'Weymouth Seaside Express'. Sunday, 26th July, 2015

Thanks for the confirmation it is a regular occurrence nowadays. A very long time since I did NYMR yard work (Grosmont MPD) volunteering in the late 70s early 80s but we were told to use the handle rather than crash the point to avoid potential damage. I must be getting old!


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Yes this was normal practice in sidings ,the only trouble was if the points hadn't been oiled recently or sand had been dropped whilst going over the points(bloody loco drivers ) ,they would sometimes go to the "half cocked position" sometimes by just a small amount. If a movement came the opposite way, maybe pushing wagons and no one noticed, its a good chance there would be a derailment.Al though if the vehicle flange went down the right/proper side that would click the points over . I've seen both situations happen more than once .

 

Strangely another diesel followed directly behind, and agree it is not always possible, however DBS seem to manage ECML operations without one attached, that is where my money would go, for a future tour, if ever....

 

Errr .... yes - had to repair one or two after they'd stuck midway as you describe.

 

That's common knowledge, and the reason any tour likely to be booked in the future, would be a DBS operation.

Having a rescue loco 200 miles away from a broken down excursion is no use to anybody, even more of an issue is finding somebody to operate it.

How many times do we hear of taxis etc..., being used to ferry a driver, eventually that erodes prospective, and loyal customers confidence in any operation.

It comes back to being done on the "cheap", not expecting or planning for the unexpected, something that steam operation can provide in spades...

 

The whole system is run on the cheap now. The other day Taxis replaced trains on the Lymington branch due to a fallen tree. Probably had to get the man from Motherwell down with his chainsaw to cut up the twigs

 

The Eastleigh MOM removed the tree.