snow and steam

But should transport be an industry where the profit margin has first call, i dont think that any hedge fund manager should be able to making gains on the back of what should be a public service all major airports and railways should be state owned and profits made plowed into keeping that industry up to date, not in making already rich people richer

 

Agreed - having spent my career roughly 50/50 over 36 years now in public & private sectors dealing with similar services it is pretty clear to me which sector really cares about service & puts the needs of customers above the self developed agenda of the staff - and it certainly ain't the public sector!!! (whatever they might try to tell you).

 

That's a good one. I too have worked in both the private and public sectors and for a little longer than you. I would state the complete opposite. Just shows that anecdotal evidence is worthless.

 

IMHO, both the public and private sector used to provide a service. What has changed is the ascendency of the accountant and the decline of the engineers and 'through the ranks' as senior managers. Those with the experience of the job would always have the necessary spare capacity and contingency plans for any event that they had experienced (and a lot that they hadn't). Remember when there were spare coaches tucked in sidings, just in case? There was always a standing pilot at Doncaster, usually an A1, just in case. There were always spare crews at strategic locations, just in case. snowploughs were always made ready in winter, just in case. All these things were sensible to the managers of the time, but would be anathema to the manager accountants of today.

In terms of service, the railways were efficiently run, but not financially efficient. And that's what counts, today, alas.

 

Whether you regard NR as a public or private sector body some heads should be rolling; extract from the press (a professional magazine) suggests:

NR has admitted that two of its deicing trains were out of action under maintenance during recent winter weather. Spokesman confirms that they had been undergoing maintenance since the summer.

 

From NR site:
To fight the snow they have (or did have last winter):
A hired fleet of locomotives fitted with Miniature Snow Ploughs (MSPs) which clear snow up to 450mm above railhead. Some locomotives are also fitted with ‘shoegear’ which also can clear ice / snow from the conductor rail.
11 independent snow ploughs (ISPS),
5 Beilhack ploughs (ploughs mounted on former class 40 bogies)
2 Snowblowers (2)

From the Scotrail site - most of the ploughs are based in Scotland

 

Deleted. Got my facts wrong!

 

I thought most of the third rail system was installed by the private sector Southern Railway?

 

The real truth is quality of management

That can be good or bad in both public and private sectors - or government, local or national

I would put the best of BR management from the mid eighties onwards up against any corporate group - like it or not, they could run a railway, a whole corporate railway, unlike the current shower.

As for ripping off the taxpayer - don't get me started - I could write a manual!

 

and that frank is the difference, managers who know what their first priority should be, that of getting their industry up an running as soon as possible, none of this risk adverse nonsence, that seems to be all important these days

 

Just to come back to the original question.
I was an apprentice working at Stewarts Lane Electric Loco shed in 1962/63 and can remember working seven 12 hour days straight off during that winter to keep the E5000 locos working. They were susceptible to traction motor flash overs caused by power surges so most properly most of our time was spent stripping out the traction motor brush gear to replace the brush box insulators. Just on the side, before the onset of winter the booster/traction motor air intakes were fitted hessian filters to stop snow being sucked into them. In the spring the hessian had to be removed as it became blocked with brake dust.
At that time the E6000 class (6 off) were in service but I cannot recall any problems with them.
Steam was not used to replace EMU's, de-icing trains laid a thin coat of thin grease on the conductor rail which done the job even though the EMU's did struggle sometimes to cope with the ice on the conductor rail.
No bankers were not used on Sole Street Bank.
Snow wasn't so much of a problem back then and I don't think snow ploughs were available although some of the Class 33 did have the small snow ploughs fitted in place of guard irons.
I hope this helps the memory gets a bit rusty.

 

Thinking of winter, snow, Christmas and those far off BR days, how many of you can remember the Christmas week WON/STN on the Southern that detailed a special train for 25th Dec can't remember the year, but would have been in the 60s, departing 00:01 from North Pole Junction, Chartered by Mr S Claus, J Frost was booked on to assist with the loading of reindeer.

Alan Crotty