PRACTICES THAT MIGHT FALL FOUL OF HEALTH AND SAFETY

[Mitch]

Releasing wagon handbrakes on vacuumed brake stock was dangerous if done other than by the book. Holding the securing pin chain tight with one hand whilst whacking the brake lever with a brake stick produced the required result, but the handbrake lever would jump up and bite you if you weren't careful....

[nickt]

2.Shunters running alongside wagons with shunting pole under coupling, then with a quick flip (or frequently full body weight applied to end of the pole!), the rake of wagons were split. Loco brakes on then set back to put the next raft of wagons into the next road ...

Fly shunting on the move

More dangerous than just pinning brakes down and probably even more against the rules, but it certainly went on a lot ....

Seem to remember seeing a bit of old film footage of this very proceedure. I think it was coal wagons being shunted at local colliery (think it was Kilmersdon) Where the wagons were shunted across a lane to a point where they were connected to a cable and sent down hillside to rail sidings behind Radstock wagon works.

[Robin Summerhill]

Seem to remember seeing a bit of old film footage of this very proceedure. I think it was coal wagons being shunted at local colliery (think it was Kilmersdon) Where the wagons were shunted across a lane to a point where they were connected to a cable and sent down hillside to rail sidings behind Radstock wagon works.

I've posted some photographs of Kilmersdon incline on Panoramio which are linked to Google Earth. Go into Google earth, look south of Radstock and click on the blue squares at each end of the course of the old railway

They didn't indulge in fly shunting as such at Kilmersdon. Trains were taken to the top of the incline and then loaded wagons were sent down one by one, the weight of them pulling up one empty.

Edited for typos

[nickt]

Just had a quick look at piccs. Would have loved to see incline working but even though pit etc was still working I never got to see the area. Cycling from farrington was a bit of a tall order at my age then. The most I can remember seeing was crossing gates in radstock closing and coal wagons being moved about. Had a bit of an explore at foot of incline recently to try to establish route of tracks at bottom of slope. Nature and vandalism have realy taken their toll.

[Andrew]

Back in the very early '70s I remember catching a DMU (class 119 I think)from Redland to Lawrence Hill and due (presumably) to a control failure it was being driven from the back cab, with the guard in the front cab watching signals and sounding the horn if necessary. Not sure how "legal" that was......

I also remember many an unofficial cab ride as a boy about this time on the 'Beach line, often handing back the token for the driver at Hallen Marsh on the return journey. There was one driver who used to let me operate the vacuum brake for the Redland stop where I got off. Got quite a dab hand at it!

Does anyone remember any of the regular drivers around that time? First names I remember were two Bill's (one of them was a driving instructor on DMUs) a Ben, a Len and a Dennis. There was a regular conductor guard called Wally at that time too........... Happy memories!

[Robin Summerhill]

Does anyone remember any of the regular drivers around that time? First names I remember were two Bill's (one of them was a driving instructor on DMUs) a Ben, a Len and a Dennis. There was a regular conductor guard called Wally at that time too........... Happy memories!

I knew them all back in those days because I was at Bath Road 1971-76. Unfortunately, from 1974 onwards I was working exclusively with the workshop staff and I have to search my memory back 37 years to come up with any names!

In those days the link structure largely determined who worked which turns of duty. I never really got the hang of which driver was in which link below the top link men, but guards were a little easier. You had "passenger guards" who were in the higher links and generally worked the express passenger turns, freight guards who's job was self-explanatory, and "conductor guards" who had been trained on issuing tickets on trains with unstaffed stations, like the Severn Beach line.

The Beach line was also used as something of an "Old Man's Home" - those who were perhaps no longer fit enough to carry out any arduous work, but could quite happily cope with trundling up and down to the Beach a few times a day issuing tickets. I'll try to get the grey matter going, but the only one I can think of at the moment is Freddie Filer, who had a regular afternoon turn on the Severn Beach line and always booked on at 1605. He lived in Doynton, if I remember correctly.

[Andrew]

Does anyone remember any of the regular drivers around that time? First names I remember were two Bill's (one of them was a driving instructor on DMUs) a Ben, a Len and a Dennis. There was a regular conductor guard called Wally at that time too........... Happy memories!

