WCME 24th January.

I was always told it was 'UP' to the headquarters of the railway company. Therefore in the case of the L&YR, Liverpool to Leeds trains via Manchester Victoria, they travelled on the UP line to Man Vic (HQ) and then on the DOWN line to Leeds.

 

Only until 1868, then, no doubt to make the point that it was now like the other big railways with a London terminus, it adopted "down" from London to all points north, right to Carlisle with mileposts from St. Pancras. The West of England line remained "up" to Derby.

 

I agree with one proviso; the tour company needs to provide accurate information from the first and update the itinerary appropriately as circumstances change.

 

Anybody recognise the platform diver?

On his knees at 2.50 HERE.

 

Now I've seen that any sympathy for the fella I might have had is gone..
Beyond the "do not cross line", on his knees, hanging by the edge... The outcome was near inevitable... He's lucky to have cheated the Darwin awards there.

 

Really surprises me the driver of the 47, does not hit the brakes, cant believe he did not notice this bloke trackside.

 

Guy - the driving position is on the left hand side of a Class 47, like most diesel locos. He could not possibly have seen this fellow from that position.

Peter James

 

Was thinking more about the bloke in the rear cab Peter, he was platform side in the drivers seat, thought he may have noticed it, or does he have no control????

Its not a dig, just an observation.

 

I'm not sure what you're expecting the crew of the 47 to do had they stopped the train? Climb down, put themselves at risk to walk back to the platform to give him a good "talking to" & also draw attention to the whole incident? Anyone in the back cab would have seen him move & also realise that there were plenty of folk on the platform to render assistance if it had been required. The idiot survived & we should all contemplate the huge fuss & reaction that would have occurred had he been severely injured, or worse.

 

I am sure they have some duty of care, if they see somebody lineside, however your line "draw attention to the whole incident", sums it up succinctly..

 

It may be my imagination but from the perspective I had of the videos it seemed that he rolled off the platform edge ands simply pushed himself as near to the platform underside as possible for safety then got up once the train had passed; if so a good piece of quick thinking under the circumstances although I agree he shouldn't have put himself so close to the platform edge in the first place ! However people in glass houses .... ; how often have you gone "out of bounds" for that better shot ?

 

Well this weekend the impact was felt, so that video certainly hit the right desks in Network Rail.

3 Police deployed on the platforms at Carlisle (one policewoman placed firmly in front of the buffer beam of 46233 on arrival preventing people getting close and ensuring everyone was behind the yellow line in front of the loco).
Several platform staff shouting insistently to stay behind the line and threatening to clear the platforms and to have people arrested and removed.

It felt a bit like a 1980s football terrace at times, it certainly impacted on the post arrival atmosphere.

On departure people were not allowed beyond the south end canopy end (i.e. behind the loco) on the departure platform.

Draconian, horse bolted, but tbh they are left with no choice... they cannot afford the risk of this happening twice.