father_jack
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- Joined
- 26 Jan 2010
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- 1,139
I am "genless" but people on da facecloth are saying passengers have apparently been walking from west of Didcot Parkway to the station after a "dewirement".
I am "genless" but people on da facecloth are saying passengers have apparently been walking from west of Didcot Parkway to the station after a "dewirement".
802 brought 500m of wires down on the Oxford lines. Given they’re not energised or within the electrified/in use area I’d expect this isn’t an infrastructure or rolling stock issue....
Are we suspecting a driver forgot to pan down?
One suspects that his DSM will be having more than “an appropriate conversation” with him (or her).The goalkeeper balises protect against exactly that so I doubt it was an up train, also with it happening late last night there aren’t any down IETs towards Oxford. I was speculating with a relatively high degree of confidence that it was a driver on an up service attempting to pan up too early. @DidcotDickie appears to have confirmed that is what is being reported elsewhere.
The goalkeeper balises protect against exactly that so I doubt it was an up train, also with it happening late last night there aren’t any down IETs towards Oxford. I was speculating with a relatively high degree of confidence that it was a driver on an up service attempting to pan up too early. @DidcotDickie appears to have confirmed that is what is being reported elsewhere.
One suspects that his DSM will be having more than “an appropriate conversation” with him (or her).
But likely to be a biscuit-free zone.Hopefully just an appropriate conversation! We are all human after all!
Out of curiosity, what signage is there to tell a driver they’re entering a part of the line that has an overhead supply or would it be more simply that they’d see the overhead supply approaching?
Would it be possible for the pan to go up immediately before the contact wire but not reach the overheight threshold until afterwards, causing the ADD to bring the head down on top of the contact wire? If it is, I can easily imagine that causing quite a bit of mess.In this incident I'm surprised that raising the pantograph into thin air didn't cause the automated device drop (ADD) to activate as the pantograph went over-height in which case it would have dropped and all would have been well. Maybe the driver raised it just in time for it to clout the OLE termination portal by the car park before it reached the contact wire (which I believe is not energised at that section).
I think that’s less likely with the GW electrification equipment, because the wire runs are usually terminated vertically above the track, rather than running off to one side, and usually they’re terminated at a portal structure. (Correction welcome of course.)Would it be possible for the pan to go up immediately before the contact wire but not reach the overheight threshold until afterwards, causing the ADD to bring the head down on top of the contact wire? If it is, I can easily imagine that causing quite a bit of mess.
Would it be possible for the pan to go up immediately before the contact wire but not reach the overheight threshold until afterwards, causing the ADD to bring the head down on top of the contact wire? If it is, I can easily imagine that causing quite a bit of mess.
Not the first time this sort of thing has happened..Reported elsewhere that driver of up service from Oxford attempted diesel to electric changeover on the approach to Didcot. Given that the OLE on the up and down Oxford lines doesn't start until you reach the multi-storey Foxhall car park the outcome was never going to be good.
Sadly the consequences likely to be much worse for this particular driver if found to be at fault which is still a very big IF at this stage.Hopefully just an appropriate conversation! We are all human after all!
Woops!
I'm sure technology could stop this from happening?
Is this the second or third OHLE incident with this type of unit ?
Second, the first similar occurrence being Autumn last year when an 802 was being transited to Eastleigh for commissioning; the Pan was physically tied down but not isolated - the GBRf driver attempted to raise the pan at speed (the motives for which were never really made clear) in the Hanwell area, the pantograph not quite raising properly proceeded to bring down the wires on all 4 lines (yay cheap 90s headspans!).
There have been 6 other, largely unrelated major/serious OHLE incidents on Western in the past year or so:-
There’s been some more minor incidents here and there, although few of those have caused significant/lasting disruption - although the significance of some issues may be diminished by the IETs being able to work around most issues by running on Diesel, a luxury we don’t have with 387s in the Thames Valley. For the flak the expensive/eyesore new OHL kit gets, it does seem to be incredibly resilient so far - and where there is an issue, even major damage such as at Reading West, it does achieve one of its design aims of keeping damage isolated to one line.
- 387 wrong-routed onto an unelectrified line at Slough in early 2018
- 387 driven beyond the then limit of electrification at Foxhall Junction in Spring 2018 (and featured on Paddington 24/7)
- Damage to OHLE at Westbourne Park (cause never determined) causing total loss of power Padd - Maidenhead for an hour or so on a Sunday evening Autumn 2018
- 387 driven beyond limit of energised electrification at Didcot Parkway towards Oxford undertaking a shunt move during disruption, Winter 2018/2019
- Stray Umbrella blown into OHLE at Paddington station, causing a dead short between the OHL and a 387, causing significant damage to the roof of the 387 and tripping the power out Paddington to Maidenhead for over an hour in the evening peak, Spring 2019
- Damage to the OHLE near Reading West station (cause under investigation) which saw a 387 get tangled up in the damaged wires necessitating evacuation and rescue of the train, Summer 2019
Bring back the Class 165/166's and Class 43's
Never had any of this trouble in the "old days".
At least the seats were more comfy.
Just yes.Bring back the Class 165/166's and Class 43's
Never had any of this trouble in the "old days".
At least the seats were more comfy.
This at least is correct.At least the seats were more comfy.
Bring back the Class 165/166's and Class 43's
Never had any of this trouble in the "old days".
At least the seats were more comfy.