C Stock Explorer Railtour - Cab Photographs

Looking from the offside cab door to the driving console after alighting at Northfields. I must thank this train operator for his patience in letting me take these pictures and for fielding my barrage of questions on the run between Northfields and Upminster! I commented that, as someone who has played the World of Subways Circle line simulator, I noticed rather a lot of omissions in the real cab compared to the ‘virtual’ one!

The offside rear wall accommodates controls for cab heating and ventilation, along with two rows of MCBs [Miniature Circuit Breakers] for various train functions, and below that is a small cupboard housing basic maintenance tools (this space was formerly occupied by a reservoir containing hydraulic fluid for the train’s manual parking brake. The hydraulic system was problematic, and was replaced with an automatic spring-applied parking brake upon refurbishment). The silver panel in the centre is topped with two rotary dials - again for heating (the left-hand dial is labelled "Heat Selector"; the right-hand dial, "Kneespace"). Below this are two rotary switches that require plastic seals to be broken before they can be operated - these are for the Door Interlocks (left) and Control Governor (right) The door interlocks are for the passenger saloon doors, and ensure that the train cannot be moved with any of these doors open, whilst the control governor ensures that there is sufficient air in the Train [air] Line for the train to move, and therefore, brake. Insufficient Train Line air could lead to a situation where the train’s braking systems are compromised, and so the system essentially ensures that a train can stop before it starts. The unsecured switches below that are for the cab door interlock, compressor operation and electro-pneumatic brake. District Dave’s original site features an older version of this panel, with a less secure means of restricting operation of the middle switches; a picture can be seen here.

Moving down the back wall, we see the offside door control buttons on the left-hand panel. Before refurbishment, these were the only means of operating the saloon doors (they were originally used by the guard, who would be situated in whichever cab was at the ‘rear’ of the train; hence, the presence of a button marked "signal"). Additional door controls were added to the driving console as part of the refurbishment work. To the right of this, the large yellow button, when pressed, allows the Correct Side Door Enable system to be overridden. Owing to the potential safety issue that this could create, a label warning operators to be extra vigilant when opening doors with the CSDE system deactivated is provided below.

The nearside door panel is a mirror image of its offside equivalent.

Close-up of the driving console - notice that the Master Controller is in the ‘Shut Down’ position, and that there is no key fitted in the selector barrel. The additional door control buttons can be seen here - the extinguished blue lamp to the left of the nearside door buttons would be illuminated if this cab was ‘opened up’ and all of the passenger doors (on both sides of the train) were closed. Only with this pilot light illuminated can the train move.

Looking into the cab from the passenger saloon area, a pressure switch can be seen at the top-left of the J door’s frame. If the door is not closed when a driving cab is operational, a visual indicator light above the interconnecting door is illuminated.

Owing to the Circle line being ‘extended’ to Hammersmith in December 2009, new destination blinds were required, in order to show that the line was no longer...well...circular, and would instead run in a linear fashion, with definite start and end points. Sheets displaying the amended destinations were therefore placed over the previous destination list, which itself appears to have replaced an even earlier list!

The three sun deflector blinds all include a message requesting that they are pulled down to their fullest extent in order that the cab’s temperature does not become excessive when the train is stabled in direct sunlight.

View out of the cab windows on the way to Upminster. (This was the ‘rear’ cab on the eastbound run; hence, the train not being driven in this picture.)

The selector barrel (complete with key now) features the following operating modes: Off, Auto, Forward, Intermediate and Reverse. The key is seen here in the ‘Intermediate’ position - the Train Line reservoir was charging at the time.

Seven further MCBs are positioned on the offside console - these operate the cab, destination, gauge, head and tail lights, and also the cab cooling system. As can be seen, the MCB protecting this circuit has been re-labelled. Formerly, this MCB position was allocated to the stabling light. These were removed when the tail lights were converted to LED operation in the early 2000s; the low power consumption of LEDs permitting the left-hand tail light to serve this purpose without the need for a separate low-wattage lamp. Here, the secured switch is labelled ‘Speed control cut out switch’. This would only be required to be operated if the time-delayed circuit that prevents trains from attaining their full speed immediately after being ‘tripped’ was found to be defective.

The corner of the adjacent panel serves as the insertion point for the key normally employed in the selector barrel to activate the ‘Calling On’ light. The key cannot be removed when in the ‘on’ position; this is intentional and assures the operator of the assisting train that the train displaying the light cannot be moved.

Located in the cabinet beneath are this cab’s Fault Isolating Switch (FIS - used to disconnect defective portions of a train and make it operational again using the remaining healthy portions), Uncoupler Switch (allowing the coupling or uncoupling of cars), Main Line Isolating Cock (MLIC) and Train Line Isolating Cock (TLIC).

Turning to the train’s J door, we firstly have a ‘look’ at, but not through, the door’s spy glass.

A pod housing various emergency equipment is attached to the door - this label attached to the top of the pod (not ‘pops’; that’s something else) highlights the locations of all emergency equipment in the cab. The so-called ‘Pressphan’ shield is a misspelling; the correct spelling is ‘Presspahn’; these are used to isolate electrically two adjacent cars - usually in order to prevent faults on a failed train from passing to an active train.

The contents of the pod are repeated on a plate below...and no; the first item listed is not for use in case of a political uprising!

Detail of the J door handle.

With thanks to www.tubeprune.com and trainweb.org/districtdave for providing some of the technical information listed on this page.