Confessions of a Canton goods guard

[Michael Hodgson]

6 hours ago, The Johnster said:

I had to on one occasion, train of empty tanks behind a Peak at night in heavy rain, driver's windscreen wiper flew off into the River Wye on the bridge at Chepstow.

 

You've just reminded me of an occasion I went for a walk with my aged parents to Tutshill via the Grade I listed Town Bridge built by Rennie (then still the  A48) one sunny day, when a speedboat came roaring up the river driven by a policeman - he gave my parents a salute!

 

Strange to think that before Brunel's tubular railway bridge was completed, the Severn Tunnel also didn't exist so all the goods between South Wales and England had to be unloaded and transported by horse-drawn carts on those steep hills between Chepstow and a temporary station at Tutshill called Chepstow East.

[br2975]

8 hours ago, The Johnster said:

The fire station is on the opposite side of Cowbridge Road West from it's junction with Grand Avenue, and in line of sight to the site of the crash, not much more than 100 yards away.  Am I correct in remembering that Clive had to have his leg amputated in the car as part of the process of removing him from it?

.

Whilst you are correct that 'The Grand Avenue' (to give it the correct title) starts opposite the Fire Station, the accident took place between Grand Avenue 'bottom shops'  and Crossways Road, not far from, but out of sight of the fire station.

.

I believe the paramedics may have adopted the course of action you describe, on the grass verge.

.

The patrol car, a Ford Granada was halted by the tree, yet the engine and gear box became detached by the impact and came to rest some 5-10 yards  ahead of the police car.

.

A very sad incident, and one which I used many times over the years to instill in my probationary constables that 'we are not infallible'.

.

 

[Michael Hodgson]

17 minutes ago, The Pilotman said:

Thanks for providing that extra detail. Based on what you’ve written, it does sound like some sort of issue with the signalling equipment somewhere. Perhaps something was being worked on at the time and the signalman was trying to cover for an error that he knew someone else had made (that certainly used to happen). Whilst I’ve never heard of an incident quite like this (a signal aspect completely at odds with the actual route set), extremely unlikely events can occur as the Clapham Junction crash demonstrated. 

The situation described by Johnster could have had far more serious consequences of course, had there been a train on the road he was diverted to.  This type of situation can happen through unintended circuits, though it is quite rare for an accident to occur.  Most accidents need more than one thing to go wrong, and many faults manifest themselves in the form of unexpected equipment behaviour not resulting in an accident.  The Inspectorate now investigate near misses as well as accidents, provided they get reported of course.

 

Clapham (1985) was a wiring error caused by a loose wire which had erroneously been left connected at one end

 

There are other accident reports though, for example ...

 

Bethnal Green derailment 1953  - points moved, technician probably allowed two links accidentally connect

Thirsk derailment 1954 - false feed to a point motor because of several electrical problems

King Edward Bridge 1962 collision - points disconnected and being worked by hand, set to goods line but signal for main still able to clear

Bethnal Green derailment 1964  - point control relay manually unlatched by technician while a train was crossing it

Barnham derailment 1962 - short circuit caused by a stray washer bridging a couple of terminals

Copyhold Junction derailment 1971 - signalman was able to move point after restoring signal because approach locking was faulty.

Waterloo collision 2017 - points not set, fault not detected because of a test wire incorrectly left in place after testing

[iands]

10 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

The situation described by Johnster could have had far more serious consequences of course, had there been a train on the road he was diverted to.  This type of situation can happen through unintended circuits, though it is quite rare for an accident to occur.  Most accidents need more than one thing to go wrong, and many faults manifest themselves in the form of unexpected equipment behaviour not resulting in an accident.  The Inspectorate now investigate near misses as well as accidents, provided they get reported of course.

 

Clapham (1985) was a wiring error caused by a loose wire which had erroneously been left connected at one end

 

There are other accident reports though, for example ...

 

Bethnal Green derailment 1953  - points moved, technician probably allowed two links accidentally connect

Thirsk derailment 1954 - false feed to a point motor because of several electrical problems

King Edward Bridge 1962 collision - points disconnected and being worked by hand, set to goods line but signal for main still able to clear

Bethnal Green derailment 1964  - point control relay manually unlatched by technician while a train was crossing it

Barnham derailment 1962 - short circuit caused by a stray washer bridging a couple of terminals

Copyhold Junction derailment 1971 - signalman was able to move point after restoring signal because approach locking was faulty.

Waterloo collision 2017 - points not set, fault not detected because of a test wire incorrectly left in place after testing

.... and Dalwhinnie April 2021 - points not set correctly, .... signalling system failed to detect this because an unwanted link and a strap were not removed from the internal wiring of one of the point machines when it was replaced ....

[Nick C]

Plus Dalwhinnie 2021: https://www.gov.uk/raib-reports/report-10-slash-2022-wrong-side-signalling-failure-and-derailment-at-dalwhinnie-badenoch-and-strathspey - [edit - cross-post with Ian, but I'll leave the link in...]

