Prototype for everything corner.

[The Stationmaster]

Apart from the wallaby the most entertaining thing I ever saw involving birds and animals was on the Radstock branch  when going up there on the trip one day.  The Driver said the pheasants which got onto the line tended to be very slow moving so it wasn't unusual to 'catch' one.  we didn't hit any on the way out and we returned to Westbury light engine so a bit of time was spent going backwards and forwards trying to get one or two.  Unsuccessful that day but pheasant hunting with a Hymek must rate as a pretty unusual sport and  occasionally a crew would strike lucky and get one or more having just caught the head so leaving the useful part of the bird undamaged.

 

But countryside railways still had some bucolic charm even in the 1970s - I gave one of our Chargemen a note authorising him to go rabbiting using ferrets on railway embankments and in cuttings etc,  it got quite amusing when one of the local BTP picked him up for poaching on railway property and they were quite disappointed when I showed them a copy of his written authority to go rabbiting,

[Bon Accord]

15 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

Apart from the wallaby the most entertaining thing I ever saw involving birds and animals was on the Radstock branch  when going up there on the trip one day.  The Driver said the pheasants which got onto the line tended to be very slow moving so it wasn't unusual to 'catch' one.  we didn't hit any on the way out and we returned to Westbury light engine so a bit of time was spent going backwards and forwards trying to get one or two.  Unsuccessful that day but pheasant hunting with a Hymek must rate as a pretty unusual sport and  occasionally a crew would strike lucky and get one or more having just caught the head so leaving the useful part of the bird undamaged.

 

But countryside railways still had some bucolic charm even in the 1970s - I gave one of our Chargemen a note authorising him to go rabbiting using ferrets on railway embankments and in cuttings etc,  it got quite amusing when one of the local BTP picked him up for poaching on railway property and they were quite disappointed when I showed them a copy of his written authority to go rabbiting,

 

Salvaging red deer "road kill" after an altercation with a BRCW Type 2 wasn't too unusual on the Wick and Kyle lines. Since linespeed was low anyway there would be a quick stop and then the aforementioned carcass heaved through the double doors into the guards van for onward distribution...

[Fat Controller]

28 minutes ago, Bon Accord said:

 

Salvaging red deer "road kill" after an altercation with a BRCW Type 2 wasn't too unusual on the Wick and Kyle lines. Since linespeed was low anyway there would be a quick stop and then the aforementioned carcass heaved through the double doors into the guards van for onward distribution...

I once saw the leg of a sheep sticking out from under a mailbag on the last Shrewsbury- Llanelli train of the day... Stationmaster Mike can probably confirm that, when the demand for compensation went in, all the casualties had miraculously been potential winners at the Royal Welsh or another prestigious show. 

 

[The Stationmaster]

1 minute ago, Fat Controller said:

I once saw the leg of a sheep sticking out from under a mailbag on the last Shrewsbury- Llanelli train of the day... Stationmaster Mike can probably confirm that, when the demand for compensation went in, all the casualties had miraculously been potential winners at the Royal Welsh or another prestigious show. 

 

Undoubtedly values shot up in compensation claims - all animals seemed to acquire oimpressive pedigrees and if it was a milking cow that was involved it was always the best one in the herd.  Also farmers could be remarkably quick at burying carcasses so there was no way you could quickly check that the number they claimed was the actual number.  Hopefully the Claims Dept did cary out some checks.

 

Mind you the same happened with lineside fires and it always tended to be the most valuable arable crops which were set alight by passing trains.  I have somewhere the correspondence between my grandfather and the LNER in respect of just such a claim where he expressed considerable dissatisfaction with the  sum first offered.  it was also not at all unknown for landowners to deliberately start fires; if they heard of or saw a lineside fire not far from their land - that trick was even being tried in 1985 with mainline steam operations.

[LMS2968]

35 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

Mind you the same happened with lineside fires and it always tended to be the most valuable arable crops which were set alight by passing trains.  I have somewhere the correspondence between my grandfather and the LNER in respect of just such a claim where he expressed considerable dissatisfaction with the  sum first offered.  it was also not at all unknown for landowners to deliberately start fires; if they heard of or saw a lineside fire not far from their land - that trick was even being tried in 1985 with mainline steam operations.

I remember reading of one claim for a lineside fire submitted in the mid- to late-1960s, which was rejected on the basis that no steam loco had passed that location on the day in question!

