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Cows on the line delay trains.


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It happens sometimes.

 

Back in early 1975 as a secondment at Rugby we were sitting in the shunters bunk on the up side and suddenly saw a load of cows crossing the line, chased by men in red-stained overalls. They's escaped from the abattoir on the down side. I phoned the signalman to block all lanes but he'd just cleared the road for an up express from Birmingham. Luckily no cows or people were injured and the cows were clear of the up line as the train went through.

 

Edited by roythebus1
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Big old things and dodgy to run in to all jokes aside...remember Polmont anyone?

My Dad hit one back in the early 80's somewhere near Oxford while driving a 47 on a cross country so not hanging about, I remember him saying there was a hell of a bang even with a 47 going at near full chat.

Being fond of animals I think he was quite emootional at the time...

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"Conductor, why have we stopped?"

"There are some cows on the line."

an hour later

"Why have we stopped this time?"

"We've caught up with those cows again."

 

from A Slow Train through Arkansaw, one of the first railway joke books. (May not be exactly as remembeed)

 

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6 hours ago, Bert Cheese said:

My Dad hit one back in the early 80's somewhere near Oxford while driving a 47 on a cross country so not hanging about, I remember him saying there was a hell of a bang even with a 47 going at near full chat.

Being fond of animals I think he was quite emootional at the time...

 

On 10th September 1983 I was on the 09.50 Newcastle to Poole service, 47446 with load 11, when it ran over a cow at Bletchington which is just north of Oxford.  After an 85 minute wait, I assume to remove the carcass and to check things like brake pipes, we continued south without any restriction such as a reduced speed limit.  After changing locos at Reading, to 47433, we arrived 100 late into Basingstoke (where I got off in order to continue to head back to Kent).

 

I wonder if this was the same incident?

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I've seen some footage of the herd wandering up the tracks between the platforms through Nuneaton station yesterday. It really is a most bizarre watch. They weren't hanging around either!

 

Regards

 

Guy

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I was sent photos of this incident at Nuneaton yesterday and was surprised not to see anything on here during the day.

I'd have posted earlier if I had been able to get the shots off my phone, but was not able to do that. Anyway, definitely Nuneaton yesterday.

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Cows (and bulls) on the line are a serious hazard to trains; As Bert Cheese says, remember Polmont (July 1984, 13 fatalities). 

 

Also in Scotland, some years ago now a massive prize bull got onto the line south of Stirling. The combined efforts of railway staff (operations and PW), the Police, farm staff and a vet simply could not shift it and huge disruption to services resulted. In the end the poor animal had to be put down, the lady vet was in tears at this but there was no other way to clear the line. 

 

 

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7 minutes ago, caradoc said:

Cows (and bulls) on the line are a serious hazard to trains; As Bert Cheese says, remember Polmont (July 1984, 13 fatalities). 

ISTR it was Polmont that convinced the industry that unpowered leading vehicles needed a certain weight in order to have a chance of deflecting obstacles on the line equivalent to a locomotive. The timing must have been just right for that requirement to be built into the DVTs for WCML. 

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Cows at Hever.
Better if it had been Cowden. 


My uncle hit one between Southease and and Lewes. He said it was messier and not as as fun as taking out the gates at Hamsey with the boat train. 

44E54852-04B4-4C7A-B3E2-0795DF83927D.jpeg

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I was on a Trans Pennine 185 a few years ago that ran into four horses on the line, in the cutting near Micklefield.  I think I was in the middle of three coaches; it was pretty scary with an awful lot of banging and crashing from beneath the floor.  The 185s are sometimes criticised for being too heavy, but I was glad they are heavy as I think we were lucky not to be derailed.  Luckily also, it was early morning and dark so we couldn't see any of the carnage.   Fortunately the driver was OK and fitters came who were able to repair damage to the braking system such that the train could proceed slowly into Micklefield station where we were detrained.  But things could have been an awful lot worse.

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When I worked in the Eastern Region Telecoms Fault Control I used to look forward to reading the daily control logs, especially the Anglia control log. They had a chap who had a way with words that made reading the logs enjoyable rather than a chore (but the reports were still accurate and concise). Such occurrences as this OP would be headed "Bovine Incursion at ..............." 

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12 hours ago, BR60103 said:

"Conductor, why have we stopped?"

"There are some cows on the line."

an hour later

"Why have we stopped this time?"

"We've caught up with those cows again."

 

from A Slow Train through Arkansaw, one of the first railway joke books. (May not be exactly as remembeed)

 

Having seen some of their current short lines on you tube, that's always possible!

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17 hours ago, John M Upton said:

Perhaps they were heading to Uddersfield....

 

 

 

Southbound on the WCML leads to Cow Roast.

BBQ just south of Tring then....

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4 hours ago, iands said:

When I worked in the Eastern Region Telecoms Fault Control I used to look forward to reading the daily control logs, especially the Anglia control log. They had a chap who had a way with words that made reading the logs enjoyable rather than a chore (but the reports were still accurate and concise). Such occurrences as this OP would be headed "Bovine Incursion at ..............." 

Yes for a while when I worked at WRHQ at Swindon I also got to see the daily log, and it could be very interesting.

On a similar subject to this thread I remember reading of a train cautioned on the B&H, and coming up to a swan in the four foot. When approached the swan did not leave the track directly but preceded the train some distance to a crossing, where it then left the line.

 

cheers

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