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West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by gwr4090, Nov 15, 2007.

  1. Steve

    Steve Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    That’s a different thing and will be covered by local instructions. The assistance will only be as far as the platform end and the first stop signal.
     
  2. torgormaig

    torgormaig Part of the furniture Friend

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    Thats not quite correct Steve. Steam trains are regularly banked out of Victoria up onto Grosvenor Bridge, where the banker drops of behind a certain signal. As you say there are specific instructions relating to this fairly regular move. I believe that it could be the last location on the network now where unattached banking is authorised.

    Banking up Licky is still a regular occurance but there the banker is attached at Bromsgrove and stays with the train until somewhere like Bescot in the Birmingham area. The banking loco there was in the news last month when it derailed in a siding at Bromsgrove and was hit by a passing Cross Country service.

    Peter
     
  3. Crawley Ben

    Crawley Ben New Member

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    @Monkey Magic is the accident your thinking of St Bedes Junction back in 1915?

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Bedes_Junction_rail_crash

    Cheers

    Ben
     
  4. Steve

    Steve Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    You're better informed than me as you are regularly out on the big railway. However, it is still down to local instruction (Sectional Appendix). I didn't realise that Lickey bankers were no longer unattached. The Lickey incline is something I've never experienced. When I went to the Lickey Hills in my youth it was with the fairer sex and railways were at the back of my mind.

    Are you as bored as me?

    Edited to say what I meant to say!
     
    Last edited: Apr 13, 2020
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  5. torgormaig

    torgormaig Part of the furniture Friend

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    You misunderstand me Steve. Licky bankers are attached to the rear of the train and stay with it way beyond the summit until it reaches a suitable location where it can be detached. I do know how many trains need banking up Licky these days but I suspect they are few in number. The loco involved in last months accident seems to have just arrived at Bromsgrove light engine from Bescot in order to bank a train that night.

    Yes, I am just as bored as you Steve. Does it show?

    Peter
     
  6. MattA

    MattA Member

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    Well, the Rev. Awdry's stories were often based on real life events, and an accident in very similar circumstances does occur on the Island of Sodor...
    [​IMG]

    "And luckily, nobody was hurt", probably because in this case the train had the most unusual arrangement of not having a guard's van at all!!
     
  7. 60044

    60044 Member

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    5UW866028K644980U
    Steve, what you need is a second hobby! Model railways anyone?
     
  8. Steve

    Steve Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    I gave up with model railways in 1980, although I still have an awful lot of stuff gathering dust in the loft. I have thought about it but come to the conclusion I wouldn't have the time in normal circumstances and I still hope they will return.
     
  9. Steve

    Steve Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    Oops. I actually meant to say no longer unattached. Senior moment.
     
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  10. Greenway

    Greenway Part of the furniture

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    An interesting place to see banking - and the reverse - before the gas works coal trains to Torquay from Kingswear ceased in the mid 1960's was at Churston. Frequently 2-6-2 Prairie locos were used, sometimes a Mogul. From Kingswear a loco top and tallied up the steep climbs to Churston where it stopped on the reasonably level section at the station. The banker was removed and often ran around placing itself on the front of the train. This had the effect of two locos on the front being able to better control the descent to Paignton. This latter movement did not always occur, from memory, I presume it was at the guards discretion having noted the weight and weather conditions.

    This interesting thread drift needs a thread of its own: it is far too sensible to be here on a WSR thread. ;)
     
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  11. Greenway

    Greenway Part of the furniture

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    If you are like many of us with time on your hands then plan a garden railway. It took me nearly three months to plan and build mine many years ago. There are lots of fora and web sites to help on the web. You have lots of choices. Standard or Narrow Gauge, American or European outline.
    Hopefully products to lay the track and to run the line will be more easily got once the lockdown is eased.
     
