Animals on the line stories

[Wyvern]

Not on the line but:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1233831/The-Lon-den-Underground-The-urban-fox-takes-escalator-Tube-station.html

 

[W230]

I was on a train between Preston in Leeds back in 2002 when there was a big thud and we stopped. The conductor announced that we'd ran over a dead cow. Nice.

I'm still not sure how he knew it was dead before but it certainly was afterwards!

 

[steamybrian]

Ah yes, one of life's gentlemen; could do with a few of his ilk running the railways these days.

The third vote for Peter Rayner..
I knew him when he was on the "Southern" - He was a true traditional railwayman, an enthusiast and loved a pint of beer.

On the Spa Valley Railway trains have had to slow down because of herd of deer on the track ahead. Wild Roedeer live in the forest in the area and I have seen about 6 or 8 together roaming around. One summers evening I was on a train when it crawled along at liitle above walking pace whilst a deer ran along the track in front of the train for about 200 yards before darting off the track and into woodland.

 

[Nym]

Last time I checked, rope (whether synthetic or natural) doesn't conduct electricity.

Eagle, I invite you to put 25kV @ 50Hz through any rope and come out alive at the end of it, it may not conduct HVDC very well, but alternate that and you have a fab electrolyte to conduct through.

 

[CaptainHaddock]

Aren't you glad this doesn't happen in the UK?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/animals/newsid_2463000/2463965.stm

 

[michael769]

Eagle, I invite you to put 25kV @ 50Hz through any rope and come out alive at the end of it, it may not conduct HVDC very well, but alternate that and you have a fab electrolyte to conduct through.

Well everything becomes a conductor if the voltage is high enough!

 

[185]

Aren't you glad this doesn't happen in the UK?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/animals/newsid_2463000/2463965.stm

Sheep are the same. Driver and I were legging it after a flock of ten or so down the line at Selby West - the sheep were just running along the rails in the four foot. :roll:

 

[LE Greys]

Sheep are the same. Driver and I were legging it after a flock of ten or so down the line at Selby West - the sheep were just running along the rails in the four foot. :roll:

Well, they aren't exactly known for their intelligence, same with Pigeons that always take off directly away from the threat even if it's doing 100 mph and heading for them. Another Australian menace is the Wedge-Tailed Eagle, which likes scavenging squashed Kangaroos, but often takes off to about windscreen height when the next train/road train comes along, with inevitable results involving a bird with a bellyful of rotting meat.

As for the Sheep, perhaps they wanted to be in the Trainline advert.

 

[PaxVobiscum]

Eagle, I invite you to put 25kV @ 50Hz through any rope and come out alive at the end of it, it may not conduct HVDC very well, but alternate that and you have a fab electrolyte to conduct through.

I am not volunteering to try it, but I would have thought dry hemp or polymer rope was more a dielectric. Similar materials are used in insulation. But not really my (cough, ahem) field.

 

[33056]

3. Four feet in the four foot! This fox may not be wearing a Hi-Vixen vest but at least she is correctly facing oncoming traffic as she perhaps searches out her quarry at Ardley Quarry, north of Bicester. 16:12, Thursday 12th May 2011.

Have also seen one of those a few years ago at Acton Bridge:

Saw a dead cat in the four foot at Chelford today, rather unusual as cats are usually more aware than dogs - you don't often see them get caught out by a train. A signal box I used to work at on a third rail system had a cat which would only cross to the other side of the tracks using a circuitous route round the back of the box, along the top of the bank, via an underbridge then along the top of the bank the other side. I am sure it sensed the electricity in the third rail and studiously avoided it.

Other incidents, one of the more unusual entries in an accident book I have made; a dog bite, sustained when a driver came across a horse on a single line freight branch, as he and the travelling shunter tried to shoo it away from the line a dog appeared and bit the driver!

Got a call from a driver of a train on another single track freight line saying he had run over some sheep, one of which was rather large, seriously injured and lying across the rail under one of the wagons. A bit wary of running the creature over in case it derailed the wagon, the driver tried to drag it from under the train but the sheep got quite aggresive. The driver stood back and contemplated trying to put the sheep out of it's misery by bashing it on the head with his bardic lamp, but was reluctant to cause it any further suffering. His dilemma was solved after a few minutes of angst when the unfortunate animal passed away.

 

[LE Greys]

Another thing I've heard of are Badgers on newly-electrified third rail lines. They evidently can't sense the electricity, and stick to badger paths almost all the time, so when the rail went live on Hastings-Tonbridge, they kept on blundering into it, which not only fried the Badger, it shorted out the third rail. As a result, they had to put in special 'Badger gaps', and these became standard on all third rail extensions.

 

[O L Leigh]

I see foxes all day every day around the railways. They're not at all unusual and often end up as roadkill along with deer, pigeons, pheasant, cats, badgers and anything else that happens to be wandering along the line at the time. You often don't have to travel very far before you see some carcass or other in the 4 foot.

O L Leigh

 

[sprinterguy]

A couple of friends of mine were travelling along the Tyne Valley line about ten years ago on a 142, barrelling along at full line speed, when it hit a cow. Reportedly as well as there being quite a loud bang, the front carriage of the Pacer seemingly "leapt" into the air (probably no more than a strong jolt in reality) and then understandably came to a very abrupt stop. And that was it for the Pacer as the cow, as its' parting gift, had managed to knacker up the Pacers' brake system and the driver couldn't get them to release again.

 

[VTPreston_Tez]

My Northern train once hit a dog near Lostock, and there were sheep/horses on some southern England station one time.

