Flamingo
Established Member
- Joined
- 26 Apr 2010
- Messages
- 6,806
But far from rare, unfortunately.
-
Our new ticketing site is now live! Using either this or the original site (both powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!
BBC Documentary 'The Railways'
- Thread starter ralphchadkirk
- Start date
- Status
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R
RailUK Forums
Captain Chaos
Member
- Joined
- 31 Jan 2011
- Messages
- 840
Don't I know it!
I haven't worked to Paddington in years. North Downs, Basingstokes and Marlows for me!
Flamingo
Established Member
- Joined
- 26 Apr 2010
- Messages
- 6,806
Lucky you. I don't know that route at all.
To be fair, given the numbers using the Rdg-Pad stretch, it doesn't take many difficult customers as a percentage of the total to be quite a large number, if you get what I mean, and those are the one or two you remember, not the two hundred that behave in a civil and civilised manner.
To be fair, given the numbers using the Rdg-Pad stretch, it doesn't take many difficult customers as a percentage of the total to be quite a large number, if you get what I mean, and those are the one or two you remember, not the two hundred that behave in a civil and civilised manner.
Lewisham2221
Established Member
From what I can gather, after the Wednesday night repeat.
callum112233
Member
It's up on iPlayer Now.
Thanks for the heads up...I'll do a spot the Pumbaa
I'm brown, large, have tusks and can be spotted by the absence of creatures downwind of me
But seriously, I'm milling on the concourse of Paddington in one panning shot.
Bearing in mind half this stuff was filmed in 2011, still seemed apt and just as bad/good as today.
Only minor annoyance was hearing that announcement "Off Peak tickets not valid on this service."
This would have to be in the morning peak for tickets from Reading. The clock that was in shot after the guy made the announcement said 0929. What about someone travelling to Edinburgh via London hearing that announcement as he is about to board the 0925? The shots filmed may have been edited out of sequence, but there are many services before 0930 that are valid when travelling on Off Peak tickets.
Whilst the announcement is no doubt meant to refer to those travelling only to London, there are far too many exceptions for it be accurate.
This would have to be in the morning peak for tickets from Reading. The clock that was in shot after the guy made the announcement said 0929. What about someone travelling to Edinburgh via London hearing that announcement as he is about to board the 0925? The shots filmed may have been edited out of sequence, but there are many services before 0930 that are valid when travelling on Off Peak tickets.
Whilst the announcement is no doubt meant to refer to those travelling only to London, there are far too many exceptions for it be accurate.
NI 271
Member
Nope. He's been there for ages. He used to work with me on the buses in Huddersfield (for a short while before he got the gig on the trains), I'm pretty sure his dad still does.
YorkshireBear
Established Member
- Joined
- 23 Jul 2010
- Messages
- 9,663
Infinitely better than the first episode, they have improved a lot since then. Heres to the next one!!!
To be fair, I think they should cancel episodes of EastEnders etc for series like this, The Planners, etc.
The public, depending on ones perspective, are ill-educated cretins who do not understand nor care to take the time to. There is often no need to get in to the state a lot of people get in to and to be honest, it is quite disappointing when TOC's dont take a hard line against whinging passengers and give them the harsh truth.
And I would also say that from my own perspective I consider 99.9% of the public cretins as a local government official. A lot of the crap we have to put up with, the illogical "logic" and arguments for and against the decisions we make.
Sadly those people who do not have to interface with the general populace in an operational capacity - whatever capacity that may be - rarely understand what it takes to keep things running smoothly.
It might be a long shot, but with some slight tweaks, perhaps stuff like this should be shown in schools...
The public, depending on ones perspective, are ill-educated cretins who do not understand nor care to take the time to. There is often no need to get in to the state a lot of people get in to and to be honest, it is quite disappointing when TOC's dont take a hard line against whinging passengers and give them the harsh truth.
And I would also say that from my own perspective I consider 99.9% of the public cretins as a local government official. A lot of the crap we have to put up with, the illogical "logic" and arguments for and against the decisions we make.
Sadly those people who do not have to interface with the general populace in an operational capacity - whatever capacity that may be - rarely understand what it takes to keep things running smoothly.
It might be a long shot, but with some slight tweaks, perhaps stuff like this should be shown in schools...
Captain Chaos
Member
- Joined
- 31 Jan 2011
- Messages
- 840
Indeed. There was one chap towards the end, a commuter on the Basingstoke line who failed to understand why we didn't just run a train up and down on one line between Reading and Basingstoke. If only it was that simple!
