1958 training film - derailment procedures

[daveyb]

 

 

People may have seen this previously, some of you elder railway employees may even have been shown it on the job.  It is another fantastic example of how the British Transport Films (and other industries' film units) produced clear, concise, unequivocal material for training and information.

 

What is truly amazing in this day and age is how quickly everything could be brought in to assist (though I do realise that it would not be as quick as the film might suggest). It was not efficient, I am sure, but it was in order to return service to normal in the shortest possible time and not wait for the ambulance chasers.

 

I'm sure that finding a complete breakdown train ready to move, a light engine to remove carriages (before an investigation has been started, let alone completed), a fleet of spare buses and drivers, one ambulance and a doctor to treat everyone and all those ready personnel on hand would be an operating officer's dream today (not to mention the WRVS, TWG, WI or church committee lady to make tea).

 

When did it all change? Both from an operating perspective and a rules perspective. Clearly privatization has had an impact but the 1958 alternative routes and arrangements went a long time before that.

 

The You Tube notes on this film are very informative, to scroll down to see the details of where it was filmed, etc.

 

I hope this is a cheer for a Sunday!

 

 

 

 

 

[bécasse]

One of the most instructive reminders from that era is the fact that all the wreckage from the October 1952 double collision at Harrow & Wealdstone, described at the time as being more tightly compacted than a car crusher could manage and incorporating the mangled remains of over a hundred fatal casualties (many of whom turned out to be railwaymen), was cleared, and all the tracks reopened to traffic, in under three days. with some tracks being reopened even more quickly than that.

 

I wonder how many weeks it would take today?

[Wheatley]

48 minutes ago, daveyb said:

When did it all change? Both from an operating perspective and a rules perspective.

From an operating perspective, when derailments, usually of short wheelbase wagons, ceased to be a daily occurrence and it was no longer necessary to have tool vans and cranes available at almost every depot 24/7. Why it ceased to be a daily occurrence is a combination of less traffic and better suspension and wagon design. 

 

From a rules perspective, when priorities gradually changed from keeping a stiff upper lip, sweeping up and carrying on as soon as possible, to finding out exactly what had happened and why, and ensuring that all the lessons which could be learned were learned. That was a much more gradual change and it started before privatisation. 

 

Harrow was only seven years after a war which had seen widespread bombing of civillians and some heroic rescues carried out against a background of ongoing danger from further raids, UXBs, and a need to keep things moving wherever possible. It had to be done quickly and people were used to that and geared up to it. Gradually that sort of efficiency came to be seen as undue haste, at least for fatal accidents, especially by the police and HMRI as clearing up quickly destroys evidence.  Road accidents take a lot longer to clear up now as well, for exactly the same reasons.   For non-fatal accidents delays in clearing up are more often down to lack of resource, again due the infrequency of these events these days. Northern had a disabled 150 left on a running line for two days a while ago because both teams qualified to fit wheelskates (nationally !) were already committed elsewhere. Privatisation and the inevitable contractual complications which come with that haven't helped, but it wasn't the primary cause. 

Edited May 16, 2021 by Wheatley

[jim.snowdon]

2 hours ago, Wheatley said:

Harrow was only seven years after a war which had seen widespread bombing of civillians and some heroic rescues carried out against a background of ongoing danger from further raids, UXBs, and a need to keep things moving wherever possible. It had to be done quickly and people were used to that and geared up to it. Gradually that sort of efficiency came to be seen as undue haste, at least for fatal accidents, especially by the police and HMRI as clearing up quickly destroys evidence. 

Nonetheless, the officers of HM Railway Inspectorate did a remarkably good job at getting to the bottom of what had happened, quite possibly assisted by the extent to which responsible railway officers knew what would be required, as well as undertaking their own investigations. My experience of HMRI was that there was a great deal of trust between the Inspecting Officers and the senior railway staff (or at least those that they knew could be relied upon). Later experience of RAIB was very different, with far less working together and a much more inquisitorial approach.

 

[NorthEndCab]

Stuff just doesn’t detail and crash like it used to, and when it does it’s such an extraordinary event it requires investigation to modern standards.

 

Having said that I do think the modern railway tends to suffer from a lot of unnecessary dither when anything goes wrong. 

