caradoc

To answer the question; Oh yes! Two examples from Scotland:

Rutherglen East Junction, before the route towards Coatbridge and Whifflet, the R&C Line, was electrified (obviously!); Train from the Argyle Line wrong routed onto the R&C, Driver took the route and train became dewired. Staff attended and concluded another EMU could attach to the stranded train, without becoming dewired itself, and haul it back; Unfortunately they had miscalculated and the rescue unit became dewired too. IIRC  a loco was eventually required. 

Edinburgh Waverley West end, when only the two outer lines through the Mound Tunnel were wired. Virgin Trains substituted an electric-loco hauled train for a booked HST, however; The Railtrack Controller (not me!) omitted to advise the Signaller, and the train was routed via the centre Mound Tunnel, and the Driver took the route. The resulting delay was thousands of minutes. 

On 27/02/2023 at 09:45, C126 said:

I remember a chap from Greenpeace, or one of the environmental protest organisations, on the Radio 4 news saying the results would have differed had a '56' or '58' been used.  I assumed a '46' was chosen, because it was the heaviest loco (141 Tons) in use at the time.

And of course, had BR used a lighter loco than a Peak it would just have provided another reason for the likes of Greenpeace to dismiss the demonstration as faked. 

4 hours ago, ColinRae said:

Glad everyone has enjoyed the show. Thanks for all the great comments. 

Thanks to you and everyone else involved for another great show. The minute's silence on Friday for Ukraine was a nice touch. 

Many thanks from me too for your entertaining and educational thread Johann. I look forward to future posts!

The bay at Barrhead, Platform 3, has trap points. And (of course) I was on duty in Control when the inevitable happened with a DMU departing against the signal and derailing itself there. 

1 hour ago, The Stationmaster said:

Incidents involving members of staff and their 'lady friends' were so common I doubt there was much need to invent them

When there were still signalboxes on the Gourock line an Inspector and his assistant paid a late visit to one, only to find the Signalman in a compromising position with a lady friend. Far from being embarrassed or contrite, the Signalman asked them to wait outside until the event was concluded.... So they did!

On 04/09/2022 at 17:57, DaveF said:

Many thanks for the extra information on todays' photos, I'll add the details to the captions.

 

Now. later than usual, today's ordinary batch of afternoon photos.  Once again they are a mixed bag of photos not (I think) used in this thread before

 

 

Bardney Class 114 Firsby to Lincoln Central Aug 68 J1390

 

 

Blaenau Ffestiniog Class 108 6th Aug 79 C4704

 

 

Harwich Class 31 and brake van Oct 75 C2480

 

 

Kegworth 37251 down ballast Feb 83 C5937

 

 

Oban 37403 shunting ecs 11th Oct 86 C8091  Also two other Class 37s.

 

 

David

C8091: Not just the three Class 37s but the Mexican Bean DMU in the background too!

16 hours ago, rockershovel said:

There was some dramatic footage of making steel for the cans... at a steelworks using iron ore imported worldwide, that could be mined in UK.

Not sure permission would be readily granted these days to start digging up rural Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire or Lincolnshire to produce our own iron ore again.....

3 hours ago, wombatofludham said:

It always amused me that when BR had their "Organising for Quality" initiative, it became quickly known as "OforQ", said quickly of course.

While many of my colleagues were sent on an OfQ course, I never was. Either; I was of high enough quality already, or I was a hopeless case and would learn nothing !

On 14/06/2022 at 23:16, jamie92208 said:

Episode 1 introduced a stereotypical 'train nerd' who gave a speech at a wedding where he likened a marriage to the Settle and Carlisle line. ......  Tonight's episode showed that he was a driver driving a 2 car 144

**Spoiler Alert** Episode 2 did not show the rail worker (driver)/enthusiast in a particularly good light. Fortunately the wife has only seen Episode 1 so far.....

On 16/06/2022 at 11:15, Enterprisingwestern said:

they pursue the motorist then its yet another underhand way to clobber the motorist.

Better a few motorists get clobbered in the pocket, to make the message sink in, than cyclists getting clobbered for real. 

21 hours ago, jcredfer said:

and absolutely disgraceful, on the part of the cyclists, too.  They're on a, comparatively, slow moving cycle, what is a few seconds going to add to any route they might be taking, anyway.  Mindless!!

Bear in mind that after stopping it takes more than just a press on the accelerator pedal for a cyclist to get going again ! 

Having said that, I fully agree that there has to be mutual respect on the roads.

On 22/05/2022 at 18:10, Nick Gough said:

They weren't generally used for Oxford line trains, having a low speed limit (20mph from memory) - Didcot East Junction would have done this being signalled for higher speed, and with the crossovers there equipped with 'switchable diamond' crossings.

One of the many pleasures of spotting at Didcot in the early 70s was watching Oxford-bound expresses crossing from Down Main to Down Relief and then onto the Avoiding Line, IIRC the speed through the double junction was 45mph. BR later replaced the junction with a single set of simple points, meaning that a Down train could not cross between Main and Relief Lines at the same time as an Up train, later again a second set of points was installed which now allows this. 70mph I think is the speed now, although usually when I travel to Oxford we get stopped at Moreton Cutting anyway to allow an Up train from Swindon to pass first (sometimes seemingly even if that train has only just left Swindon !)

