Does anyone know how you switch the passenger compartments lights on when doing a night run? At the moment I’m sitting with my cab light on but all my passengers are sitting in the dark and they are not happy. Also when setting the train up why can I not get out of my drivers cab via the cab door but have to go via the passenger compartment in order to get out and walk to the rear of the train in order to set it up?
The passenger light switch is on the right hand side of the dashboard in the cab near to the emergency brake. To use the cab door, you first need to lower the droplight window and then you can open the door as there's only a handle on the outside.
Thanks for the prompt reply My passengers will now be able to read their papers and books withdraw their complaints to British Rail and be in a generally better mood. I should now also be able to leg it to the rear of the train a bit quicker, set it all up and get back sooner in order to leave on time.
Good luck to them trying to read a book with the harsh braking and jerky acceleration that's needed to be on time with the very tight 101 timetable on NTP!
Ha very true It’s a tricky train to drive the Class 101 DMU I have to agree but also the most satisfying because of it’s manual gearbox change and the weird to get your head around vacuum brakes. Once you’ve mastered it though it’s very satisfying to drive. The brakes are the key because once you’ve worked out how it works, how much braking and releasing you should do and when! you need to do it it’s amazing how smooth a ride you can manage. A lot of YouTube videos say you should always coast in 4th gear which is true, but I find when approaching a station if you haven’t got your braking quite right, make sure your approaching and coasting in second gear because if your about to stop short of that blue circle you can quickly release the brakes ( Assuming you’ve got it in the lap position whilst it’s still braking ) and it will be in the right gear to just slowly power up the platform that little bit. Learning to skip gears and start off in higher gears in slippery conditions like snow in order to prevent wheel slip and over revving is another key to getting immense satisfaction from driving this train. Yeah I love the Class 101 DMU it’s my favourite train by a country mile although admittedly I haven’t yet had the time to try any foreign routes yet.
Yeah, I think lots of practice is definitely the key with the 101, but, like you, I find it very satisfying when I manage to drive it well. Thanks for the tips, I've never even thought about skipping gears so I'll give that a try and it'll hopefully make drives in the snow a bit easier! I think I'm going to have to drive the Tees Valley Line more as it's probably easier to learn to drive the 101 properly with the more generous timings on there compared to NTP.
I find the grades on NTP part of the attraction / challenge tbh but I agree the times you have to try to keep to are tight. I think of the tight timings as being quite authentic I mean thinking back to British Rail days they hardly ever ran to time if memory serves me correctly. I actually really learned how to drive the Class 101 DMU by scenario planning it onto the WSR ( The only time I’ve actually used scenario planner ) it’s an ideal route to learn it on because of its slow speed limit. The skipping gears thing is really handy to know but obviously the acceleration time is slower when going up the gear box, the upside is your actually moving rather than flaring the revs and going nowhere fast. Skipping down the box is really handy for getting out of trouble if you mess the braking v acceleration balance up and your about to unintentionally come to a halt.
I find starting in 2 then move to 4 gives a smooth ride. In traction difficult scenarios always start in 3 and move to 4. It gives a smooth start and at worst you will only be 5 down. In both cases move to notch 4 with the throttle from start. Braking with vacuum use the train gauge opposed to the Hud! It will show you where your needle needs to be. 15 inches or more you will be braking it takes practice but once you get it. Its easy.
Haha yes, its not often a service in the UK runs to time (especially not commuter or stop start stuff) even today. In BR days nobody really cared about the timetable except the passengers. It was not uncommon for services to be many minutes late, run early, or not at all! The whole thing was organised chaos! as it still is today.
My first experience of British Rail was sitting stopped for an hour and a quarter in the middle of nowhere somewhere near Royston. And getting to Cambridge after all the cabbies had gone home.
Sounds correct, and nobody giving a s*-t? its still the same today. Mind you some Train operators did care about how they dealt with the public even if it wasn't the fare paying kind. Up until a year ago I worked for a UK TOC But it was taken back by the government and PR went down hill fast. Under the previous operator I was able to arrange a cab ride for an young lad Between Kings Cross and Peterborough then a day out in York for him and his mother. Once The very famous firm lost the contract and the government took over. there was none of that. The same people who once would accommodate such things no longer cared. Like a switch had been turned off.
I’ve noticed with the Class 101 DMU runs it seems to be more important to hit the stations correctly and to keep within the speed limits in order to get a gold medal rather than keep exactly to time. Maybe I’m wrong but more emphasis on driving the train correctly seems to pay dividends more than keeping to exact time?
I wonder what the drivers of the Class 101 DMU thought of them in real life? I suppose for every one who rated them there’s another who thought they were rubbish. Personally I think they are a classic, the best train of it’s era. They were around for years so can’t have been bad. In fact I think they still look quite modern and would still give great service today.
I suspect they screwed the balls off em like all equipment. You should read some of the books train crew have written about their times during the 60s and 70s. It will open your eyes. Kings Cross Second man, by Norman Hill is a good start. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kings-Cross-Second-Man-Sixties/dp/1473878233 Harry Friend, a traction inspector at Gateshead used to do a Colum in Traction magazine back in the 90s And his tales were epic.
I have read the book, it's an interesting read. I used to be a guard out of Kings Cross 1975-1980's remember those days with affection. The gripes about companies is as valid today as it was in BR days. Though there are still good staff and bad. I have never stopped enjoying watching trains go past.
