BBC Documentary 'The Railways'

[reb0118]

In theory if a passenger has been sick in a carriage then the whole carriage requires locking out of use. In practise easier said than done esp. if you are busy.

I once mind hoying this jaikie off at Inverkeithing for being sick over himself, sick over the table, & sick over a fellow passenger. He was also on the wrong train. Anyway some do gooder popped up and claimed I was rather harsh as it was not the gentleman's fault that he had been sick (he was well p*shed BTW) and anyway that he was now empty so would be unlikely to be sick again. I kept my cool but was sorely tempted to put her off as well. The jaik did in fact get off, hugged the platform boy & in the process transferred sick to him, & staggered off towards the taxi rank, funnily enough not one taxi would pick him up, I wonder why?

Prior to this I had some yoofs think it was funny to block the toilets with paper towels. Unfortunately they were caught by an off duty RAF policeman who was not in the mood for any grief. I decided not to ask questions but he had them on their hands and knees cleaning the toilet sans toothbrush if you get my drift.

There was also various smoking incidents to contend with.

I volunteered for that train because my booked job was 2x Bathgate. Bathgate can be hard work on a Saturday ~ so can a Dundee I found out!

 

[Eng274]

FSR are usually pretty proactive in that if a TE, Guard or a driver reports sickness in coach to control, they can have staff waiting at a terminus eg GLC/EDB to clear it up, or have the coach LOOU until it can be cleaned up or the unit replaced.

 

[Trainfan344]

On XC is this a case where the Hot Spare at New Street would be utilised, passengers being put on that train, and then the other set being cleaned before becoming the hot spare?

 

[trainophile]

Three pages on puke . Can we change the subject please?

 

[LE Greys]

Three pages on puke . Can we change the subject please?

OK then! In general, a decent series which hopefully made some people realise just what a hard job it is running the railways. They did sometimes stray into 'give the people what they want' rather than 'show it like it is', but it was watchable. I hope we'll see a few more like it.

 

[Maxfly]

158's still dump onto the track whereas 159's have retention tanks. Think these are the newest trains to retain that traditional feature!

Inverness 158's have controlled emmission bogs, I am guessing that is not full retention capability? Is it where the train 'knows' it is in a station and doesnt dump the crap till clear?

 

[gimmea50anyday]

As a member of train crew i am not allowed to clean or otherwise handle or dispose of biological hazards such as vomit, faeces, blood, needles etc. All o can do is isolate the affected area until he train can reach a suitable location to deal with. This will either be a terminating station or a set swap en route. The sensible option would be to provide a kit should the member of train crew wish to deal with the matter but health and safety rules apparently wont let me. Please don't ask me why or provide some quote somewhere and prove me wrong as i am fully aware that health and safety rules and regs and its barmy interpretation by some individuals aren't the same. But these rules are provided to me by my employer

 

[michael769]

Inverness 158's have controlled emmission bogs, I am guessing that is not full retention capability? Is it where the train 'knows' it is in a station and doesnt dump the crap till clear?

Controlled Emission Toilet. Based on that I'd say it was a proper retention tank based solution.

I had always understood that the 158 fleet (at least in Scotland) had been retrofitted with tanks.

 

[Ferret]

On XC is this a case where the Hot Spare at New Street would be utilised, passengers being put on that train, and then the other set being cleaned before becoming the hot spare?

Only if the train was an exceptionally appalling mess I'd imagine. Birmingham has train cleaners available to do the necessary, and ride with the train to the next shack if they need the time.

 

[trainophile]

I seem to remember that at school any unpleasant "incidents" in the corridors were dealt with by dumping sand on the offending deposit until cleaning ops could be carried out. Wouldn't it be sensible if all trains carried a bucket of sand for such emergencies? Maybe a couple of folding warning triangles too, to isolate the area.

 

[142056]

I'm surprised nobody has made the 'Vomiter' joke yet, what with it being an XC train and people's general hatred towards Voyagers....

 

[High Dyke]

I'm surprised nobody has made the 'Vomiter' joke yet, what with it being an XC train and people's general hatred towards Voyagers....

