LE Movements, ECS and Test Runs 2017

Also heard in the last couple of minutes that it was a split lubricator pipe.

Cheers, Neil

 

Doesn't sound particularly good crewing setting fires LE+Support. We've seen the knock on effects today - a blanket steam ban. Just got home from Bristol another £200 wasted. Tornado has a state of the art spark arrester and sprays into the ashpan to make sure no red hot coals escape the locomotive. As far as I know has never set a lineside fire. It was out with the 13 coach Belmond Pullman on Friday when it was equally as hot. The A1 Team and DB are right p***** off. They tried to get NR to make an exception but were told diesel on front or cancel.

 

Um - who else was responsible? Expected that sort of comment from you Ralph.

 

How did we manage in the days when there were no diesel powered trains, no electric train etc. just pure steam the length and breadth of the country.

 

P Way used to do controlled burning on embankments IIRC.

 

I think this was always a case of when, not if this time of year. It's been pretty dry for the past two weeks.

 

Let's face it, the words Newark and Light Engine Movements should not appear in the same sentence.

 

Wasted money or not there cannot be one rule for one loco and others for the rest,NR are right for once.

 

So what role does risk assessment play then if there is simply a blanket ban irrespective of the case by case hazards? The TOC should be able to present evidence of hazard mitigation measures?
Do we know what cause analysis of the ECML fires links to the TBEL decision?

 

You would have thought a state of the art spark suppression system, as used on the A1, would have been good enough to allow TB to run, especially as DB had complete faith in it.

The whole scenario, has a familiar ring to it unfortunately for all......

 

Would have thought so, if the A1 has a good suppression system and an unblemished record it should have earned recognition so treated accordingly.

 

I agree completely, and as DB get the most out of her at every opportunity, IMHO, NR should concentrate a bit more on their own job, vegetation removal, track envelope returned to acceptable limits, contractors doing work to a satisfactory standard, and gain a bit of credibility, before firing off a blanket ban, they look for any opportunity to be given to them, to play the big man.....

That does nobody any favours.....

 

So where exactly are we? Do we have a nationwide ban on unassisted steam working?

In previous years, there has been a green/amber/red system for assessing fire risk, region by region. I have heard no mention of that in relation to today's decision with the TBEL, so are we just back to the knee-jerk reactions that prevailed a few years back?

 

Hardly knee jerk when the lineside is tinder dry, Lucky they let the steam out in the first place.

 

It does seem an over cautious approach if it was in response to the events of 24 hours previously especially if the ECML fires were the result of untypical mechanical faults rather than due to the natural combustion process. Depends on the information NR was working with to some extent?

 

Just a thought. I have seen various posts on this forum to the effect of " give Sir Peter Hendy a chance as chairman, he's a good man "

Well two years on from his appointment we still have a network that can't cope with winter, cant cope with hot weather (at London, Victoria on Friday they were announcing there may be delays over the weekend due to the hot weather), a network not correctly maintained to gauge, not cleared of weeds in the ballast ( Have a look at Kings cross at the county end, you could graze sheep and goats there), late running engineering works and general poor maintenance of the network.

Plus charters are still not timed until the last minute, too many gauging issues due to the failures noted above and knee jerk reactions.

I hear a lot of meaningless platitudes but see no actions and improvements in Network Rails performance as the custodians of the rail infrastructure and do not believe NR or it's staff are fit for purpose.

 

You don't know any of the facts its all conjecture,

 

The fact is that NR cannot cope with everyday matters as those of us who try to travel regularly by rail will know let alone sorting out charters. Last night was the first time in a lifetime of rail travel that I have had to walk to my destination. A new all time low and that includes union action in the 1970s and the awful Southern Railway . What matters is a railway that works