Train Truckers

[slilley]

The new series starts tomorrow (Thursday) at 9pm on Yesterday. They are moving D1842 from Crewe. Hopefully the history part of the Class 47 which will form part of the programme they get right. The programme's researcher borrowed my copy of Class 47 50 Years of Locomotive History to assist him so fingers crossed.

Simon

[geoffers]

Having just watched episode 3 with the transport of 6960 "Raveningham Hall" from Bridgenorth it was interesting to see it ended up at Hornby old buildings in Margate, and Frank Martin got a look in too. Admire the drivers. I couldn't do it.

[The Stationmaster]

It's (surprisingly) quite an interesting series although the Ratbag Hall one was fairly tame in terms of driving problems - delivering the battery electric shunter was a bit more testing for them.  I was a bit puzzled as to why 6960 was going to Margate 'for overhaul' when as far as I'm aware overhauls are not done there.  But on checking I found that it currently belongs to Jeremy Hosking and is now awaiting a decision on future overhaul hence it was obviously sensible for him to have it moved to his undercover storage area on the former Hornby site (which he owns) at Margate.  (And where of course he also rents out office space to Hornby.)

[RJS1977]

Cholsey & Wallingford Railway feature in this week's episode (bringing the S160 down for last year's Polar Express).

 

In actual fact, they could have done a full series just on that one event, as over the space of a few weeks, two S160s (the first failed its fitness to run exam), five Mark 3 coaches, a Mark 1 generator van and an air-braked 08 were delivered to Wallingford, and at least one of our Mark 1s was sent down to the South Devon Railway for their event (and of course everything had to be returned to its rightful place afterwards - the 08 only left us a few weeks ago).

 

The arrival of the 08 and the generator van were not filmed by TT but were far more problematic than the S160!

[gwrrob]

6 hours ago, geoffers said:

Having just watched episode 3 with the transport of 6960 "Raveningham Hall" from Bridgenorth it was interesting to see it ended up at Hornby old buildings in Margate, and Frank Martin got a look in too. Admire the drivers. I couldn't do it.

 

Very enjoyable too with some wonderfully skilled drivers involved. I wonder if Hornby will scan it whilst it's there. They've always had one in the range....

[5944]

60007's move from Crewe to Bridgnorth should feature next Wednesday, 25th August.

[Pacific231G]

It's interesting to see the skills involved but I find the false jeopardy they constantly generate in these types of programmes really irritating. Every minor glitch that probably happens on every job is presented as a life or death crisis. "If the locomotive slips off the ramp it could be wrecked" yes but it's not going to slip off the ramp because they're a specialist team who know what they're doing. That's why people use them and why it's probably not a good idea to get Uncle Bill with his old van to move your priceless antiques.   It's a bit like "If the pilot misses the runway there could be a disaster". 

[Nile]

I've heard far worse in other series, this one seems quite restrained by comparison. It's TV for the masses, get over it.

What bugs me slightly is most of these moves could have been made by rail. It's telling that even with all the agro involved it's still cheaper to go by road.

[Michael Hodgson]

3 minutes ago, Pacific231G said:

It's interesting to see the skills involved but I find the false jeopardy they constantly generate in these types of programmes really irritating. Every minor glitch that probably happens on every job is presented as a life or death crisis. "If the locomotive slips off the ramp it could be wrecked" yes but it's not going to slip off the ramp because they're a specialist team who know what they're doing. That's why people use them and why it's probably not a good idea to get Uncle Bill with his old van to move your priceless antiques.   It's a bit like "If the pilot misses the runway there could be a disaster". 

I couldn't agree more.  More often than not, the lorry bed needs raising or lowering before loading can start.  The routine need for adjustment is not a crisis, any more than the need to steer the lorry to get round a corner.

The commentary on these programmes is such utter drivel that I have given up watching them.  The same applies to many documentaries involving other aspects of engineering.

They would do well to fire the presenters and just get the workers to explain what they are doing and why they have to do it.

[The Stationmaster]

16 hours ago, RJS1977 said:

Cholsey & Wallingford Railway feature in this week's episode (bringing the S160 down for last year's Polar Express).

 

In actual fact, they could have done a full series just on that one event, as over the space of a few weeks, two S160s (the first failed its fitness to run exam), five Mark 3 coaches, a Mark 1 generator van and an air-braked 08 were delivered to Wallingford, and at least one of our Mark 1s was sent down to the South Devon Railway for their event (and of course everything had to be returned to its rightful place afterwards - the 08 only left us a few weeks ago).

 

The arrival of the 08 and the generator van were not filmed by TT but were far more problematic than the S160!

I had the interesting experience - when driving home from Oxford one day - of passing in Nuneham Courtenay an S160 on one artic trailer, and then its tender on a second artic trailer, heading in the oppsite direction.  That would have been the first of the two making is ts shameful journey back home.

[Fat Controller]

2 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

I couldn't agree more.  More often than not, the lorry bed needs raising or lowering before loading can start.  The routine need for adjustment is not a crisis, any more than the need to steer the lorry to get round a corner.

