Poor rail conditions?

[Kneedown]

To be fair to the driver conditions have been very bad. I had a HST power car yesterday consistently slipping even in lowly notch two ...

Had an all wheel slide with one the other day in the cutting at Sutton Bonington. Didn't get out of notch three for most of the rest of the journey either. The past three days have been pretty bad adhesion wise.

 

[O L Leigh]

You have these things called Mk1 eyeballs & Mk1 ears too.

I would add to that the Mk1 backside. You can sense a lot through the seat of your pants.

O L Leigh

 

[cossie4i]

I love driving in challenging conditions, keeps the grey matter working.

I used to love having to DRIVE a 400 series in this weather, 395s are so boring they just go and stop.

 

[HarleyDavidson]

I would add to that the Mk1 backside. You can sense a lot through the seat of your pants.

O L Leigh

Along with serious skid marks too.

 

[scotsman]

A couple of weeks ago the up Highland Chieftain lost traction at some point north of Aviemore (not sure where). It had to return to Inverness* to have another go, made it, but was cancelled at Edinburgh 120 minutes down.


*That's about 30 miles!

My understanding is that it failed to reach Tomatin, possibly Daviot (no more than 20 miles)

 

[MichaelJP59]

It seems quite unusual on my route (Retford - Leeds), I've been commuting for a year, though it has been a mild winter. What was so special about this day, it didn't seem unusual weatherwise? Maybe leaf fall, but the leaves had been blown off leaving a residue?

 

[edwin_m]

What seems to cause problems is when there is a very windy day after a spell of fairly calm weather, as this brings down a lot of leaves at the same time.

 

[142094]

Fine drizzle during the leaf fall period is the worst up here. Tyne and Wear Metro has problems almost from the start of service due to wheelslip, plus being relatively light compared to other rolling stock makes it even more difficult to get traction from a stand.

 

[SpacePhoenix]

Would something like bird sh*t cause difficulty for drivers (probably more common at seaside termini)

 

[najaB]

Would something like bird sh*t cause difficulty for drivers (probably more common at seaside termini)

I wouldn't think so - there's hardly likely to be that much of it, and once dry it should 'flake' off when the train wheels run over it.

 

[edwin_m]

Saw something on the TV a few years ago about the Italian railways having huge problems with infestation of some kind of bug on the rails of the causeway line to Venice.

 

[Minilad]

Would something like bird sh*t cause difficulty for drivers (probably more common at seaside termini)

Only if it dropped on their head

 

[najaB]

Saw something on the TV a few years ago about the Italian railways having huge problems with infestation of some kind of bug on the rails of the causeway line to Venice.

I imagine that, as a long-chain protein, the chitin in the bugs exoskeletons probably behaves in a similar manner to cooked leaves and will leave the rails very slippery.