Great Central Railway General Matters

And that's what Tom said:

 

The proof reading is also unclear about the ratio of escort to photographer - it doesn't actually specify a 1:1 ratio. The point, which is consistent with the findings of too many RAIB reports into track worker incidents, is that the supervisor cannot also be participating in the activity. Whether Mrs Biglens would be an appropriate escort if focusing on birdwatching is possibly a different issue.

 

No it isn't, only one would need to go through the observer training and he would have to be a photographer who doesn't want to take photographs. There's not many of them about.

 

That's not how I read it. There is only one competency - and that is what allows you lineside. But you must have two of you, both of whom hold that same competency, but one is photographing, and one is just watching out. It would suggest to me if you went as a pair you could swap over at lunchtime, or indeed possibly every other train.

 

What is the situation with GCR Railway staff working on the line?
Does the GCR require use of PICOW / COSS / LOOKOUTS / POSSESSIONS before any work can be done?
This in a similar long standing requirement for Network staff.
I believe a number of Heritage lines are bringing in these standards to comply with H+S Policy.
Not requiring photographers to abide by a version of these Standards would seem strange.

 

Read the email; ‘ the person acting as line observer must be a qualified line observer.’ I don’t know who Devon Johnson is but the content of the email suggests ex Network Rail. They dress up their staff in full orange from head to foot with a safety helmet that I understand is not necessary by the regulations, train crew and loco support crew just need a compliant hi vis. What’s the purpose of the bump hat and what is the observer supposed to be observing? It all sounds a bit ludicrous.

 

May not be a regulatory compliance requirement, but is part of their risk assessment for trackside working.

It's often easier to have a blanket policy, than not and have the hassle of where exceptions are granted.

Struggling to see the issue here.

They have done a risk assessment to allow people to access a restricted area, in line with their statutory duties.

Either comply, and enjoy.

Or don't expect to be granted access privileges.

Chris

 

It's their trainset. Play by their rules, or not at all. Frankly I'm surprised that a lookout/buddy system wasn't already a thing.

 

Reading it more closely, it's somewhat unclear whether there is a "personal safety awareness and line observer course" or whether there are "personal safety awareness" and "line observer" so it is not clear if it is one competence or two - though if it is two, you could in effect make "line observer" one extra part of the "personal safety awareness", taken at the same time.

The key point though, responding to @Gladiator 5076 point about having volunteers to be available as observers, is that my feeling is that this is really about ensuring people are not alone on the line side. To me it looks like a pair of people with appropriate qualification can go line side together. By contrast, if you turn up alone, there doesn't seem to be any obligation on the GCR to find you a suitable observer so you can go line side. (And that I think is understandable - why should a volunteer who comes to the railway to do a particular job have to instead accompany a photographer?)

So it seems to me the onus is on photographers to form relationships such that one can take photos and the other act as an observer. (And as per @35B, the ratio isn't clear - so perhaps you could have larger groups, provided one acted as an observer: it's not completely clear if that is allowed or not).

Tom

 

Has anybody thought to check with the GCR as to the validity of this purported notice and its interpretation ? We have three pages of discussion based on supposition and assumption but no facts !

 

There was the first of the new "Goods Experience" offering from the GCR yesterday and the participants certainly seemed to enjoy being shown how freight traffic was moved by rail and the work of the goods train guard.

Picture taken on the trial run two weeks ago.

 

There is the Spring Diesel Gala coming up at the end of the month and a lot of work is being done to create an impressive locomotive line up.....just to give a taster...

 

At this weekend's Gala there are Cab rides available on the main line and a "Driver for £10" in a class 08 No 13101 in Quorn yard.

 

It was announced during the GCR AGM yesterday that "Bahamas" and the Coal Tank are expected to be two of the four visitors at the GCR Autumn steam gala..........

 

Just attempted to go on the GCR website to check on something related to the Diesel Gala this weekend and found a message saying that their new website is now approaching Platform 1 !! Presumably the new one will be live later today.
Glad to see the back of the one that is being replaced as it was hardly user friendly......

 

Funny I found it way better than a lot of the so called "better versions" now used by other lines. I look forward to the GCR offering with trepidation.

 

The website went back on-line earlier today. As far as I can see, its exactly the same as the last version. The ticket information is equally as confusing and misleading as before!

 

It's nothing like the old one. Maybe you're looking at an older cached version?

EDIT: I don't like it much... but lets see how it develops.

 

After a quick look, I think it's fine for my needs - apart from the fact that I find elements that grow, shrink and move about when you scroll annoying and distracting.

Concerning the Diesel gala - the A, B, C and PCLS sets are mentioned, but not the 'E' set. I would have thought it must be the DMU, but it's shown as top and tailed with loco numbers listed - I'm guessing this means the DMU is just being used as extra coaching stock and is being hauled rather than self-powered.

 

I think that was my main beef with it too, on a 3 minute initial visit. I tried to look at the list of locos - leaving aside that when you click on the loco works, a prominent picture pops up of the pre-refurbishment shed (looks a mess) with two locos no longer on site in front of it - then when you scroll down for the locos, there's a large box for each one (which in summary tells you the designer - who cares, apart from enthusiasts? - but not when it was built, which is probably much more interesting to the public). The 'home fleet' list seems to have current visitors mixed in with it. And they're in random order. So the 'home fleet' summary box has 48305, 1054 (no), 6990, (D)7018 (no), D6535, D6700. When you click through for the full list you get Class 101 DMUs, 63601, D6700, 70013, 78018, 55019, 27056, Class 153s, 73156, 34039, 48624, D123. Then on Page 2 you get 34039, 27056, D6700, 37714, 48624, 47406, 55019, 79900, Class 101 DMUs, 70013, 73156.
Or in other words - a jumbled up mess, with several locos duplicated, and several locos missing. If you click the 'steam' button some of the missing steam locos (like 30777 and 78019) do appear, but there are still omissions (like 68067, 45305, 45491 (if we're allowed to mention it... it's still on site) and a couple of industrial locos. On the diesel side, similar picture - the class 20, 25, 47, stored class 37 and all of the shunters are missing, at least.

I'm left wondering - what would be wrong with a simple list, in numerical order and a one or two word status (in traffic / under overhaul / stored), with a clickable link for each one?

Another thing:
If you click on the 'Tickets' tab it takes you to 'Explorer tickets' which seem to not be the full list of what's available. For that you need 'Timetables and fares'. A bit confusing. When you get to the 'Timetables and fares' part, it seems to be impossible to find prices without first picking a date. This no doubt implies some sort of flexible/dynamic pricing, but it makes the initial 'shall I plan a visit' decision difficult and infuriating. Yesterday, I found what I thought was such a list, with all the fares on it. Today, I can't find it. Which is just as well because yesterday it said that family tickets weren't available after 2pm, which implies that a family arriving after that would need to pay full fare, which works out considerably more for a single round trip than if they'd arrived earlier and bought a family runabout.

If this is my first impression based on a 3 minute look then I wonder what other nasties are lurking elsewhere? In fact the more I look at it, the more it appears to be unfit for purpose.