 

And one under investigation at the moment: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/wrong-side-signalling-failure-at-wingfield

Edited April 13, 2023 by Nick C

[Happy Hippo]

13 hours ago, The Johnster said:

Wiring and circuitry of MAS signalling is a mystery to me; I know what the signals did, not how they did it, but there seemed to be work going on at this relay box at all sorts of times of day and night, and I suspect that our incident was part of an ongoing issue at this location.  They were certainly hard at it later that evening, though it is only assumption on my part that whatever they were doing was connected to our incident.  Seems highly likely, though, and as I said there were other occasions when I had cause to mistrust Newport Panel.

Electrics can cause problems.

 

Back in the last Century we had a near miss at Ashchurch, (Glos) when the ground frame controlling the MoD sidings was opened to release the Class 37 on a Speedlink service into the path of a Southbound HST.

 

Very fortunately,  our shunter who was operating the ground frame, looked North up the line, saw the HST in the far distance (yellow nose and front headlights!) and was able to reset the road to trap the Speedlink service until  after the HST had passed. 

 

The road was set for the HST by Gloucester at exactly the same time that our shunter activated the frame to release the Speedlink service.

 

There was a microscopic time gap where the electrical interlocking was ineffective which allowed this to occur.

 

It was a fault that was extremely difficult to physically replicate, and was one of those 'million to one'  chances, where it may never have happened, but it could have.

 

I believe the circuitry was very quickly changed to prevent a reoccurrence.

 

 

[The Pilotman]

1 hour ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Clapham (1985) was a wiring error caused by a loose wire which had erroneously been left connected at one end

It was three years later; Monday December 12th 1988. I remember it well. 

Edited April 13, 2023 by The Pilotman

[The Johnster]

One wonders what might have happened had the loco turned over, and it was very close to doing so.  IMHO only the good luck of a low-mileage loco with springs in perfect condition saved us.  The loads shifted in the vans and they had a slight list to starboard on the run to Newport, so the stability of the train was IMHO compromised, though not catastrophically, as a result.  If the loco had gone over on it's right hand side, we'd have both been injured or worse; I'd have probably been killed (as it was I was thrown across the cab to that side), as I would have been very close to the ground sliding past my ear at 60mph or so as the van piled up on top of me.  Ray managed to remain in his seat; he saw the turnout switched for the down recep at the last second and hung on.  We both thought we were goners.

 

It would have been a matter of his word against theirs if S & T had closed ranks (which was the culture at the time, you sorted matters out 'in house' and covered your *rses), as we discussed afterwards, and as there are plenty of documented instances of drivers misreading signals and few of misrouting/false aspects due to wiring issues and faults, and my comments would have been igored, and the weight of evidence would have been very much against us.  We would have been unable to prove to an internal inquiry that the signal showed a green aspect, and Ray's record would have been permanently blotted.  And, don't forget, Ray's initial reaction was that he'd misread the signal and it was his fault; he couldn't believe his own eyes.

 

The only evidence to support our account would have been that the train was not booked to be routed into the down recep, it was a Class 4 premium parcels under the Royal Mail contract and booked main line at line speed.

 

It was all in all a very unpleasant experience and a lucky escape from a far worse one.  I often saw work being carried out at this relay box, and frequently out of normal hours and there was clearly an ongoing issue there.

Edited April 13, 2023 by The Johnster

[The Johnster]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

Electrics can cause problems.

 

Back in the last Century we had a near miss at Ashchurch, (Glos) when the ground frame controlling the MoD sidings was opened to release the Class 37 on a Speedlink service into the path of a Southbound HST.

 

Very fortunately,  our shunter who was operating the ground frame, looked North up the line, saw the HST in the far distance (yellow nose and front headlights!) and was able to reset the road to trap the Speedlink service until  after the HST had passed. 

 

The road was set for the HST by Gloucester at exactly the same time that our shunter activated the frame to release the Speedlink service.

 

There was a microscopic time gap where the electrical interlocking was ineffective which allowed this to occur.

 

It was a fault that was extremely difficult to physically replicate, and was one of those 'million to one'  chances, where it may never have happened, but it could have.

 

I believe the circuitry was very quickly changed to prevent a reoccurrence.

 

 

 

Mechanical interlocking systems were not immune to this sort of thing, as the head-on at Hull Paragon (1927) proved.

Edited April 13, 2023 by The Johnster

[Michael Hodgson]

50 minutes ago, The Johnster said:

 

Mechanical interlocking systems were not immune to this sort of thing, as the head-on at Hull Paragon (1927) proved.

Yes, but they weren't quite as sophisicated as electrical locking and thus there was more scope for signalman error to combine with design limitations (as happened at Hull).  The accident report recommended an additional (electrical) control in the form of a track circuit.