I knew them all back in those days because I was at Bath Road 1971-76. Unfortunately, from 1974 onwards I was working exclusively with the workshop staff and I have to search my memory back 37 years to come up with any names!

In those days the link structure largely determined who worked which turns of duty. I never really got the hang of which driver was in which link below the top link men, but guards were a little easier. You had "passenger guards" who were in the higher links and generally worked the express passenger turns, freight guards who's job was self-explanatory, and "conductor guards" who had been trained on issuing tickets on trains with unstaffed stations, like the Severn Beach line.

The Beach line was also used as something of an "Old Man's Home" - those who were perhaps no longer fit enough to carry out any arduous work, but could quite happily cope with trundling up and down to the Beach a few times a day issuing tickets. I'll try to get the grey matter going, but the only one I can think of at the moment is Freddie Filer, who had a regular afternoon turn on the Severn Beach line and always booked on at 1605. He lived in Doynton, if I remember correctly.

Yes - I remember too Freddie now you mention it; I know he did live a bit "out of town"

[oldchapie]

there are some us who knew those drivers well and they were very fotunate to get away with some of the tricks they got up to, they were the good old days and they knew how to enjoy their work and the safety limits. incidently my h&s was the chinese torture on my ear pointing at an engine on the pit and telling me they kill people. Mind how you go and have safe day lol.

[Andrew]

One of the older Severn Beach regular drivers (I think his name was Ben) always drove with the old GWR ATC off in the cab (ie the red "flag" saying "Not In Use" up instead of filded down and in operation. Not only did the ATC not work but you didn't get a train pipe reading on the vacuum guage so had to brake by "feel". Don't think he liked the BR AWS when it came in, as you had to have the lever "on" to get power and to isolate the AWS you had to break a lead seal.

[Robin Summerhill]

there are some us who knew those drivers well and they were very fotunate to get away with some of the tricks they got up to, they were the good old days and they knew how to enjoy their work and the safety limits. incidently my h&s was the chinese torture on my ear pointing at an engine on the pit and telling me they kill people. Mind how you go and have safe day lol.

Could you help out with some names because my memory still isn't working! (I presume most of them would have long since passed on by now so there would be no repercussions!)

[oldchapie]

Robin I have sorely been thinking of the names but when I did some research for my little booklet I found that quite a lot of the retired drivers had not faded away. There are many of us still going strong who worked the sb line.Our next annual gathering is in June so I will try and find out if any of the names mentioned are still with us. One of the drivers has a brother living near me .

[Andrew]

One of the names I mentioned had a total disregard for the gear-change procedure on DMUs! He would whack the throttle closed, change gear and whack it pen again without waiting for the rev counter to drop back to the end of the yellow section. God knows how much he shortened the life of the brake bands on the planet wheels in the gearbox as there was always a "rev from the engines until the gearbox settled down.

[Robin Summerhill]

Sorry for the thread resurrection, but I felt I had to post about this somewhere and it was a toss-up between the H&S thread and the Bristol to Mangotsfield Line one. "Health & Safety" just won

I was walking along the railway path this afternoon just to the west of Mangotsfield station, where contractors are currently employed upgrading the path up to Rodway Hill.

As you approach, there are a plethora of signs (well, three, actually! ). There is the inevitable "Lorries turning ahead" and another warning punters of vehciles and plant crossing, but another one just takes the biscuit:

"Wait here to be escorted through works"

Apparently, or so it would appear, some berk at South Gloucestershire Council has now decided that "its against Elfin safety, innit" for somebody to simply walk or cycle past a small gang of blokes doing a bit of groundworks.

What next? Bleedin' "single line" traffic lights on a footpath??? I despair

And another thing, of course, is that somebody somewhere gave the instruction for this sign to be painted! Clearly South Glos council have more money than they know what to do with, even in these straitened times

[jules]

Amazing. No more falling down the proverbial "council hole" then

[nickt]

Yep seen similar on road between bath and Dunkerton, you were escorted through works area by some guy on a quad bike.
They still havent fixed that awful dip in road just down from the titfield either...