Having spent all yesterday looking at the dirty underside of a Class 317, we spent most of today inside the unit looking at cocks. It all sounds a little bit sordid but, in order to pass our traction training, we need to know all about them. The cocks in question related specifically to the pantograph and the other equipment up on the roof that carries out the job of collecting juice from the overheads.
It all seemed fairly straightforward when the trainer was there to explain everything, but it is beginning to dawn on me the extent to which traction is much more abstract than the rules course was. For example, there are quite a few different things that could prevent you raising the pantograph and not many indications to help you track down exactly where the problem might be. At least with some of the rules questions if you didn't actually know the answer you could deduce most of them. Unfortunately it seems that, at this point at least, I'm going to have to put in a lot of effort to learn each part.
At least I've managed to get my first train fault out of the way quickly. Once we'd all had a go at cutting in the auxiliary power and raising the pantograph under supervision and been shown the whereabouts of the various MCB's and isolating cocks, we were all going to have a go at doing this unsupervised. Being nearest the cab I went first. All went swimmingly with the pantograph going up and giving power until *phutt*, and out went all the lights. At first I thought I'd been stitched up but tried again anyway with the same result. I realised later what I should have done (press 'Aux Set' and 'Pan Up' together), but by then it was too late. The others wouldn't let me off the unit until last in case I broke the steps as well. I have a nasty feeling that this might have been a reputation forming event.
No comments:
Post a Comment