Method and apparatus for placing a trainline monitor system in a layup mode

An apparatus for placing a muilti-car train with a communication network in an energy saving layup mode, the train including at least a head car and at least one other car, comprising;

• a master node on the head car of the train;
• a slave node on the at least one other car of the train;
• a train bus interconnecting said master node with said slave node;
• intelligent subsystem means on the at least one other car of the train and coupled to said slave node for controlling auxiliary systems for providing comfortable conditions in the at least one other car;
• and
• an operator console having a switch and coupled to said master node,
• wherein said console includes means for sending a signal to the master node, whereby keying off said switch causes the console to send the signal to said master node,
• wherein said master node includes means for sending a message to said slave node in response to the signal after a delay of a predetermined amount of time, the train being in a layup mode during the predetermined amount of time wherein the train is not operational but the auxiliary systems controlled by the intelligent subsystem of the train are kept running, said message to said slave node causing said intelligent subsystem to shut down.

An apparatus for laying up a trainline monitor system for a train, the trainline monitor system having a master node interconnected to at least one other node via a train bus, the train having a head car carrying the master node, and at least one other car carrying the at least one other node and carrying an intelligent subsystem unit including at least one of a heating unit, an air conditioning unit, a ventilation unit and a lighting unit, the intelligent subsystem unit being coupled to the train bus by the at least one other node, the apparatus comprising;

• a console, coupled to the master node, having a switch for keying off the train with the master node;
• shutdown signal output means in the master node coupled to said console for outputting to the at least one other node via the train bus, after a delay of a predetermined amount of time, a shutdown signal in response to keying off said console, the train being a in a layup mode during the predetermined amount of time wherein the train is not operational but the auxiliary systems controlled by the intelligent subsystem unit of the train are kept running;
• and
• shutting down means in the at least one other node, coupled to said shutdown signal output means via the train bus and to the intelligent subsystem unit, for receiving the shutdown signal and for shutting down power to the intelligent subsystem unit in dependence on the shutdown signal.