  12. Steve

    Steve Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    Coming back to token exchanges after a digression into banking, I was always taught to hold the hoop at the top with the token at the bottom so it didn't swing down when picked up by the bobby. Looking at all those photos on token exchanges, it seems a lot of others don't do this.
     
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  13. Robin Moira White

    Robin Moira White Resident of Nat Pres

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    My personal ‘bete noir’ is to see enginemen collecting a hoop with extended fingers instead of a fist - which increases the risk of injury. I usually make a point of speaking to the cleaner or fireman if I see that.

    Robin
     
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  14. RailWest

    RailWest Part of the furniture

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    Indeed - don't want your eye poked out ! :)
     
  15. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

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    I've not heard that. On Southern pattern ones, we always are shown to hold them at the token end (with the loop facing down if you are on a loco, or the loop facing up if you are the signalman) - that way when it goes onto the signalman's arm, it will just naturally fall out of your hand and there is no chance of getting your fingers caught. If you do it the other way up, holding it with your fingers wrapped round the loop, there is a chance that you can't release it easily.

    I've often wondered about the GW pattern ones, which as far as I can see are rigid aluminium. Southern ones are a hoop of wire, covered in leather.

    Can the token be seen on a GWR one either way round? On a Southern one, it has to be in the pouch a specific way so the engraved wording can be read through an eye hole in the pouch (which is single sided, i.e. a hole on only one side). It is usual on a test for a token at some point to be handed over the wrong way round (or not at all - i.e. handed an an empty pouch) to check that the testee is observant and doesn't just take it without looking.

    Tom
     
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  16. michaelh

    michaelh Part of the furniture

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  17. Robin Moira White

    Robin Moira White Resident of Nat Pres

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    No, it’s more a matter of not wanting to see the enginemen damaging their fingers.

    The hoop is steel tube, with both ends held in the aluminium casting that holds the token.

    The token can only be clipped into the hoop with the wording facing outward. The aluminium casting of the hoop is ‘handed’ to ensure this.

    The back of the casting has a cut-out through which the colour of the token can be seen.

    Robin
     
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  18. Dunfanaghy Road

    Dunfanaghy Road Well-Known Member

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    The GWR pattern of token and holder is certainly robust, even bombproof. Where it falls down is that the token section names can only be read. The Southern (and, I imagine, other) types allow the traincrew to feel the shape of the aperture to confirm that it is correct. Many (far too many!) years ago I rode the overnight / early morning DMU from Shrewsbury to Machynlleth; at every box the driver switched on his cab light to check the token (including, obviously, Abermule)., thus destroying his night vision. Is this a real problem, or am I imagining things?
    Pat
     
  19. Steve

    Steve Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    I don't actually hold the loop but dangle it from my fingers so it is easily transferred to the signalman and doesn't require me to let go at the appropriate moment. The hand naturally goes that way. That allows me to concentrate on picking up the other token.

    When the NYMR was on staff & ticket I have known these to be put in the wrong way round, requiring them to be removed to check on them. Now we are entirely on tablets that doesn't seem to happen, which of course, it shouldn't.

    In my time on the Talyllyn they never used a pouch (and I think they still don't) so you simply swapped the key token. There wasn't much height difference so it was never a problem in doing so and it was rare to drop a token unless it had been placed on the firebox and got rather hot, usually on purpose!
     
  20. RailWest

    RailWest Part of the furniture

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    To some extent the pouches used for the GWR version of the Whitaker apparatus on the Minehead and Barnstaple lines are even worse, as they have an aperture only in the front - the back is just a large metal plate. You can read the wording, the colour is really only visible around the periphery of the apertures. You could unbuckle the pouch, take the token out to have a look, then put it back if you wanted to, but frankly it's so fiddly that it would be best to leave it securely inside.

    And despite their small size, those pouches were much heavier than the usual GWR 'hoop' as they incorporate a hefty weight at one end, presumably to ensure proper functioning of the apparatus. You would not want one of those across the back of the head :-(
     

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