Don Coffey cab ride video discussion

[superkev]

I suspect the real reason is the company producing official route learning videos feel that he’s stepping on their toes and risking a TOC asking why on earth they don’t produce them in-house for a fraction of the cost. They'll have whispered in someone’s ear about the perils of route learning from a YouTube channel so that the permission he had in the past is revoked.

I've seen a few official route learning vids of which a few have been posted on the web.
For what I've seen Don's are far superior and include useful points of note which official ones do not.
Sounds like sour grapes to me.
As for the strange argument that they aren't current so a safety issue is a stupid one as they are dated so use with caution.
I'm sure official ones are a bit behind the real world too.
As I said the ban could start the end of all cab rides videos even the excellent DVDs from video 125.
Perhaps its companys like Video125 who have complained there market is being eroded.
K

 

[BrianW]

Possibility that Don has felt heat from the possibility of being accused of driving without due care and attention in the event of an incident (however unlikely). Feeling for him. I derived so much from that film years back London to Brighton in however short a time it was- enthusiasm for 'the railway' that has not gone away. All power to you Don.

 

[bramling]

I've seen a few official route learning vids of which a few have been posted on the web.
For what I've seen Don's are far superior and include useful points of note which official ones do not.
Sounds like sour grapes to me.
As for the strange argument that they aren't current so a safety issue is a stupid one as they are dated so use with caution.
I'm sure official ones are a bit behind the real world too.
As I said the ban could start the end of all cab rides videos even the excellent DVDs from video 125.
Perhaps its companys like Video125 who have complained there market is being eroded.
K

I can’t see Video 125 complaining, as they’ve always made very clear that their sales pitch comes from offering a complete experience (narration, run-bys, professional broadcast standard filming and editing etc), rather than simply a cab ride.

I suspect the loose conflict of interest hinted elsewhere is nearer to reality, with someone starting to ask “should we really be doing this?” questions. The point about them being uncontrolled is a complete red herring IMO.

Quite simply someone somewhere has decided to be awkward. Only takes one, and in the railway it’s often the case that you don’t have to go too far before encountering that one.

 

[43066]

Delete

 

[philthetube]

maybe they should hire him to produce them

 

[Techniquest]

This is a real big shame, I got one of his videos pop up as a recommendation a good while back and I really liked it. Unlike other driver's eye views, the scrolling text bit where appropriate talking about historical bits, discussing architecture you can't easily see from a passenger seat, and many other things, that was really helpful.

Perfectly understandable why the videos are no longer in production, and I can only imagine how long it takes to put everything together for these videos, so I don't envy the hours he'll have spent doing that. Even so, it's a shame to lose someone who's clearly passionate about his job and the railway in general from YouTube.

 

[43066]

Deleted.

 

[John Bishop]

Great shame, although not my area, I still really enjoyed his videos. They’re a hell of a lot better than the official route learning videos we’ve got at our place!

 

[Greetlander]

His videos are excellent, and he also seems to be an absolute stickler for safety and propriety. As a rank amateur I've learned so much about rail operation and the why and how of all things railway. Thing is, he might be talking absolute nonsense for all I know but as I'm never likely to drive the public on a train between Chester and Holyhead it's not really an issue. However, if I ever do qualify, I'll make sure not to use his unofficial videos for official route learning.

 

[Requeststop]

It all seems strange given that even Great Western published a cab ride to celebrate the final HST ride from Plymouth to Paddington a few weeks back.

It seems to me that the only difference is that Don gives some excellent commentary during his video's.
All over Youtube there are hundreds of cabrides/fuhrerstandmitfahrt from all over Europe and the rest of the world. It seems to me that the British, as usual are being stuffed shirts over something done well.

 

[O L Leigh]

Don has given a precis of the situation on his channel which has been quoted above. Clearly he's been warned that there may be implications arising from people using his videos for route learning and, whether that's justified or not, it's a situation that Don has no wish to test.