 

[Halsebee]

Was on a DMU between Crowcombe and Stogumber on West Somerset Railway about ten years ago, which stopped, to avoid hitting a ostrich on the line. Took about five minutes before the ostrich decided to walk off the track

 

[burns20]

A tale frm working on the talyllyn railway which has numerous trespassing sheep.

A train as usual chases sheep along the line where they usually disapear thru a gap in the fence, this time chased a fair distance, across dolgoch viaduct and into dolgoch stn where said sheep went onto the platform...at the other end of the platform was a dog on a lead, sheep saw this did a 180 degree turn and headed bk towards the train...train does emergency stop...unprepared guards inspector goes head over heels in guards van. Quite funny at the time.

 

[Bob M]

In the early days of Eurostar I heard a story of a driver who saw a stag on the line and wanted to report it. The English drivers had been given a crash course in basic French and railway vocabulary, but it didn't include the word for stag. So he reported a cow with a pantograph!

 

[madannie77]

We have deer on the line regularly on the Eden Valley Railway. They are not generally a problem as they run faster than our trains

I managed to get a shot of three of them crossing the line in January: not bad from a moving brake van (in my humble opinion).

http://madannie.smugmug.com/Buses/Temporary-Stuff-1/17481678_d4hDFH#!i=1755828659&k=kvXBCpp&lb=1&s=O

 

[Johnny_w]

We have deer on the line regularly on the Eden Valley Railway. They are not generally a problem as they run faster than our trains

I managed to get a shot of three of them crossing the line in January: not bad from a moving brake van (in my humble opinion).

http://madannie.smugmug.com/Buses/Temporary-Stuff-1/17481678_d4hDFH#!i=1755828659&k=kvXBCpp&lb=1&s=O

That, in my humble opinion, is a fantastic shot!

Nice work.

 

[sbt]

I was reading yesterday of events on a Hampshire Branch Line in the 1950's. There was so much wild, and not so wild, life beside the tracks that train crew used to take Shotguns with them. The idea was to 'bag' a Pheasant or similar edible item on the outward journey and collect it on the return.

A blind eye was turned until the day that one of the guns went off accidentally, seriously injuring the Platelayer who was travelling as a passenger in the first coach. More trouble was caused by the fact that the train reversed, without letting the Signalman know, through 'on' signals to get the casualty to an ambulance than the firearms incident itself.

The tale is online, I forget where this early in the morning, but the shed was Guildford.

 

[bladesman123]

Nobody has mentioned rabbits, i would have thought lots of rabbits get hit often seeing as most of the network is infested with them (well in South Yorks anyway)

 

[tsr]

A badger (or a family of badgers - I'm not sure) was causing disruption earlier this week between Gatwick Airport and Haywards Heath. Given that a badger probably wouldn't do much damage to a train (although I know that carcasses can get stuck in mechanical parts and cause problems), I imagine this was more to do with wildlife conservation, for whatever reason (I thought badger culls were getting more popular, but there we are!).

 

[Wyvern]

I've been told there's a family of badgers in the cutting just up the road.

Driving abroad, there was a post on another forum by a Swedish driver that they are issued with rifles for protection in the wilder areas.

 

[LE Greys]

Apart from getting themselves fried occasionally (which they only do on newly-electrified lines), Badgers can cause major problems with earthworks. There's apparenly a sett opposite Leicester North platform, which has practically hollowed out the cutting side, meaning that it's not safe to build another platform. Not to mention the fact that you aren't allowed to disturb setts.

 

[30909]

I was reading yesterday of events on a Hampshire Branch Line in the 1950's. There was so much wild, and not so wild, life beside the tracks that train crew used to take Shotguns with them. The idea was to 'bag' a Pheasant or similar edible item on the outward journey and collect it on the return.

A blind eye was turned until the day that one of the guns went off accidentally, seriously injuring the Platelayer who was travelling as a passenger in the first coach. More trouble was caused by the fact that the train reversed, without letting the Signalman know, through 'on' signals to get the casualty to an ambulance than the firearms incident itself.

The tale is online, I forget where this early in the morning, but the shed was Guildford.

Would that be the Meon Valley from Alton to Fareham? A resident of a farm cottage near East Tisted claimed to me that from 1946 until he moved in 1952 he was never short of excellent coal in exchange for a daily billy can of milk!

 

[Bald Rick]

Apart from getting themselves fried occasionally (which they only do on newly-electrified lines)

the one that was quietly cooking this morning in Kent must have been in hibernation for a few decades....

 

[LE Greys]

the one that was quietly cooking this morning in Kent must have been in hibernation for a few decades....

I forgot that some of last year's cubs tend to disperse at this time of year.

 

[sbt]

Would that be the Meon Valley from Alton to Fareham? A resident of a farm cottage near East Tisted claimed to me that from 1946 until he moved in 1952 he was never short of excellent coal in exchange for a daily billy can of milk!

Bordon to Bentley Push-Pull - so in that area.

I have found the link, open the page and do a search on 'shotgun', its about 2/3 of the way down.

http://www.davidheyscollection.com/page60.htm

 

[IanXC]

Would that be the Meon Valley from Alton to Fareham? A resident of a farm cottage near East Tisted claimed to me that from 1946 until he moved in 1952 he was never short of excellent coal in exchange for a daily billy can of milk!

Why does Oscar Turkey of Oh Dr Beeching come to mind!

 

[warriorwarlord]

Waiting at Willesden Junction (on the low level, down platform) and saw a dead pigeon stuck in the gap between the ballast and the live rail, it had obviously made an earth with the rail and the rest was history.