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More dangerous lineside behaviour around Flying Scotsman

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Tony2

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I was on the afternoon 1Z30 1355 Flying Scotsman run from Dalmeny yesterday. Shortly before departure a person in an orange jacket with a bag walked down to the lineside and alongside the Dalmeny down passenger loop. Two BTP officers quickly appeared and one proceeded along the line to challenge him. We were all expecting an arrest but it turned out he was actually the relief driver!!!
Apparently NR told BTP the driver change would happen on the platform.
 
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DanDaDriver

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14AA6A87-1B02-4936-8892-FAC7268A5B86.jpeg https://twitter.com/intermodalityuk/status/1139823695176916992?s=21

Nick Gallop @IntermodalityUK

Stroud waiting for Scotsman - which bit of “do not trespass” don’t you understand? Signalman doing his best but falling on deaf ears @BTP
 

tsr

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The BTP have had a heavy presence around this tour so hopefully these people get dealt with appropriately. Given there is a high-quality photo, I’m sure it shouldn’t be hard to identify some of the culprits if they’re still present.

That said, they are probably partly tied up with idiots who have decided to dangle their legs over a bridge parapet (I’m not saying where) to sit and watch the train come through.
 

LOL The Irony

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The BTP have had a heavy presence around this tour so hopefully these people get dealt with appropriately. Given there is a high-quality photo, I’m sure it shouldn’t be hard to identify some of the culprits if they’re still present.
As well as CCTV from the box.
That said, they are probably partly tied up with idiots who have decided to dangle their legs over a bridge parapet (I’m not saying where) to sit and watch the train come through.
Let me guess - over some fizzy knitting?
This is absurd as well. Look how close the people in the video are to the edge of the platform (or overhanging it):
https://mobile.twitter.com/GlosLiveOnline/status/1139831020096802816
At least there's more evidence.
 

Meerkat

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The problem with normal folk is that they are all standing on the crossing, which they will see as a right of way, and therefore not trespassing. I am sure they don’t see it at all the same as climbing over a fence, or even walking along from the crossing a bit.
 

37254

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I was talking to a guard and she said that they were going to run an 800 alongside the Scotsman at the same speed to block it from trespassers. Any thoughts?
 

trentside

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I was talking to a guard and she said that they were going to run an 800 alongside the Scotsman at the same speed to block it from trespassers. Any thoughts?

Sounds like a tongue-in-cheek remark to me. Wouldn’t be feasible in most locations.
 

Timrud

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Time to ban steam, people really aren't listening.

One life lost is too many.
 

Darandio

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Yeah, maybe but this sort of behaviour is still not acceptable. They need to do something and fast. Wether that's police on the footplate or CCTV.

Something does have to be done. Take it off the main line.
 

37254

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Time to ban steam, people really aren't listening.

One life lost is too many.
Maybe not the answer. But one life lost is one too many, agreed. There is lots of people saying steam belongs on heritage railways which is quite debatable. I'll go and see a steam tour every now and then but some company's are just taking the micky. The fort William to Maillag Line being on of them.
 

Timrud

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The problem will just follow it to heritage lines surely?

A blanket ban is the only way forwards
 

37254

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Maybe. The thing is it's not just the steamers bringing trespassers, it's the diesels and, like this morning's incident, just normal passenger trains.
 

221129

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Maybe. The thing is it's not just the steamers bringing trespassers, it's the diesels and, like this morning's incident, just normal passenger trains.
Eh? The trespassers this morning were for the kettle... not normal passenger trains.
 

trentside

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Maybe. The thing is it's not just the steamers bringing trespassers, it's the diesels and, like this morning's incident, just normal passenger trains.

There will always be trespassers, that’s a fact of life. Isolated incidents are one thing but the Flying Money Pit brings them out in such numbers that it causes untold disruption and stress for the staff involved.

I’ve worked on days when the Scotsman has been around. Stopped and cautioned multiple times for trespassers round access points, platforms so crowded you struggle to get a clear dispatch corridor to safely send your driver away... it’s not fun.
 

Spamcan81

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The problem will just follow it to heritage lines surely?

A blanket ban is the only way forwards

Possibly a blanket ban on silly posts like yours is the way forward. NR deals with hundreds of trespass incidents every year and only a very small number have anything to do with steam tours.
 

jon0844

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Possibly a blanket ban on silly posts like yours is the way forward. NR deals with hundreds of trespass incidents every year and only a very small number have anything to do with steam tours.

There is a difference. For one, most trespass incidents are random. Foreigners unaware they can't cross the line to get to another platform, someone on the run from police or even to avoid being penalty fared (happens quite a bit at some stations) and of course potentially suicidal people. Lots of reasons but rarely predictable.

On the other hand, it seems that you have one train running that has tens, if not hundreds, of trespass incidents. Most of which are clearly going to be unreported, and even those captured in photos/video doesn't seem to lead to much either.

So, while you try and do everything to reduce trespass on a day by day basis, if you want to have an immediate impact then it would seem logical to focus first on the 'easy' cases and that does mean a review of specific services that are seemingly guaranteed to cause these problems.

It stands to reason that sooner or later something bad will happen.

I do wonder why the train itself doesn't have lots of cameras, with geolocation data, to capture these people and highlight the issues - but then I realised the operator wouldn't want to acknowledge the severity of the problem for obvious commercial reasons. So there's a strong incentive to turn a blind eye, despite the safety issues.
 

NorthernSpirit

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I can provide a solution to this problem, you simply run the thing late at night or at around 4am when there is hardly anyone up.
 

axlecounter

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A possible realistic answer would be to make the operator pay for security staff to protect dangerous points and generally to avoid trespassing. As said these incidents are not casual ones, but are related to one particular event. That event’s operator should take care of that, not BTP or NR.
 

Timrud

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Possibly a blanket ban on silly posts like yours is the way forward. NR deals with hundreds of trespass incidents every year and only a very small number have anything to do with steam tours.

Why is my post silly? Because I hold a different view to you? Because I value safety above anything else?
 

Mathew S

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Why is my post silly? Because I hold a different view to you? Because I value safety above anything else?
It's silly because the economic value of Scotsman and similar steam tours is enormous; and it helps maintain a vaguely positive image of the railway in the public imagination (albeit that personally I can't fathom why).

There is only so much the railway can, or should be expected, to do to protect individuals who choose to put their own lives at risk. Personally, I disagree with the "even one life lost is too many" stance. These are people who are choosing to behave with immense stupidity, despite very large signs and a very high profile PR campaign reminding them not to. If they are killed as a result of their actions, in my opinion, so be it. Network Rail, BTP, and the operators have, in my view, done everything (and more) that could be expected of them. It's time for people to learn the hard way.
 

bb21

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There is only so much the railway can, or should be expected, to do to protect individuals who choose to put their own lives at risk. Personally, I disagree with the "even one life lost is too many" stance. These are people who are choosing to behave with immense stupidity, despite very large signs and a very high profile PR campaign reminding them not to. If they are killed as a result of their actions, in my opinion, so be it. Network Rail, BTP, and the operators have, in my view, done everything (and more) that could be expected of them. It's time for people to learn the hard way.
Unfortunately "so be it" doesn't quite cut it. What about the poor soul who ran the trespass over for example? Some drivers involved in nasty incidents such as fatalities never could go back to work, so that's their innocent careers ruined, for what exactly?

Personally I don't care too much about those idiots, but I do care about the wellbeing of everyone else unwittingly victimised by such actions, and I believe I am certainly not alone in thinking that. For that reason alone even one is too many to me.
 
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