Flying Scotsman

I take it you don't accept the general point ? slightly 'picky' imo...

 

Ridiculed, you must have watched a different version they raised all the problems and dangers but merely pointed out that with social media its very hard to keep such information secret. I wonder whether the 60mph is a compromise to keep speed down in case the driver needs to make an emergency stop?

 

I would imagine that the tour operators will advertise departure/arrival times for all the pick-up stations, as they do now. However, the timings for the rest of the route will remain a mystery, which will put off people going to out to see the train. I doubt many of them will have the knowledge of time to calculate likely passing times for their local bit of railway. It will also prevent the print or social media saying "There's a famous train coming past xxx station at 2.30pm this Saturday".

 

Perhaps they should just have designated viewing and photographing points that visitors have to register for, the Chinese seem to be doing likewise

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-36263845

 

So how come a goodly crowd of people were at Durham (other locations are available) to see her yesterday?

 

Did you watch the ITV report as you have very cleverly summarised the points they made - hence not altogether sure how NR were ridiculed apparently?

 

From the pictures I have seen they seemed to predominantly be men of a certain age who were discussing watching trains pass in 'the good old days' so I suspect they worked it out themselves, or just looked on RTT where the tour timings were widely published?

 

One young lady said she got the times off Facebook and from TV footage there seemed to be a good cross section of the public out to see her.

 

What the young lady?

 

She was rather good looking.

 

Well that's a sure fire way to bring Goldfish into the debate, be right back I am just popping out to the garden to get the torches lit!

 

The picture shown was from Ais Gill, FFS dope on a rope moment..........

 

Sorry. I was referring to 60103 when I said "she was rather good looking."

 

Such a tease getting all us single gentlemens hopes up...!

 

......................

 

Bloody Hell, it's all getting a bit John Le Carre isn't it with 60103? "Nudge, Nudge, say no more!"
BBC Press Release 12-05-16:
"The follow up series to The Night Manager has been announced and it will be called The Secret Scotsman.
It will focus on a small band of people seeking to right the wrongs of a dictator (code name SD or NR or BTP, nobody knows the true identity) stopping the common (as muck) people from viewing a highly controversial Steam Locomotive out in the open, where, in the field, bad agents from other dangerous groups seek to spoil the hopes and ideals of those with half a brain by entering dangerous territory. All the good agents need are the top secret timings of the covert movements of the stealthy machine so they rebel and form small factions working in the shadows (of station roofs) to supply the timings to each other. One man (Mark Williams reprising his role as the "you ain't seen me right! character from the Fast Show)has the knowledge to get the timings and he wants to supply them But he has to be careful, there are moles round every corner....................."

 

There are a few crossings north of Doncaster but then we get onto the modern Selby diversion where there are none. North of Colton Junction it is four tracked and I believe crossing were taken out when this was done. York to Northallerton was four tracked in the last war and any crossings would have gone then. Beyond there I think that the NER built bridges by choice, often aided by the topography. The bugbear in these parts is the NSR which used crossings unless there was the nuisance of the railway in a cutting where it would manage a bridge. The GNR was much the same.

 

Thank you for your thoughts, John.
I have surveyed from Kings Cross to Newcastle, with some shocking results. Kings X to Hitchin, no public access points. Hitchin to Great Heck, north of Doncaster, 66 public access points, of which, 45 are level crossings and the rest are footpaths. Great Heck to Newcastle, there are seven farm footpaths and one farm level crossing, a positive fortress compared with the line from the south.
Obviously, Network Rail are fully aware of all the places on the ex GNR main line that it is easy for the public to go line side and put their lives in danger, yet Network Rail did nothing to deter this trespass in a few places. They have kicked up a fuss since, though. Given the publicity and hype for Flying Scotsman's initial run, should Network Rail have done more? Indeed, with all the public access points, why did Network Rail consider it safe to run Flying Scotsman between Kings X and Doncaster without checking the line just prior to Scotsman's run? I believe that a police helicopter checked the York to Newcastle line prior to Scotsman's run this week.

 

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

While, yes it is true that Flying Scotsmans return was well publicised, it does not follow that mass trespass was inevitable. we have seen several inaugural / return to steam charters happen in recent decades (including the likes of Tornado) where mass trespass was not an issue. In fact NRs concerns about Scotsmans inaugural run were more with overcrowding at places like Kngs Cross or people standing too close to platform edges / wandering off the ends as she passed with considerable effort put in to address these factors.

The fact that the public started wandering along the tracks from rural foot crossings obviously took NR by suprise is not disputed - and as can be seen NR have taken on board the lesions to be learned from this with the use of the helicopter to check out the situation and the request for timings not to be publicised being entirely appropriate mitigating measures. What I'd however wrong is to assume NR did nothing to prepare for Scotsmans run or that they should somehow have anticipated the high levels of trespass seen at the likes of St Neots (where there has never been an issue in the past).

 

Well the point is it wasn't hindsight. A quick glance at these pages before the event revealed we were all chattering abut how the lineside would be heaving, photos and clips were shown of past mass trespass, the assumption by many was that it would be so heaving that getting out to film it at known lineside access points would be a waste of time. Now we dont have hindsight, we dont have crowd planning skills, we just put two and two together and made 4.

Something network rail and the BTP didn't do. In fact one has to wonder if the BTP is actually fit for purpose. *IF* the Flying Scotsman gets banned, someone will be asking a politician if the BTP is actually fit for purpose. Personally I dont think it is, and that funding a duplicate force (duplicate to normal policing) is a waste of resource and money.