The commentary on these programmes is such utter drivel that I have given up watching them.  The same applies to many documentaries involving other aspects of engineering.

They would do well to fire the presenters and just get the workers to explain what they are doing and why they have to do it.

They have to generate a certain amount of 'excitement', or the general public will switch off.  Not directly transport-related, but the following gives some indication of the mind-set of people involved in 'car-crash television'

A former colleague of my wife bought an old house in Southern France as a renovation project. A friend suggested that he approach one of these 'I bought a pile of rubble..' programmes and see if they might be interested enough to feature his project. A reply came swiftly:

'Thank you for your communication You submitted a costed plan of works.

you are a qualified engineer, with project management experience.

You have previous experience of the type of property involved.

You are a native French speaker.

For these reasons, we regret you experiences would be of little interest to our viewers.

There is one possibility; do you, or any of your family, have , or suspect you have any serious medical problem ?

[Hroth]

25 minutes ago, Fat Controller said:

There is one possibility; do you, or any of your family, have , or suspect you have any serious medical problem ?

 

Or, as has happened in a number of televised building projects, the wife/partner falls pregnant*...

 

Back to the loco movers, one thing that irritates me is the shoddy graphic they insist in showing of the loco failing to go up the ramp and falling off, to woeful sound effects!

 

 

* Stress relief?

[5944]

37 minutes ago, Hroth said:

Back to the loco movers, one thing that irritates me is the shoddy graphic they insist in showing of the loco failing to go up the ramp and falling off, to woeful sound effects!

It's a shame they didn't record a different haulier, then they'd be able to use the audio and visual of a Pacer running away and crashing through a set of level crossing gates...

[The Stationmaster]

1 hour ago, Fat Controller said:

They have to generate a certain amount of 'excitement', or the general public will switch off.  Not directly transport-related, but the following gives some indication of the mind-set of people involved in 'car-crash television'

A former colleague of my wife bought an old house in Southern France as a renovation project. A friend suggested that he approach one of these 'I bought a pile of rubble..' programmes and see if they might be interested enough to feature his project. A reply came swiftly:

'Thank you for your communication You submitted a costed plan of works.

you are a qualified engineer, with project management experience.

You have previous experience of the type of property involved.

You are a native French speaker.

For these reasons, we regret you experiences would be of little interest to our viewers.

There is one possibility; do you, or any of your family, have , or suspect you have any serious medical problem ?

I contacted 'Grand Designs' when we were planning our house build - we already knew that getting the money would not be easy and there were emerging problems with Planning Permission dow to some pr*t who didn't know which way the sun moved in the Northern Hemisphere.   Thanks but no thanks came the response - 'far too straightforward a build for our programme'.

[Michael Hodgson]

35 minutes ago, 5944 said:

It's a shame they didn't record a different haulier, then they'd be able to use the audio and visual of a Pacer running away and crashing through a set of level crossing gates...

If you're going to show a Pacer, get Jeremy Clarkson to do the show and tell him it's a caravan.

 

[Pacific231G]

13 hours ago, Nile said:

I've heard far worse in other series, this one seems quite restrained by comparison. It's TV for the masses, get over it.

What bugs me slightly is most of these moves could have been made by rail. It's telling that even with all the agro involved it's still cheaper to go by road.

I spent most of my working life making TV programmes for the BBC and I don't think I ever regarded the audience as "the masses" to be sneered at. I felt that if they chose to watch my programmes they were deserving of my respect. We didn't have large budgets but, whatever the genre, you set out to make the best programmes you possibly could, not "prolefeed" churned out by the mile with no regard for truth. "They'll watch programmes about UFOs/alien abductions/The Bermuda Triangle/the Loch Ness monster.  Just tell them it's all real if it'll make them watch the ads."

I'm actually not convinced about spurious excitement being needed to keep the audience. A lot of these programmes are very much "painting by numbers"  and "the masses" tend to know when they're being patronised. Someone with a real passion for their subject will always make for good watchable television. Whether you like his sty;e or not Tim Dunn's programmes are popular and are not full of half truths and hyperbole. 

 

I sort of agree with you about making such moves by rail but suspect there are simply not enough spare paths avaiable on the network to make that viable. Britain simply doesn't have miles of underused railways and the goods trains that would once have been used for such moves no longer exist. They'd probably also have to pay vast access fees to NR.

 

In 2013 I went to the Baie de la Somme's steam festival to which they'd brought 150P 13  (a large 2-10-0 Decapod) across from Mohon near Charleville-Meziers, a distance of about 300kms by rail. It came with two support coaches a support coach and was hauled by a fairly old  diesel loco mostly along a number of secondary lines with, if any,  three or four trains each way each day. Even so I think it took them a couple of days each way. 150P 13 was towable but not in steam. There was a video of the whole thing but I can now only find this short clip. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IenB6Pe6doc&ab_channel=ChristianLelonge

 

 

Edited August 17, 2022 by Pacific231G

[Michael Hodgson]

19 minutes ago, Pacific231G said:

I spent most of my working life making TV programmes for the BBC and I don't think I ever regarded the audience as "the masses" to be sneered at.