 

There was in fact another less serious collision at the same station less than a fortnight previously, caused by a train running past inner and outer homes at Danger, the driver not having route knowledge and having been incorrectly advised by his pilot driver.  The Inspector said it was preventable by Automatic Train Control (which in the 1920s should probably be interpreted as what we now call AWS)

[Edwin_m]

9 hours ago, The Pilotman said:

Thanks for providing that extra detail. Based on what you’ve written, it does sound like some sort of issue with the signalling equipment somewhere. Perhaps something was being worked on at the time and the signalman was trying to cover for an error that he knew someone else had made (that certainly used to happen). Whilst I’ve never heard of an incident quite like this (a signal aspect completely at odds with the actual route set), extremely unlikely events can occur as the Clapham Junction crash demonstrated. 

Some similarities to this derailment, probably caused by technicians doing the wrong thing, though inside the equipment room in this case.  The chain of events is consistent with someone working on the circuits and managing to reverse the points after the train put the signal signal back to red but before it reached them.  Depending on circuit design and the exact error made, the route lights could be wrong and the point out of correspondence on the panel, but the former could be explained if the signaller put the route back as soon as the train passed, and the latter if whatever fault was cleared before anyone noticed.  

 

https://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docsummary.php?docID=529

Edited April 13, 2023 by Edwin_m

[62613]

7 hours ago, The Pilotman said:

Whilst I’ve never heard of an incident quite like this (a signal aspect completely at odds with the actual route set), extremely unlikely events can occur as the Clapham Junction crash demonstrated. 

Farnley Junction Leeds in 1976 or1977; a miswire in a location cabinet resulted in a clear aspect when a a crossover was reversed, which allowed a Trans - Pennine unit to collide head - on with a train stood at a signal on the opposite line, killing the driver.

[Philou]

Here we are , another map, this time of the Swansea area:

 

Johnster's 'orrid journey.pdf

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

Johnster's 'orrid journey.pdf

[The Johnster]

More drivers.

 

Sam O'Connor, the practical joker.  Sense of humour not so much dry as arid, brilliant company, life never dull with him around.  In his 60s and approaching retirement, a tall and rather florid- complexioned man but very even-tempered, not much bothered him.  But you had to be on your guard for the pranks...

 

The same job, funnily enough, as one of the previous adventures, the evening Bristol-Newport premium parcels, with a Hymek, the more usual motive power, this time, and he'd been building up to this for about an hour previously, being unusually introspective and subdued,,, we were coasting downhill into the Severn Tunnel, and a few hundred yards in he suddenly came out with 'it's too much, I can't go on, Prof, I'm ending it all, now'!  This was followed by opening and closing of the cab door on his side.  Yeah, right, Sam, very funny, pull the other one...

 

But there were no headlights on locos in those days and it is blacker than the inside of a cow down there.  He'd turned off the instrument lights, and only the headcode was lit, weakly illuminating about half a dozen sleepers in front of the loco.  Which was picking up speed on the downhill gradient.  'Stop mucking about, Sam, I know you're winding me up'.  And more speed.  'Sam?'  More speed. 'Sam'???  I know the b*gger's there, I mean, how daft would you have to be to be taken in by that sort of stunt, but my confidence is starting to wane a little now, what if he'd really left the loco, presumably in 'engine only' as the deadman's handn't gone in, what was I supposed to do.  And faster, the bottom lights were visible in the distance by now.  Confidence drained altogether now; 'Sam'?  Nothing.

 

Ok, time to take some action.  No driver, and I'm coasting and picking up speed in the tunnel, what needs to happen is that I need to drive the train out and stop at the first signal out in the open on the Welsh side, and inform the panel.  I should leave matters be, I'm not allowed to drive locomotives even in emergencies, but s*d this, I'm not up for the idea of see-sawing backwards and forwards until the train runs out of momentum at the bottom and waiting to be rescued, time to be pro-active, the line needs to be searched for Sam's body, he might be injured and saveable, so I get out of the seat and cross the cab.  Sure enough, the driver's seat is empty, oh carp, I'm alone on the engine, and it's up to me to do something.  Sit in the seat, foot on the deadman's, drive into forward, bottom lights are getting closer now, feel around for the instrument light switch to see if we need braking....

 

Hand on my shoulder and loud 'BOO!'.  He was still laughing when we got to Newport, but let me drive the rest of the way at least, since I was already in the seat. 

 

'Stard.

 

Got me again a few months later.  We'd worked a train of empty tanks down to Llanelli and were coming back on the cushions on the up Pembroke Dock-Paddington sleeper.  Steam heating was on, we had a compartment to ourselves, we'd had a couple of beers in the Apple Tree in Llanelli, knowing we were home on the cushions, the guard was going to give us a shout running into Cardiff, and we were each stretched out on the compartment benches with the blinds pulled down. 

