Responding to the guard (UK)

[Phil Mabole]

Out of interest...when the driver gets the 2 buzzes from the guard, what is the correct response...to respond straight away with 2 buzzes back...or 2 buzzes to the guard when you are ready to move?

[chamberhorse]

in my experience two buzzes back to acknowledge is the norm.

[a spooky house]

me as well, considering i have multiple AP products for train sim.

[Phil Mabole]

Thanks!

[Glenn]

Yep, always repeat what you heard so that the guard knows you got it.
Incidently (I haven't heard these repeated in TS tho') it's 1 to stop, 2 to go, 3 to set back slowly and 4 to pull ahead very slowly. Just so you know.

[unclefreddy]

All UK railway communication that relies on bells, buzzers and suchlike is always repeated by the recipient so the sender knows that the message has been received, understood and will be acted upon.

Signallers in the old lever frame signal boxes have a long list of bell codes to relay information to each other, dating from before telephones were in widespread use. The codes sound similar to Morse Code, being a series of long or short "dings" as appropriate to the message being relayed. The initial contact was always one "ding", after the acknowledgement of one "ding" the message would be relayed, then repeated back.

The Guards two bells is always sent after the platform staff have blown their whistles and waved their flags to confirm to the Guard that the train doors were secure, the Guards flag and whistle was a confirmation of understanding that was given before the signal, two bells to the driver. The Guard, rather than the driver was the person in charge of the train and its safety.

[Cyclone]

Originally posted by unclefreddy:

All UK railway communication that relies on bells, buzzers and suchlike is always repeated by the recipient so the sender knows that the message has been received, understood and will be acted upon.

Signallers in the old lever frame signal boxes have a long list of bell codes to relay information to each other, dating from before telephones were in widespread use. The codes sound similar to Morse Code, being a series of long or short "dings" as appropriate to the message being relayed. The initial contact was always one "ding", after the acknowledgement of one "ding" the message would be relayed, then repeated back.

The Guards two bells is always sent after the platform staff have blown their whistles and waved their flags to confirm to the Guard that the train doors were secure, the Guards flag and whistle was a confirmation of understanding that was given before the signal, two bells to the driver. The Guard, rather than the driver was the person in charge of the train and its safety.

Oh, good. I can blame any movement with the doors open on the Guard. This is good information.

[Highball Simulation]

Originally posted by Phil Mabole:

Out of interest...when the driver gets the 2 buzzes from the guard, what is the correct response...to respond straight away with 2 buzzes back...or 2 buzzes to the guard when you are ready to move?

Two bells (or buzzes) is the convention. The guard is only supposed to sound the bell after the doors have locked. If you're driving a steam era service, when you've heard the guard blow his whistle, respond with a short blast from the whistle.