 

I wouldn't accuse them of sneering as such.  Rather what they are doing is insulting our intelligence, especially as the presentation is so repetitous. 

 

To be fair, I sometimes also think great unwashed are not always the brightest, but whilst the risks and practical difficulties of the operation do warrant some explanation for uninitiated, you never will get through to those who are so utterly dimwitted that they have to be told repeatedly in every epsiode that the train might fall off if the ramp isn't safe.

[Pacific231G]

4 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

I wouldn't accuse them of sneering as such.  Rather what they are doing is insulting our intelligence, especially as the presentation is so repetitous. 

 

To be fair, I sometimes also think great unwashed are not always the brightest, but whilst the risks and practical difficulties of the operation do warrant some explanation for uninitiated, you never will get through to those who are so utterly dimwitted that they have to be told repeatedly in every epsiode that the train might fall off if the ramp isn't safe.

It was actually Nile who seemed to me to be sneering at "the masses" though of course, if we watch these programmes- as many of us seem to have done including me (though not many)  then does that make us "the masses" or even "the great unwashed" 

Such programmes (I'm not just thinking of Train Truckers which can be quite interesting once you tune out the faux jeopardy) are mainly made by producer/directors following a fairly pre-set and rather tired formula and, if they want to work, that's what they're required to churn out. Sadly, some really good people I used to work with who I know to be capable of good original work ended up reduced to doing this sort of thing. 

[RJS1977]

15 hours ago, Pacific231G said:

 

I sort of agree with you about making such moves by rail but suspect there are simply not enough spare paths avaiable on the network to make that viable. Britain simply doesn't have miles of underused railways and the goods trains that would once have been used for such moves no longer exist. They'd probably also have to pay vast access fees to NR.

 

 

And of course, not all heritage lines (including ours) are connected to the national network.

 

However I can remember a loco exchange between the Mid Hants and the SVR which was carried out by running a charter train from Guildford to Worcester, with 73096 in one direction and 60009 in the other, although that of course requires both locos to be main line registered.

[St Enodoc]

On 17/08/2022 at 18:31, Pacific231G said:

it's not going to slip off the ramp because they're a specialist team who know what they're doing.

That's what we thought just before a (full size) rail measurement train car ran away down the ro-ro ship's ramp and into the depths of Singapore Harbour...

[RJS1977]

On 17/08/2022 at 09:42, Michael Hodgson said:

I couldn't agree more.  More often than not, the lorry bed needs raising or lowering before loading can start.  The routine need for adjustment is not a crisis, any more than the need to steer the lorry to get round a corner.

The commentary on these programmes is such utter drivel that I have given up watching them.  The same applies to many documentaries involving other aspects of engineering.

They would do well to fire the presenters and just get the workers to explain what they are doing and why they have to do it.

 

Our Chairman was asked by the producers to deliver a scripted piece to camera to inject some jeopardy into the proceedings. He passed the duty over to one of our other volunteers as "I can't speak that b******t!" 

[RJS1977]

33 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

That's what we thought just before a (full size) rail measurement train car ran away down the ro-ro ship's ramp and into the depths of Singapore Harbour...

 

Not to mention the Class 70 that got dropped at Newport a few years back....

[RJS1977]

On 17/08/2022 at 11:26, The Stationmaster said:

I had the interesting experience - when driving home from Oxford one day - of passing in Nuneham Courtenay an S160 on one artic trailer, and then its tender on a second artic trailer, heading in the oppsite direction.  That would have been the first of the two making is ts shameful journey back home.

 

We had hoped the same lorry would bring the second S160 down and take the first one home, so that we would briefly have two S160s side by side at Wallingford, but it wasn't to be.

 

I'm not sure exactly what the fault was (presumably the same fault that had sidelined at at the Bluebell a few weeks earlier) but unless the fault affected the tender as well, I'm a little surprised they couldn't have swapped tenders between locos to cut down on lorry journeys.

 

The swap caused a few other logicstical problems - the late arrival of the loco meant setting up the pre-show tent was delayed (as it would have been in the way of the lorry movements), and this had a knock-on effect in setting up other items.

[Markwj]

When talking about what could go wrong the graphic always shows the item falling off the ramp and onto its side. Would this actually happen? I don’t think the momentum generated by the winch would be enough to do this?

Any knowledgable people on here with any ideas?

thanks

[Simon Lee]

When I was at Dover, we had a lot of Berne gauge wagons arrive on the Trainferry, for forwarding by road from the Admiralty pier to Cheriton for Channel tunnel construction work.

 

IIRC Alleys was the haulier, the most common mishap was the drivers mate, usually looking barely old enough to have left school, dropping a piece of rail  usually the bit that was placed on the rail at the start of the ramp onto the trailer, on his own foot or hand and requiring a trip to the local hospital. 

 

On one occasion they loaded a large bogie ballast hopper of, l think, Polish origin. Whilst driving down the quayside the wagon hit the bottom of the overhead walkway to the Jetfoil terminal. Apart from a small dent in the walkway and a scratch on the wagon that was about as much jepoardy as we could muster.