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The human side of the railway...


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  • RMweb Gold

Stretching the thread a little, as this is tramway rather than railway, a small orange army is hard at work completing the track and OHLE changes to the expanded Metrolink station at Manchester Victoria on 19th February 2015.

 

 

 

 

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  • RMweb Gold

HDR?

 

No.  Just careful manual exposure with no in-camera adjustments, and then edited with some of my own presets, a curves adjustment and sharpening in Photoshop.

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  • 3 weeks later...

 

Still not the easiest place to stop a fully loaded train, despite the signal now being closer to Landor Street Junction! You'd hardly know there ever used to be a signalbox there nowadays, and the background is now dominated by the revamped St.Andrews footie ground.

Edited by Rugd1022
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How not to couple a train (not gruesome, see from 1:25):

Prime example of why not to stand in between vehicles when coupling up. Where was his communication with the driver? Don't move in until the movement has stopped. Create yourself a safe zone by opening the cocks. Etc, etc!!

 

jo

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Whilst the crushed man was at fault what were the others doing. They should have insisted he come out before moving the loco. From comments heard they new he should not have remained inbetween. You are responsible for the safety of others as well as yourself

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  • RMweb Gold

Prime example of why not to stand in between vehicles when coupling up. Where was his communication with the driver? Don't move in until the movement has stopped. Create yourself a safe zone by opening the cocks. Etc, etc!!

 

jo

Regrettably also a prime example of downright stupidity although perhaps there was no other way of coupling and that was why he stayed there?  The others standing outside seemed to be at ease with what was happening and he was the one who called the engine back onto himself.

 

With the amount of interest there is in rail/railway staff safety in NSW I find it difficult to believe that the bloke didn't understand that was he was doing was wrong although his mode of dress suggests he was probably a volunteer which causes me to then question the training he had received.  But when it comes down to it we do not know the coupling method involved and there might - oddly to British eyes and commonsense - have been no better alternative?

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Regrettably also a prime example of downright stupidity although perhaps there was no other way of coupling and that was why he stayed there?  The others standing outside seemed to be at ease with what was happening and he was the one who called the engine back onto himself.

 

With the amount of interest there is in rail/railway staff safety in NSW I find it difficult to believe that the bloke didn't understand that was he was doing was wrong although his mode of dress suggests he was probably a volunteer which causes me to then question the training he had received.  But when it comes down to it we do not know the coupling method involved and there might - oddly to British eyes and commonsense - have been no better alternative?

True we dont know the coupling method, although it APPEARS that a loose shackle was being used. If the coupling method required somone to be inbetween during ease up the coupling method should not be acceptable and be banned by the authorities. Thats what happened with US link and pin when the much safer buckeye was made mandatory.

 

In the UK there are some diesels with so much plumbing that I can hardly fit in when stationery let alone during an ease up

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  • RMweb Gold

True we dont know the coupling method, although it APPEARS that a loose shackle was being used. If the coupling method required somone to be inbetween during ease up the coupling method should not be acceptable and be banned by the authorities. Thats what happened with US link and pin when the much safer buckeye was made mandatory.

 

In the UK there are some diesels with so much plumbing that I can hardly fit in when stationery let alone during an ease up

You might be lucky - I had problems getting in between with dual heat stock and a dual brake diesel a long time back - and I was a lot thinner then than I am now - and if the bl*sted diesel had mini snowploughs as well  *!!*%**.  It's the age old situation I think - the ideal shape for a Passenger Shunter is not only fairly thin but also of limited height ;)

 

There's an awful ot to be said for the 'Berne Rectangle' on UIC stock although it does have the disadvantage of positively encouraging people to stay in between as the engine buffers up (and is of course actually designed for that purpose).

Edited by The Stationmaster
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This is even worse, about 7 seconds in. (if I've got the link right)

 

It's not gruesome   but does make your toes curl at the rather strange working practices of the shunter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2ALLhpmvZw

 

Andy

 

edit for poor word selection and spelling. Oh and it features an SM42 so can't be all bad

Edited by SM42
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  • RMweb Gold

Still not the easiest place to stop a fully loaded train, despite the signal now being closer to Landor Street Junction! You'd hardly know there ever used to be a signalbox there nowadays, and the background is now dominated by the revamped St.Andrews footie ground.

Site of the most hair-raising cab ride I ever had. I needed to get from Camp Hill to Curzon St, so hitched a lift to St Andrews Jn on an 8F running tender first with about 40 loaded wagons off a clay dig. The driver called to the fireman at the back of the football ground to check the signal at St Andrews. Fortunately it was off as we slid along right down to Landor St box before we stopped.

Edited by TheSignalEngineer
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  • RMweb Gold

It's the age old situation I think - the ideal shape for a Passenger Shunter is not only fairly thin but also of limited height

And how many have you ever seen that looked like that???

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  • RMweb Gold

And how many have you ever seen that looked like that???

Quite a lot actually - at one passenger yard I knew rather well they were almost all like that (with 2 pilots round the clock both with a Head Shunter and mate that was quite a  lot of Shunters).  Some however (not in that yard) did seem to develop the consequences of both a lot of arm and shoulder exercise and the consumption of considerable quantities of beer.

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Short and thin for modern rolling stock but if you are shunting standard gangways a bit of height would help.

 

Also lamp brackets I am 5ft 7in yet find that the bottom lamp bracket on a Mk1 is only just in reach esp when in No 1s

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  • RMweb Gold

Short and thin for modern rolling stock but if you are shunting standard gangways a bit of height would help.

 

Also lamp brackets I am 5ft 7in yet find that the bottom lamp bracket on a Mk1 is only just in reach esp when in No 1s

My blokes seemed to manage fairly well with standard gangways - apart from one who forgot about them, and pulled the end off a Siphon (yes, the entire end, not just the gangway).

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My blokes seemed to manage fairly well with standard gangways - apart from one who forgot about them, and pulled the end off a Siphon (yes, the entire end, not just the gangway).

 

I bet you all had a good "laugh" about that...

 

P

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  • RMweb Gold

I bet you all had a good "laugh" about that...

 

P

It certainly looked 'interesting' as the entire gangway, plus the vehicle end, was left hanging off the end of what had been the adjacent vehicle - which had an undamaged gangway!  I don't know if the Shunter laughed about it very much during his subsequent 'days off' (without pay)?

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