Noisy coal wagons to Longannet

[jamie92208]

One of the best cases like this was the rebuilt 'Latchmere curve' to take ECS Eurostars from Waterloo to North Pole. It was lifted in I think 1921 and then reinstated when the tunnel 2was being built some 70 years later. The people in the row of houses alongside it must have been might please.

 

Also i once got lucky and got a cab ride in a 59 from hitherGreen to Acton and went along the West London Line and the driver pointed at a particualr balcony on a flat just by the line on the south bank. Apparently drivers had been asked not to sound their horns as the lady who had bought the newly built flat didn't like the noise. Apparently she hadn't realised that the line had been there for over a hundred years before her flat was built.

 

Jamie

[Jenny Emily]

Didn't the GCR(N) have some problem at East Leake, despite the line through there never having been officially closed? The people in the new housing estate in the old goods yard had naïvely assumed that just because trains hadn't run for a few years, that they would never run again, despite the track still being in place.

[The Stationmaster]

One of the best cases like this was the rebuilt 'Latchmere curve' to take ECS Eurostars from Waterloo to North Pole. It was lifted in I think 1921 and then reinstated when the tunnel 2was being built some 70 years later. The people in the row of houses alongside it must have been might please.

 

Jamie

 

You don't know the half of it While the curve was being constructed one of those houses changed hands with the result that a year or so after the new owners moved in they suddenly found railway trains passing in front of their house where before there had been none.

 

They then claimed that a new railway had been built and that it affected their comfort or whatever and instead of suing their solicitor for not doing a proper search they sued the vendors of the house for not advising them (even tho' the railway was in process of being rebuilt/was nearly finished at the time they bought so if they hadn't noticed it they would have been blind).

 

This then began to develop into a major legal case which they, and their solicitor, rested on a claim that there had not been a railway there. I got involved initially supplying information to the solicitor for the old couple who were being sued and finally being stood by to act as a technical witness in court. However after a session with their barrister - during which I produced confirmatory evidence that a railway had existed there since the 1860s, and had a train service in the 1890s, and that the railway had never relinquished the land but had merely reinstated track and restored operations to a previously closed line, and that all that information was in the public domain when the sale took place - the case was settled out of court only a few days before it was due to go to trial and the claim against the vendors was withdrawn; I understood too that their Legal Fees of nearly £14,000 had to be met by the complainants.

 

As far as i know that was the only legal case to emerge out of that piece of re-opening although soem residents had expressed a touch of NIMBYism when they heard about the line being reopened.

[Jack]

Not sure offhand of the difference between the types favoured by DBS and FL?

 

This story isn't new. Basically, Freightliner have brought wagons which were designed for densly populated Europe and, like the old MGR wagons, are designed to run quietly, but obviously cost more. DBS are using the wagons ordered from the US by EWS, which are designed to rumble through the ****-end of some desert as cheaply as possible. Something to do with the bogie design but i can't quite re-call what.

 

If nothing could be done to quieten the trains then so be it, but these people are paying for EWS' mistakes/penny-pinching ...

 

Personnally I think they should do a sound test between an American built wagon and a politician and see which one makes the most amount of useless noise

[Jack]

See post by myself yesterday at 16.00.

 

Sorry, must have missed it ...

[jamie92208]

You don't know the half of it While the curve was being constructed one of those houses changed hands with the result that a year or so after the new owners moved in they suddenly found railway trains passing in front of their house where before there had been none.

 

They then claimed that a new railway had been built and that it affected their comfort or whatever and instead of suing their solicitor for not doing a proper search they sued the vendors of the house for not advising them (even tho' the railway was in process of being rebuilt/was nearly finished at the time they bought so if they hadn't noticed it they would have been blind).

 

This then began to develop into a major legal case which they, and their solicitor, rested on a claim that there had not been a railway there. I got involved initially supplying information to the solicitor for the old couple who were being sued and finally being stood by to act as a technical witness in court. However after a session with their barrister - during which I produced confirmatory evidence that a railway had existed there since the 1860s, and had a train service in the 1890s, and that the railway had never relinquished the land but had merely reinstated track and restored operations to a previously closed line, and that all that information was in the public domain when the sale took place - the case was settled out of court only a few days before it was due to go to trial and the claim against the vendors was withdrawn; I understood too that their Legal Fees of nearly £14,000 had to be met by the complainants.

 

As far as i know that was the only legal case to emerge out of that piece of re-opening although soem residents had expressed a touch of NIMBYism when they heard about the line being reopened.

 

That's great to hear. I had a wry smile or two when I watched the details of construction and wondered how many of the residents had any idea what the pile of earth etc was behind their houses. Even though I am up in the north i was fascinated by the whole Channel Tunnel project, even going to the lengths of making amap which i recorded the ditances driven by each of the TBM's each week and putting it up on my office wall.

 

Thanks for the info

 

Jamie

[David Rickard]

It wasn't to get any engine hours on the units, the engines would power-up automatically on what we called at the time compressor speed up, building air. In fairness, they could and should have been switched off. We had them (165/1s) doing it 24/7 through the tissue-thin wall of our Portacabin at Reading Upper Triangle during commissioning/ introduction of the fleet, not helped by the fact that the full complement of shore supply hadn't gone in. There were a couple of field mods implemented to change the logic on the units, and IIRC the instructions/ discipline regarding working on or cleaning stabled units were also amended because it was recognised that not only was this irritating, it was also wasteful and caused premature wear and tear.

 

Aaaah! Thanks for clearing it up

 

Why they never were turned off, will probably always remain a mystery however.

[Welly]

Those who complain about noisy trains have clearly not lived next to Holloway Bank with either Napiers or Paxman Valentas thrashing full bore out of the 'Cross!

 

By the way, thanks David for explaining that the difference lies in the bogie design!

[sulzer27jd]

At least he's actually seeking to benefit his constituents, however misguided his attempts may seem to us. It's a total case of NIMBY-ism, but much worse things he could be doing with his time.

Not sure the Scottish Government will be too pleased with their back-bencher's efforts mind. They (and Transport Scorland) went to a lot of trouble to get that line working and used.

 

This section of the news report alludes to what this is actually about -

In a letter to the Scottish Parliament's petition's committee - which will discuss the matter on Tuesday - he said: "It would appear that government is largely powerless to address this matter.

 

This is an SNP member making the point that currently the Scottish Government does not control the rail network. The outcome of the petition to the Parliament was that the Petitions Committee will write to the Scottish Government and Network Rail. The SG will be just fine with a chance to reply that if the rail system was devolved they would be able to do something about it. Oh and by the way if the unionist parties let us have a referendum we might be able to solve the problem completely.

 

In news reports in Scotland it is much more fun reading between the lines than reading the drivel that is printed on them.

 

J