 

As the train was ambling over the up Vale of Glamorgan line, it's booked routing, in the small wee hours of the morning, I suddenly became aware that Sam was awake and sitting bolt upright, staring manically at me with a gun in his hand (starting pistol, but I didn't know that, all I could see was a psycho with a gun).  Before I could react further, he says 'I f*cking hate guards', and pulls the trigger.  I don't know if anybody here has ever heard a starting pistol discharge in the confines of a mk1 2nd class compartment, but I can affirm that it is BLOODY LOUD!!!  I was convinced I'd been shot, convinced I'd felt the blast hit me, and sat up feeling my chest for the bullet hole, complaining that he'd shot me and I couldn't find the bullet hole. 

 

Again, he laughed all the way to Cardiff, while I swore at him, and the more I swore the more he laughed until I saw the funny side and joined in.  That wasn't until Cogan, though, and he'd shot me somewhere around Llantwit Major.. 

 

'Stard.  Good fun, though!

Edited April 13, 2023 by The Johnster

[ianathompson]

17 hours ago, 62613 said:

Farnley Junction Leeds in 1976 or1977; a miswire in a location cabinet resulted in a clear aspect when a a crossover was reversed, which allowed a Trans - Pennine unit to collide head - on with a train stood at a signal on the opposite line, killing the driver.

 

I remember this incident.

My dad worked on the railways in Leeds at the time.

I think that S&T were working in the relay cabinet when the crash happened.

The fact that the driver was in the cab and was killed was taken to show that the secondman was actually driving the train at the time.

If I recall correctly he was on the SPT to the panel when the crash occured.

 

Ian T

[Michael Hodgson]

22 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

There was a microscopic time gap where the electrical interlocking was ineffective which allowed this to occur.

 

It was a fault that was extremely difficult to physically replicate, and was one of those 'million to one'  chances, where it may never have happened, but it could have.

 

I believe the circuitry was very quickly changed to prevent a reoccurrence.

Sounds like a design error.   The contacts on a relay have to open and close in the right sequence, so there is a difference between simple changeover and make-before break contacts.   Standardisation of circutry for common functions such as releases should reduce the risk of such errors creeping in.

[Rivercider]

On 11/04/2023 at 20:38, The Johnster said:

Yeah, fine, thanks Philipe, just been doin' a bit of oprate'n trainz and a bit of work on a pannier, the chassis of which my concievably end up under your 1854 the way things are going, at least as a time share.  I'm sort of building a head of steam for the next installment, nice to be missed and wanted, though, haven't felt like this since my last jailbreak...  actually, ok, let's 'ave anuvver wun, then.

 

Drivers

 

Had to work with them, and they were a mixed bunch, not all of them particularly pleasant characters.  Modern enthusiast literature mythologises them, but they were what they were, a spectrum from thug to genius, including pretty much everything in between.  As I've said, 1971 was not the best time to join the railway, the fallout from the Beeching cuts, redundancies, the end of steam and resultant perception of the worth of the job, and the major blow to footplate culture of the 1969 single manning agreement.  The importance of this last matter cannot be overstated, and it may be regarded as an end to the 'old ways' at least as much as the dissappearance of real locomotives, and, according to some, real railwaymen with them.

 

To recap, this was an agreement with the unions that allowed drivers to man diesel and electric locomotives on their own without a secondman; they'd been doing this for years with multiple unit trains of course.  Secondmen were still required in some cases, such as steam heating (where the boiler was their responsibility, just as it had always been), specials, light engine movements more than fifteen miles from the home depot, booked overtime, and where it was not possible to give the driver a 'PNB' (Physical Needs Break, an opportunity to use a toilet) of a minimum of twenty minutes not including walking times) between the fifth and seventh hour of his duty. 

 

It was a major change of culture for guards as well, and many of the older hands lamented the loss of the 'good old days'.  It came about at the same time as the 'company' were getting rid of guards' vans on fully fitted freight trains, and part of the negotiations with the unions were concerned with allowing guards to ride on locomotives, previously a strick demarcation.  The 'company' wanted single manned fully fitted trains with only one man aboard them, and this is the current practice, but the NUR managed to persuade them that it was still necessary to have a guard aboard the train in order to carry out protection in rear with detonators and a red flag/light should that be necessary.  Then there was a row between the NUR and ASLEF about where the guard would ride, it eventually being accepted that he would ride in the back cab of the loco, as far to the rear as he could be placed, in the secondman's seat and under orders not to touch anything. 

 

The upshot was that, because a man was needed on both sides of the loco when it moved off shed, guards were tasked with being 'acting secondmen' under the direction of the driver for single-manned jobs.  That was, overnight and catching everybody on the back foot, the end of goods guards booking on and off duty at yards and goods depots; we were now 'traincrew' and booked on and off duty at a 'traincrew depot', or engine shed/signing on point, with the driver and secondman if there was one.  It meant the end for any decent standard of maintenance or cleanliness of brake vans at most yards (we've mentioned the exceptions), and the old hands complained mightily about this situation, but never did anything about it and were in fact as guilty as anyone for the dismal conditions in brake vans.

