caradoc

On 20/06/2023 at 21:50, The Stationmaster said:

I think that apart from Norman and I there is only one other person (he wonders if there might be a second one as well?) still alive who had worked at Henley. station at some time or other before the line was cut back to where it ends now.

I was a CO2 at Reading BO from October 1980 to March 1984, and as the GPR was occasionally despatched to cover Twyford BO, and even more occasionally Henley. Checking an old diary, I was at Twyford on Tuesday 30th December 1980, the first time I think I worked there, and at both Twyford and Henley on Friday 9th January 1981; Not only the first time I worked at Henley but my first trip over the branch! Presumably Henley BO was only staffed for a couple of hours in the morning, hence the split shift location. 

On 10/07/2023 at 14:41, Rugd1022 said:

I started on the railway in September '82 and even now, all these years later am still discovering people in the job I've known for years who have only recently come out of the closet, so to speak. 

I agree, even post-retirement I realised, via his Facebook posts, that one of my former colleagues was an enthusiast (to some degree), something I would never have guessed when working with him!

On 10/07/2023 at 14:41, Rugd1022 said:

When it comes down to it, the railway gets under your skin in lots of interesting ways, sometimes it stays with you and sometimes it ebbs away, but somehow it always seems to come back.

It does indeed, and I have always believed that having an interest in the industry in which one works can only be beneficial, to both employer and employee. OTOH, I recall an episode of Pointless, some years ago, when two railway staff were asked by Alexander Armstrong if they were enthusiasts, and replied most emphatically no. I thought it sad to spend maybe 30 to 40 years of their lives doing something which was never more than just a job. 

21 hours ago, woodenhead said:

Glasgow Central is Network Rail led by Avanti, so NR are closing these ticket offices not Avanti.

Maybe I have missed something, but why would NR be involved in ticket office closures? It is not AFAIK their responsibility!

3 minutes ago, 33C said:

That "staff on stations selling tickets" won't happen. A lone staff member carrying cash is a robbery target and that's why the money is kept behind a locked door.

Presumably cash would not be accepted for payment, which I accept would affect some passengers, albeit an increasingly small number. 

Some I was involved in;

Hay bales (the large circular ones used by farmers nowadays) rolled onto the track and struck by trains (twice); One piece of straw is not heavy but a tightly packed roll certainly is!

Plane crashed onto the line; Reported in good faith but it turned out to be a model aircraft. 

Suspect aircraft parked next to the track with a Police instruction to shut the line; At Edinburgh Airport, such a plane was moved as far away from the terminal buildings as possible, which just happened to be next to the Haymarket/Dalmeny line, fortunately this was quickly resolved.

Stolen transit van driven onto the track and struck by a Sleeper train (this happened to a colleague on his very first shift as the Controller responsible for the location)

Passenger reported a body on the line in a tunnel; No Driver had seen such but the line had to be examined, of course nothing was found but heavy delay was caused. 

The BBC article does say;

Under the proposals, some ticket kiosks would remain in large stations, but elsewhere staff will be on concourses to sell tickets, offer travel advice and help people with accessibility.

If this is really what happens, and booking office staff are redeployed rather than being made redundant, is this not a Good Thing, as they can be of more use to passengers outside instead of stuck in a locked ticket office? Not forgetting of course also that scores of stations have been without ticket offices, or indeed any staff at all, for decades, for example the three stations between Oxford and Didcot, and the three between Oxford and Banbury. 

I was rather critical about the transfer of this loco when it occurred, but I must eat my words and say, well done to the NRM, the Swanage Railway, and of course those involved in the restoration for a magnificent job. 

4 hours ago, bécasse said:

I suspect that the only people who knew a significant number were those who worked on the CRS team at York

OTOH I remember many CRS codes, and not just those relating my railway work area! Plus, sadly, TOPS Stanox numbers too, eg GLC = 07257. 

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

I think it's a universal truism that people anywhere appreciate efforts to communicate in their language

I agree, but it can bring its own problems; I did German A-level more than 40 years ago, so on my last visit to Germany, checking in to our hotel in Berlin, I introduced ourselves to the receptionist in German, only for her reply to be way beyond my limited comprehension! So we resorted to English.....

And the point regarding which foreign language(s) should us Brits learn is well made; I did French, as well as German, A-levels, but neither was any use when visiting Spain, Italy, Denmark, (parts of) Belgium, Holland, Sweden, Norway and Finland. 

1 hour ago, keefer said:

Wasn't a massive Alsatian was it?

It was huge (and fast)!

C8966 brings back an unhappy memory....

Cycling down the road on the other side of the car scrapyard, en route to Mossend TOPS Office for a night shift, its guard dog appeared from nowhere and chased after me. Despite my best (and desperate) efforts it managed to nip the back of my heel. Unfortunately this was before the days of injurylawyers4U and their like. 

But apart from that, many thanks again for the photos David!

On 23/05/2023 at 15:59, Mark Saunders said:

Hard to believe the Shildon built Scunthorpe tipplers were seven years old and well work stained but are still in use today!

8 hours ago, JeffP said:

I am intrigued by C3449.

Those iron ore wagons are usually to be found between the ore terminal at Immingham, and the one at Santon, Scunthorpe steel works.

What they were doing at Doncaster is baffling.

I've never heard of a service taking the same ore anywhere else.

During August 1977 myself and two friends did an East Midlands Railrover, and one morning, on a DMU from Lincoln to Sheffield, we were surprised to pass a Class 37 double-headed iron ore train at the River Trent Bridge at Gainsborough. Could this, and the train in C3449, just be Scunthorpe/Immingham trains diverted the long way round via Doncaster and Brigg for some reason, eg a blockage between Scunthorpe and Barnetby? 

