Emergency ! Trains v Weather.

[55F]

People who haven't worked on the front line in transport often have little concept of the problems caused by extremes of weather.  As soon as the weather interferes with the timetable, everybody is blamed rather than accepting the fact that mother nature has intervened . 

 

Railways, aviation and maritime activities are all affected.  The uninformed appear to think that the operator can magic some means of dealing with such conditions. Whilst some preventive measures can be taken, strong wind and gales; drifting snow; flowing water; heavy seas etc all come with such force and tenacity that man-made remedies are weak and often ineffective

 

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[PaulRhB]

.The guy walking down the line in the snow in Scotland inpecting the track didn't look prepared clothing wise and where were the look outs that should have been with him as he was not just inspecting as he had a spanner over his shoulder.

 

As he had a film crew with him, note his COSS armband, he'd have a Line Block so wouldn't need a lookout. He wouldn't wear the armband if he was alone

Most patrolling now is required to be done Greenzone with Red Zone ( with lookouts) only allowed where there's good sighting and you can't get a block.

[bigP]

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[25901]

How many of you noticed that the 37 changed colour in the cold, started in WCRC moron ( ops, maroon ) and ended up in Intercity

[bigP]

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[stewartingram]

People who haven't worked on the front line in transport often have little concept of the problems caused by extremes of weather.  As soon as the weather interferes with the timetable, everybody is blamed rather than accepting the fact that mother nature has intervened . 

 

Railways, aviation and maritime activities are all affected.  The uninformed appear to think that the operator can magic some means of dealing with such conditions. Whilst some preventive measures can be taken, strong wind and gales; drifting snow; flowing water; heavy seas etc all come with such force and tenacity that man-made remedies are weak and often ineffective

 

You forgot - affects the roads too. But people tend to forget that....

 

Stewart

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[The Stationmaster]

 I was a litle curious about that. Could another factor be that since direct manual intervention is always likely to be required, at minimum driving a plough loco along the route, then it doesn't make sense to spend on fixed plant since track workers will be attending if the line can be cleared sufficently to bring it to an operational state?

 

As for the wipers on the class 37 (are the 47s any better?) that struck me as inadequate. What's does the lawsuit look like if the ploughing loco hits an obstruction that couldn't be seen because of a fifty odd year old wiper design not up to the job, and there is a fatality? That's entirely foreseeable risk, and there is far better technology available.

The switch heaters should stop it getting to that state in the first place but they are best for frost and tend to get overwhelmed by a lot of snow, especially when it's being blown hard by the wind and drifting.  I know the Canadians use (or have used) gas heaters in the past and theirs look very similar to the type which later became the BR standard for replacing the earlier patterns - but they were never very good with typically British (i.e. wet) snow hence the move to electric heaters which are more effective and more reliable.  The best way to get rid of snow, especially deeper snow, is either a shovel and then a stiff bristle broom and scrapers or a steam lance but while the latter is very effective (if you have a  steam supply) it is not so clever in very low temperatures because what you have melted one minute freezes the next and you need to get salt down quickly which plays havoc with slide chairs unless you also apply liberal doses of oil.

 

Class 37 wipers are alas fairly typical of earlier BR loco designs and are better than some (1000s were terrible at times as the wiper blades were so long).  I do know of one pair of Class37s which were ploughing - with an independent plough at each end and they ran head-on into a bucket loader  which was 'ploughing in the opposite direction, the bucket loader won (locos not hurt, one plough somewhat bent).

[Londontram]

You know when ever a program like this comes on there's always people picking fault with it and there's always the few who say "Well I'm not watching it because if this or that" What happened to just sitting down and enjoying a program. Me - I just think its great to have a program with trains in it at peak time on a main stream channel. Really some of you guys try to hard some times, just chill a bit

[trisonic]

Actual falling snow is quite difficult to deal with immediately - we have had snowfall rates of a foot an hour (which equate to about an inch of wet precip) - it’s how you recover from it that’s important.

 

On our roads locally, traffic is able to move efficiently after 24 hours of the end of a storm (and once we received over 30” of snow in one shot).

 

However, the key is  to issue a “State of Emergency” to stop traffic so that  recovery is not hampered by stalled vehicles (of any sort).

 

Best, Pete.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

...However, the key is  to issue a “State of Emergency” to stop traffic so that  recovery is not hampered by stalled vehicles (of any sort)...

I am of the opinion that about 50% of the adult working population of the UK believe that such instructions are only advisory, and to be observed solely if they don't interfere with personal intentions.

[Glorious NSE]

Some of that is that their employers don't always react helpfully to staff saying they aren't coming in due to the weather...if the advice is "don't travel unless absolutely necessary" and you're likely to get a disciplinary if you don't, then you'll probably regard it as absolutely necessary...

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

When did an attempt at an inappropriate disciplinary from an employer ever do any harm? Just stand up for yourself on the facts, and if an employer is that lacking in comprehension to choose to persist, it is time and past time to move on. Their business probably isn't going to last anyway...