martin_wynne

A user-worked level crossing in England, about 9 miles from the Welsh border (Craven Arms). Martin.

What if the signal box is in England and the user crossing is in Wales?

I said nothing about an automated system or call centres. Clearly the signaller would first listen to the call, and then decide whether to send a recorded message. If it's a frequent known user then obviously the normal conversation is fine. Martin.

If it's an approved script, it can be a pre-recorded message. Martin.

Could the signaller not press a button to send a pre-recorded message? In a variety of languages? Presumably there are only a few standard responses to a call from a user-crossing. Say 6 buttons - yes, no, ring again in 5 minutes, .... Martin.

Hi Don, That 3-throw switch scan is copied from the Templot web site: The blade tips are staggered by one timber space for practical reasons, but coincident for geometrical purposes. Each switch consists of one long blade and one short blade. cheers, Martin.

Hi Simon, You have a check rail missing here: You haven't left yourself much room for fitting the stretcher bar on the second switch. Or much space for it to open behind the first switch blade. It's better to build either a tandem turnout (second switch completely beyond the first switch), or a 3-throw turnout (both switch blades coincident). cheers, Martin.

Would they be safer if they were set far enough back from the railway that you could open the first one, pass through it and close it behind you before reaching a position of danger? And only then phone the signaller before crossing the line quickly and repeating the process on the other side.

Cattle grids?

Just to be clear, Martin does not repeatedly say this. What Martin says is that Templot is ONLY for handbuilt track and is completely useless for Peco and other fixed ready-made track. The new FinetraX kits fall somewhere between the two, because they can be curved if desired, and follow prototype geometries quite closely. I'm hoping to add some pre-sets to Templot to match the FinetraX kits. The individual FinetraX components, if and when available separately, will also allow handbuilt track to be built much more quickly and easily than before. Watch the Templot Club

Press release from RAIB today: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/collision-at-smiths-lower-cefn-user-worked-crossing

Hi Jonathan, A is the code size in inches. i.e. Code 75 is 0.075" high (1.9mm). Martin.

Bullhead rail on concrete sleepers: Martin.

No-one could have known that, and it may not have made any difference -- for all we know the landslip may have occurred just 5 minutes after the train passed the site the first time. What is not hindsight, but common sense, is that a remote crossover might be needed to be used quickly in an emergency. Having no means to do so because there is no-one in the signal box or on the train who can fix a set of point clips seems to be an obvious oversight in the operational planning. Martin.

Thanks. I know only what is stated in the report: 42 A Network Rail Mobile Operations Manager (MOM) was tasked (at 07:40 hrs) to travel to Carmont with the equipment for temporarily securing the crossover to allow the passage of train 1T08. Martin.