Edited March 16, 2020 by LMS2968

[RLBH]

32 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

Hopefully the Claims Dept did cary out some checks.

If the railways were (are?) anything like the Armed Forces, no disaster would have come without an opportunity. Someone worked out after the ATLANTIC CONVEYOR had been sunk in 1982 that the weight of all the equipment that various units claimed to have been lost aboard her was about four times the maximum capacity of the ship.

[Mark Saunders]

51 minutes ago, LMS2968 said:

I remember reading of one claim for a lineside fire submitted in the mid- to late-1960s, which was rejected on the basis that no steam loco had passed that location on the day in question!

 

Rather like the number of retained firemen who created their own work as the general public were not creating enough for them!

[luckymucklebackit]

I remember reading an amusing story about a pet emu that got loose and was running loose on a london railway line, there was total confustion when it was reported to control as they were not sure if it was a emu (bird) or an EMU, you can just imagine the conversation!

 

Jim

[pH]

4 hours ago, Bon Accord said:

 

Salvaging red deer "road kill" after an altercation with a BRCW Type 2 wasn't too unusual on the Wick and Kyle lines. Since linespeed was low anyway there would be a quick stop and then the aforementioned carcass heaved through the double doors into the guards van for onward distribution...

 

I remember a post on an earlier version of this site by a crew member (Locomotivfuhrer?) on a train that hit a flock of sheep on the way into Glasgow Queen Street and kept on going. They arrived in Queen Street with large and small ovine fragments plastered all over the front of the engine.

[Wickham Green]

Haggis anyone ?

[eastwestdivide]

9 minutes ago, pH said:

 

I remember a post on an earlier version of this site by a crew member (Locomotivfuhrer?) on a train that hit a flock of sheep on the way into Glasgow Queen Street and kept on going. They arrived in Queen Street with large and small ovine fragments plastered all over the front of the engine.

There was a long thread of drivers' tales, some of which had me literally LOL-ing. I think it got archived somewhere in one forum move.

[talisman56]

On 15/03/2020 at 12:48, Jonboy said:

I had to email the management team at work a couple of weeks ago to advise a shipment had been delayed after native Americans caused damage to the train carrying the container.....part of recent oil pipeline protests in Canada...

 

22 hours ago, pH said:

 

Fake news! Recent protests were against a natural gas pipeline. The protests against oil pipelines are entirely separate!  

 

Whatever the protests were about, if it's in Canada the group in question should be referred to as 'First Nation' people...

[Titan]

7 hours ago, LMS2968 said:

I remember reading of one claim for a lineside fire submitted in the mid- to late-1960s, which was rejected on the basis that no steam loco had passed that location on the day in question!

 

Deltics were quite good at starting lineside fires too...

[jonny777]

I think anything diesel built by NBL was not far behind in the lineside fires stakes. 

 

 

[The Johnster]

On 16/03/2020 at 10:25, The Stationmaster said:

occasionally a crew would strike lucky

Nice choice of phrase, Mike...

[The Johnster]

On 16/03/2020 at 11:25, The Stationmaster said:

Undoubtedly values shot up in compensation claims - all animals seemed to acquire oimpressive pedigrees and if it was a milking cow that was involved it was always the best one in the herd.  Also farmers could be remarkably quick at burying carcasses so there was no way you could quickly check that the number they claimed was the actual number.  Hopefully the Claims Dept did cary out some checks.

 

Mind you the same happened with lineside fires and it always tended to be the most valuable arable crops which were set alight by passing trains.  I have somewhere the correspondence between my grandfather and the LNER in respect of just such a claim where he expressed considerable dissatisfaction with the  sum first offered.  it was also not at all unknown for landowners to deliberately start fires; if they heard of or saw a lineside fire not far from their land - that trick was even being tried in 1985 with mainline steam operations.

A common trick in the South Wales Valleys was for the local sheep farmers to dump any old carcass they'd found dead up on the mountain on a railway line and claim that the next train had run over it, which is why we were required to report hitting sheep, an all too common genuine occurrence.  

 

Sheep are very stupid, and if one is on a railway line and you blow your horn at it, it doesn't do what a sensible horse or cow will do and amble off grumpily to one side or another, or stand it's ground like a bull or a billy goat and bottle out at the last second.  It turns around, decides you are a long way away, and carries on it's business,  So you blow the horn again, and this time it reacts, by attempting to run away along the track.  It can manage about 15mph over the sleepers, and your dmu is probably doing 50 or so, and closing rapidly despite the driver having put the brake in.  At the last second it turns aside, but because it is stupid it turns back to make sure and is brained by the cab steps.  

