RAIB Investigation: South Devon Railway

Just received a tweet saying that RAIB are investigating an incident at the South Devon Railway - https://www.gov.uk/government/news/dangerous-occurrence-on-the-south-devon-railway:

 

I think you will find this has already gone around like a certain substance hitting the fan!

PH

 

If true, this is extraordinarily incompetent. How could railway have possibly allowed the coach to remain in service.

Had a more serious incident occurred the ramifications for the Heritage Railway industry could have been dire

I am totally speechless.

 

I'm sure it has; as I'm outside "the industry", I thought it would be of interest to a wider group.

 

Had an email notification about this myself (I subscribe to RAIB reports). As mentioned it could of had very serious consequences for the heritage line "trade" if the worse had happened. The coach SHOULD NOT of entered service until the whole job was completed & all made safe. A notice & supposedly locked door obviously didn't work. Certainly wouldn't be allowed on the national network. All made worse now it's made the national media via the BBC.

 

Least its a bit of publicity I suppose.

 

Presently the most read article on the BBC website and also on the front page....

Seems odd that the guard was able to lock it out of use after it was discovered yet no one could do that before?

 

Not odd at all

(1) Person working in the toilet forgets to lock it when they have finished work - either because they forgot or it was assumed* that that particular coach would not be in public service until the work was finished / made safe.

(2) It was assumed that the lock on the door (if it was locked) was robust and would hold

(3) The guard, seeing the note on the door assumed* that it was locked and didn't think it necessary to check.

(4) The train was not examined before it entered public service as the Guard assumed* that nobody would leave the coach in a state where it was unfit for service.

* As has been drummed into me several times in my 'big railway' career, Assumption is the mother of all f**k ups - NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING always check to be sure.

 

Even if the coach was out of service the door should have had a warning notice on it !

Bob.

 

READ the RAIB statement https://www.gov.uk/government/news/dangerous-occurrence-on-the-south-devon-railway

It states

"The floor had not been replaced and staff had placed a notice on the compartment door and attempted to secure it to prevent it being opened. This had not been effective".

However a young child is unlikely to be able to see / understand a 'Out Of Order' sign put at an adults eyeline and the parent would naturally be focused on their child - hence it is rather irrelevant as securing the door is obviously necessary, notice or no notice

 

I suppose the point I was making was that the staff had 'tried' to secure it, yet the guard was 'able' to lock it? Setting aside the safety implications as its a visitor attraction one would expect the facilities to be checked as they come into service each day (no different to checking the station toilets), if nothing else in case there was a big floater left in the toilet.

Anyway its all speculation and not helpful to discuss at this stage.

 

I don't doubt for one minute that a notice was posted and the people concerned attempted to secure the door.

The way that's phrased I wonder if it was festooned with warning tape, which is easily removed even without human intervention, as is a notice.

The wording seems to suggest the attempt was a bit half hearted and certainly not much thought was given to it at all levels. It probably means that what is needed is another step towards the line being a professionally run railway and one more away from being a volunteer project.

Someone dropped the ball it's clear, luckily noone was hurt.

 

I'm in work & haven't had time to read it properly !

Bob.

 

Without prejudicing the outcome of the investigation, as a generality "amateur" is fine but "amateurish" is not.

PH

 

Not sure the old idea that any publicity is good publicity has any truth when it has the public thinking your stock is a load of dangerous old knackers about to fall apart, Could potentially be very damaging to potential visitors.

Can only echo what others are saying, clearly this should have been nowhere near traffic like that, Hell drag a DMU if your short of stock.

 

At least there's a toilet roll…

Simon

 

I hear the sound of a can opener working feverishly on a container marked "worms".

 

This is a shame. I had a great day out on the SDR just 2 days ago. Without considering the specifics of this case, I wonder what the opinions would be about the general principle as follows:
a) A carriage in this state should not be in service in any circumstances or
b) It's OK *if* the toilet in question is *really securely* locked out of use (maybe even screwed shut or something)?
With the actual floor missing, I would tend to go for a) but opinions may differ...

 

I think we had better give it a rest now and let investigations take their course.

Paul H