When walking along track, why shouldn't you step on sleepers?

[blimmo]

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ECML animals incident near Grantham 20-21/8

Currently stuck on 1D32 which has been stopped south of Grantham for over 3 hours now after 1D31 has apparently struck a deer and come to a halt in Stoke Tunnel, affecting several other services. At least one train in the area has had some passengers self-evacuating against instructions. There...

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you shouldn't step on sleepers

Why?

 

[Trackman]

Why?

As you can slip on them

 

[iamraymond]

As you can slip on them

I can slip on my tiled floor, but still walk on it.

 

[Sheridan]

I can slip on my tiled floor, but still walk on it.

Presumably you do keep your floor dry though. Wooden sleepers can be incredibly slippy. I assume concrete ones can have a layer of film on them as well.

 

[Falcon1200]

I can slip on my tiled floor

But the only person responsible, and liable, for that is you!

 

[Kentish RYS]

I can slip on my tiled floor, but still walk on it.

Sleepers can be incredibly treacherous without always being obvious. It can depend on their type, the weather, what rolling stock has dripped on them, etc

 

[Belperpete]

Sleepers can be incredibly treacherous without always being obvious. It can depend on their type, the weather, what rolling stock has dripped on them, etc

Wooden sleepers in particular, especially if they have a thin film of dew on them.

When I started working for BR Southern, I was given a number of safety leaflets. They included one about not walking on the sleepers, one about not stepping on the rails, and one about not stepping on the ballast (as the stones can move under your foot). So where was I supposed to walk? No leaflet about not walking on the live rail!

 

[Darandio]

I can slip on my tiled floor, but still walk on it.

Do you have oil and grease (insert other industrial substances here) on your tiled floor?

 

[yorksrob]

Wooden sleepers in particular, especially if they have a thin film of dew on them.

When I started working for BR Southern, I was given a number of safety leaflets. They included one about not walking on the sleepers, one about not stepping on the rails, and one about not stepping on the ballast (as the stones can move under your foot). So where was I supposed to walk? No leaflet about not walking on the live rail!

The concrete cable conduit ?

 

[TastyMaltesers]

I can slip on my tiled floor, but still walk on it.

In a previous job I had to deliver things, and I became very aware during that time that tiled steps in the rain are absolutely lethal!

 

[Russel]

I'm not sure loose ballast is any safer to walk on...

 

[Darandio]

I'm not sure loose ballast is any safer to walk on...

I've seen many more slips on sleepers than ballast. Does that help?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Moderator note: split from

ECML animals incident near Grantham 20-21/8

Currently stuck on 1D32 which has been stopped south of Grantham for over 3 hours now after 1D31 has apparently struck a deer and come to a halt in Stoke Tunnel, affecting several other services. At least one train in the area has had some passengers self-evacuating against instructions. There...

www.railforums.co.uk

Why?

They were traditionally covered in oil and other gunk and thus very slippery.

 

[Belperpete]

High ballast shoulders were always my concern, particularly where you have a live rail at the top. Getting down in a hurry at least you can jump over the live rail and down into the cess. But climbing up a high ballast shoulder with a live rail at the top could be interesting.

Loose ballast lying on top of a sleeper can also lead to your foot slipping.

Old wooden sleepers with creosote or tar preservative often can have patches of the tar on them. While not dangerous, if the tar gets in the soles of your shoes, you could make yourself quite unpopular if you trod it in somewhere.

 

[rower40]

Don't step on sleepers.
You might wake them up.

Kaboom, and, indeed, tish.

 

[507 001]

Wet wooden sleepers are lethal. Ice-like levels of slippery.

 

[alxndr]

Wet wooden sleepers are indeed like ice. Damp concrete sleepers with lichen on can also be very slippery, and harder to spot than wooden ones. A stray piece of ballast can catch you off-guard if walking habitually on sleepers.

It’s much easier to have a blanket rule against it. Ballast is uneven but expectedly so, and therefore much fewer trips happen on it as a result.

 

[yorksrob]

In the old days of course, you might slip on a number two.

 

[Magrar]

I'm pretty sure my safety boots could handle any of the scenarios here. The only places they even come close to being dicey, is seaweed or algea covered rocks. Which I don't imagine is applicable on the railway.

 

[edwin_m]

The concrete cable conduit ?

Risk of one of the lids collapsing.

 

[martin butler]

I was always told to walk in the cess, never in the four foot, and too stand clear, if i fealt as much as a vibration, sleepers can be very slippery, as can the ballast especially if you're in a deep cutting during leaf fall season, hand sanding the rails,

 

[yorksrob]

Risk of one of the lids collapsing.

No more than any other concrete slab !

 

[edwin_m]

No more than any other concrete slab !

Breaking of the lid is possible but it would probably be visibly damaged. I was thinking more of the risk of it becoming dislodged and dropping into the trough. I do remember being warned about that on a PTS course (30+ years since I did one but I doubt that has got any better).

 

[Kentish RYS]

Trough lids can also, as well as the mentioned risk if them moving, be just as slippery as sleepers for the same reasons

 

[Ashley Hill]

Trough lids can also, as well as the mentioned risk if them moving, be just as slippery as sleepers for the same reasons

The concrete cable conduit ?

Trough lids can move when stepped on and there is the potential risk of cracking them if regularly stepped on.

 

[philthetube]

I'm pretty sure my safety boots could handle any of the scenarios here. The only places they even come close to being dicey, is seaweed or algea covered rocks. Which I don't imagine is applicable on the railway.

The only boots which would protect from slipping on wood sleepers would be those containing spikes, wood sleepers can be as slippery as black ice.

Not sleepers but I was once out walking in the country and arrived at a foot crossing, there was a wooden ramp at a gentle incline up to the track. This was impossible to asend and we ended up walking round the side of it over the ballast. probably not what we should have done in law but the only sensible option.

 

[Darandio]

I'm pretty sure my safety boots could handle any of the scenarios here. The only places they even come close to being dicey, is seaweed or algea covered rocks. Which I don't imagine is applicable on the railway.

So that's what we were missing, we were all wearing Crocs so it's no wonder we were slipping and sliding all over. Safety boots are the answer, got it!

Breaking of the lid is possible but it would probably be visibly damaged. I was thinking more of the risk of it becoming dislodged and dropping into the trough. I do remember being warned about that on a PTS course (30+ years since I did one but I doubt that has got any better).

And 30 years later some of those lids are now very brittle, we always taught to avoid walking on them. Obviously a lot of it is being renewed with polymer replacements that have a textured lid but in my experience they were still lethal in the winter.

 

[alxndr]

Troughing kids can slip if not well seated and damage cables if repeatedly walked over. The same applies if the troughing route is overfilled and the cables repeatedly squashed.

 

[D365]

Troughing kids can slip if not well seated and damage cables if repeatedly walked over. The same applies if the troughing route is overfilled and the cables repeatedly squashed.

That's if the trough lid is secured at all.

 

[Peter Sarf]

I would say that concentrating on stepping from one sleeper to the next has two risks.
First you are probably taking unnaturally large or small steps and some how this feels like it relies more on a good grip.
Second, while concentrating on looking down at where you are putting your foot leads to less effort looking and listening for approaching trains.

But I think a sleeper will often be more slippery than ballast. It does not matter how good your boots are unless they have spikes on oil/tar on wooden sleepers will defeat you. Concrete sleepers same with wet lichen on them, or just ice.

Ballast is herder work but so knobbly that any shoe will grip.