldn't lift shoes for that! These trains will not arc as much due to defects etc, and when they do there will be proper arc barrier protection.

[prjb]

tubeoperator92 said:

I would agree that to allow Operator Intervention would be desirable... Would the TMS/DTS or whatever system is being installed, recognise a 'Traction Fault' and automatically raise the shoes???

No, it is a manual ERU/Depot action. By manual I mean they will lift the shoes via a lifting device in the car (not shoe by shoe underneath!).