Whoopsie at Reading?

[LexyBoy]

Just seen a yellow NR track maintenance vehicle (don't know exactly what) at a jaunty angle at the end of the sidings by the relief lines west of Reading. Anyone know what happened? Didn't have time for a picture unfortunately.

 

[Ferret]

Just seen a yellow NR track maintenance vehicle (don't know exactly what) at a jaunty angle at the end of the sidings by the relief lines west of Reading. Anyone know what happened? Didn't have time for a picture unfortunately.

At the risk of stating the blinding obvious, a tamper derailed during engineering works!

 

[Kingfisher200262]

At the risk of stating the blinding obvious, a tamper derailed during engineering works!

This doesn't seem very helpful in the way of providing info (I thought that's what forums were for.... sharing and discussing views and information).

Presumably, this is the incident in question? Thanks to The Reading Chronicle for succeeding where we have failed.

 

[Ferret]

This doesn't seem very helpful in the way of providing info (I thought that's what forums were for.... sharing and discussing views and information).

Presumably, this is the incident in question? Thanks to The Reading Chronicle for succeeding where we have failed.

Well, what I've said is as much as we currently know. Until such time as the RAIB have finished their investigation and published their findings, that's as much as we can say!

 

[turbo mick]

well i have heard what happened but best delt with the investigation the brakedown train is in rdg tmd they tried to rerail the tampers but didnt suceed so thats why the cranes have been brought in

 

[Wyvern]

a crew from caversham road fire station isolated the railway points,

? ? ? ? ? ? ?

 

[RPM]

"the two carriage tamper locomotive"

FFS. How many misconceptions can you fit into five words?

 

[Ferret]

This doesn't seem very helpful in the way of providing info (I thought that's what forums were for.... sharing and discussing views and information).

Presumably, this is the incident in question? Thanks to The Reading Chronicle for succeeding where we have failed.

Have you actually read that article by the way? Since when do tampers lay ballast, since when is it an engine or two carriages, and since when do the fire brigade isolate points?! Your use of the word 'succeeded' with regard to that article is misplaced to say the least! If it's all the same, I'll stick to reading the RAIB report, rather than an article written by somebody who has zero knowledge of both the railway in general and what actually happened on the day in question!

 

[LexyBoy]

Well, you know what they say - ask a silly question...

Obviously it had derailed, I was just wondering why - from my train it looked like it had overrun the track (though thinking about it I don't think there are any tracks which just come to an end rather than joining back up). Didn't think derailments were usually so dramatic (not at the sort of speeds a tamper would be doing anyway).

In fairness, it's good work by the Reading Chronicle to report something other than a traffic jam, the price of parking or those pesky pedestrian crossings - what is the point of those?

 

[Greeny]

This doesn't seem very helpful in the way of providing info (I thought that's what forums were for.... sharing and discussing views and information).
0

Kingfisher and OP. Sadly this is becoming a feature of this Forum lately. Certainly not what a Forum is for.

OP it was not a silly question - it was just a silly, argumentative response that you received to your perfectly reasonable question.

G

 

[Ferret]

Kingfisher and OP. Sadly this is becoming a feature of this Forum lately. Certainly not what a Forum is for.

OP it was not a silly question - it was just a silly, argumentative response that you received to your perfectly reasonable question.

G

Not at all. It was an honest response based on what we actually know. If I was looking for argumentative responses, I'd look no further than the one you've contributed here.

 

[westcoaster]

Google maps is your friend, look at the place it happened, there you see what I believe caught this train out.

 

[ralphchadkirk]

As far as I can see, ferrets answer was entirely reasonable. Until the raib have finished then we don't know anything else.

 

[Greeny]

Yes, of course it was.

 

[Kingfisher200262]

Sorry if I upset anybody here today. I just felt that the initial response to the original poster was a but abrupt, without giving much in the way of info.

I accept that RAIB will probably investigate, and was not in any way trying to provoke speculation as to the cause, but a bit more info such as the type of machine involved might have been provided by someone in the know, probably removing the temptation for me to Google to find what I admit was a poor piece of reporting by a local rag.

 

[GB]

RAIB did not and are not attending, so don't expect an offical in depth report any time soon.

All I will say is there was a mis communication during the taking of a possession prior to the tamper derailing.

 

[Ferret]

RAIB did not and are not attending, so don't expect an offical in depth report any time soon.

All I will say is there was a mis communication during the taking of a possession prior to the tamper derailing.

I'm quite surprised at that GB, I must confess! I'd have thought they'd take a look at a derailment like that, but hey!

Kingfisher - it wasn't intended to be an abrupt reply, it's just that not much information has come out!

 

[Kingfisher200262]

I'm quite surprised at that GB, I must confess! I'd have thought they'd take a look at a derailment like that, but hey!

Kingfisher - it wasn't intended to be an abrupt reply, it's just that not much information has come out!