Bearing in mind it’s a training film, anyone who’s worked on the railway knows the difference between how things should and do work…..

 

Also nowadays they’ll try to extricate you from the wreckage without leaving you unduly paralysed or worse, rather than just hoik you out and give you a brandy before sending you on your way to die of internal bleeding in a few hours. 

[Aire Head]

It’s quite easy to view these things through the rose tinted spectacles of nostalgia.

 

If something goes wrong now we are determined to find out what to prevent it from happening again before anything else.
 

Derailments and accidents are much less common now than back then and this is down to the change in culture.

 

This isn’t to say that old railwaymen weren’t safety conscious or didn’t care.

[Michael Hodgson]

My mum used to be on the call-out list for major accidents in the Severn Tunnel.  Her role was to make tea - mainly for the emergency services should they be there for any length of of time.  She was only called out once, and that was for an exercise.

 

If you read the old blue HMRI accident reports, they included not only the cause and any recommendations but also summarised the number of casualties and damage, but also how long it took to get the emergency services on site and how long before the service was re-instated.

[Ray H]

2 hours ago, Aire Head said:

If something goes wrong now we are determined to find out what to prevent it from happening again before anything else.

 

I'm reasonably certain that HMRI & railway staff between them were able to work out what/how went wrong  in the days gone by. The detail to which the HMRI reports go into seems to prove this.

 

I think one of the growing problems on the railway these days is that virtually everyone is cocooned in their own little area of knowledge and experience. Alas the days when many railway personnel had a much broader depth of knowledge and experience have more or less all disappeared.

[Reorte]

1 minute ago, Ray H said:

 

I'm reasonably certain that HMRI & railway staff between them were able to work out what/how went wrong  in the days gone by. The detail to which the HMRI reports go into seems to prove this.

 

I think one of the growing problems on the railway these days is that virtually everyone is cocooned in their own little area of knowledge and experience. Alas the days when many railway personnel had a much broader depth of knowledge and experience have more or less all disappeared.

 

I'm speculating here (always something frowned on on here I know!), but as time goes by and more measures and changes are made most of the more obvious causes of an accident (serious or otherwise) have been reduced. So when they do happen there's a good chance of it either being due to something non-obvious, or obvious but with a big question of "how has that managed to happen these days?" In either case it'll take more effort to get to the bottom of it.

[JimC]

6 hours ago, Ray H said:

 

I'm reasonably certain that HMRI & railway staff between them were able to work out what/how went wrong 

I'm sure Mr Pareto's law comes into play here. 90% of accidents were/are pretty easy to diagnose, but the other 10% are a problem. And a popular but less scientifically defined law tells you that if you don't get every last scrap of evidence it will turn out to be one of the 10%

[Michael Hodgson]

Traditionally most accidents were caused primarily by human error rather than by mechanical failures, and it was not at all unusual for witnesses to give conflicting accounts, for example driver & fireman said signals were off, signalman said they were at Danger.   Quite often HMRI would test the operation of the equipment and interlocking and by reference to other facts could establish the signalman's version must be correct.  Sometimes those involved might close ranks and swear blind that the fog at the time was dreadful and it had  lifted remarkably by the time management/HMRI had appeared on the scene.  So sometimes the Inspectorate had to conclude what had happened on a balance of probability.

 

Modern CCTV and phone recording etc often make it easier to determine what had happened and human error tends to be more more clear-cut.

[Grovenor]

3 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Modern CCTV and phone recording etc often make it easier to determine what had happened and human error tends to be more more clear-cut.

Human error these days almost always results in recommendations related to training, instructions and staff management, usually rightly so. A single person's error thus becomes an institutional problem.

[Michael Hodgson]

1 hour ago, Grovenor said:

Human error these days almost always results in recommendations related to training, instructions and staff management, usually rightly so. A single person's error thus becomes an institutional problem.

Sometimes fatigue, distraction or ergonomic factors - colleagues might say "there but for the grace of god..." 

It still lands on management's desk.

[The Border Reiver]

Anyone know where it was filmed?

[Derekl]

From the description on YouTube:

 

"This was filmed on a section of the old MSWJR line between Cheltenham and Andoversford Junction. In the film, the made up station name 'Aybury' was in fact Cheltenham Leckhampton and 'Beaton' is Andoversford Junction."