Hello all ;
In case you don't have already realised, here in Europe, up untill now, there wasn't a single standartized engineer's desk (altough in modern times all the desks being used are pretty similar). this project will not only allow some economies of scale, but will also simplify the task of driving a d train, and will aloww for a better interoperabity between contigues countries. It will also put an end to a plethora of designs and concepts of 'train driving procedures', but some discrepancies will still remain, such as different voltages, different signalling and circulation rules.
Maby for some select few will notice also some similarities with the driving consoles of ACS64's
Great! We should too, since we are one nation, not 27.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
schlimm Great! We should too, since we are one nation, not 27.
we pretty much have a couple of decades ago.
For those interested in further reading about EUDDplus, here is the CORDIS summary of the project (be sure to rename the .pdf file when you download it as it has a typically cryptic CORDIS filename) and the "official" final report on the project development (it concluded in 2010).
There are a couple of things that make me nervous watching the video. The left-hand screen is visibly subject to washout and surface reflection if bright light is incident on it, I believe a common issue with contemporary backlit and non-transreflective LCDs. It may be likely that the other two screens are, too. The eye-tracking demo looks cool and technical as all get-out, but when we actually see what the tracking camera is resolving, the precision of that version of corneal spot tracking is nowhere near good enough to resolve items in the interfaces on the touch screens, which is one of the critical functionalities of the 'universality' of the system (it adapts controls on various types of locomotive to the 'fly-by-wire' inputs and displays in the new UI).
Will be highly interesting to see how they standardized on control movement and haptic feedback (of which there doesn't appear to be much), and how they intend to implement blended braking on locomotives not equipped 'from the factory' to feature it.
Donning the devil horns: it'll be fun to see how well those control levers and the pots or whatever they move hold up in service after a few years, and what gets evolved to deal with the situations when they start to fail... reminds me of a cautionary tale involving me, white duck trousers, and a well-greased but poorly-inspected Edson steerer that I'd prefer to remember more at arm's length.
You darwinites might like those desktop controls, but, you didn't have to operate them. This dinosaur hated them! Most uncomfortable things to operate and left you glad to get off of the engine at the end of the run. No way to stretch out the legs and they were hard on the back.
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Buslist schlimm Great! We should too, since we are one nation, not 27. we pretty much have a couple of decades ago.
There seemed to be some questions on here about the throw direction for acceleration/deceleration on throttles on various locomotives.
Big Jim the Europeans don't allow anywhere near the number of hours at the throttle that is American practice. IIRC four hours is the maximum, followed by a half-hour break before a final 4 hours.
Thanks, I did not know that. Four hours, eh! Lucky rascals!
I still don't like desktops.
BigJim Thanks, I did not know that. Four hours, eh! Lucky rascals! I still don't like desktops.
Be lucky to get off the pit.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.
beaulieu Big Jim the Europeans don't allow anywhere near the number of hours at the throttle that is American practice. IIRC four hours is the maximum, followed by a half-hour break before a final 4 hours.
While US HOS regulations permit T&E crews to be on duty for 12 hours, virtually none of them, especially in freight service, will be actively operating the controls while on the move for anywhere near the 12 allowed hours. The length of most runs in passenger and/or freight are set so that, without troubles, the runs can be accomplished in under 8 hours. Amtrak work rules, I believe, require a 2nd engine service employee in the cab for runs that are scheduled to take over 8 hours. The cushion between the 'normal' run time and the allowed HOS time permits trains to experience trouble, correct it and still make the complete run without exceeding their allow working time.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
I checked the Swiss Rail forum and the answer I received was " Ten hours is possible for any one day but must include a one hour break near the middle of the trip, and their average scheduled time must not exceed 7 hours" So the Driver's scheduled time must not be more than 7 hours, but in the case of disruptions can be as long as 10 hours, but he must get a 1 hour break.
I agree. Desktops suck! For my money, the best layout was the AAR standard control stand, applied to everything (as far as I know) from the 60's through the early 80's. Easy to reach everything, while still being close enough to the window to allow you to stick your head out and take hand signals. Try that with a desktop! To add insult to injury, when they put the control stand back in it's proper format, they stuck it so far from the window, you'd have to have 5 foot arms to reach the brake valve if you stick your head out the window!
BaltACD: I don't know, 12 hours in the cab seems pretty normal these days, especially if the Philly sub is anywhere in the mix. Oh, that's right, you said actively operating the controls, not sitting at a stop signal!
Unfortunately, I doubt that the new console solves the problem of which side the driver sits on-which varies from country to country. Italy had to deal with this when purchasing their electrics originally destined for Poland.
NorthWest Unfortunately, I doubt that the new console solves the problem of which side the driver sits on-which varies from country to country. Italy had to deal with this when purchasing their electrics originally destined for Poland.
Locomotives like the Euro 4000 have solved this, with a center position for the train driver. Hence, left running or right running, it makes no difference.
N.F.
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