 

But there was a good bit of resentment towards us new intake from both old hands in our own grade and some (not all, but enough to make themselves noticed) drivers.  The secondmen, who had been the grade most inconvenienced and put back in terms of seniority by all this, got on pretty well with us! 

 

The back cab instruction and the 'don't touch anything' rule were already somewhat in tatters by mid '71, as it made little sense to have to ask the driver to come back to the other end of the loco to turn the heaters on or off for you, and communication between back cab guard and front cab driver using the fire bell test button with the dmu bell code, which was on the drivers' side of the cab.  It made even less sense for the guard to sit completely uselessly in the back cab secondman's seat waiting for an opportunity to protect in rear, on the same side of the train as the driver and meaning that nobody was observing the right hand side during the journey.  Most drivers used their authority as being in charge of the locomotive to tell you to sit in the front cab secondman's seat, where you could observe that side of the train and help by sighting signals, holding the deadman's lever over for the driver to give his foot a rest, make tea, keep a conversation going to prevent either of you going to sleep (and only someone who has had to do this sort of job in dead hours between 02.00 and 04.00 when your brain rebels stridently against being awake and alert) and generally be of use.

 

I say most drivers; there were some resentful and/or anti-social types that ordered you into the back cab.  Fine, I'm just as happy there, mate, but hang your head out the window in the rain and get it wet, you've proven you're a stickler for the rules, so I ain't messin' with no fire bell test alarm button for the tip, we'll do it properly and I'll mention it in my journal if you don't play ball with me.  One of my early trips was with a driver who we'll call 'Orrible Jim, because that was his nickname, a bad-tempered individual with a poisonous reputation and a known dislike of everyone, but especially guards, and particularly especially new intake guards.  This was a single-manned fully fitted train of bogie bolsters carrying steel billets from Tidal Sidings to up-country somewhere, can't remember, but I had to secondman this terror off the shed. 

 

OK, book on, he's already downstairs prepping the 45, make a can of tea, borrow a bass broom to sweep out the cab after tipping the ashtrays on the floor, always did this, you might want to work in a tip but I don't, but it made a less than disastrous first impression.  Not much conversation on the way to Tidal, but as we decabbed to change ends at Pengam, I made to pick up my satchel to put it in what would be the back cab, and, to my slight surprise, he said 'no, leave it there for now'.  Put it down to him wanting a second cuppa.  Coupled on the train, did the brake continuity, right away Gloucester for relief, he had his second cuppa and, as long as he said nothing, I stayed put.  I got a grunt response when I called a signal better sighted from my side, but that was about it.  We then had a couple of hours in Gloucester traincrew messroom and came home on the cushions, still with not much being said between us but we'd both been involved in conversations with others in the messroom and on the train home. 

 

Not the monster he's claimed to be, I thought, but was a little surprised a fortnight or so later when I was told to book on one of his jobs the following evening because he asked for me.  Seeing my surprise, the roster clerk informed me that he liked me, because I'd stf'd up and not bothered him!  This was the start of a very good working relationship between me and 'Orrible, and the end of the silence; we proceeded to get on like a house on fire!

 

Another very unpleasant character, Charlie McArthey, miserable sod and a drunk who shouldn't have been on the footplate but got away with murder, took me to Hereford in a brake van one day, having refused to allow me in the front cab and demanded a 'proper' secondman, which he was given to keep the peace; this was the sort of bloke he was, a bully who'd become accustomed to getting his own way by throwing his toys out the pram.  His idea of keeping the couplings tight on a loose coupled part-fitted was to open the throttle and keep it open, and according to Clive Mordecai the secondman (Brian 2975 might remember him, he was a policeman at Ely afterwards and got injured in a car crash on Grand Avenue chasing a joyrider' IIRC Clive was in the passenger seat and had his legs crushed but the police driver was killed), we were doing 85 in the dips at Penpergwm and Pontrilas, 45mph wagons and they were bouncing around a bit but the van rode ok, and we were lucky nothing ran hot!  Clive reported him for this outrage, rightly enough, and asked me to make a statement supporting his complaint, but I was a bit wary of this in the prevailing climate; after all I was still a newbie,  I'd come to no harm and no damage had been done.  I stated that we were probably over the 45mph in some places but that as I had no speedo on the van and the quarter-mileposts were difficult to see in the dark for timing purposes, I could not make an objective statement regarding the speed, though I did take the opportunity to complain of very rough driving and bad 'snatches' at Little Mill, Nantyderry, and Pontrilas.

