West Somerset Railway General Discussion

It is not just the public. Officials gave been known to be out with their radar guns. Any prudent driver or fireman should carry a GPS to be sure he is legal.

 

I presume most locomotive drivers, particularly of long standing, have a fair idea of what speed they are travelling. I know, without looking at the car speedometer, roughly what speed my car is doing.
I know it was a film - with the usual licence taken - one recalls Titfield Thunderbolt just scraping by the average speed permissable and that was despite the famous water stop.
How many recorded infringements have their been in pre GPS days I wonder? Personally the roads of SW England are so well signposted I would find GPS unnecessary. However if I was maritime bound I would welcome it.

 

Hmm. My earliest possible arrival at Taunton is 1225 hours. It's a shame they're running this on a Sunday when the railways are slow to wake up.

 

Guessing the 7Fs are going to face minehead for the charter to minehead and taunton for the return,
My question is what way are the other 3 steam facing atm please, ta

 

I expect you are guessing correctly for the 7Fs. Yesterday (Thursday) 44422 and 6960 were facing TN, 7828 facing MD.

 

I suspect that both the travelling public & the management of the railway would much prefer that us loco crews concentrated fully on the job, kept a sharp look out ahead and travelled at a sensible speed derived from experience rather than be distracted prating about with hand held devices to see whether we are doing 22 or 25 mph.

 

As above, I disagree. Inspectors know that crews probably don't have any speedometers, so will take that into account. I once heard it said that above 30mph an inspector will raise an eyebrow. 35mph he'll start asking questions, and 40mph is when you get into real trouble. Naturally, it's best to stick to what youvthink is 25moh anyway though.

 

I think you underestimate the other demands on a footplate, as well as the need to keep a vigilant eye forward, not only for signals, but also unexpected hazards such as people, animals or other obstructions on the lineside. In the circumstance, mandating the use of a device that required one to take one's attention away from looking forward might not be the aid to safety you think.

Judgement of speed is one of the skills you need to acquire to progress; you get it from a synthesis of lots of clues, visual, aural and otherwise. I don't think too many people would complain if your estimation of 25mph was actually 27mph; if 25 was actually 35, that would be another matter, but in my experience, it is very hard to mistake one for the other - if you are going that fast on a section of line you were familiar with, you would know it without a speedometer.

Tom

 

As of tonight 6960 faces Bl, 4f faces Bl, 7828 faces md. as for the 7fs you are correct.

53809 will double head with 6960 from minehead tomorrow morning on the 10:15 ex md

You may also find 53809 double head back to me on Sunday, not sure when but will be a service train.

C

 

Most drivers use the good old 36 seconds between the quarter mile post means 25 miles an hour.

 

Ok if you have quarter mile posts and can rely on their accuracy.

Scheduled section times should allow for the permitted speeds, and thus form experience a driver will know they are running within the limits if they keep to schedule.

 

So do guards. Many years ago I made a ready recconer from 900 seconds 1 mph to 6.8 secs 136mph. Even guards can feel what 25 is like and I would not bother to measure the 1/4 mile if we were at or arround the limit

 

And if you were running late?

 

They've got two choices to my one. Are we really turning into such a nasty, snooping society, or, has it always been thus and now the technology is available to turn everybody into a busybody?

 

Then you run late, better than speeding.

 

Only on a west somerset thread could we suddenly decide there was a problem when for the last 50 years we've managed to regulate our speeds fine...

 

Where did I mention speeding. Section times often have an allowance so less than 25 required. You are often able to cut section times and remain at 25

 

Not wishing to fall out with you, Maverick, but no driver I know uses that method; we all know, more or less, what speed we are doing. The last time I had an Inspector doing a check drive with me, my fireman was driving and I was firing, but I called the speeds from time to time and was either spot on, or within 1 or 2 mph every time.

I don't have a problem with keeping to the limits, more or less, and certainly at restrictions, or slacks; I just have a problem with people being glued to their electronic toys, then coming up to tell me smugly that I was doing 31.7 mph somewhere or other, when I was driving a train, with all the responsibility that entails, probably trying to get back on time and, at the same time, ensuring everyone has a good, smooth ride; oh yes, and looking after my fireman.

This last was a general comment on the situation, by the way, and, in no way, aimed at you, so please don't take it amiss.

Regards,

jtx

 

We'll have to disagree on that, bus driver. I've met a number of WSR lads over the years. I've never heard any of them say they are content that their published timetable becomes a work of fiction.

It's easy to pick up delay minutes by a bit of extra acceleration, a couple of extra mph in appropriate places, delaying braking and slick station work. It's called pride in the job.

Our Railways have built hard - earned reputations for excellence over the years. I do not believe that our front 0f house staff in the booking offices and on the trains and the operational triumvirate of footplate crew, guards and signalmen, would lightly squander that. Ask Robin.

There are signalmen on my line, who, as she said in another posting, take a personal pride in having points and signals changed before the footplate crew have reversed the engine. Where you are running round to go back on the train; if you clear the points and ground signal and you have a lever - reverse engine, you might just make it, before a sharp signalman reverses the points and clears the dummy. With a screw - reverse engine, you have no chance.

That's not the point; the point is the common aspiration to excellence.

Regards,

jtx

 

Depends how tight the schedules are. Obviously no one deliberately runs late, but it depends on the service planned. For example on a busy timetable, the lack of a gateman at one crossing can cost several minutes while the guard descends, train moves forward then guard rejoins after doing the gates.

Most signalmen do indeed try to be ready before the driver. Sometimes the signalling doesn't allow really fast working, I occasionally find myself with hand on lever, waiting for the electric lever lock to drop before I can pull off an approach released signal.