18 hours ago, GordonC said:

Manchester Piccadilly would have had both a DC side and an AC side of the station.

Indeed, but there were never any dual-system trains able to run on both, so the Signallers had to be extra careful routing trains......

Have there ever been any changeover points between 1500v DC and 25kV AC OLE in the UK ? I am not aware of any. There were of course changeovers between 6.25kV AC and 25kV AC, and those were entirely automatic.  

19 hours ago, St. Simon said:

From what I can tell, even if route control and signallers weren’t in the same building, an issue with one of them means that neither can function, so in reality, is it a problem to have them in the same building?

In the ROC I worked in the Signallers and Network Rail Control are in the same building, on the same floor and in the same room, so any catastrophe requiring Signallers to leave the building will equally affect NR Control. However the Signallers there only cover part of the Route whereas Control cover the whole thing where many, many trains would still be running. And the major TOC's Control is co-located, so they would be gone too. 

3 hours ago, DY444 said:

I am not aware of any capability for one ROC to take over another in a crisis.  I believe it was discussed at one time but I am not aware it was proceeded with. 

I recall that being promoted as an advantage of ROCs but all of us in the operating side knew it was complete nonsense, and could not and would not ever happen; Where would the staff come from, to enable one ROC, at zero notice, to continue its own work and take over another's ? 

An issue for me with ROCs is that should one, for whatever reason, go down,  not only is (of course) signalling for its area lost but also the Control staff to manage the resulting disruption would be gone too ! For that reason, and because IMHO communication between Signallers and Controllers should be by recorded means, ie by phone, they do not need to be and should not be in the same place. 

Slightly pedantic point, some of the advertising shows Marton Ferry Road as the street name, although elsewhere the correct Marston Ferry Road is shown ! 

14 hours ago, Northmoor said:

We are not back to "normal" yet on heritage railways so the fares still reflect operations adapted to some level of social distancing.

On some heritage railways perhaps, but not all; I attended the Great Central Railway's excellent Winter Steam Gala in January. It was busy so any notion of social distancing was impossible, not that anyone seem concerned by that, and the fare was reasonable, so much so that I did not take advantage of my railway staff privilege reduction. And I did spend money on refreshments at Rothley and books at Loughborough !

21 hours ago, Nova Scotian said:

I think a 385 would be more interesting to me though.

 

Appreciate the plug for Wemyss Bay - we both like architecture and thought we'd then go to Rothesay and go across to the Isle of Bute. Funnily enough I used to live in a place called Rothesay in Canada.

You might be able to kill two birds with one stone, as a few of the Glasgow Central/Wemyss Bay and Gourock services are booked Class 385; For example yesterday the 0957 ex Central and 1057 return were 385019. 

11 minutes ago, hexagon789 said:

There were recent (2018-19?) plans to electrify and upgrade the freight line was passenger use to permit a half-hourly Largs service, but given the plethora of cuts across the ScotRail network that looks to be pie in the sky now.

I hope that will still happen, but of course it would also require rebuilding the second platforms at South Beach and West Kilbride, so won't be cheap ! 

Ardrossan to Largs was double track throughout, nowadays there are still two lines as far as Hunterston but only one is electrified ! The other, the Up Freight, sees very little use now. 

Part of the Crewe/Kidsgrove line is single track, between Crewe and just short of Alsager.

Preston/Ormskirk is now single track, and of course severed at Ormskirk, too. In the same area, Burnley/Colne and Bolton/Blackburn. 

If you haven't already done or planned it I would thoroughly recommend a trip over the Forth Bridge; Preferably in a Scotrail HST but other trains are available ! 

On 10/03/2022 at 14:28, Nearholmer said:

I do find it strange that people want to look at that, rather than hear the odd train, yet are happy to live alongside fairly busy roads.  

Agreed, and I wonder why the barriers are even deemed necessary, given that the railway has been there far longer than the houses ?

Getting back on topic, four fatalities in this US incident: 

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/chicago-four-people-killed-after-train-hits-car-on-railway-crossing/ar-AAUT7cr?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531

1 hour ago, The Stationmaster said:

 it appears that the Control did not have the presence of any widely experienced senior 'On Call' operations management from either the infrastructure owner or operator

1 hour ago, The Stationmaster said:

The workload in Control offices at the times of major incidents, including severe weather, rapidly becomes huge with a large number of balls in the air at once and it needs someone who can stand back from the hurly burly and make decisions about things like blanket speed restrictions.

Having worked, until 2016, in one of the roles mentioned in the RAIB report, I will not add much, other than to say that the 7 staff on night shift in Network Rail Scotland Control were dealing with around 30 incidents, one of which, the washaway of the line near Polmont due to a canal breach, was on its own a major event requiring a huge amount of Control time. Control staffing has been regarded by some (but not all) senior managers as an expensive luxury, given that staff are relatively well paid and, if the railway is running well, do not have a lot to do, hopefully the tragic accident at Stonehaven will change that attitude.