I've also been on the receiving end of similar warnings for a training blog I wrote at the start of my career and, even though it was admitted that I hadn't done anything wrong (yet), there was a very clear message that I was being closely and carefully watched and that one slip-up and I would be toast. The safest thing for me was to leave the uncontentious stuff that I had already done and not add anything more.

 

[A.Butler]

I suspect the real reason is the company producing official route learning videos feel that he’s stepping on their toes and risking a TOC asking why on earth they don’t produce them in-house for a fraction of the cost. They'll have whispered in someone’s ear about the perils of route learning from a YouTube channel so that the permission he had in the past is revoked.

I have a sneaky suspicion you are correct!!

 

[Envoy]

I wonder how much the TOC’s are paying the company that produce the official route learning videos? Why don’t they just ditch them & get Don to make the videos and pay him instead - then he could do the updates as & when needed as well as produce a version for everyone to see on You Tube?

 

[DarloRich]

I wonder how much the TOC’s are paying the company that produce the official route learning videos? Why don’t they just ditch them & get Don to make the videos and pay him instead - then he could do the updates as & when needed as well as produce a version for everyone to see on You Tube?

that wont help you all. In that case the TOC will own the IPR and will decide who it is released to.

 

[Envoy]

that wont help you all. In that case the TOC will own the IPR and will decide who it is released to.

The TOC’s would gain because viewers of routes amongst the general public would be more likely to travel that route and hence provide revenue. Norwegian Televison transmitted the real time cab ride on the Bergen line and it was a massive hit amongst the viewing public and no doubt, resulted in increased revenue from the travelling public.

I see that GWR uploaded a cab ride from Bristol to London - a pity they did not choose a fine day with the sun behind them when hopefully no flies were out. Anyway, good though this is, it lacks the information that Don Coffey is so skilled at adding to his videos.

 

[91108]

Not only will the track access video producers have their noses out of joint, and TPE director’s be wondering why they pay a fortune for route learning material that can be done better by one of their own drivers with a camera, but, whether we like it or not doing this sort of filming pushes the boundaries of what is acceptable in regard to TOC policies on personal electronic devices. I’m glad he has been allowed to withdraw gracefully and not been subjected to any discipline action, which is often used at the merest hint of a rule or policy not being followed.
There are also dozens of train driver and guard Twitter accounts where the hosts post photos of their trains/cabs/railway etc taken whilst they are at work. I fear it won’t be long before this backfires badly on one of them.

 

[DarloRich]

The TOC’s would gain because viewers of routes amongst the general public would be more likely to travel that route and hence provide revenue. Norwegian Televison transmitted the real time cab ride on the Bergen line and it was a massive hit amongst the viewing public and no doubt, resulted in increased revenue from the travelling public.

Ok. I disagree and think this is unlikely.

 

[Darandio]

One rather large point that is being missed is Youtube monetisation. You don't remove it yourself and it doesn't just disappear without reason, someone has reported these videos giving multiple strikes and Youtube have taken action against him to remove his revenue. This isn't just as simple as the videos being removed by the author because they chose to do so, if that was the case monetisation would remain on the numerous videos that remain.

 

[JonathanP]

Are you sure about that? Surely the author could also choose to remove monetisation themselves?

It sounds to me like he just wants end the project now and leave it in a state where he no longer has to do any ongoing administrative work.

 

[Western Sunset]

I hope Don has them archived somewhere, as they will be an important resource for historians in the future.

 

[Swanny200]

I have watched a few and to be honest Don is superior to the lot, in visual information at the bottom of the screen for both drivers and enthusiasts alike and in commentary. Sounds like one of the other companies has complained, as others have said, if a TOC can do it cheap through the likes of Don with a couple of Go Pro's there is no need for Video 125. When the likes of GWR and GNER can do from the cab views of routes to celebrate things or to advertise (albeit GNER's was Edinburgh to Aberdeen in like 5 minutes) probably inhouse then especially with the current restrictions, this may be the way forward rather than pay companies to do it.

