Trespassers

tho ught idea was photo loco you can photo poeple in street why from railway line

 

But if you had read the previous post you will have seen exactly what I was referring to. As a general rule I do not use textspeak, preferring to use standard English. However, my abbreviation was a direct result of 60017's post. His later response would seem to suggest that he understood my point.

 

getting back on topic ie tresspassers , how many of us have had that heart stopping moment when you loose sight of the photograther , who to be honest should not be there in the first place, we all take our hobby seriously and trains will kill you just as easily at 25mph as they would on network rail , you would not put your life in your hands by standing in the 4foot of the west coast main line, its no different than your local preserved railway because its not a nice feeling, shouting to the driver, can you see him!! its not worth that special shot , railway workers should always know the dangers that being on a working railway are ,im sorry but photograthers do not, and if you are trying to concentrate on that shot, a steam engine coasting, is deceptivly quite and you would not be aware of it till you have placed yourself and everyone else in danger, after all even experienced people who know and understand the risks get hurt, for instance on my first day at ropley a member of the loco crew stood up in the tender coal space to pull coal forward and got hit by a low bridge, and he was someone who knew the dangers, but in an moments madness forgot the rules, its that easy
if photograthers want to take lineside shots they should have the same safety training as the railways track gangs, and by and large we all have the same rules, so a national permit scheme would be the only safe option ,but it should not give carte blanch , if a railway says no lineside photograthers then thats it

 

Help is needed to catch this very dangerous tresspasser!
If you know who she is report her in
http://andrewstransport.fotopic.net/p57753685.html

 

Thats not a real trespasser, thats a quack.

Sorry I will get my coat.

Regards
Chris

 

Phew - I should have timed that "read in"

What a load of old baloney

Let's summarise - silly savvern railway bans fotters from inside lineside fences - fotters come any way

Fred proposes sensible northern compromise

Some buy in - some don't, because they can't see national certification working, are terrifed of HSE, public liability issues etc, instead of managing them

I wonder if they drive to their local railway - with their national certified driving licence? Of course national certification works - how do you think PTS certificates get issued on the Big Railway? A Midland Region PTS doesn't cease to be valid somewhere around Kidderminster!

What is needed is for the Heritage Railway Association to agree certain people - no doubt former main line trainers - who can be instructors and examiners who could then train and ticket fotters for a cost - to be shared out amongst participating railways.

Rule 1 would be eyes and ears that work - i.e. a medical certificate to be produced

Rule 2 would be - you do not ever, ever, ever, use the running lines except as a route to a fotting location.

As a forty plus year fotter I appear to still have two of everything - and all the blethering has not produced a single example of a fotter casualty. As for relations with loco crews - I've never known locomen to be difficult to work with - ever :-# The raising of the right arm should be second nature when a train approaches - and a vital part of the PTS training.

With a pass in place a nationally recognised competence could be accepted by all participating railways overlaid with their own particular safety requirements, or not accepted by the Luddites.

A PTS is merely a permit to walk "on or about the line" All work (fotting) must be from outside that limit. Now its for the heritage rail industry to decide - Does it want to work with its market? or does it want to drive it away.

 

I bet the driver of the oncoming train must of quacked himself.

 

But if he had hit it would he try to duck responsibility ?

 

Thank goodness Mallard isn't on the mainline :smt003

 

You are all "quackers"

Chris

 

did the driver have to duck to miss it ive heard of road kill, would that have counted? and do drivers now get issued with orange sauce whats the special on the buffet car today? shreaded duck?

 

Photographers? A heritage railway's market? Really??











NO.

 

Have to disagree with that comment, photographers/enthusiasts are the heart of the railway, joe public is the blood. Ignore the potential monies linesiders can bring in at your peril especially in this financial climate. Also how many times do we here railway members saying what wonderful coverage their gala gets in various magazines, well if it weren't for linesiders maybe the coverage would be much limited and then those members would be complaining their gala never got any publicity in those magazines.

 

I'm talking about a midweek Tuesday or whatever, or a normal weekend, nothing out of the ordinary rostered - just the same old same old thats been running for weeks. I've been a volunteer on the MHR for twenty years and can categorically state that on the occasions I've described you just dont see photographers - turning up for two galas a year won't keep any railway running. And the people who do spend the money, ie M,D + 2.4 kids don't normally read Steam Railway, so don't see the photos anyway.

 

OK yep fair point accepted, but there are potential monies that could be made at the Gala events from lineside photography and due to the ban, even though photographers still go on the lineside anyway, the Mid-Hants is missing out on these.

 

I think you will find that our Heritage railways generally accept that the bulk of their revenue comes from non-enthusiast passengers, as the poster above mentions, mum, dad, and 2.4 children.

Special events do usually put some icing on the cake, but I wonder which generates most net of cost additional revenue, the "Steam gala" for the enthusiast, or the events aimed at the family? I suspect it might be the latter. Transporting guest engines is expensive, particularly if they come by road transport.

46118

 

Just out of curiousity, how many enthusiasts/photters have actually been killed or maimed by trains??

 

I've been thinking about this whole tresspassing photographers issue a bit and was wondering wether any of the affected railways have thought about fencing off areas close to the line (a safe distance of course) that are commonly used by photographers? Could this be a sensible solution to a problem that quite frankly isn't going to go away.

 

trouble with that is you`d always get a photographer who would want to get a shot that no one else has, viewing arears are adopted my many preserved railways of course, mainly around sheds

 

The fotters compound is an idea who's time will come. The awkward nutter who insists on doing something different will therefore be further marginalised, and his actions determine themselves as his own, and foolhardy when provision has been made to accommodate the need, should an accident occur.

I still don't see 90% of the inside the fence attraction, as most good shots are landscape led anyway, but there are some who obviously feel that unless every rivet has its place in a picture that they have not had a good day out.

The aggressive MHR attitude is simply unfortunate - and if they feel in today's market that they can alienate people this way - well good luck to them - I will merely say that it takes years to build up goodwill, and one unfortunate big mouth to destroy it. The railway seems to be well populated with the latter.

The attitude displayed by many of the MHR afficionados simply fails to understand the publicity value of photos to which an opportunity cost in lost publicity must be attached - in terms of M & D + 2.4 who aren't attracted to the railway because the pictures are never taken.

Your choice fellas - the other railways become the winners by default.