The Great Britain VIII

Not impressed with certain individuals in NR briefing trainspotters magazines about information that is, in my opinion, confidential.
At least RAIB and ORR are professional.

 

Like I say, in the past, Mr. Harris has been the first to criticise others for the kind of thing you describe so I was a bit surprised to read the words I did. That said, I think his observation on the statement David Smith gave to SR is spot on. It certainly does reveal an extraordinary level of complacency. Worth remembering I guess that he is the Chairman of WCRC, not the MD / Operations Manager, but obviously his comments are going to attract attention.

 

But we are talking about him and his publication once again aren't we - job done!

 

Two things, first of all, RAIL magazine is not a "Trainspotters magazine", more of an industry journal and commands a lot of respect from industry leaders. Secondly, Network Rail began this process by suspending WCR's track access license, and choosing to put the fact they'd done it in the public domain. There is no reason therefore why they should not expect reasonable questions on the matter from the media / railway press, and to answer them however they see fit. As far as I can see they have only passed on information collected by their representatives which is theirs to do with as they see fit.

 

Bri

Britannia upfront, tucked inside providing heat ! Having heat to, Bristol is the only positive thing to take from this debacle

 

Perhaps you'd like to suggest that's his motivation to him directly using his Twitter feed, @RAIL

 

Not actually sure how much this says about Harris and Rail (albeit possibly revealing a degree of naivety) if they are prepared to publish this which could prejudice any future proceedings, I imagine the bun fight for the lawyers if this ever gets into a court (either criminal or civil) gets ever more tangled, sure they will have a field day if NR have been briefing the media (or at least their chosen ones) whilst the case was still subject to investigation?

 

In everything that has been reported about WCRC one thing stands out above others in relation to its management – David Smith is WCRC. One fails to see how a commentary piece of the sort in RAIL could credibly evade holding such a powerful and reputedly autocratic individual to account in this context.

 

Nah - after previously inadvertently upsetting Nicky Campbell (I didn't hash tag him or use @ - so he must search for mentions online!) I don't engage with celebrities anymore!

 

This is really hard considering successful last year went in flying colors.

 

Probably wise, though not sure I'd call Harris a celebrity. He may think he is however given he uses the name of the magazine he edits, (and it's logo) as his Twitter Username !

 

You've nailed it there I think, and this could be one of the biggest changes of all the organisation will have to make. It's not entirely unusual for this to happen of course, but maybe he needs to take a leaf out of Mr. Hosking's book in this respect ?

 

I just want this l to be sorted as I have loads of work to do and this saga isn't helping!

Seriously though there is someone on WNXX who is actually on the train updating there and assuming their comments are correct the lack of information being provided to the passengers is shocking!

 

The crew on Britannia on Tuesday clearly enjoyed their day out. Just take a look at this from a You Tube clip at Castle Cary. That is one hell of a whistle show!

 

you haven't quite grasped how a TOC operates - the moment they (in this case DBS) become the operator they fall under the same rules as anyone else (TOC) except the delay £ compensation disruption payout limitations have been capped at a fixed lower amount for steam railtours - that was under review to be reneged on - if any review found to lift that cap then the ''insurance'' cost that would have to be placed on a rail tour ticket may well become prohibitive and untenable

 

I doubt very much if anyone who is not in a senior position at NR would have dared to send out a copy of the report to Rail Magazine without the consent of Senior Management. If they did, then they are probably out of a job by now.

 

Yes blimey, not heard anything like that since Braunton got its whistle stuck.

 

excellent clip thanks for posting - thats why we like railtours - tornado did a similar show at CLC last year with the Devon Belle - the station really lends itself to it :O)

 

I know how a ToC operates, I hadn't appreciated however what the original poster was asking, that is the compensation for causing delays and disruption to other users on the network.

 

also states on wnxx Guardsman in steam at Carnforth