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The human side of the railway...


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I dont wish to be to pedantic, as its a rather good photograph, but they are both wearing glasses and not reading something, so would have failed their medical's.

Both are a bit too old to be firemen as well.

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Glad you liked them!!

 

Dave would be very miffed to be considered too old to be a fire man! From the same trip up to Mallaig [best fish and chips I have ever tasted...] Dave doing the hot stuff, and a gentleman in a kilt on Mallaig Harbour Station taking pictures of a West Coast excursion diesel.

Finally, although they are not 'humans', Lucy and Dudley go everywhere as props for our smaller relatives and friends' children, and only marginally human, 'Yours Truly' at Mallaig, not wanting to be moved!

 

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Doug

 

 

 

 

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If he's waiting for the locomotive he's at the wrong end of the train (note the tail lamp).

As a guard I wear both wrist watch and pocket watch to ensure I have at least one in working order. Its the same with other kit - two whistles, 2 number 1 keys 3 carriage keys and 2 red flags

 

On SVR the tail lamp must be removed before the loco buffers up

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As a guard I wear both wrist watch and pocket watch to ensure I have at least one in working order. Its the same with other kit - two whistles, 2 number 1 keys 3 carriage keys and 2 red flags

 

On SVR the tail lamp must be removed before the loco buffers up

 

OT, if you happen to know a chap from Gladestry who clips the tickets, say hello from Japan.

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Selfie using a tripod whatever next?

 

Re-tail lamps, think usual practice is to keep it on until the train engine arrives and couples up. Then it's removed.

When I was pipe monkey, I'd place the (upon terminating) redundant tail lamp approximately six feet from the coaches on the platform edge. On the understanding the driver of the loco coming on that end would stop there before I called him on.

Driving directly on to the stock technically being a collision in the rule book to which we worked.

 

Worked very well actually, whilst I never doubted my drivers ability to go straight on, the dwell/think time of a few seconds I believe benefitted everyone.

 

C6T.

Edited by Classsix T
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Selfie using a tripod whatever next?

 

Re-tail lamps, think usual practice is to keep it on until the train engine arrives and couples up. Then it's removed.

If a tail lamp is still attached to a train on the Mid Hants we have to stop short as it has the same meaning as a NTBM board if left on stock. Edited by PhilH
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Didn't there used to be a rule that glasses were prohibited on steam locomotives?

 

Footplatemen were not allowed to wear spectacles on the footplate thus anyone with a distant vision problem which required glasses was automatically taken off; reading glasses were acceptable but were not permitted to be worn on the footplate.  Things changed once steam had ended and the first step was permission to wear specs which met BR conditions (they had to have shatterproof lenses) and any Driver reporting for work had to have with him a spare pair if he need glasses for distant vision.

 

So things changed from none being allowed for distant vision to being required to carry two pairs.  I haven't got a clue what goes on nowadays (and with some operators I shudder to think - must add that one to a possible upcoming checklist I might be asked to jot down).  Incidentally when glasses were allowed for steam engine footplate work there were very stringent requirements regarding the type of glass to be used - even more so than the original requirements for working on diesels etc so I understand.  and in fact anyone who wears glasses while working on a steam engine footplate would be a large number of sandwiches short of a picnic if the y didn't make absolutely certain about the quality and toughness of the lenses.  Contact lenses were barred by BR for diesels and steam.

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I imagine the thing about glasses is they are visible - with contact lenses a third party cannot tell whether they have got them in or not, where as if your staff ID / file states you require glasses and you are found not wearing them then it's an obvious transgression of the rules.

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I imagine the thing about glasses is they are visible - with contact lenses a third party cannot tell whether they have got them in or not, where as if your staff ID / file states you require glasses and you are found not wearing them then it's an obvious transgression of the rules.

And contact lenses and the coming out of a steam loco are not a good combination

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I imagine the thing about glasses is they are visible - with contact lenses a third party cannot tell whether they have got them in or not, where as if your staff ID / file states you require glasses and you are found not wearing them then it's an obvious transgression of the rules.

 

Not entirely - the principal reason is personal safety and operational safety.  When something goes in the cab, such as a gauge glass blowing, contact lenses become just another potential cause of injury.  Even in less stressful times there's a risk of coal dust blowing about and sundry other things going on. 

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Somerset and Dorset driver Donald Beale oiling round a 9f, screencapture of the 1986 BBC documentary Return to Evercreech Junction.

 

 

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Excellent post Michael, he was a legend amongst many others on the S&D. Very happy to relate that by the odd degree of separation or two, there are still some 'old school' footplatemen about today with connections to steam, one of my colleagues down at Reading is soon to retire but I was very chuffed to here from him recently that his lifelong best mate was the fireman on Winston Churchill's funeral train in January '65.

Edited by Rugd1022
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The human side of the railway personified, I had this text from my younger brother recently...

 

''According to ASLEF I am the youngest pre-privatisation safeguarded Driver on the railway. The BR pension scheme dies with me. BR dies with me... their words! I'm actually a bit tearful''

Edited by Rugd1022
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