Great Western Coffee Shop

Noticed 142068 coupled to a class 153 in Plymouth forming the 17.35 to Penzance this evening.  Are 142 journeys into Cornwall fairly common these days ??

No. Only Exeter 'west' drivers sign them. This should have been a 150, but as an Exeter man was driving down and back, it could go.

if the 150 was at the front and 142 at the back could the driver still drive it if he signed 150's but not 142's ?

I'd say not, in case it breaks down, the driver needs to know what to do!

I wonder if has ever happened.  Maybe driver takes over on route gets to terminius station then realises they cant drive back.

almost certainly not...if a unit turned up and the relief driver didnt sign the traction, think you would find he would invoke the refusual to work policy

oh dear, you know in order to sign a unit on a route they have to be taught in that unit on that route............. was it a last min replacement or was it training for somekind?

No, that isn't true.

If a driver/guard has the relevant route knowledge or traction knowledge, then they can drive over any route they sign in any type of stock they sign.

oh fair enough, well point still stands i wonder if these may be making a journey further south

Technicly if there was one driver who signs the route and one that signs the traction then one can act as a route conductor, also, the driver must sign ALL the untis that are in the formation.

Thanks for that additional information, vacman!  ;)

However, I'm still a little confused.  :-[


I took devon_metro's post to mean that a driver who signs the traction could be 'conducted' on the route by a guard who signs the route - but your post suggests the role of 'route conducter' must be another driver who signs the route?  How often would there be such a pair of differently experienced drivers, on a mixed unit, as a matter of interest?

I'm not being pedantic - honest: I'm just rather intrigued as to how such an apparently unusual scenario would actually work in practice! ;) :D ;D

Very good question Chris, I believe it does need to be another driver to route conduct, a Driver that signs the route can route conduct a guard aswell, but obviously not the driver who's driving the train.

i know there are less class 142's around now but its getting harder to see one around devon now, infact from an spotter point of view the scenery in devon is alot more interesting now, and for passengers a better ride

Seriously?  I beg to differ  ;D

You best bet of seeing one is in Exeter TMD. (preferably out of the window of a packed 2 car ;))

maybee i just got lucky but a couple of days last week i went out and about on devon rangers and only went on one class 142 and on saturday i was on the sea wall at dawlish and only saw one compaired to about 4 143's which used to be rare sights around here

I travelled on one of the 2 x 143 sets about that day. Luxury  :D

thats the sad thing they really are compaired to the 142's  i got one back from barnstaple which was coupled to a 142 it was like having first class and standard  :D