The Rail Enthusiast thread

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Drago

Drago

Legendary Member
Location
Suburban Poshshire
One of my neighbours was a supervisor for a track maintenance gang.

He would regularly work nights, but more often than not his car was back outside by 2300hrs. I asked him about this and because everything is so safety critical it has to be properly authorised, risk assessed, and be signed off accordingly. It was extremely common for some crucial piece of paperwork to be missing, or to be present but absent the correct signature authorising it, and as a consequence they couldn't proceed. They couldn't hang about a live railway environment just for kicks, and with depots and stations closed for the night there was nowhere to go other than home.

And they got paid for it as well!
 
BrumJim

BrumJim

Forum Stalwart (won't take the hint and leave...)
Location
Selly Oak, Birmingham
Drago said:
One of my neighbours was a supervisor for a track maintenance gang.

He would regularly work nights, but more often than not his car was back outside by 2300hrs. I asked him about this and because everything is so safety critical it has to be properly authorised, risk assessed, and be signed off accordingly. It was extremely common for some crucial piece of paperwork to be missing, or to be present but absent the correct signature authorising it, and as a consequence they couldn't proceed. They couldn't hang about a live railway environment just for kicks, and with depots and stations closed for the night there was nowhere to go other than home.

And they got paid for it as well!
Click to expand...

Not my scope. I'm looking at the design rather than the safety of the track workers.

But we have lost a few too many workers recently, and had a serious scare with others, mainly due to paperwork not being correct and similar. When you walk onto a track where you believe you have a possession (no trains running), it isn't great to see one heading straight for you.
 
Jenkins

Jenkins

Legendary Member
Location
Felixstowe
66730 (Doncaster PBS) climbing up from Felixstowe Dock north terminal, just as I wanted to use the crossing.
1764104750341.jpeg
 
Jenkins

Jenkins

Legendary Member
Location
Felixstowe
66537 & 66413 waiting for the 13:58 Ipswich - Felixstowe passenger train & a following freight train to clear the single line section
IMG_20251211_141532336_HDR~2.jpg


IMG_20251211_141629215_HDR.jpg
 
rogerzilla

rogerzilla

Legendary Member
Mad Doug Biker said:
Yes.

Class 57 and Mk3s'... It can't be anything else!
Click to expand...
We saw it waiting to go out in May, on a frantic dash to get back to Shropshire on the last train of the night. Ironically, we were supposed to be on the Caledonian Sleeper but they'd allocated us a coach with broken aircon in sweltering temperatures, so we just went home.
 
rogerzilla

rogerzilla

Legendary Member

View: https://youtu.be/-KuAPuzKJYo?feature=shared


We get these going past our house. For modern trains, they're quite interesting: a class 67 locomotive*, five Mk5 coaches, and an ex-ECML DVT on the other end with a chime horn.

*same engine as a class 66, capable of 125mph(!) but with an unfortunate history. They were ordered for fast postal trains, but Royal Mail switched to road and air transport instead. The axle loading is quite high, which limits their routes, and they're not geared for hauling freight. Many have been in storage for years, and one has been scrapped.
 
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