 

[Bayum]

Possibility that Don has felt heat from the possibility of being accused of driving without due care and attention in the event of an incident (however unlikely). Feeling for him. I derived so much from that film years back London to Brighton in however short a time it was- enthusiasm for 'the railway' that has not gone away. All power to you Don.

He had permission from the TOCs to do the filming. Plus, I don’t think he was driving any of the trains either, just narrating them afterwards.

 

[a_c_skinner]

I've nothing to add other than to lament a loss. I've not been watching systematically, just some where I know the area. With the right permissions it seems pretty harmless. I write as a passenger not a professional.

 

[superkev]

Not sure how YouTube moneteration works but lots of people make a living from it. Big loser will of course be the charities Don donated too.
As I said next to disappear as officialdom does there thing could be Ben Ellis, Railmart and others cab rides.
K

 

[WestRiding]

Train Driver's learnig how to drive, From YouTube earning £300000! (i can see the headline now)

 

[Swanny200]

Train Driver's learnig how to drive, From YouTube earning £300000! (i can see the headline now)

No doubt be in the Daily Mail or the Sun and be classed as learning tools for terrorists wanting to attack our railways

 

[nlogax]

It's a shame that Don's needed to remove some of them. I've been a subscriber to his channel for some time, and some of those more recent videos have been fantastic. Very nice to have playing on the telly in the background for those of us who've not traveled by train a whole lot since the spring!

 

[Swanny200]

I was asked to photograph a friend who was cycling in the World Transplant Games last year, it was in my backyard, I had not seen my friend in person in over 20 years, and he had been through a lot health wise since. I took pictures of him and a few other cyclists that I had met that day and duly asked if they were in shot, was I allowed to share them and if they were on social media credit or tag them and they could freely use them on their own profiles, I found out later on that the games own photographers were upset that a "Professional Photographer" from another company was on site, I am an ex professional photographer who still has his equipment for hobby stuff. I was duly approached by one of their PR team and asked about my presence, I informed them that I was not being paid and was doing it off my own back, I was also supporting a friend of 25+ years who was taking part in what was his only shot at a World Transplant Games title, they left some of the amateurs alone, but anyone with a DSLR camera was approached.

 

[whoosh]

About an hour ago, Don posted the following on his Youtube page:

Don Coffey

www.youtube.com

12:44

Don Coffey

1 hour ago

Folks, for those of you that don't know, I'm 62,
semi-retired "in so much" that I work a fortnight on and a fortnight off and I'm currently on my fortnight on. I can see this news has sent a ripple to so many of you that are dedicated and loyal subscribers - I've honestly made some lovely "virtual" friends on this channel. I will give you a fuller explanation when I am not in my work phase. There are still some videos
available to watch but some have been removed
for reasons which I'll explain in due course. I'm
immensely proud that so many of you say so many nice things and I feel like I've had you by my side in the cab but its got to a point where I'm struggling to keep up and its through shear commitment in return to you, its causing me a lot of stress. There's nothing sinister, I'm not under pressure from anyone, I've just decided to call it time. Think of it like Fawlty Towers
or Breaking Bad. There has to be a last one and mine will be the Lakeside Steam Railway. I'll talk to you again soon.

 

[Ianno87]

From an hour ago:

View attachment 82543

My reading of that (which may be wrong) is that he recognises his videos are useful additional tools for route learning *but* doesn't want to have to manage the responsibility should this result in an untoward situation (i.e. he doesn't want to have to either manage the content of the videos for accuracy and/or doesn't want to risk feeling 'responsible' should something happen due to misinformation from one of his videos).

Anyway fair play, and let's see what else he says on the matter when the time is right.

(Don: If you happen to be reading this, your videos are fantastic and an absolute Godsend during lockdown!)