You have the problem of freight trains backing up which will end up blocking the line for other services in SWT land from the South or the GW mainline from the North. So you need to keep these clear and moving if at all possible. Then you have to debate who gets access and what paths are available for SLW as well as providing the required personnel in order to achieve it. There's little point in having SLW for passenger services if it's going to block up lines everywhere else.
I'd love to sit down and explain all this to people and more besides. But we simply don't have the time to explain and then answer questions. Our time is better served trying to help get people from A to B and sort things out. But the trouble is, on the odd occasion I have had the chance to explain things to people you often get back: 'Any excuse. Just tell me when the trains are running again'. You cannot win. Though I have to say that the large majority do seem to understand roughly what the problem is and why you need to do what you do. The minority seem to want to make as big a fuss as possible whenever a delay occurs and seem to not only not understand but don't care. After all, it's your fault!
You have the problem of freight trains backing up which will end up blocking the line for other services in SWT land from the South or the GW mainline from the North. So you need to keep these clear and moving if at all possible. Then you have to debate who gets access and what paths are available for SLW as well as providing the required personnel in order to achieve it. There's little point in having SLW for passenger services if it's going to block up lines everywhere else.
I'd love to sit down and explain all this to people and more besides. But we simply don't have the time to explain and then answer questions. Our time is better served trying to help get people from A to B and sort things out. But the trouble is, on the odd occasion I have had the chance to explain things to people you often get back: 'Any excuse. Just tell me when the trains are running again'. You cannot win. Though I have to say that the large majority do seem to understand roughly what the problem is and why you need to do what you do. The minority seem to want to make as big a fuss as possible whenever a delay occurs and seem to not only not understand but don't care. After all, it's your fault!
Still nothing about signallers at all. I think every other role on the railway has been covered apart from us siggies! The documentary portrays route control and station control as the people who run the trains. To a point they do but the signallers are the front line and surely need a mention?
Rick1984
Member
- Joined
- 23 Aug 2012
- Messages
- 1,145
When constructing the platform at Reading did they just place it over the existing track?
If so is this temporary or permanent?
If so is this temporary or permanent?
To my mind it is in times of disruption, when it is outside the railways - or indeed any transportation operators - control that an apologetic yet very firm stance is taken. Information is the key, but it is also the travelling public's responsibility to take that information in.
A while back we had some major flooding and my employers came in for some severe criticism in the press and in the local populace. However, none of it was our fault - in fact it was another government agency and indeed local residents (as riparian responsibilities for culverts under property which they failed to maintain) that were to blame for not allowing highway drainage to discharge properly.
Hundreds of homes were flooded as a result.
But what did we do? We apologised. But it was NOT our fault and we had nothing to apologise for in actual fact. It was a combination of weather factors and the failure of other parties which affected our roads. Yes, a lot of gullies were blocked, but even if 75% of the gullies were blocked, it would not have caused flooding up to 4ft deep and uplifting of the footways.
Yet, we kowtowed to popular belief and even now we are still the "culprits" of such devastation. And as an engineer, it bloody infuriates me that the correct information was not clearly spelt out, with responsibilities clearly laid out for all and sundry to see.
A while back we had some major flooding and my employers came in for some severe criticism in the press and in the local populace. However, none of it was our fault - in fact it was another government agency and indeed local residents (as riparian responsibilities for culverts under property which they failed to maintain) that were to blame for not allowing highway drainage to discharge properly.
Hundreds of homes were flooded as a result.
But what did we do? We apologised. But it was NOT our fault and we had nothing to apologise for in actual fact. It was a combination of weather factors and the failure of other parties which affected our roads. Yes, a lot of gullies were blocked, but even if 75% of the gullies were blocked, it would not have caused flooding up to 4ft deep and uplifting of the footways.
Yet, we kowtowed to popular belief and even now we are still the "culprits" of such devastation. And as an engineer, it bloody infuriates me that the correct information was not clearly spelt out, with responsibilities clearly laid out for all and sundry to see.
Next weeks episode focuses on signalling.
Really enjoyed it again. I was a little disappointed to see the railway platform lady, (apologies for the description), chewing gum whilst on duty, thought it looked very bad.
