Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's the New Measurement Train

[rogerzilla]

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/23365421.blue-light-spotted-swindon-night-flying-banana-train/

 

Caused some scratched heads on going through Swindon, according to the local rag.  Mind you, we have UFO enthusiasts and even a new witchcraft shop!

[keefer]

Seems to happen if one of the trains is out when there's low-ish cloud

A quick Google would suggest the most recent sightings are on the WR from 2018-date, would that tie in with electrification dates?

I'm sure the blue light has been mentioned before in other areas.

I think the Structure Gauging Train might cause alarm as well but that's white lights.

[big jim]

17 minutes ago, keefer said:

Seems to happen if one of the trains is out when there's low-ish cloud

A quick Google would suggest the most recent sightings are on the WR from 2018-date, would that tie in with electrification dates?

I'm sure the blue light has been mentioned before in other areas.

I think the Structure Gauging Train might cause alarm as well but that's white lights.

the SGT has red lights when it’s operating, I used to love looking back and seeing the laser ‘dots’ shining across open fields!

 

the NMT makes the news now and again on slow news days! 
 

https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/you-see-pillar-blue-light-15379790.amp

 

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/weird-blue-light-sky-bristol-3246568.amp
 

 

[Michael Hodgson]

24 minutes ago, keefer said:

Seems to happen if one of the trains is out when there's low-ish cloud

A quick Google would suggest the most recent sightings are on the WR from 2018-date, would that tie in with electrification dates?

I'm sure the blue light has been mentioned before in other areas.

I think the Structure Gauging Train might cause alarm as well but that's white lights.

according to the Scotland Sectional Appendix ...

 

INFRASTRUCTURE MONITORING TRAINS
Network Rail own a fleet of specially adapted Infrastructure Monitoring vehicles which operate frequently on
most lines on all Network Rail routes, these vehicles are painted yellow and carry Network Rail logos. Trains
with these vehicles in them generally operate with a ‘Q’ headcode so as to denote that they are line specific.
During movements, these vehicles can emit a powerful underframe light source which could be mistakenly
identified as a binding brake or sparks being emitted from the bogies, and as such, does not require to be
reported to the controlling Signaller. However, if in any doubt, then normal operating procedures should be
applied.

[big jim]

4 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

according to the Scotland Sectional Appendix ...

 

INFRASTRUCTURE MONITORING TRAINS
Network Rail own a fleet of specially adapted Infrastructure Monitoring vehicles which operate frequently on
most lines on all Network Rail routes, these vehicles are painted yellow and carry Network Rail logos. Trains
with these vehicles in them generally operate with a ‘Q’ headcode so as to denote that they are line specific.
During movements, these vehicles can emit a powerful underframe light source which could be mistakenly
identified as a binding brake or sparks being emitted from the bogies, and as such, does not require to be
reported to the controlling Signaller. However, if in any doubt, then normal operating procedures should be
applied.

I’ve been stopped or called by the signaller quite a few times because of other drivers reporting dragging brakes when they see the bogie lights, you can be pretty sure if the GSM phone rings in the cab shortly after a train passes you know what it’s about! 
 

 

 

[Bucoops]

Quote

Andy Micklewhite
6th March 10:07 pm
User ID: 2140821
It's those aliens back again looking for intelligent life in Swindon. They've failed to find it so far

 

I've been to Swindon. I can totally understand this comment :D

[The Stationmaster]

7 hours ago, Bucoops said:

 

I've been to Swindon. I can totally understand this comment :D

Judging by that comment it is all too obvious that uyou have indeed been to Swindon.  However I don't think that some of the locals would understand your comment.  There was for example (but one of many) the Swindonian who visited the bookstall at Paddington on his way home one evening and asked fora copy of 'the Adver. and reportedly was amazed that they didn't know what he was talking about and then travelled all teh way bavk to Swindon muttering that he couldn't understand why Londoners were so dim.

 

There was rather fun little story told by one of the girls in the fairly shortlived 125 House typing pool which ended with the words  'just imagine how disappointed he would have been when he put his hand up her skirt'.  Part of the inference being that every time she and her mates went out on a date they apparently expected that their male partner would put his hand up their skirt'.  Strange place.

[Bucoops]

8 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

Judging by that comment it is all too obvious that uyou have indeed been to Swindon.  However I don't think that some of the locals would understand your comment.  There was for example (but one of many) the Swindonian who visited the bookstall at Paddington on his way home one evening and asked fora copy of 'the Adver. and reportedly was amazed that they didn't know what he was talking about and then travelled all teh way bavk to Swindon muttering that he couldn't understand why Londoners were so dim.

