Level crossing stupidity...

[Wickham Green too]

18 hours ago, Dunsignalling said:

Interesting that the headline is "train hits car" when the report clearly states that the SUV hit the moving train.

Makes a far better headline - confirming the public's perception that trains are dangerous things. 

 

THIS CONCEPT IS SPONSORED BY THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY - other perceptions are available

Edited March 12, 2022 by Wickham Green too

[Dunsignalling]

4 minutes ago, Wickham Green too said:

Makes a far better headline - confirming the public's perception that trains are dangerous things. 

 

THIS CONCEPT IS SPONSORED BY THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY

 

If enough of the public really perceived trains to be dangerous things this thread would be redundant! 

Edited March 12, 2022 by Dunsignalling

[Wickham Green too]

No, it requires 100% of the public to perceive that an 'empty' level crossing with the lights flashing is a dangerous place to be - not quite the same thing ......... but then, if that were achieved, the thread can always fall back on its 'Driving Standards' sub-thread to avoid redundancy. 

Edited March 12, 2022 by Wickham Green too

[boxbrownie]

Surely if the authorities and companies in charge of rail transport are doing their jobs properly trains should NOT be seen as dangerous.

 

What is dangerous are the pr@tts ignoring warnings and instructions as to how treat them.

 

Head down now and waiting for the reaction 

[kevinlms]

44 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

Surely if the authorities and companies in charge of rail transport are doing their jobs properly trains should NOT be seen as dangerous.

 

What is dangerous are the pr@tts ignoring warnings and instructions as to how treat them.

 

Head down now and waiting for the reaction 

There is more too it than just seeing trains as dangerous.

In Melbourne, the government is working through a scheme to replace 85 level crossing and I think 58 have been eliminated.

Some of them were closed to road traffic for up to 40 minutes in the hour in peak times. Congestion is dangerous, a couple of old dears got caught in the middle when the barriers went down and paid the price. Yes, I 100% agree that people SHOULD NEVER start to cross, unless 100% they can get clear, but people do make mistakes.

 

That particular crossing was added to the scheme and has recently started.

 

https://levelcrossings.vic.gov.au/projects/union-road-surrey-hills

[PhilJ W]

Reading the list of road closures I should imagine a lot of motorists are complaining about them. Not understanding that the short term inconvenience is better than the present congestion.

Edited March 12, 2022 by PhilJ W

[kevinlms]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Reading the list of road closures I should imagine a lot of motorists are complaining about them. Not understanding that the short term inconvenience is better than the present congestion.

Actually I think most people are happy to put up with short term inconvenience. They have done a lot of removal projects in the last 7 years and people are used to it.

The big argument was about big holes cut through the area (like this one), or the SkyRail option. Some including the opposition were keen to complain about the SkyRail, but local residents in area with that are generally happy with the outcome, because the area underneath (old railway boundary) has been turned into parkland and cycle/pedestrian ways.

I know one person who used to cross the railway line in the morning to buy a newspaper and coffee and used to take 10 minutes to 40 minutes, now it always takes 10 minutes.

[SamThomas]

On 10/03/2022 at 21:35, Titan said:

Just be careful of rusty old tankers labelled "FLAMMABLE"

 

https://youtu.be/hMgCg6SaS6U

 

Back on topic?

Brilliant film, about time it was re-run on one of the Freeview channels.

 

Back on topic yes & another railway connection looking at the front bumper of the truck.

[SamThomas]

On 11/03/2022 at 10:28, PhilJ W said:

I've driven a Transit 18 seater and the governor kicked in at 63mph (100kph). It wasn't a hire vehicle as such but Fords Dunton community bus. Its quite likely that hire vans are also governed.

Many of them are limited to around 70mph for motorways but that does not stop them exceeding the limit on dual carriageways.

 

AFAIR these lower limits were introduced because of "restricted vision" & poor braking performance of fully loaded commercial vehicles.

[melmerby]

How about this from Cordele GA?

Someone trying (?) to use a level crossing that was taken out of use some years ago:

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by melmerby

[kevinlms]

40 minutes ago, melmerby said:

How about this from Cordele GA?

Someone trying (?) to use a level crossing that was taken out of use some years ago:

 

Hit a piece of Peco Code 100 laying about!

[Wickham Green too]

Deliberately left there as a 'bash beam' to stop any idiot hitting the active track !🙂

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, Wickham Green too said:

Deliberately left there as a 'bash beam' to stop any idiot hitting the active track !🙂

Well it works.😆

[martin_wynne]

Spot the level crossing.

 

 

[Budgie]

4 hours ago, martin_wynne said:

Spot the level crossing.

All right, I give up. Where have you hidden it?

[melmerby]

Somewhere in Australia?

[boxbrownie]

59 minutes ago, melmerby said:

Somewhere in Australia?

Did the Kangaroo on the front give it away? 🤣

 

Seriously, it looks like a concrete beam or support from a gulley/culvert gave way!

[martin_wynne]

The track bottom right and junction signal suggests a set of catch points behind the loco.

 

But there is also a dirt track crossing behind the loco, visible upper left and middle right.

 

The broken concrete looks to be a result of the accident, rather than the cause.

 

Martin.

[Dunsignalling]

13 minutes ago, martin_wynne said:

The track bottom right and junction signal suggests a set of catch points behind the loco.

 

But there is also a dirt track crossing behind the loco, visible upper left and middle right.

 

The broken concrete looks to be a result of the accident, rather than the cause.

 

Martin.

Though the derailment is far more dramatic than a catch point is designed to cause, and on the opposite side to the direction of the catch point anyway....

 

It would be interesting to know if the loco was the only  vehicle involved or if the rest of its trains had already been recovered.

 

John

[PhilJ W]

7 hours ago, martin_wynne said:

Spot the level crossing.

 

 

Is it a catch point? The track to the left of the locomotive is bowed and twisted up out of the ballast and the 'catch point' is the right hand rail. This suggests that there could have been an obstruction on the track, either a piece of rail or possibly the concrete item under the loco. 

[martin_wynne]

21 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

the 'catch point' is the right hand rail.

 

No catch point is visible. What can be seen is the near running rail pushed over into the other rail.

 

It was lucky the loco missed the OLE mast.

 

[corneliuslundie]

I thought it was trying to turn left into the lane which seems to approach but not cross the line.

Jonathan

[PhilJ W]

13 minutes ago, martin_wynne said:

 

No catch point is visible. What can be seen is the near running rail pushed over into the other rail.

 

It was lucky the loco missed the OLE mast.

 

That is what I said, there is no catch point as someone suggested. 

[martin_wynne]

29 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

That is what I said, there is no catch point as someone suggested. 

 

I suggested there might be one hidden behind the loco, between the junction signal and the junction (see track in bottom right corner).

 

[Michael Hodgson]

A very confusing photo!  I am struggling to see how the loco ended up there and at that angle unless it had hit a very solid obstruction and with a lot more stock behind it pushing, but the lack of more obvious and substantial damage both to the loco and to the environs seems inconsistent with that.  Maybe if there had been a washout/earthslip under the left hand running rail and the rest of the train has since been recovered?  If that's a dirt track level crossing, it seems irrelevant to the derailment.

 

In the forground are three white-painted upright posts made of angle or old rail.  The left hand one looks as though it may have been bashed by something moving from the left of the picture? 

 

Or has the loco run away and deraild from that track in the foreground, the front end digging in first??  Again the lack of ground damage is hard to explain. 

 

Perhaps I'm being misled by telescopic lens compression.