Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway General Discussion

Great video, as you can tell by my profile picture I spend a lot of time there

 

River Irt on holiday at Kirklees

 

As announced today on the Ravenglass Facebook page, there is to be another 3-day gala this year. This year is to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the Preservation Society. A couple of visiting locomotives are due to come to the railway for the weekend, yet to be announced. This will take place on the 8-10th May.

 

Conveniently, just as I was thinking to myself that it had been several years since I last went up to Ravenglass, Pathfinder announce a trip there on 23rd May which is picking up at my local station Worcester Shrub Hill. Coincidence or what! Suffice to say, I've booked on it. See you in May guys!

 

Sounds like a tour I'll go and see, as well as film at Ravenglass. See you then

 

VE day celebration weekend, could be good or bad for the railway visitor number wise

 

Oops!
It has been confirmed that an accident involving a steam train in the Lake District and a DPD delivery van has occurred on the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway.
The 12.30 from Dalegarth to Ravenglass was hit by the DPD van in an incident at Eskdale Green level crossing.
No passengers, staff or members of the public were injured in the incident. However, as per standard procedure, the Rail Accident Investigation Branch has been informed.

 

Glad that no one was hurt, but such a shame River Esk got into a crash, as it hadn't long since been brought back to service after such a lengthy and protected overhaul.

Mind you, I'm willing to bet it may just well have come out of this crash better then the van has...

 

Given what happened to @Victor grand daughter recently when her car was trashed by a hit & run delivery driver, there seems to be something about delivery vehicles that isnt right

 

The report on railadvent.co.uk states Esk took the train back to Ravenglass itself, so hopefully not too much damage.

 

Hermes in particular has been a thorn in the side of people I know - the missus has had parcels hidden and "signed for" by the courier's own squiggle whilst she was out of the house, my parents have had packages delivered in an utterly battered state and left on top of plant pots and several others in my home town have discovered theirs chucked into a rubbish bin and "signed for" as well.

I suspect that Hermes drivers, and the industry as a whole, are pressured into meeting impossible quotas so much that they take stupid risks on the journey, forge signatures and ignore delivery instructions just to meet said quota.

 

Yes you've pretty much hit the nail on the head there. You hire drivers on zero hours contracts and give them impossible quotas to meet. They have little or no employment protection so they have to drive around like idiots or they won't get work again. It's all a bit wild west.

Tim

 

All true, but also worth considering the pressure that the parcels companies are under to deliver quickly and cheaply - pressure that we help put on them. It's a business with wafer thin margins and next to no customer loyalty - remembering that "customer" in this instance is not you or I who order the package, but the company we buy it from.

 

Correct. The pic posted was looking from right to left along the road over the crossing.

 

Very true. People want to buy everything online but they don't want to play for it to be delivered. Online retail has been one of the few economic success stories of the last 10 years. The convenience is great but you inevitably loose something. Perhaps that loss of social interaction, and having to fish your treasured possessions out the bottom of the bin is why people in this country seem increasingly bitter these days.

Anyway this has nothing to do with trains, which are always great.

Tin

 

Reopening to the public Thursday 30 July

https://ravenglass-railway.co.uk/

 

A couple of pictures from today's test runs, felt good to be back on the railway.

 

We had a ride on the very first day behind Whillan Beck. I was expecting a few glitches but in fact there were none, which is a credit to the railway. It all seemed very efficient and the health & welfare of the passengers seemed to have been very well thought through including in the museum where Covid preparations were as thorough as for the rest of the line. Clearly a lot of thought & effort had been spent installing dozens of clear polycarbonate bulkheads between each set of seats, which worked very well, but did make the closed compartments a little warmer than normal which might mean passenger discomfort (and a temptation to open the sliding doors) on a rare warm day in the west lakes. I also visited the Kirklees a couple of days later. They had not gone for the clear bulkheads and were having to leave every second set of seats empty to allow for the social distancing standard.