 

A number of drivers refused to work with Clive after this, and he left the job shortly afterwards to join the police, which apparently had always been his intention anyway.  There was something of the natural copper about him, and not in a particularly good way if you catch my drift, but I got on ok with him, actually I got on with most of them back then.  Charlie should have been got rid of much sooner, but there was still an element of 'looking after our own' back then, and as I benefited from it myself in my turn it wouldn't do to be too churlish about this, but I'm sure I'll be forgiven some opinion...  The final straw came only a few weeks later when, put on pilot work after Clive's complaint (he'd claimed we were both lying), he took a raft of NPCCS out of the Strawberry Sidings (under the windows of the old panel box at Cardiff) out through a ground position signal, a set of trap point, the old West Box, my guard's course alma mater, luckily empty at night, and was heading for the footpath down into Clare Road when he ran out of momentum, loco (08) buried under a pile of West Box bricks.  Even then he was allowed to take a redundancy payment to get rid of him; he wasn't missed.  Luckily he didn't kill anyone.

 

Another miserable so-and-so was Ray Morgan, good driver but low opinion of anyone who wasn't a driver, and even of drivers who were not him.  Much of his anti-sociability was due to trouble at home, an unpleasant divorce, but I could sort of see her point, we all could.  He was in a particularly bad mood one evening on the Bristol-Newport parcels, and had had words with both me and the Temple Meads shunter when we were coupling the loco on to the two vans in the middle road siding because the van vacuum hose was reluctant to engage with it's partner on the loco hose for some reason, and needed a bit of manipulating.  Happy to ride back cab in these circumstances, on a 46 which was pretty fresh out of shops, just as well as it turned out. These big bogied diesels rode well at low mileage, but could be a bit 'firm', with the springs bottoming out if they'd been around a while without a works visit.

 

He made a point of taking the tip via the window, but I was ready for him. and we set sail on what promised to be a pleasant enough forty minutes or so to Newport on a bright, clear, and warm summer's evening.  I was starting to enjoy myself, but Ray shut off power as we exited the Tunnel, and as I had the window open because I don't like the smell of fresh paint, I looked out to see that the signal at the top of the bank, still nearly a mile away, the one with the feathers, was against us.  As we rolled uphill losing speed, the reason became apparent, as another 46 with the evening Cardiff-Derby blasted past us up the bank at 90mph with eight mk1s on as it approached Caldicot, a fine sight.  I exchanged a wave with it's guard, a Canton man, and our 46 surged forwards as Ray opened the taps; obviously the signal had cleared as the Derby had cleared the junction.  Even a heavy loco like this is no match for a 2.5khp Sulzer with only a BG and a GUV behind it, 202 tons all up.  I looked out again, not sure why, and the signal was green, there were no feathers lit, we were clear to cross the junction to the down SWML main at 70mph, it's speed limit, and were probably well over 60 as we ran past the signal. 

 

Then all hell broke loose.  The loco lurched to it's right, throwing me across the cab, and I was convinced we were going over.  I'm pretty sure the wheels on my side left the rails from the bang and the bottomed out springs when she came back upright, and I looked up to see the BG at a fairly alarming angle, luckily this also righted itself, followed by the GUV.  With the train still running at around 60mph, Ray shut off power and 'put the lot in', resulting in your hero, a heap on the driver's side cab floor with a hurty shoulder, being pinned against the cab bulkhead.  By the time I was upright, we were where we shouldna'been, on the down hump through reception loop!  The train came to a stand, Ray blew off the brakes, looked back to see if I was looking out (I was), and drew up to the yard signal to be met by a couple of bewildered shunters. 

 

We'd gone through a 25mph shunt, the turnout accessing the down hump through recep from the down main out of the Tunnel, at over 60mph, despite the signal clearly routing us to the down main.  Then we'd gone through the pointwork on to the down recep, a 15mph shunt, at 40mph or so.  Ray jumped off the loco, and I was expecting him to be red-faced, he usually was, but he was white with shock and shaking, from shock or anger I wasn't yet certain.  He pushed a shunter out of the way and started walking back to see if I was ok, but I was already climbing down.  He was full of apologies, hadn't had time to warn me to brace, he ws sure the signal was green, how had he made such a mistake...

 

I assured him the signal was green, and that the panel had misrouted us, otherwise how had we ended up where we were.  So he got on the phone to the panel, and if I thought I'd seen him lose his temper before, my eyes were about to be opened!  I thought it was time I took charge of the situation, being the only one of us that was not completely apoplectic, and made my way to the shunters cabin to buttonhole the foreman, who was ringing for the road for us, unaware of the enormity of what had just happened.  I told him I was not going to move the train until the loco and both vans had been examined by the C&W, as I was uncertain what damage might have occurred, and that in any case my driver needed to collect himself before he went anywhere.   I also told him I wanted to put my shoulder injury in the accident book.  Then Ray came in.

 

The panel had refused to admit any wrongdoing, and insisted that they'd correctly routed us to the down hump through recep.  We were not booked to go here, and they were clearly trying to blag it, and Ray was threatening violence.  I suggested a cup of sweet tea for us all, and the shunters set about making it, while I phoned the STJ traincrew supervisor appraising him of the fact that it was possible my driver needed relieving, at which Ray told me he was going to drive the c-word to Newport and was going to do some serious harm to those c-words in the panel box when he got there. 