It's Pendelinos that unsettle me...and i'm normally a good traveller on any mode of transport. :neutral:

 

[142056]

It's Pendelinos that unsettle me...and i'm normally a good traveller on any mode of transport. :neutral:

I'm normally fine too, though an ice-cream related incident on a car trip in Wales wasn't much fun. I've stepped off Pendolinos at Euston a few times feeling a bit uneasy, but realised as soon as I got off it's because I was facing backwards.
Worst was being pretty hungover on a hot, busy Voyager. Fortunately, it didn't live up to the Vomiter name...

 

[snail]

Low point of the series? The totally unnecessary self confession of the ugly announcer at Aintree that he was gay and was secretly watching the "men" through the one way mirror. What was the point of that?

I've only just caught up with this episode. It was Ladies Day at Aintree. The announcer was commenting on how the ladies use the one-way mirror to check their appearance without realising they could be seen inside the office. Perfectly reasonable then for him to say he wasn't interested in watching them, because he preferred looking at the men instead.

 

[michael769]

I seem to remember that at school any unpleasant "incidents" in the corridors were dealt with by dumping sand on the offending deposit until cleaning ops could be carried out. Wouldn't it be sensible if all trains carried a bucket of sand for such emergencies? Maybe a couple of folding warning triangles too, to isolate the area.

Sand is unsuitable from an infection control standpoint - it also creates a mess that is far more difficult and unpleasant to clear up.

 

[455driver]

Sand is unsuitable from an infection control standpoint - it also creates a mess that is far more difficult and unpleasant to clear up.

Plus it will be "walked" right through the coach.

 

[AlexS]

Where I work, I can deal with sharps myself using the appropriate receptacle, a pair of gloves and something to pick them up with. Not so easy on a train I guess without having said receptacle!

Any 'fluids' get sorted by the cleaning staff. I forget the name of what they use, but it's a white powder that immediately desiccates the item in question while disinfecting it, leaving a pile of powder clumps that can be swept up as normal, doesn't even leave a stain. Very impressive stuff.

 

[Pumbaa]

Any 'fluids' get sorted by the cleaning staff. I forget the name of what they use, but it's a white powder that immediately desiccates the item in question while disinfecting it, leaving a pile of powder clumps that can be swept up as normal, doesn't even leave a stain. Very impressive stuff.

Sanitaire is the informal name for the product, but its marketed under different terms for different companies.

 

[Lincoln]

Low point of the series? The totally unnecessary self confession of the ugly announcer at Aintree that he was gay and was secretly watching the "men" through the one way mirror. What was the point of that?

He seemed like a friendly fellow and probably mentioned that he was gay so people didn't think he was a pervert letching away at the ladies through the one-way mirror.

I have to say his announcing skills were excellent and it is such a pity that good folk like this are being replaced by computerised systems which lack humour and understanding of what the message is being put across.

 

[big_dirt]

I've only just caught up with this episode. It was Ladies Day at Aintree. The announcer was commenting on how the ladies use the one-way mirror to check their appearance without realising they could be seen inside the office. Perfectly reasonable then for him to say he wasn't interested in watching them, because he preferred looking at the men instead.

Agreed. The railway is representative of society as a whole and has its gay people and other minorities. There was the Merseyrail chap, the VT driver and the VT TM.

 

[daccer]

I watched the series on Youtube in pretty quick succession. A couple of very general first impressions from someone who hasn't lived in the UK for awhile.

Firstly the travelling public are pretty disgusting. The way they leave the train is not good. Also many of the problems that do occur are because of outside circumstances - suicides etc. It would be interesting to see a PPM figure with these outside factors taken into consideration.

The other thing that did strike me was how much effort went into revenue protection. After reading this forum for awhile it did seem that there was little effort put into revenue protection. However on the programme every major event (such as Aintree or Southport's march) were accompanied by pretty strict protection measures.

All in all I think the railways came out of the programme pretty well. The staff seemed very motivated and generally pretty content. Even the guys picking up dog crap off the line seemed ok with it. The whole programme did present the industry as being proactive and forward thinking and I think it did more good than harm.