 

This is goodnight Vienna for the sheep, and the legs go stiff with shock and break off as it rolls down the bank.  Valley passengers being what they are, you have to keep moving or they'll all be off the train scavenging; they will award points for a particularly messy kill.  All you can do is hope the mess is on the driver's side steps, not yours.  I was censured, along with a few colleagues, for livening proceedings up during the drought of 1976, when we killed a lot of sheep, for chalking them up on the cab door as confirmed or unconfirmed kills ace pilot style, apparently some of the nice Radyr or Llanishen customers found this in poor taste...

 

We would sometimes get claims from several farmers for the same carcass; strangely the brand marks always seemed to be destroyed by the train.  

[The Johnster]

2 hours ago, jf2682 said:

"Indigenous" has now become the "in" phrase....

But nonetheless correct.  I pointed out in a school history lesson back in the 60s that the Indians had discovered America, not Columbus or Ericson, and got no thanks for my efforts.

[The Stationmaster]

20 hours ago, Titan said:

 

Deltics were quite good at starting lineside fires too...

Especially their brake blocks

[Rugd1022]

27 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

Especially their brake blocks

 

We went through a phase at Old Oak of our resident 31s catching fire, usually due to oil leeks finding their way onto the bogies and brake blocks, nine times out of ten it would happen on the empty stock trips in and out of Padd so at least we weren't too far from 'home'. These fires were often the slow burning type, 'brewing' for several hours before any flames appeared.

 

The irony was that Bath Road's 31s had a reputation of being filthy mobile fire hazards while ours were usually kept fairly clean by the carriage washing plant at Kensal Green...!

[The Stationmaster]

6 minutes ago, Rugd1022 said:

 

We went through a phase at Old Oak of our resident 31s catching fire, usually due to oil leeks finding their way onto the bogies and brake blocks, nine times out of ten it would happen on the empty stock trips in and out of Padd so at least we weren't too far from 'home'. These fires were often the slow burning type, 'brewing' for several hours before any flames appeared.

 

The irony was that Bath Road's 31s had a reputation of being filthy mobile fire hazards while ours were usually kept fairly clean by the carriage washing plant at Kensal Green...!

I once had to attend a fire on Bath Road Class 31 - out on a running line.  Fortunately the local retained Fire Brigade got there before me (they had several miles start on me and they were called first of course) but it was still not a nice fire and the fuel tank 'exploded' - more like 'plop' sound than a bang as it ruptured but not at all nice for all that.

[brushman47544]

1 hour ago, The Johnster said:

But nonetheless correct.  I pointed out in a school history lesson back in the 60s that the Indians had discovered America, not Columbus or Ericson, and got no thanks for my efforts.

 

Funny. I was told I was wrong at school for saying something similar. The aborigines didn't "discover" Australia because they were indigenous and so where just "there" and you need to arrive to discover.

[brushman47544]

20 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

I once had to attend a fire on Bath Road Class 31 - out on a running line.  Fortunately the local retained Fire Brigade got there before me (they had several miles start on me and they were called first of course) but it was still not a nice fire and the fuel tank 'exploded' - more like 'plop' sound than a bang as it ruptured but not at all nice for all that.

 

Those hydraulic killers.... you should have let it burn

[Wickham Green too]

1 hour ago, The Johnster said:

But nonetheless correct.  I pointed out in a school history lesson back in the 60s that the Indians had discovered America, not Columbus or Ericson, and got no thanks for my efforts.

I understood it was some guys who arrived from Russia via the Aleutians ........ they may have been Indian - but they were a long way from home already !

[Gibbo675]

21 hours ago, Titan said:

 

Deltics were quite good at starting lineside fires too...

 

1 hour ago, The Stationmaster said:

Especially their brake blocks

Hi Chaps,

 

This explains all:

 

 

Gibbo.

Gi

[Metr0Land]

Hornby have announced a Mark 1 brake in RTC livery for 2020.  Recreating a prototype train is gonna be expensive. 2 x Class 50 + brake +  loooong rake of ballast hoppers.  (OK the brake is a different diagram but that doesn't make such a good story)