Random Transport Chatter

[Geo Ghost]

What can I say but.. whoops?

RAIB and the ORR are investigating an over-speed incident which occurred at Queens Park, in which a London Midland train was doing 75mph though a emergency speed restriction.... of 5mph.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/over ... ueens-park

That.. I dare say is pretty indefensible. Especially if the ORR are involved too.
Pretty serious one mind you as something like that could have had a disastrous consequence if a derailment had happened.

[Redirect Left]

RAIB and the ORR are investigating an over-speed incident which occurred at Queens Park, in which a London Midland train was doing 75mph though a emergency speed restriction.... of 5mph.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/over ... ueens-park.

The London Midland service, reporting number 2B14, consisted of three class 350 electrical multiple units coupled together; a total of 12 coaches. It was being driven by a driver-manager who was being assessed, as part of a routine competence management process, by a second driver-manager travelling in the driving cab.

TWO driver managers in the cab, one assessing the other, and they still managed to balls this up superbly. That's an assessment neither of them are forgetting for a while.
Was this a normal in service train too? The article only says it was a passenger train (a 350 generally is), but i'm not sure if they operate in threes usually or if this was rolling stock movements?

[Geo Ghost]

3 x 350 units. Standard morning 12 car.

[Redirect Left]

and at that time of the day, I assume filled to the brim of commuters then? Cheesus, that's an even more serious fault then.

[Pilot]

I guess this is a case of the drivers thinking that their route knowledge is best, and not paying attention to what is actually going on outside the cab. 70mph is massive difference between the two speeds to get wrong, and I imagine, very close to the line speed. Someone, or both of them probably, is getting sacked over this.

Does anyone have an idea as to how they were caught doing this speed? I know there are Rail Speed Cameras, normally used to enforce temporary speed restrictions, but would they have had the opportunity install one in such a short time scale? Or is there another, much simpler way of checking these things?

[Redirect Left]

much simpler way of checking these things?

Surely you can tell such a huge speed difference in schedules too. That much speed difference would have affected arrival times vs expected for the lower speed quite a bit?

[Ameecher]

I guess this is a case of the drivers thinking that their route knowledge is best, and not paying attention to what is actually going on outside the cab. 70mph is massive difference between the two speeds to get wrong, and I imagine, very close to the line speed. Someone, or both of them probably, is getting sacked over this.

Does anyone have an idea as to how they were caught doing this speed? I know there are Rail Speed Cameras, normally used to enforce temporary speed restrictions, but would they have had the opportunity install one in such a short time scale? Or is there another, much simpler way of checking these things?

In this instance a member of P-Way staff shopped them and then presumably OTMR data was pulled from the train confirming the excess speed.

[Geo Ghost]

I know there are Rail Speed Cameras, normally used to enforce temporary speed restrictions,

Not to my knowledge down this way. Though, it is not unheard of for managers to go out with speed guns

Easy to spot. Could even be noticed by a signaller seeing a train a lot further ahead than it should be. Expecting it to be 5 minutes late because of a speed restriction, then suddenly on time.
Or as Ameecher said, reported by p-way staff. Or may be as simple as they noticed the mistake too late on and reported it in themselves.

I wouldn't say they'd be sacked.. but it's not too likely they'll be in the same position if ORR is indeed investigating. That is of course, unless something else comes to light which explains it.

[beeb375]

Just a random pic for you. Here's my old man next to his office for the day:

Dad 2.jpg (128.33 KiB) Viewed 629 times

[Nawdic]

On a timetabled passenger?

[Dave]

Looks like the Cumbrian Coast loco hauled. 37+4 mk2+DBSO

[Drury]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... Driver.jpg

Wow look at this guy working in his attic.

[Geo Ghost]

There's something strangely satisfying about overtaking 2 East Coast trains and a fast GN service whilst in a 313...on the slow line

[beeb375]

Looks like the Cumbrian Coast loco hauled. 37+4 mk2+DBSO

Correct, Mr W. He's stuck doing that while they get more Northern drivers trained up. Once that's done he can get back to things such as the Crewe - Glasgow Tesco train.

[Redirect Left]

The last two remaining SR.N4 Hovercraft used for the Dover - Calais Hovercraft crossing are to be destroyed. The SR.N4 Hovercraft became famous in the UK, and often what everyone thought of first when they thought of 'Hovercraft'.
The Hovercraft museum are hoping to raise enough funds to purchase one, however unless they manage it, both examples are likely to be destroyed.


If this goes ahead and neither are saved, it'll be a sad loss. Two magnificent vessels that were the biggest of their type at time of build, they operated from 1968 until 2000.
Six SR.N4s were built, two survive up to this date, all were named, and all of them played their part in doing the Dover-Calais route:
Princess Margaret, the prototype of SR.N4, still lives today.
Swift was broken up at the Hovercraft Museum in 2004
Sure was broken up in 1983 for spares
Princess Anne is the second that lives on today.
Sir Christopher was broken up in 1998 for spares
The Prince of Wales was scrapped after an electrical fire in 1993.

BBC News

[Kevo00]

Yup, the Hovercraft are important - they shouldn't be broken up!

[Redirect Left]

Bit of an odd one for todays 'random transport chatter'.
Huddersfield has a station cat, acting as a ratter a lot like old times. Recently the cat, named Felix was given a promotion, lucky cat eh?
However, the article and her story has now gone global, and the cat now has fans as far as China, Afghanistan, Texas & Netherlands to name a few.

I see this cat nearly every day, as my voluntary work keeps me at Huddersfield station a lot. She's a right bundle of joy and roams Platforms 1 & 2 looking for attention, usually seeking those who are looking gloomy or down for some reason (delays?). A common joke is how shes the only member of staff who can wander the tracks as she pleases (and infrequently does, the subway seems to not be her thing really).
Cat is certainly doing a lot better at generating PR than a lot of actual rail staff and bosses The cat has been with Huddersfield Rail Station since she was 9 weeks old, as back in 2011 Huddersfield had an awful mouse and rat issue. I never realised just how good cats were at that job until Felix arrived, and since she got in i haven't seen a single mouse/rat roaming around platform or tracks! Transpennine Express even went as far as to install a cat flap in the new gateline when the station was given ticker barriers. She's loved by passengers and staff alike.

It's somewhat of a shame, that being a cat, she'll never know how global her silly little story has gone. Sadly, I don't know Chinese, so I'm unable to read/understand the news article linked from Hong Kongs 'The Sun'. If we have any that do, i'd love to know what the Chinese papers thought of it or worded it. Very recent paper too, from the date on the top right (not sure how far ahead Hong Kong is on timezones from us )

[Drury]

So very fluffy!

I could sit there all day long, petting a fluffy kitty, watching trains go by.

[Redirect Left]

I could sit there all day long, petting a fluffy kitty, watching trains go by.

I've done that a few times after my shift on the help desk finished, wander up to the Platforms and just have a calm relaxed 30 minutes with trains and a cat

[Redirect Left]

MPs have warned that taxpayers could end up out of pocket, as there is not enough interest from companies in running some rail franchises in England & Wales.

Source: BBC News