 

[david_VI]

I seem to remember that at school any unpleasant "incidents" in the corridors were dealt with by dumping sand on the offending deposit until cleaning ops could be carried out. Wouldn't it be sensible if all trains carried a bucket of sand for such emergencies? Maybe a couple of folding warning triangles too, to isolate the area.

I think you might be confused. Where I work we don't use sand, but I suppose when young you confuse it with sand. Its a special substance that causes the bodily fluid to go solid (For want of a better word) so it can be easily scooped up and disposed of. I always thought it was sand too!

Don't think this would be walked through a coach.

Edit: Whoop people got there first and I didn't look

 

[tsr]

It's Pendelinos that unsettle me...and i'm normally a good traveller on any mode of transport. :neutral:

373s do that to me and it's not the tilt, as I'm fine on other tilting trains. I have no idea what it is. Nervous of the French? Who knows?

 

[Lrd]

373s do that to me and it's not the tilt, as I'm fine on other tilting trains. I have no idea what it is. Nervous of the French? Who knows?

I wasn't aware that 373s tilt?

 

[trainophile]

I think you might be confused. Where I work we don't use sand, but I suppose when young you confuse it with sand. Its a special substance that causes the bodily fluid to go solid (For want of a better word) so it can be easily scooped up and disposed of. I always thought it was sand too!

Don't think this would be walked through a coach.

Edit: Whoop people got there first and I didn't look

When I was "young" they had barely invented sand, never mind the special substance that you and the earlier poster refer to . Thanks for clarifying, and apologies for my impractical suggestion, which I obviously hadn't thought through

 

[ainsworth74]

I wasn't aware that 373s tilt?

They don't which is why you're not aware of it

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

This is probably the point to bring up the question of why we persist with the "no litter bins" policy on many stations?
This is just asking people to dump their litter wherever they want.
It goes back to BR days (to the IRA mainland attacks in the 1970s).

The policy is inconsistent: Crewe and VT stations generally - no bins; Chester and ATW stations - plenty of bins.
Sometimes you have to go outside a station to find a municipal bin, where they don't have the same hangup.
The catering outlets on stations, which generate a lot of the litter, should have collection facilities.

Trains are also inconsistent: 350/1 - bins, 350/2 - no bins.
On-train cleaning these days is excellent, on VT and ATW at least.
But many commuter services are just left to swim in litter.

 

[fairysdad]

This is probably the point to bring up the question of why we persist with the "no litter bins" policy on many stations?
This is just asking people to dump their litter wherever they want.
It goes back to BR days (to the IRA mainland attacks in the 1970s).

The policy is inconsistent: Crewe and VT stations generally - no bins; Chester and ATW stations - plenty of bins.
Sometimes you have to go outside a station to find a municipal bin, where they don't have the same hangup.
The catering outlets on stations, which generate a lot of the litter, should have collection facilities.

Trains are also inconsistent: 350/1 - bins, 350/2 - no bins.
On-train cleaning these days is excellent, on VT and ATW at least.
But many commuter services are just left to swim in litter.

I had an interesting experience at Paddington a few years back - waiting for the train, I had a Burger King; once I'd had it, went round the station looking for a bin, couldn't find one so asked a member of platform staff who told me to just leave it on the floor and it would be picked up... needless to say I didn't (setting a bad example and all that) and just kept it with me and disposed of it on the train instead.

 

[tsr]

I wasn't aware that 373s tilt?

They don't which is why you're not aware of it

Ah, yes. I missed out two crucial words/phrases. Oops. The post should have read...

373s do that to me and 390s - it's not the tilt, as I'm fine on other tilting trains. I have no idea what it is about 373s. Nervous of the French? Who knows?

Somewhat embarrassing!

 

[maniacmartin]

The proliferation of coffee and food outlets inside stations, coupled with the no bins policy is indeed stupid. Also trains have small bins, if at all. It is no surprise that people just dump their litter around the place.

Surely it makes sense for all stations that vend food or drink to have bins to put the litter in?