Drivers in the Cab

[Geoff]

Why not have cab doors that actually open....

I could just see folks crawling on the floor looking for the door that fell off..

[red_death]

Hornby had opening doors on some of their recent releases eg the 56.  The big problems are that it adds cost and fragility - both of which we regularly see complaints about.

Cheers, Mike

[woodbury22uk]

Why not have cab doors that actually open....

SNCF dropped theirs in the carpet, and ended up refitting them on the wrong sides.

[smg id=16810 type=av]

[CarriageShed]

...Trains can run without passengers but not a driver (apart from the DLR)

And even on the DLR the train guard frequently takes over at the controls and 'pilots' the train.

No mention of adding crew to steamers yet, and I'm just about to do this as part of my first loco upgrade. It's a bit easier than adding them to sealed diesel units, of course, but they're a lot more visible so you have to get it right.

[MikeDunn]

Now that must have been a deep pile ...

[bridgiesimon]

Crew on dapol tendered steamers also helps hide that horrible drive shaft!!
Best wishes
simon

[CarriageShed]

Just as crew standing on a fitted fallplate can hide the wires on Farish and Union Mills locos. Just about to do that too!

[Buzzard]

In Britain the driver is on the left hand side looking out from the front.

Ah yes but what about the 73s, and possibly 33/1, where there are driving controls on both sides of the cab?  They might only be used for shunting but how do we cope with that scenario i.e. 4 drivers?

Won't mention the fact that 1973 stock on the London Underground can also be driven from both sides.

Nigel

[James320]

In the US when Diesels first came out the engine crew unions said the railroads had to employ a crew for each cab, even if the train had four engines etc!

That didn't last too long!

-James

[lil chris]

I had this dilemma when I designed my first locomotive kit, I felt the only answer was to supply enough crew and let the modeller put them in if they wanted.  Here is one of the crew for my DT6-6-2000.....







I think he looks good sat in his cab!

James

Love this but does anyone think that looks like a lego brick in front of him, surely too big.....

[James320]

The 'lego brick' was a quick attempt at some sort of console, you cant see it once the driver is installed but I wanted somthing there.  Here are some more I am working on.



-James

[EtchedPixels]

For the 1970s you often had two crew anyway, because they still had  'secondman' to make the toast and coffee (and disappear into the innards of a 47 to hit the relays with a mallet when it wouldn't reverse and some other jobs)


And for heritage you need at least five in the cab

[Bealman]

Just took a look at this thread. Good on ya, Pengi for kicking it off.

It's a crackup! Love the idea of the guy at the back getting a lift home 'cos he's legless 

[dodger]

Back in the early 1970's the Railway unions had a work to rule, over flexible rostering I believe. The rule book required 2 persons in the cab and a means of the guard have a lookout in both directions. As the 4CIGS recently introduced on the Waterloo-Reading service didn't have roof mounted periscopes they had a crew of five. Two drivers in the front cab, a guard and two drivers in the rear cab to keep a look out in that direction!

Dodger

[DesertHound]

James - absolutely fantastic work! Do keep us up to date with your progress, and let us know if you make anything for Farish diesels (I have Poole diesels in mind, but anything will be interesting to hear about). You could even consider selling them on the N'porium site here!

As an aside, forgive my ignorance (being a Poole nut and not up to speed with Bachmann) but what's all this about sealed cabs that you cannot access? The old Poole ones are fine, nothing impeding the windows so you could stick something right where a driver would be. You could get a head & shoulders in (... no, not the shampoo!)

Interesting project.

Dan