Last updated 10th September 2024 - new info about Lab 5 TRIM

I have spent most of my working life in railway vehicle testing and vehicle commissioning for British Rail based at Derby. During my long career I worked at the Derby Locomotive Works, Derby Carriage & Wagon Works, the London Midland Region's Chief Mechanical & Electrical Engineer's Department (CM & EE), the BRB Department of Mechanical & Electrical Engineers (DM & EE), the Research & Development Division (R&DD), the DM & EE again and for Serco after they took over this part of the railway industry.

Projects with which I have been involved during this time have included vehicle acceptance testing, HST prototype high speed riding tests, APT-E, APT-P, Load Measuring Wheel development, High Speed pantograph development, derailment investigation, commissioning of Class 90, Class 91, Mk IV coaches, Sprinters, railbuses, Automatic Train Protection commissioning and many others including numerous trips abroad.

After an apprenticeship in the locomotive works at Derby and a spell at the LMR's CM&EE Headquarters at Nelson Street, I joined the BR Testing Section in late 1970. The first testing work I was involved with was investigating alternator failures on the Class 73 electro-diesels for which we conducted tests running between Basingstoke and Winchester. In early 1972 the scene moved to Scotland where the class 27-powered push-pull sets were having numerous problems on the Edinburgh - Glasgow runs. This was followed in the summer of that year by tests on the new generation PEP stock suburban trains on the Southern Region which were conducted on the Farnham to Alton line. By 1973 I was involved in testing the air-conditioning on the prototype HST and Mk3 coaches on the ECML - which included being present on the 140+ mile/h runs in June of that year.

A move to the Research Division in 1974 saw involvement with wheel/rail interaction work, derailment investigation, the development of load measuring wheelsets, general work at the Old Dalby test track and the overhead high speed current collection project. This culminated in the introduction of the BR/BW high speed pantograph onto BR and abroad.

Returning to the DM & EE in the mid 1980's I was involved with the commissioning of the prototype 'Sprinters', the class 150 and class 151, which were then based at Etches Park depot in Derby. Following the type testing programme the trains enjoyed promotional trips around the UK and initially entered service on the Matlock line. Further work of this nature included the 150/1's, 150/2's, 155's and 156's and the numerous railbuses followed by a move upmarket to the IC225 on the ECML working initially out of Bounds Green, commissioning of the locomotives and Mk4 coaching stock etc. This also extended to the class 90 fleet, DVT's etc on the WCML.

Following this a change of direction resulted in a prolonged period with the pilot ATP schemes on both the GW main line and the Chiltern lines.

More general test and monitoring work followed in the late 1990's as privatisation bit but sanity returned in 1999 when I was again involved with testing the latest trains; class 175's and class 180's,. Sunderland Metro, Class 220 and 221 Voyagers, electrical load bank testing, operation of rail grinders and finally the Hitachi Verification Train .

I left Serco Railtest in the summer of 2005 and spent some time working on the London Underground's Transmission-Based Train Control system testing at TubeLines' Highgate Test Facility. I later worked on the first unit of the Victoria Line Upgrade which was tested at Litchurch Lane works, Derby prior to commencing its test programme in London.

Further work involved the production of operational safety cases in connection with on-track brake testing with Voyagers and in 2008 I joined the Bogie Division of Bombardier Transportation in Derby as the Warranty Engineer. Whilst working for the Bogie Division I was involved with a number of track tests and data logging projects in UK and abroad, thus continuing the fine tradition started when I walked through the doors at Nelson Street all those years ago.

I retired from Bombardier in December 2018 after an enjoyable and interesting 10 years.

Please click on the thumbnails for more pictures and information. Please note there are five further indexes, namely the early days index, the my early days index, the R&DD Index, the commissioning index and the Serco Index which access further pages of interest.

Click on the pictures for more information.