 

Hot sweet tea, and forty minutes delay to a premium parcels, and with Ray cooled down to only moderately murderous, we set off, but this time, Ray asked me to ride up front with him as he was feeling a bit shaky.  I suggested relief again, but the look told me that that was a ship that had sailed...  We were, however, noticeably under observation by two burly Transport coppers at High Street just in case he made a break for the box, and there was a very significant lack of signalmen looking out of the window.  As it happened, the down Manchester-Cardiff parcels that we connected with and took traffic back to Bristol from was late that evening as well, so very little difference was made to premium parcels arrival times.   Traffic, Royal Mail, and the S&T people squared it all away somehow, but I never trusted Newport panel after that, lying 'stards (and I was right not to, as we will see on two future occasions).  There was an S&T team working on the relay box for the junction as we passed on the way back to Bristol, and they were still at it when we returned with the final leg of the job, the 23.05 Bristol-Cardiff dmu, and we left them in no doubt of our feelings on the matter en passant. 

 

Oh, and it was the start of another unlikely friendship; I always rode in the front cab with Ray after that!  This was a mixed blessing, as he was still a miserable s*d with boring marriage problems he wanted to tell everybody about, but hey ho, them's the way the cookies crumbles round here!  He wasn't an easy man to like, but the memory of how his first thought on that occasion had been to check that I was ok helped!

A few pages back I offered to add a photo or two if appropriate to this fascinating thread, though most of my photos were taken a few years after these incidents took place. Here are a couple relating to the parcels working from Bristol Temple Meads.

 

First a view of Bristol Temple Meads east end.

East end pilot 08644 stands on the Up Through Line. We can see the east end connection to the   the Up Middle Siding which is the further of the two middle roads, from where the parcels train departed. 50037 prepares to depart from platform 5 with the 11.15 Plymouth to Manchester Piccadilly, 19/6/79.

 

 

A class 46 similar to the loco involved in the incident seen on the Up Through Line at Bristol Temple Meads, the ground frame is the one giving access to the east end of the Up Middle Siding where the parcels train would have started.  

 

 The guard climbs into the rear cab of 46035 which was working a seasonal special Exeter Riverside to Whitemoor Yard with empty vanfits which had come from East Anglia with bagged beet pulp nuts. 11/11/80.

 

My geography at Severn Tunnel Junction is not great, but this view from the bridge over the yard is looking east towards the Tunnel with the down hump out of sight to the right. I assume the parcels train came to a stand at one of the ground signals in view?

 

46051 hauls fire damaged 45009 to the depot at Severn Tunnel Junction 9/9/80.

 

cheers

 

 

 

Edited April 14, 2023 by Rivercider
Additional info

[Philou]

Here we are, dear readers, a map to accompany The Johnster's latest travails:

 

Johnster's larf-a-minute journey.pdf

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

[The Johnster]

23 hours ago, Rivercider said:

My geography at Severn Tunnel Junction is not great, but this view from the bridge over the yard is looking east towards the Tunnel with the down hump out of sight to the right. I assume the parcels train came to a stand at one of the ground signals in view?

 

46051 hauls fire damaged 45009 to the depot at Severn Tunnel Junction 9/9/80.

 

cheers

 

 

 

Close but no apple, Kevin; we came to a stand on the road behind the platform, at the gantry signal for which the post and lower part of the bracket can be seen behind 46051.  This was effectively the start of the down relief, permissive block as far as Magor, and not where we were supposed to be at all, we were supposed to be on the down main, the platform road, immedieately to the left.  The down hump was indeed out of shot to the right of the frame.

 

I still find it hard to believe, on my occasional forays along the M4, that there is nothing left of the down yard here, and on vestigial remains on the up side.  How could such a major hub just simply vanish like that?  Of course it's by no means the only one, but I'm familiar with this one, and can't quite get used to it not being there. 

 

On the other side of the overbridge, the road accessing the rifle range which is now beneath the motorway and some farm land, looking in the Newport direction, one would have seen the sorting sidings fanning out from the hump, which (IIRC) 4 dead-end roads between the reception/start of the down relief and the sorting sidings proper.  These were usually where we picked up down trains from, our diagrams involving this traffic being largely transfer freights for Cardiff Tidal.  These were class 8s, and often loaded up to the 60 SLU length limit, trains for East Usk or Ebbw/A.D. Junction being allowed 90 SLU if they could be guaranteed a clear road into A.D. reception from Maindee.  The Up and Down Reliefs west of Magor had a 40mph line speed, with 60mph allowed west of Ebbw Jc all the way to Pengam.  The mains were restricted to 75mph between Cardiff and The Tunnel (40mph through Newport High Street and over the bridge) because of the marshy sub-formation. 

