Trackworkers: What's the weirdest thing you've found on the track?

[MG11]

I'm curious as to what sort of things get found on the track. Unlike streets, railway lines have little to no access to the general public, yet thousands of the general public travel on the railway each day. I have heard of things like dead foxes being found in tunnels, especially Bradway tunnel and I wonder what else, dead dogs that have long been missing? Out of date food packaging? Wedding rings that were flushed on the track in error?

 

[Elecman]

I found a newish 2016 domestic gas meter ( not belonging to any railway company) in the Cess at Darwen this week.

 

[swt_passenger]

Class 378 brake calliper. (Topical)

 

[Clip]

The DLR went through a period of the pick up shoes being left behind at a few locations.

We once found the parts of a mannequin at varying intervals once near Loughborough but no head

 

[Bald Rick]

A dinosaur.

(Large stuffed toy, not a real one, obvs).

 

[edwin_m]

Not a trackworker myself, but I was helping commission an upgrade to York IECC once when there was a points failure and the technician reported back that the cause was an item of ladies' underwear obstructing the mechanism.

 

[Bald Rick]

Not a trackworker myself, but I was helping commission an upgrade to York IECC once when there was a points failure and the technician reported back that the cause was an item of ladies' underwear obstructing the mechanism.

Presumably described as a 'pants failure'

 

[Dai Corner]

Presumably described as a 'pants failure'

Corset was!

 

[twpsaesneg]

About a mile's worth of skeletal small bird remains between Hitchin and Royston. Just skeletons, no flesh. Weird.

 

[Dr_Paul]

I once saw a plucked and prepared turkey or goose in the six-foot on the South-Western line at Richmond station.

 

[Chris Hamilton]

A cleanly halved Badger straddling the cess leg of the Up Holytown near Law Junction.

or

A whole carrier bag stuffed with Tramadol blister packs between Hamilton West and Central.

 

[theageofthetra]

Class 378 brake calliper. (Topical)

Bravo.

 

[theageofthetra]

Not a trackworker myself, but I was helping commission an upgrade to York IECC once when there was a points failure and the technician reported back that the cause was an item of ladies' underwear obstructing the mechanism.

Reminds me of a ship I was on where the entire cruise had to be cancelled due to a pax having flushed a pair of (presumably accidently soiled) pyjamas down the toilet.

 

[theageofthetra]

Presumably described as a 'pants failure'

Was it a thong side failure?

 

[Hellzapoppin]

A rather annoyed and angry buzzard in the middle of Box tunnel.

 

[tsr]

My own name badge, which I’d forgotten I’d dropped at some point.

 

[B&I]

Was it a thong side failure?

Service was suspendered

 

[B&I]

None of this will beat the Subaru Justy I once saw bobbing gently up and down in the Leeds and Liverpool Canal

 

[farleigh]

Why were you bobbing up and down?

 

[edwin_m]

Service was suspendered

The technician didn't lingerie any longer than necessary to fix the problem, and was able to basque in the glory of telling the tale to his friends in the bra.

 

[Cowley]

Don’t know if this counts but I was on a train crossing a viaduct on the Torbay and Dartmouth Railway one summer when the train stopped as there was a guy sitting on one of the rails drinking a four pack of lager and smoking a very long cigarette whilst looking at the view.
After we’d stopped and the driver had shouted at him he stood up unsteadily and staggered past us as we watched from the carriages before stumbling down the embankment, tripping over, dropping his lager and falling into some brambles before he’d made it to the fence.
When we slowly pulled away all you could see were the soles of his trainers.

 

[theageofthetra]

Don’t know if this counts but I was on a train crossing a viaduct on the Torbay and Dartmouth Railway one summer when the train stopped as there was a guy sitting on one of the rails drinking a four pack of lager and smoking a very long cigarette whilst looking at the view.
When we stopped and the driver had shouted at him he stood up unsteadily and staggered past us in the carriages before stumbling down the embankment, tripping over, dropping his lager and falling into some brambles before he’d made it to the fence.
As we slowly pulled away all you could see were soles of his trainers.

They let anyone be a MOM these days...

 

[Steptoe]

A pair of spectacles lost by a guard (who asked me to look out for them) Funnily enough they were about 1.5 miles from where he said they fell off. (Mk 1/2 stock in case anyone's wondering how he managed to get his head out of the window!)

 

[Stuart-h]

A dead deer on the kettering to corby line, severel balls, bits of scrap metal (which for some strange reason have ended up in the back of the car!)

 

[B&I]

Why were you bobbing up and down?

Saving on paying in at the baths

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Several live adders (South Wales)

 

[Dai Corner]

A pair of spectacles lost by a guard (who asked me to look out for them) Funnily enough they were about 1.5 miles from where he said they fell off. (Mk 1/2 stock in case anyone's wondering how he managed to get his head out of the window!)

Perhaps he misread the mileposts without them?

 

[nottsnurse]

I spotted a number of 'adult toys' lying on the track at Kent House once.

 

[MG11]

I spotted a number of 'adult toys' lying on the track at Kent House once.

Did they appear to have been used?

 

[Cowley]

Did they appear to have been used?

Not at the time.