No probs. Sorry, I'm a bit sensitive to exclamation marks!

 

[GB]

I'm quite surprised at that GB, I must confess! I'd have thought they'd take a look at a derailment like that, but hey!

Kingfisher - it wasn't intended to be an abrupt reply, it's just that not much information has come out!

I think as the cause was known very early on and the train derailed on catch/trap points as intended, there was not much need for their attendance.

 

[LexyBoy]

Greeny and Ferret - no offence felt on my part! I did ask what happened and was quickly told precisely that!

Kingfisher and GB - thanks for the info (I must confess that it didn't occur to me to google it - I'd assumed it would be here first!)

It seems to me often that quarrels arise when (what seem to me) light-hearted comments are taken seriously or as a personal affront. It's always going to be a problem when communicating purely by text with people you don't know IRL, as on forums. My rule is to always assume the best intentions.

(Also I've noticed that on the mobile site, all smilies show up as which could lead to mis-interpretations...)

 

[Ferret]

Greeny and Ferret - no offence felt on my part! I did ask what happened and was quickly told precisely that!

Kingfisher and GB - thanks for the info (I must confess that it didn't occur to me to google it - I'd assumed it would be here first!)

It seems to me often that quarrels arise when (what seem to me) light-hearted comments are taken seriously or as a personal affront. It's always going to be a problem when communicating purely by text with people you don't know IRL, as on forums. My rule is to always assume the best intentions.

(Also I've noticed that on the mobile site, all smilies show up as which could lead to mis-interpretations...)

Yes, there was certainly no personal affront intended on mine part (well, apart from to the crap journalist who wrote that pile of nonsense for the Reading Chronicle!) - if I'd wanted to be facetious, I'd have just said 'it derailed' - and really stated the blinding obvious!

I'm surprised Old Timer hasn't contributed to this thread anyway - it's his area of expertise as well!

 

[Kingfisher200262]

The most interesting issue here is that somebody seems to have thought it was a good idea to place a set of catch points in a location where if is at best difficult and at worst almost impossible (without heavy plant) to retrieve and re-rail the offending train.

Thoughts?

 

[turbo mick]

RAIB did not and are not attending, so don't expect an offical in depth report any time soon.

All I will say is there was a mis communication during the taking of a possession prior to the tamper derailing.

Same as above no one was seriously injured thats the main thing. the tamper is at right angles close to a high embankement end of the goods loop at scours lane so the recovery is quite difficult.The cranes are located in RDG Tmd ive seen photos of the tamper and the cranes

cheers

 

[Greeny]

The most interesting issue here is that somebody seems to have thought it was a good idea to place a set of catch points in a location where if is at best difficult and at worst almost impossible (without heavy plant) to retrieve and re-rail the offending train.

Thoughts?

As a thought, I'm curious about which end (cab) the OTM was being driven from and why, if it has gone through a set of trap points, it got so far. It is unlikely to have been a set of unworked catch points but I won't argue with anyone who says it was. Obviously I am not going to go into specifics but it is my experience that for working the OTM, or extended movements they drive it from the right end but shunt moves are a different matter.
G

 

[turbo mick]

There were 2 tampers coupled together luckily otherwise the machine on its own would have ended up down the bank the catch points are for protecting signalled moves from the down goods towards the down relief and over tilehurst east jct to the down main they have been there for years trust me ive been over them loads of times as a driver

The incident was under Engineering works

 

[Greeny]

Just to satisfy my own curiosity, Mick, are they catch points or trap points ?.

 

[Tamperkid]

It was being towed by a ballast regulator (the two machines always tow each other as both follow the high output ballast cleaner) apparently caused alot of damage to the machine.

 

[daikilo]

The most interesting issue here is that somebody seems to have thought it was a good idea to place a set of catch points in a location where if is at best difficult and at worst almost impossible (without heavy plant) to retrieve and re-rail the offending train.

Thoughts?

Catch (trap) points are usually placed in siding areas or goods roads to protect against runaways against signals of any sort. When used in running lines the intent is to protect adjacent and probably higher speed lines. In this particular case, if we assumed it performed its protection role then it appears to have done so without any significant injury. Imagine if the Tamper had continued and changing lines run into the head-end of any train and, in possibly normal conditions, a train running at say 100mph.

I am not in favour of catch points which could endanger local populations but equally I would prefer that they exist rather than take the risk of loss of life from a head- or side-on collision and derailment with e.g a heavily-loaded passenger train.

 

[yummy125]

Here's the Pic:

 

[GB]

The most interesting issue here is that somebody seems to have thought it was a good idea to place a set of catch points in a location where if is at best difficult and at worst almost impossible (without heavy plant) to retrieve and re-rail the offending train.

Thoughts?

As daikilo says, these types of points are used to protect running lines against SPADs and runaways, so I doubt any potential recovery operation factors into the equation.