16 hours ago, hexagon789 said:

The responsibility then passed to Arriva CrossCountry for Glasgow-Edinburgh-York services and integrated into their hourly Edinburgh-Plymouth service.

Indeed, on a two-hourly basis to Glasgow, as per the previous GNER service. GNER/East Coast Trains/LNER etc retained one per day to Glasgow, since Covid only a handful of Cross Country trains now serve Glasgow. However, back to the OP.... Glasgow cannot by any means be classed as an 'obscure location'!

11 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

Pressing the emergency button ona Driver-to Shore radio will get an alarm call somehow - used to be via Control and I don't know if that has changed) to the controlling signalbox which would then return protecting signals to danger.

IIRC a GSM-R Emergency Call will be received by all trains in the relevant base station ('cell'?) area, the controlling signaller, plus the Network Rail Control. GSM-R was a huge advance over NRN, which was received by Control only, because as well as the instant transmission to multiple parties it allows Control to start responding to an incident even while the Driver is still talking to the Signaller. 

1 hour ago, SZ said:

Idiots.

The carriage was filling with what the passengers believed was smoke and they could not evacuate to the platform because the train was only partly on it and therefore the doors were not opened. So what were they supposed to do? 

22 hours ago, martin_wynne said:

Those facilities are provided for the general public -- the crossing is a public right-of-way.

 

No additional facilities are provided for the railway's paying customers.

I cannot see how that makes the slightest difference; A safe method of crossing the railway on the level, in the absence of an alternative route, has been provided for whoever needs to use it. Nobody is 'left to fend for themselves'. 

14 hours ago, martin_wynne said:

Being dumped on a distant platform and left to fend for themselves hardly strikes me as proper customer service.

In what way are the railway's customers being left to 'fend for themselves' at Farnborough North? In the report which you yourself linked at the start of this discussion it is detailed that at this crossing Network Rail have provided lockable gates, miniature warning lights and even an attendant. 

16 hours ago, luckymucklebackit said:

When Glasgow Central was wired in the early 1960s, platforms 3-13 were all wired.  The main WCML express platforms, 1 and 2 did not get wired until the WCML electrification in the early 1970s.

IIRC at Motherwell only the Hamilton Circle platforms, 3 and 4 were wired, 1 and 2 (again!) not being done until the WCML. 

17 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

But not the fast ones in the peak.

True, and there was good reason for that; The early morning Glasgow-Manchester Airport regularly appeared in the shame list of Britain's most overcrowded trains, not from Glasgow, Motherwell or even Lockerbie, but due to Lancashire to Manchester commuters. A good example of how one train can end up serving multiple different travel needs. 

22 minutes ago, russ p said:

Mk3s had internal handles that were very easy to open and were removed very swiftly after a number of incidents of passengers falling from moving trains 

Was it not the first Mark 2d stock that had internal handles, as you say very quickly removed and discontinued from future stock after incidents? 

6 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

Because its so slow, TPE have omitted the Bolton stop, because demand would be too great for it, as everyone wants to skip the shacks!!!

14 TPE services on the Manchester Airport/Scotland corridor are booked to stop at Bolton today. 

(Posted simultaneously with Woodenhead)

19 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

Live exercises were always useful for identifying the unexpected holes in procedures but that was why they existed.

One of the table-toppers I attended was held at Berwick on Tweed, the scenario being that a collision/derailment had occurred at Marshall Meadows, right on the ECML England/Scotland border. Part of the reason for choosing that location was to test how the different English and Scottish agencies, responsibilities and indeed legal systems would work together, and who would have supremacy. I do recall being impressed by the number and status of attendees, which included helicopter pilots in their flying gear!

On 14/04/2023 at 18:34, Derekstuart said:

I'm surprised no one has mentioned (unless I've missed it) Liverpool Street. It has had 1500v wired to SOME of the platforms since nineteen hundred and black&white, with most of its platforms staying wonderfully wire free until the 1980s.

Certainly for the initial 1500v DC electrification only Platforms 11-18 at Liverpool Street were wired, but I would have thought that after the conversion to AC, and the Enfield/Chingford/Hertford/Bishops Stortford scheme in the early 60s, definitely most, if not possibly all, platforms were wired? 

2 hours ago, GordonC said:

When Edinburgh Waverley was electrified with the ECML, all the eastern facing platforms were electrified but on the west side only the outer through platforms for services continuing on to Glasgow Central or WCML via Carstairs.

Indeed, and heading west out of Waverley only the two outer lines through the Mound Tunnels were wired, and only the Haymarket South Tunnel. Now everything is wired.

(Of course, one day an electrically hauled train was signalled via the Mound centre tunnel, resulting in much disruption and delay). 

8 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

But I think you can see how appearing to do nothing until there is a catastrophic failure looks to the lay person - a regular user of the line - like negligence. That's extraordinarily bad publicity. 

I agree, but NR have I think tried to explain that while the bridge was known to be an issue and was being monitored, it deteriorated far more quickly than expected; How many people read that, and believe it, is another thing of course!

5 hours ago, guzzler17 said:

Ahhh long gone are the days when major work north of Didcot would result in the cross country's going via Swindon, Stroud, Standish Jn, the Lickey and Camp Hill to get to Brum.

Which would be possible of course, but the trains would not then be able to call at Oxford, Banbury, Leamington, Coventry and Birmingham International, and would reduce the resources, stock and crews, available to work the amended service which is operating, from Oxford northwards.