LINK	DESCRIPTION	PERIOD	ACTIVITY
	Glossary of railway terms	1825 - date	Some acronyms and railway speak explained
	Steam (and Diesel)	1950's	Locomotive performance testing in 1950's including locomotive testing stations
	Early days index	1950's and 60's	Various tests in the early days of BR
	My first job	1970	Out of the Loco Works and into Nelson Street
	My early days index	1970's	Testing various items of rolling stock from Electro-diesels at Winchester to Edinburgh-Glasgow push-pull sets
	Freight acceptance testing	1972	Testing of new freight vehicles
	Trainspotting	1972	The railway scene at RTC and elsewhere in the early 70's
	Test Cars	1970's - 2005	Some of the Test Cars we used
	HST Prototype	1972-73	Acceptance and performance testing
	R&DD Index	1960-2000	More information on various R&DD projects and list of rolling stock at the RTC
	Research Division	1974	Derailment investigation
	Research Division	1976	Load measuring wheelsets and other testing etc
	DM&EE	1976 on	Further tests in the DM&EE
	Research Division	1977-78	General testing and the contemporary scene, etc
	Research Division	1977-84	HSCC Project, BR/BW pantograph test work at Old Dalby and on the main line
	Research Division	1979 - 84	Development of the BR/BW Highspeed pantograph
	European Trip 1	1979	Pantograph testing in Sweden
	World Trip 1	1980	Pantograph testing in South Africa
	APT Prototype	1980-84	Pantograph testing at high speed in Scotland
	Class 150 Prototypes	1984-86	Testing, Commissioning and in-service monitoring
	Class 151 Prototypes	1985-87	Testing, Commissioning and in-service monitoring
	Class 154 Prototype	1985-87	Testing, Commissioning and in-service monitoring

	LEVs	1978-80	Forerunners of all the nasty railbuses
	Commissioning index	1984-88	Miscellaneous work incl. Sprinters, Railbuses, Mk3 DVT's, Class 318 's, Mk4 DVT's and coaches, Class 442's etc
	Railbuses	1979-1986	4-wheel 2 and 3 car railbuses
	Class 91 plus IC225	1988-90	Testing, Commissioning and in-service monitoring
	Class 90	1988-90	Testing, Commissioning and in-service monitoring
	European Trip 2	1988	Taking a train to the IVA 88 Exhibition in Germany
	The International Train	1986	BREL's showcase train for the European market
	Class 89	1987-90	Testing, Commissioning and in-service monitoring
	European Trip 3	June 1989	Taking a train to the NS150 Exhibition in Holland
	European Trip 4	Sept 1989	Taking a train to the Arsenal Climatic Testing Station in Austria
	ATP	1990-97	Extensive testing, Commissioning, maintenance and in-service monitoring
	World Trip 2	1995	ATP study in Taiwan
	Old Dalby Test Track	1974 - 2000	Tests too numerous to mention!
	European Trips 5 & 6	Various	Visit to Voith, Germany plus pantograph testing in France with Eurostar etc
	Iris 1 & 2	1996-99	Video & radio surveys throughout Britain, plus miscellaneous projects
	Serco index	1997-2000	Privatised! - general test work with various vehicles under new management
	OHLE loadbank testing	1999-2005	Mobile electrical load tests at various locations
	Class 175	2000	Driver training and type testing operations at Old Dalby & elsewhere
	Class 180	2000-2001	Type testing at Old Dalby & on GWML
	Class 220	2001	Testing & commissioning at Monk Bretton and on the ECML
	Class 221	2002-03	Testing & commissioning at Monk Bretton, on the ECML, the WCML and the GW etc
	TPWS	2000-2001	Testing TPWS fitted to various traction units at numerous locations
	Sunderland Direct	2002	Testing the Tyne & Wear Metro units on Network Rail's route to Sunderland
	Pendolino	2003 - 2004	TASS, tilt and high speed pantograph testing
	UFM160 DMU	2003	Testing Eurailscout GB's new high speed infrastructure monitoring DMU
	Grinder Operations	2003-2004	Testing & operating Harsco's Switch & Crossing grinders
	General Testing work	2002 - 2005	Vehicle Acceptance, service problems etc
	Hitachi Verification Train	2004 - 2005	Operating the V-train on AC, DC lines and on the CTRL
	Going Underground (1)	2005-2006	Train Control System testing on LUL
	Going Underground (2)	2006	Testing the new Victoria Line Trains
	Voyager brake tests	2007-2008	Testing the Voyagers fitted with new brake pads
	Testing trains today	2014	Who tests trains in the world of the privatised railway?
	Working for Bombardier	2008 - 2018	Bogie work from around the world
	Links	2011 to date	Links and acknowledgements

Copyright © 2000-2024 Dave Coxon. All rights reserved

You may also be interested in my new photo site covering railways home and abroad over the last 45 years - this is still under construction.

or my site about BR's test two tracks (Old Dalby and Mickleover) at:

Or my Smugmug site including railways at home and abroad today

http://davestraintravels.smugmug.com/

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