 

Brunel had dealt with this when he built the SWR by pouring ballast in until it stopped sinking, but it continued to sink slowly and ballast is still being poured in.  It's wet under the surface as well, so as the ballast wears and more dust is produced, it results in places where the limestone ballast (from Penderyn or Coleford mostly) pumps a sort of light grey limey slurry when the weight of a train passes over it (eventually the track is damaged and has to be replaced).  This would be felt on the loco as a solid drop of what felt like about a foot, as the springs bottomed out because the ballast was completely failing to function as a load spreader at that point; this could be quite alarming on high mileage engines with worn springs, particularly 47s!  HSTs were allowed 90mph.  I remember one driver suggesting to me that it might be worth using Meldon Granite ballast, until I pointed out with all the authority of a sixth form geologist that wet granite degrades into China Clay, which would not have been helpful in this instance!

[Dunsignalling]

4 minutes ago, The Johnster said:

 

 I remember one driver suggesting to me that it might be worth using Meldon Granite ballast, until I pointed out with all the authority of a sixth form geologist that wet granite degrades into China Clay, which would not have been helpful in this instance!

 

 

Perhaps not, but it does take a fair while to do so..... 😄

[Philou]

Interesting the pumping effect. About 2 months ago there was a YouTube filmette taken at Cardiff Central (possibly by Colin Prosser who is a regular there) showing a freight train (don't recall the consist) passing rather unusually along the Platform 2 road and you could see quite clearly a jet of slurry hitting the underside of the leading bogie of the loco. There is also a joint along that same section of track that gives at a definite 'clacketty-clack' when passenger stock rolls over it on approach ready to pick up for a departure to London (usually).

[Rivercider]

 

These are a couple of other views I took from the bridge over Severn Tunnel Junction. I have previously posted them on RMweb, but  I think they have disappeared into the ether.

 

 

The down hump at Severn Tunnel Junction looking east. Pilot 08932 has just finished a shunt and a pair of bitumen tanks roll down the hump. 9/9/80

 

Looking the other way off the bridge, to the west down towards Newport and Cardiff

A view of the down yard, with the diesel depot across the main lines . 6/6/83.

 

Another view looking west (correction - sorry)

 

I think, from the previous posts that the upside traincrew relief point is the loops where two class 25s are standing with a bitumen train, with 45033 beside them with the 08.45 service for Hallen Marsh.

31424 passes Severn Tunnel Junction with 08.15 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour. 9/9/80

 

cheers

 

Edited April 15, 2023 by Rivercider
correction of one caption, looking west not east.

[Rivercider]

1 hour ago, Dunsignalling said:

 

Perhaps not, but it does take a fair while to do so..... 😄

And Meldon ballast is not actually granite, but another metamorphic rock known as hornfels.

 

cheers

[Stoke West]

3 hours ago, Rivercider said:

 

These are a couple of other views I took from the bridge over Severn Tunnel Junction. I have previously posted them on RMweb, but  I think they have disappeared into the ether.

 

 

The down hump at Severn Tunnel Junction looking east. Pilot 08932 has just finished a shunt and a pair of bitumen tanks roll down the hump. 9/9/80

 

Looking the other way off the bridge, to the west down towards Newport and Cardiff

A view of the down yard, with the diesel depot across the main lines . 6/6/83.

 

Another view looking west (correction - sorry)

 

I think, from the previous posts that the upside traincrew relief point is the loops where two class 25s are standing with a bitumen train, with 45033 beside them with the 08.45 service for Hallen Marsh.

31424 passes Severn Tunnel Junction with 08.15 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour. 9/9/80

 

cheers

 

In the top photo the two lines behind the hump control cabin were used as reception lines avoiding the hump to get to the west end of the yard with a hand signal from the rear of the cabin . The two  reception lines for trains out of the tunnel were shorter than the other reception roads and trains had to draw past the hump connection to the next signal , the hump pilot having to draw the train back prior to propelling over the hump , and being the only two roads from the tunnel were always humped as a priority to keep clear . In the second shot the hard standing is the site of the Powell Dyffryn wagon shops

[The Johnster]

7 hours ago, Rivercider said:

 

I think, from the previous posts that the upside traincrew relief point is the loops where two class 25s are standing with a bitumen train, with 45033 beside them with the 08.45 service for Hallen Marsh.

31424 passes Severn Tunnel Junction with 08.15 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour. 9/9/80

 

That's right.  This was also where trains were held for examination before being allowed to proceed through The Tunnel (it is called The Tunnel in the same way that the Forth Bridge is called 'The Bridge').  On the Welsh side, trains starting from Ebbw/A.D. Jc and East Usk yards and running through The Tunnel were not required to have examination here, and on the English side those from Stoke Gifford, Bristol East & Bristol West Depot, and Temple Meads Goods were similarly 'excused'.  At Pilning, the down loop was where trains from further afield were examined, and there were several sidings kicking back off it that were used to accommodate any cripples.

 

To the left of the 31 are the up SW main, down SW main, and the through road that was the start of the down relief, with the dead-end roads next, followed by the down hump sorting sidings.  The down yard shunter's cabin can be seen in the distance just to the left in the frame of the nearest floodlighting tower.