Hi all Has anyone noticed how slow the train brake release’s on the 31? When ever I’ve put some in and gone to release them it takes an age for them to come off. Anyone else had this issue?
This is not an issue, the Class 31 is old and it's brakes are tricky. It took me a little longer to master it but once you know it, it's a lot of fun. You have to plan exactly when to brake and how much and also release the brakes with foresight. All in all a good loco, I use it regularly and like it very much.
What I usually do is use the loco/independent brake where possible. Or use the train brake to stop. The apply the loco brake and disengage the train brake. By the time you ready to depart release the loco brake and your good to go.
Part of the "charm" with older machines is you had to actually drive them and they may not have done things as quickly as they do now, but even a fully loaded class 66 will take it's time getting all the brakes off on a long consist, it takes time to get the air pressure (or vacuum on the older locos and wagons) up to spec on a long train
What Dave said. The train brake on the 31 (and a lot of older locos) is pretty much for stopping, for the reason you've discovered- it takes a month for it to release again. For speed control use the loco brake.
I strongly disagree, the loco brake should not under any circumstances be used for speed control! The slowness of the brakes is down to goods timing, that means it is specified that the brake will take between 15-18 seconds to come to full strength and between 30 and 45 seconds to fully release. This is entirely intentional and it is to reduce the disparity in braking between the front and the back of the train, passenger timings have 2-3s to reach maximum brake pressure and 18 seconds to release. If this was used on a long train the brakes at the front would be hard on long before the brakes at the rear even take effect. This can cause violent run in shocks as the rear of the train careers onto the front. This is *especially* true on loose coupled trains like those on TVL where you can have considerable amounts of slack. Using the loco brake ignores all of that intent and is quite literally the worst thing you can do, it only applies the brake on a single loco meaning you could have upwards of 1000-2000 tonnes violently slam into the back of you, all the braking effort will be coming from the loco meaning those brake blocks are going to get extremely hot, at best it will produce a spectacular spark show, at worst it could cause oil around the bogie to catch fire or cause the locos tyres to shift on the axle which at that point its pretty much game over for the loco. You just have to keep your permitted maximum speed and brake well in advance, and also start releasing in advance of getting to the desired speed.
Maybe not the 31 but at low speed I have used the straight air brake on the 45 and 47 with passenger stock on NTP. Otherwise if you’re doing 15 MPH during your platform rollout at Huddersfield and want to bring it down to 10 MPH, the train brake will end up stopping you even with just initial application. And having spent some time many years ago covering various traction desks in the WR Control, I can attest that Salisbury drivers in particular had a penchant for using the straight air brake on Waterloo to Exeter services, with the result that we frequently had 50’s heading into Exeter “one journey” halfway through the days diagram, with knackered brake blocks like razor blades!
I think the major issue people have with the Class 31 is that the brakes are usually set to goods timing as the default. I use the loco a lot on Diesel Legends passenger services and the first thing I do is change the brakes to passenger mode and the loco is then correct for that service. Far from being a bug, the brakes are great on this loco, proper train driving at its best. Just make sure they are on the appropriate setting.
And I'm fairly sure that DTG haven't set enough time at the beginning of service for you to check this...
Thanks dominus, just want to add, the use of loco direct air brakes isnt allowed on mainlines anyway. To the first posts related, the age of the loco has nothing to do with its braking timings, neither with brake pressures. The pressures on the westinghouse dual & davies metcalf brakes are according to your automatic brake valve. Means if your trainpipe pressure / brake cylinder is not in the tolerance during the steps of the braketest, you can consider having a fault. Goods/passenger mode is only for regulating braking timings, has again nothing to do with its pressure.
