East Midlands Railway Trust/GCR (Nottingham)

OK, so as I suspected, what you are describing are 'guard rails' not 'check rails'. A commonly misunderstood term!

 

The steam loco for 2026 is Austery 3809/NCB 18

Info from https://www.gcrn.co.uk/node/238

 

Tornado and Flying Scotsman to be reunited at the GCRN in May - https://www.facebook.com/foxandedwa...DS59jaBpfWJt5js5xAbQj3cQvy7dg1ZkbwdhvTsDa2jCl
In Summary for those without facebook Access - Tornado running at the GCRN on May 16/17 while Scotsman is on static display.
Scotsman running May 23/24/25/30/31 with Tornado on static display - A1SLT indicate she will be in steam for this as well https://www.facebook.com/A1SLT/post...TR7V29poPjHqyjNuohLSvPtc4eVoNofo9RKoz3mMUsj5l
Tickets available from Fox and Edwards - £29.50 to ride behind Tornado or £60(!) to ride behind Scotsman

 

Austerity No 18 arrived at Ruddington yesterday

 

An email from the EMTHT this evening says that the National Grid will be connecting Hotchley Hill box and Rushcliffe Halt to mains power shortly, with the work expected to be finished by the Summer. This is great news and puts us a step closer to having a couple of block sections north of Loughborough.

 

This has appeared today.....

 

Went to look at Tornado on the 11:00 departure from Ruddington from the country park footbridge, lots of people getting excited to see it go through. Caught the return into Ruddington at Asher Lane crossing. Nice to see this beautiful locomotive again-thank you to all who organised this!

 

That cable route looks very vulnerable!

 

Brilliant news!

There's a blog on social media somewhere that I've forgot the name of now. But it was providing regular updates about hotchley hill signalbox, it's got a frame in now & looked to have had loads of work.

 

Called into Ruddington today. The site car park has now become app-only, no options for any other payment method. Major red-flag for me, so took my money elsewhere. There has been a lot of social media around the cafe proprietors being asked to vacate - the heritage cafe was one of the gems of the site. What on earth is going on?

 

That must have happened since Wednesday as we paid with cash then.

 

Just park on the industrial estate after the roundabout (where you turn right into the countrypark and heritage centre), free and only a few hundred meters walk (will be harder to do in the week but, weekends no problem)

 

A bit of bad news on the GCRN's Facebook page this evening.



Between the cancelled midweek running days over the Summer and the lost revenue and reputation there, and the running cancelled over the weekend thanks to this, and the lost revenue and reputation there, not good.

 

Yeah. Having basic measures in place to avoid passenger trains derailing on facing points is one of the oldest requirements in the book. No railway should be running if they cannot manage that . . .

 

Good to know you've done a full investigation on this.

 

No investigation was required.

It's a matter of fact that a passenger train derailed on 28 points in a facing direction. It's also a matter of fact that it is one of the basic principles of railway operation that passenger trains should not come off the road on facing points.

I take it that you dont dispute either statement?

The investigation will (hopefully) determine what failures occurred on the evening of the derailment. You will note that I haven't commented on that.

 

No, you've skipped the "finding stuff out" stage and gone straight for sentence...

Or what else does "No railway should be running if they cannot manage that . . ."

 

The implication here being that somehow, the GCRN doesn't have these measures in place... What evidence do you have to support that? Because even with every conceivable safety measure in place, things can still go wrong. Even on a perfectly maintained railway where every single thing is done to the highest standard, things can still go wrong. While it may be a matter of fact that a train derailed, that does not necessarily mean that the GCRN did not have relevant safety measures in place.

Unless you know something that everyone else doesn't, or is it just perhaps that you have an axe to grind for some reason?

Rather than voicing your negative accusations that appear, at this time, to be baseless, it would be better to wait until the relevant parties have completed their investigations and shared whatever information needed.

 

Two questions RWJP.

1. How familiar are you with the GCRNs signalling systems, methods of operation, and the incident in question?

2. As a general question, how many incidents can you cite where a passenger train derailed on a set of facing points on a running line, and the investigation concluded that "every single thing had been done to the highest standard"?

 

I'm not, which is why I asked you for the evidence and information that you have... Or don't as the case may be. Seeing as you are portraying yourself as an expert on this situation and seem to know the full details and cause of this derailment before anyone else does and before the relevant parties have provided any information publicly, it's on you to provide the information to back up the claims you're making. You have accused the GCRN of having no safety measures in place that could have avoided this situation, but you have failed to provide any information to back that up.

So again, please, what evidence do you have? Please share your understanding of the full details of the derailment including the causes and where blame should lie.

Or if you don't have that information, because you aren't the expert you're claiming to be, perhaps consider stopping spreading allegations and accusations that you can't back up and allow the GCRN, RAIB and any other relevant parties to complete their investigations and make information available.