Maybe the idea of using this program to educate the general public isn't such a good idea when they show signal inspectors taking 3 hours to decide not to turn up and inspect the broken wires? Thought the guy with a ciggy hanging out of his mouth was just perfect!
Loving this program.
Maybe the idea of using this program to educate the general public isn't such a good idea when they show signal inspectors taking 3 hours to decide not to turn up and inspect the broken wires? Thought the guy with a ciggy hanging out of his mouth was just perfect!
Loving this program.
bus man
Member
- Joined
- 21 Oct 2010
- Messages
- 155
My apologies if I have got this wrong but I thought they were waiting for HMRI (or DOT) to appear who then decided that they didnt have to attend .
Coming from an S&T background,I couldnt understand why the faults team were waiting for an investigation team to look at the tc failure,when the lads there knew what the problem was and could have had it re-terminated and tested within about 20 mins,thereby cutting down on the mahoosive delays.
We had a very similiar(recurring) fault at Queen Street in Glasgow when the train was coming into the platform the tc cable under the rail was being shorted out,causing the failure.Once the train left the platform the rail lifted slightly clearing the tc.
All-in-all a very good episode,youthful enthusiasm,old school customer care and pride(Norman)and a good insight for the general public into how major engineering works take place.
We had a very similiar(recurring) fault at Queen Street in Glasgow when the train was coming into the platform the tc cable under the rail was being shorted out,causing the failure.Once the train left the platform the rail lifted slightly clearing the tc.
All-in-all a very good episode,youthful enthusiasm,old school customer care and pride(Norman)and a good insight for the general public into how major engineering works take place.
Dont think HMRI or DOT would attend,more likely RAIB-but even then why?
ilkestonian
Member
I got the impression (perhaps wrongly though!) that a derailed wheel cut the cable hence the need to "preserve the scene" whilst RAIB decided if they wanted to investigate.
ex-railwayman
Member
Another good episode, I liked the guy at Twyford, didn't want to miss out on his 50 years service so, didn't take retirement, a credit to him for his perseverance. I also had to smile at the girl in the Lost Property Office in Paddington who had her name tattooed on her wrist, priceless. 
Cheerz. ex-railwayman.
Cheerz. ex-railwayman.
The platform being hoisted in is only temporary, they are moving platforms over removing some of the extra track: don't know the proper terminology, they are reducing the number of tracks between platforms from three to two as you don't need the central one as it was for marshalling steam engines. The platforms eventually get rebuilt once the new ones on the north side of the station are operational. I think one of the three track sections (the most southerly through platforms).
David Goddard
Established Member
The irony is that once rebuilding is complete and IEP comes in, there will be the prospect of trans running non stop through Reading again, just as the through lines have been removed.
The same is happening at Peterborough, when just as the number of non stop trains has increased through project Eureka, they are installing a platform on the Up Fast.
The Big Boo
Member
- Joined
- 14 Mar 2011
- Messages
- 46
Another good episode, I liked the guy at Twyford, didn't want to miss out on his 50 years service so, didn't take retirement, a credit to him for his perseverance. I also had to smile at the girl in the Lost Property Office in Paddington who had her name tattooed on her wrist, priceless.
Cheerz. ex-railwayman.
yeah- looked a dirty sort too.
I am sure that at the top of that programme when they were at Reading control that the guy in the glasses was Mark Taylor?
aka "Banbury" from the 80's. Well educated dude with a dry SOH. Used to work in Reading TOPS.
Thoroughly enjoyed it, my contact in the Slough box was involved in that episode (he rang the police about the fatality) and trained the young lad (Ben?) before he went out on his own the van.
Totally agree about the unnecessary 3 hour delay caused by an idiot inspector choosing not to attend felt really sorry for the lads just stood there waiting.
I'm in 2 minds about the lost property, it makes sense to have someone just dealing with it rather than doing it alongside 27 other railway tasks at the same time but the charges seem astronomic to me but I really liked it when the girl taking the intiative and waiving the big bill for the man who was taken ill and left his laptop on the train, that is excellent customer service.
Totally agree about the unnecessary 3 hour delay caused by an idiot inspector choosing not to attend felt really sorry for the lads just stood there waiting.
I'm in 2 minds about the lost property, it makes sense to have someone just dealing with it rather than doing it alongside 27 other railway tasks at the same time but the charges seem astronomic to me but I really liked it when the girl taking the intiative and waiving the big bill for the man who was taken ill and left his laptop on the train, that is excellent customer service.
- Status