The Guardian: "Millions of trees at risk in secretive Network Rail felling programme"

[Wickham Green]

I guess the tree huggers are up in arms with Network Rail being in secret collusion with the weather.

Just tell them how much less they'll need to pay to support N.R. if the trees obligingly uproot themselves !

[ess1uk]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-46619632

[96701]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-46619632

How very very sad.

[hayfield]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-46619632

 

In the late 60's / early 70's I used a train to go to school, old fashioned non corridor electric stock with slam shut doors, whilst the windows in the doors could be lowered there were internal bars to stop this thing happening, strange with modern H&S this could happen !!

 

Very sad incident to someone who helped others, sympathies to all concerned 

Edited December 20, 2018 by hayfield

[jjb1970]

I remember that the Class 108 sets deployed for Cumbrian Coast line services had bars over the windows and stops on the sliding vents because of the tight clearances on the line, but that was unusual. The vast majority of stock never had such safety fittings.

[Trog]

In the late 60's / early 70's I used a train to go to school, old fashioned non corridor electric stock with slam shut doors, whilst the windows in the doors could be lowered there were internal bars to stop this thing happening, strange with modern H&S this could happen !!

 

 

501 stock on the LNWR London DC system? The window bars were due to tight clearances in a tunnel on the North London Line, Hampstead Heath if I remember rightly.

[jim.snowdon]

The oddest part is that having decided that the internal door handles on the Mark 3s were a liability, then removed them and fitted central door locking as a consequence, the internal handles were never restored, leaving passengers having to lean out of an open window in order to open the door.

 

All in all, a bit of an own goal.

 

Jim

Edited December 21, 2018 by jim.snowdon

[Joseph_Pestell]

The oddest part is that having decided that the internal door handles on the Mark 3s were a liability, then removed them and fitted central door locking as a consequence, the internal handles were never restored, leaving passengers having to lean out of an open window in order to open the door.

 

All in all, a bit of an own goal.

 

Jim

 

She was not, presumably, planning to open the door as nowhere near a station and she was returning to South Wales.

[The Stationmaster]

The oddest part is that having decided that the internal door handles on the Mark 3s were a liability, then removed them and fitted central door locking as a consequence, the internal handles were never restored, leaving passengers having to lean out of an open window in order to open the door.

 

All in all, a bit of an own goal.

 

Jim

 

The removal of the internal door handles was a very early mod following a couple (if not more) fatalities where passengers opened the doors inadvertently and fell out when trains were travelling at speed.  The provision of CDL on HSTs came later and had nothing to do with the removal on internal door handles.

 

The incident which led to the fatality near Bath had nothing to do with a station stop as the train was travelling at some speed when it occurred.  There are still quite a few places on various part of the GW network where trees brush against trains notwithstanding an ongoing campaign to fell them.

[jim.snowdon]

The removal of the internal door handles was a very early mod following a couple (if not more) fatalities where passengers opened the doors inadvertently and fell out when trains were travelling at speed.  The provision of CDL on HSTs came later and had nothing to do with the removal on internal door handles.

Point taken, but with CDL the internal handles could have been restored, thereby avoiding the ongoing need for full opening droplights.

 

Jim

[Mark Saunders]

Point taken, but with CDL the internal handles could have been restored, thereby avoiding the ongoing need for full opening droplights.

 

Jim

 

I never understood why the first generation DMU's had internal door handles but the corresponding Mk I only had external ones!

 

Mark Saunders

[The Stationmaster]

Point taken, but with CDL the internal handles could have been restored, thereby avoiding the ongoing need for full opening droplights.

 

Jim

 

Wouldn't be fail safe would seem like one good reason - the CDL on an HST will apparently lock even if a door is on the first catch (and presumably will lock even if the door is open?)

[96701]

Wouldn't be fail safe would seem like one good reason - the CDL on an HST will apparently lock even if a door is on the first catch (and presumably will lock even if the door is open?)

On the first catch yes, door open, no. I've seen HSTs leave with all the CDL lights out, but a door on the first latch, but I have never seen an HST set off with a door open because the orange light will be on on the coach with an open door.

[rodent279]

Wouldn't be fail safe would seem like one good reason - the CDL on an HST will apparently lock even if a door is on the first catch (and presumably will lock even if the door is open?)

Why would an internal door handle that can only open the door when CDL releases it not be fail safe? Surely an internal handle can be interlocked just as securely as an external one?

 

Regarding DMU & EMU internal handles-yes they could open the door while the train was moving, but the design was a sliding catch that you couldn't very easily lean on and open it. The HST handle was a lever much like the external one.

[Joseph_Pestell]

I suspect it's the media definition of 'secretive' which basically means that NR didn't email out a press release saying they were doing it. 

 

We have just had a case of this locally.

 

It seems to be a cheap journalist's trick. If they can't find the information that they need to make a story worth printing/reading, they claim that something is being done secretly. It's a "have you stopped beating your wife?" situation. For the poor local government officer who is expected to waste their time (i.e. taxpayers' money) to deal with the journalist, it's no-win. They may not be able to divulge information for many perfectly good and legal reasons but the journalist, who thinks he/she has a right to know, it is easier to attack the "secrecy".

[ess1uk]

Now we are into leaf fall season will we see more lineside clearing again?

i can think of plenty of areas that need cutting back.

[hayfield]

One would have thought they have been hard at work through out the spring and summer

[Trog]

1 minute ago, hayfield said:

One would have thought they have been hard at work through out the spring and summer

 

Dodgy because of nesting birds, doing it autumn and winter gives the tree huggers one less stick to beat you with.

[hayfield]

Agreed, but its much easier to maintain if you stop the problems before they get that big

[phil-b259]

1 hour ago, hayfield said:

Agreed, but its much easier to maintain if you stop the problems before they get that big

 

The fines levelled by the wildlife and countryside act are not exactly small!

 

As others have indicated, the UK population at large tends to love animals and birds more than their fellow people (The RSPCA and RSPB were founded long before the NSPCC) and given articles like that quoted in the thread title NR really don't want to add the RSPB to the list of pissed off people.

 

Another factor might be that when trees don't have leaf matter on them their effectiveness as a sound barrier will be much reduced. Cutting back in Winter will therefore not create a significant change in noise levels (or indeed the ability to visually hide the railway) and adjacent properties won't be quite as alert to the change.

 

 

Edited September 21, 2019 by phil-b259

[jamie92208]

On 21/09/2019 at 14:50, phil-b259 said:

 

The fines levelled by the wildlife and countryside act are not exactly small!

 

As others have indicated, the UK population at large tends to love animals and birds more than their fellow people (The RSPCA and RSPB were founded long before the NSPCC) and given articles like that quoted in the thread title NR really don't want to add the RSPB to the list of pissed off people.

 

 

It's always been like this. IIRC some law research I once did, animal cruelty in certain forms was a statutory crime back in the 1600's but Child cruelty and sexual offences against children only became illegal in the 1800's.

 

Jamie