 

There was rather fun little story told by one of the girls in the fairly shortlived 125 House typing pool which ended with the words  'just imagine how disappointed he would have been when he put his hand up her skirt'.  Part of the inference being that every time she and her mates went out on a date they apparently expected that their male partner would put his hand up their skirt'.  Strange place.

 

I did about 3 weeks of night shifts in a well known department store whilst it was being refurbished. The number of people who thought that as the lights were on the store was open was rather amusing. The fact we were walking around in Tyvek suits and respirators because of asbestos seemed not to faze them.

[Wickham Green too]

5 hours ago, Bucoops said:

... asbestos seemed not to faze them.

Well, they were probably immune to the stuff after generations slapping it onto loco boilers. ☹️

Edited March 7, 2023 by Wickham Green too

[Arun Sharma]

A lifetime ago I was the deputy station commander at RAFH Wroughton. The visiting Mayor of Wroughton informed me that the name Swindon was derived from Swine Down as it was the hillside where the good burghers of Wroughton used to walk/graze their pigs. I was led to understand that many of the older inhabitants in Wroughton and Chiseldon still referred to the town as 'Pig Hill'.

[BoD]

Thank you for this.  I’m beginning to understand now some of those strange green things that came from Swindon.

[Dagworth]

1 hour ago, Arun Sharma said:

I was led to understand that many of the older inhabitants in Wroughton and Chiseldon still referred to the town as 'Pig Hill'.

Sounds like a new layout name for @Clive Mortimore

[Clive Mortimore]

People seeing a blue light reminds me of a program about UFOs I watch many years ago. It ended with a story about the guard at one of the USAF bases in Suffolk seeing a low flying UFO with a blue light. The base contacted the local police to see if there were any other reports of this UFO. The Police replied saying one of their officers was on an emergency call in the area and they would ask him if he saw anything unusual.

Edited March 8, 2023 by Clive Mortimore

[Wickham Green too]

4 hours ago, Arun Sharma said:

... the older inhabitants in Wroughton and Chiseldon still referred to the town as 'Pig Hill'.

Yet Pig Hill Sidings are at Clapham Junction !

[The Stationmaster]

4 hours ago, Arun Sharma said:

A lifetime ago I was the deputy station commander at RAFH Wroughton. The visiting Mayor of Wroughton informed me that the name Swindon was derived from Swine Down as it was the hillside where the good burghers of Wroughton used to walk/graze their pigs. I was led to understand that many of the older inhabitants in Wroughton and Chiseldon still referred to the town as 'Pig Hill'.

They're not the only ones - many of the BR staff who were transferred to Swindon in 1984/85 also used that name for the town although to get the detail right we actually called it Pigs' Hill.  

 

However the most common origin we heard was swine-tun - i.e. an enclosure where pigs were kept. - which gradually became corrupted to end up as Swindon.  I would have thought that it was an awful long way to walk from Wroughton to keep an eye on your pigs!!

[The Stationmaster]

22 hours ago, Wickham Green too said:

Well, they were probably immune to the stuff after generations slapping it onto loco boilers. ☹️

Alas they weren't.  It might have taken a long time to kill some of the hem - such as a former boss of mine - but it did for plenty of them.  Some of that might also be down to the fact that apprentices in the boiler also used to use it for 'snowball' fights.  

[The Stationmaster]

 BTW as for the NMT my bank balance still has fond memories of its help during the time I was carryong out ISA (Independent Safety Auditor) work on the train.  However the project sponsors probably don't have quite such fond memories of my contribution which resulted in additional brake trials which proved me right and their calculations wrong for the occasions when Mk2 vehicles were included in the formation.

[Siberian Snooper]

4 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

Alas they weren't.  It might have taken a long time to kill some of the hem - such as a former boss of mine - but it did for plenty of them.  Some of that might also be down to the fact that apprentices in the boiler also used to use it for 'snowball' fights.  

 

Asbestos was also used for "snowball " fights in HM ships, boiler rooms and probably anywhere else, where it was available.

 

 

[Bucoops]

40 minutes ago, Siberian Snooper said:

 

Asbestos was also used for "snowball " fights in HM ships, boiler rooms and probably anywhere else, where it was available.

 

 

 

The famous one was it was used as snow in the Wizard of Oz film.

[Arun Sharma]

It's an interesting point regarding the lethal properties of boiler insulation. Looking at the few books/photgraphic albums that have been published regarding the scrapping of steam locos, in very few are there pictures showing the gas axle wielders wearing any sensible form of respiratory or skin protection. As a medical student, I recall being told that the wives of scrapyard workers were almost equally at risk of developing mesothelioma and/or asbestosis as they inhaled the dust that was on their spouses clothes when washing them.