Window Hanging

[najaB]

If 'window hanging' is always, completely, unsafe...

I don't think anyone has made that claim.

 

[RichmondCommu]

Given that people tend to regrettably view rail enthusiasts as being a bit weird flailing is hardly going to improve the impression that people have of 'bashers'.

 

[PudseyBearHST]

If 'window hanging' is always, completely, unsafe then an industry as safety aware as the railway wouldn't allow guards to have their head out of a window on departure from stations.

They are trained to do so as already mentioned and they normally only ever do it during the despatch process because the guard needs to watch the train leave the platform. Other than that, I have never seen them sticking their head out of a window.

 

[RichmondCommu]

As mentioned before, the signs are there to warn you about your own safety. If your stupid enough to put your head of the window when your on a 90 doing 100mph then yeah your stupid. But, if your leaving the platform.. you should be ok until it picks up speed. Let's face it, we've all been there

Thanks,
Ross

You think?

 

[PudseyBearHST]

I think as the use of stock with drop lights has gone down (since the removal of mk3s on WCML and slam-door southern stock) it has become more common to be told off about window hanging.
At the end of last year, I was leaving St Pancras on a HST and the platform staff were very quick to tell me off even when it was still in the platform! Mind you, I just waited until it had left the platform, then there wasn't much they could do about it.

I don't think that having your head out while the train is leaving the platform is in itself the major issue here but the platform staff probably had a very strong sniff that you were going to continue to do so even after the train left the platform, which your post confirms highlighted in bold, and so he was trying to discourage you.

 

[tsr]

Even so, the real answer is that guards can be properly trained to do safely.

Indeed.

When GTR still trained conductors - and they're the TOC whose train had the fairly recent fatal incident at Wandsworth Common - they specifically asked competency questions on how to safely dispatch with droplight windows open. Failure would be flagged up for immediate review by a trainer.

 

[xotGD]

I am struggling to comprehend what kind of rail enthusiast DOESN'T want to lean out of the front window.

And how on earth any of us survived bashing in the 1980s.

 

[RichmondCommu]

I am struggling to comprehend what kind of rail enthusiast DOESN'T want to lean out of the front window.

I can completely comprehend why unless you want your parents to bury their child.

 

[gnolife]

I am struggling to comprehend what kind of rail enthusiast DOESN'T want to lean out of the front window.

And how on earth any of us survived bashing in the 1980s.

Well, I don't fancy putting myself in A&E by smashing my head through a 142 or 156 door.

 

[rebmcr]

I am struggling to comprehend what kind of rail enthusiast DOESN'T want to lean out of the front window.

Are you also unable to comprehend self-restraint when there's a good reason to not do whatever you want?

 

[bb21]

I am struggling to comprehend what kind of rail enthusiast DOESN'T want to lean out of the front window.

And how on earth any of us survived bashing in the 1980s.

Sensible ones.

The world moves on.

I think we are done. It's fair to say that no one can completely stop you from having your head out of the droplight if you so wish, but you do so at your own peril, and spare a thought for the poor sods who have to clean up in the event that you miss an object coming your way, sometimes not necessarily visible to you. Only the other day on the ScotRail loco hauled service, a young enthusiast who looked no older than in his teens came back into the carriage with his eyes hurting as something went in while the train went through Inverkeithing tunnel. The hazards are everywhere.

Tread carefully if you must.