West Somerset Railway General Discussion

I fully support what jtx has posted. . Trying to stick to the timetable is what staff try to do. For instance if there is a Q path not running and the station dwell time is 4 minutes and you can cut it to one you are 3 minutes closer to getting back on time. The SVR has another consideration to run to time, our interface with the big railway. We have many passengers who arrive and depart from Kidderminster Network Rail. I am often asked when running late "I was planning to catch the hh.mm train. Will I make it". As jtx says its operational pride to try to meet that passengers expectation.

At either end of the line even if late in the loco crew and train crew will shorten their break and get the return journey away on time.

It is all called pride in the job

 

You may have heard it said but David Keay (HMRI) has told a HRA seminar that anything over 27.5 mph will not be condoned. i.e 25 mph + 10%. I'll leave you to decide which is their policy.

 

Certainly wasn't suggesting using that as a guideline, merely something I had heard.

 

Well, to quote Mandy Rice - Davies, he would say that, wouldn't he?

 

He would. I was merely saying that what flying scotsman123 understood as being HMRI policy was not the case. The days of Major Olver saying ' We know that you do 40mph with a speed limit of 25mph so you would do 50mph if we raised it to 30mph' are long gone.

 

I didn't say it was policy! Perhaps if I likened it to speed traps on the road; if you're over the speed limit, you're illegal, but often the police won't bother stopping you unless you're 10mph over. Doesn't mean you can, or should, push the boundary.

 

The normal rule applied by many police forces is +10% + 2mph. So for a 25 limit 30 would give a reasonable margin given manual estimation by seconds between mile posts. It is a reasonable compromise that is practical for the driver. Anything much over that is a no no.

 

Unfortunately the legend about what Major Olver may or may not have said about 25mph because I know you do 40mph etc; is still being perpetuated by a few die hard preserved railway "drivers".

 

Double headed 73, 47, and 7Fs seen today.

 

Given that the conversation was related to me verbatim, by the recipient, and subsequently confirmed by witnesses present, who the hell are you to question it?

jtx, Severn Valley Railway Driver.

Note: no quotation marks around the word "driver."

 

I can cut out the middleman.

I was WSR Operating Superintendent for a year in the 1990's before starting my legal training and had exactly this conversation with Major Olver.

It is, of course, a different world nowadays.

Robin

 

If he said it once, he said it many times. It was his stock answer whenever the question of raising speed limits arose and, before the advent of recent essentially prohibitive legislation, it was something that was asked by quite a few railways.

 

Point of information.

Major Peter Olver (no 'i')

Robin

 

When someone resorts to ad hominem attacks, and profanity, it is definitive evidence they have lost both the plot and the argument. The best course is to ignore them.

 

Thank you for putting me right. A persons name should be spelt corectly

 

Thanks for the sage advice.

 

Especially when he can shut your Railway down....

Now we all need to practise..

S T E V E T U R N E R...

Robin

 

Now there's a thought.