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What is that ticking noise in French loco cabs?


Welly
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Thanks Jonny.  I thought it was a 'younger generation' joke as I had no idea what it was about.  I know what a berm is, but couldn't see the connection.  One worry thing definition came from an Urban Dictionary.......

 

Option 3 was particularly disturbing..... :O

 

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=berm

 

 

For others who missed the connection.....

 

Edited by gordon s
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A clock so they know when to stop for lunch?

 

Gordon A

Japanese trains have a real (i.e. clockwork) stop watch in a cradle in front of the driver.

 

http://shibuya246.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/DSC_1391.jpg

 

Even this E7 Shinkansen cab has two receptacles for watches:

 

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/e7/52/bf/e752bfa82554b315b38485aa6219024e.jpg

 

Keith

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Thanks Jonny.  I thought it was a 'younger generation' joke as I had no idea what it was about.  I know what a berm is, but couldn't see the connection.  One worry thing definition came from an Urban Dictionary.......

 

Option 3 was particularly disturbing..... :O

 

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=berm

I really, really wished I had not been eating when I clicked on that link...

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If that's what French drivers have to put up with in the cab it must really get on their threepennys, or does it eventually become un noticed background noise?

 

Mike.

I noticed from several cab ride footages on SNCF locos that the ticking noise tends to stop a few minutes after starting the journey.

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Same ticking you had in the past in all Viennese trams. Started only when the tram moves and stops when the tram stops. I suppose it was the speed recording disc where a needle made a trace in some kind of powder. The recording was only a few minutes, after a full turn of the disc the old trace was erased (or covered with a new powder layer) 

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Pre Channel Tunnel I had a cab ride from Deliverance Yard in Lille to Amiens on a Freight Train.  The loco was quite old and behind the driver was a glass case with what looked like a giant carriage clock.  It made suitable clock like noises.  I think it was some kind of data recorder.  The output was a trace on a roll of paper.  Wish I'd taken a picture.  What I remember was the driver 'playing' with the controls to keep the vigilance device from going off.  Massive train, no sense of effort and the driver never looked back once...

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I remember something akin to "ticking" noises from locos in quiet depots I went around in the 70s and 80s at weekends. I am not sure what that was, but it seemed to be more prevalent on some classes of loco to others. 

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Pre Channel Tunnel I had a cab ride from Deliverance Yard in Lille to Amiens on a Freight Train.  The loco was quite old and behind the driver was a glass case with what looked like a giant carriage clock.  It made suitable clock like noises.  I think it was some kind of data recorder.  The output was a trace on a roll of paper.  Wish I'd taken a picture.  What I remember was the driver 'playing' with the controls to keep the vigilance device from going off.  Massive train, no sense of effort and the driver never looked back once...

That was a Flaman recorder; installed from the 1930s on steam engines, and subsequently diesels and electrics. It recorded various elements of performance, including speed and brake applications; to soften up crews, a 'Prime du Charbon' was paid, according to how economically the driver made the engine work. 'Primes' were soon being given out for what was considered exemplary performance in other fields. An ex-SNCF employee of our acquaintance claimed there was even a 'Prime pour les gens qui n'ont pas les droits pour les autres primes'. The 'Prime du charbon' continued to be paid long after steam had disappeared; it may even still persist, though these days, performance is measured via ATESS.

When you realise that most pre-WW2 British locos didn't even have a crude speedometer, it shows how advanced the French were at this time.

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This noise comes from the Flaman recorder. It's a mechanical system clock with a big spring. The driver of the locomotive has to wind up this clock at each beginning of the service.

 

This device gives the speed to the driver.

 

Inside there is a roller of paper which record the speeds etc... it's a black box to control the driver.

 

This device was installed in the steam locomotives to the modern ones until the electronic recorder has replaced this old but reliable system.

 

More information in French here: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flaman

 

I hope it helps.   ;)

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