Drivers..our stories

[ungreat]

Ok,heres a new one...

Theres a few of us on here..how about some posts about bad days/good days/weird happenings/old memories..Im sure we can produce some entertaining stuff!!

I have a good starter...but will wait to see if anyone else wants to contribute too first!!

 

[O L Leigh]

Sure, why not.

As a few on here know, I've not been passed for driving all that long. However, it doesn't take long before something noteworthy happens.

Probably the most amusing incident happened to me when I was doing StanEx runs. I was late into LST due to some problem or other and only had five minutes to change ends before I was due out. Unfortunately I desperately needed to pee. I decided that I wouldn't have enough time to get to the staff karzi on P10, so I would have to use the on-train facilities. To save the punters noses, I headed off to the country end unit (a Cl317/7) and made my way to the disabled robo-loo. Into the bog I boldly go to relieve myself. As I'm doing so I hear a click from the door mechanism but think nothing of it. I finish up, gather up my stuff and head for the door. I press the button and nothing happens. I press it again and again nothing happens. I keep pressing but nothing keeps happening. I try to shoulder the door but it's stuck fast. Out comes the work mobile to dial up control. "Hello mate. This is driver 1BXX. Please can you send the fitter to the country end unit on PX as I'm stuck in the disabled loo and need assistance to get out." Having completed the call, I try the door again and "WHOOSH" it opens. Out comes the work mobile. "Belay that call for the fitter. I'm out."

What made the situation all the more galling was that, having got out, there was a further delay because of a points failure at LST. When I finally got to the airport I was late for my return working, and the reason for the delay to this service was recorded as being "Driver was stuck in the toilet and required fitters assistance".

Bloody liars...!!

O L Leigh

 

[ungreat]

Nice one buddy

This one may shock a few...I was straight out of Traction trainee school in 1987,a newly passed Drivers assistant,ie,secondman...My first turn was a Waterloo-Exeter return with Class 50's both ways...My driver was an old hand,ex SR guy called McLagen.As soon as we got on the engine( 50019) he got in the secondmans seat and said"Your driving boy,you need the experience"
As happy as I was,I didnt have a clue,but this was how you learned to drive in these days
He was a good tutor..turns out this was his opening gambit with young trainees..he instructed me all the way..and back with 50043..and I learned loads but I really **** myself,thats how we used to learn to drive with BR..but the experiences were marvellous

Thats not the one I was going to use..that one is a bit different!

 

[O L Leigh]

I've heard a few from the days of black and white, but not experienced them myself.

There was a driver at my depot who has since retired, but he'd had quite a few "fatals" in his time and was getting a bit blase about the whole thing. His last was at Harlow Town when at the helm of a Stansted Skytrain Cl322 unit. Some chap had leapt off the platform and hit the front of the train spread-eagled across the windscreen at 80mph. Did the driver stop? Did the driver sound the horn? No. He just put the wipers on and continued to Roydon.

O L Leigh

 

[yorkie]

.. the reason for the delay to this service was recorded as being "Driver was stuck in the toilet and required fitters assistance".

Bloody liars...!!

O L Leigh

did NR put that? as they may have wanted an excuse to make the delay attributable to the TOC rather than themselves ?

 

[Meld]

MOD COMMENT

Come on folks lets keep this on topic - let the drivers share their memories here with us.

Questions about horning etc are now here http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18527

Thanks

 

[Bill EWS]

One quite funny but serious incident I remember was when I was at Marylebone Depot in the 70's. This happened to a colleague not to myself.

Marylebone DMU's were serviced at Bletchley Depot and units due for service would be attached to a normal Aylesbury service (Usually the 15.10) then worked onto Bletchley as required. They returned to Marylebone in the same manner.

Normally on arrival back at Marylebone station the sreviced set would go the the depot for a final checkover before entering full service. This one time when they arrived at Marylebone they were so short of units that day that they forced the unit into service without going to the depot. It was left in the station to work an Aylesbury service. It stood in the station an hour or so before departure time.

Most of the drivers at Marylebone lived some miles from the depot and travelled by passenger train or their own cars too and from the depot. The driver of the Aylsbury service lived at Acton, travelling via Paddington and he arrived in the station a fair bit late and simply rang the TCI to report that he was there and he was told which platform his train was on and that it should was ready and running.

Everyone of us got caught out like this many times and usually everything worked out and the train departed right time, sometimes 'just'.

With the barest of time to departure the driver got into the driving cab for a quick check and off. However, he was amazed to find that there were no controls on the desk (no vaccum brake and reverser handles). They had not been refitted at Bletchley. As the departure time was now obvioulsy lost and it was to take 20-30 minutes to get a replacement the Balloon went up and the incident had to be reported.

Luckily the poor driver didn't get too much a telling off as he had made the effort to get the train off on time and would have done so had there been any controls, therefore the fitters at Bletchley took the blunt of the blame.

Now, if you are wondering how the train managed to get from Bletchley in the first place, this was due to the whole set, 8 coaches going directly from Bletchly Depot to Marylebone. The rear cab hadn't been booked off properly and the driver hadn't bothered checking the rear cab when preparing the units for service. As the vaccum brake fitting was in the closed position, but without the handle, they managed to create the vaccum pressure as normal from the front driving cab.

The train would have normally gone to the depot at Marylebone and the missing handle and key would have been noticed when changing ends to go to the depot but the train remained in the station so that driver simply locked the cab up and left the unit there as ordered. So the problem remained hidden until the poor driver turned up to work the train towards Aylesbury.

Even if he had arrived 20-30 minutes before departure the train would still have had a late departure but at least he would have been completely clear from blame.

Suffice to say that from then on units were not allowed to go straight into service when returning from a service at Bletchley. I bet too that Bletchley made sure that would never happen again.

I know I did it and I am sure most drivers did too for some time afterwards, that we always went to our trains while in the station deliberately checking visually whenever entering the cab to see that the brake and reverser handles were all there.

 

[ungreat]

One of the funniest memories i have,again as a secondman,is from when I was at Leicester depot..I think it was 1989 when this happened,but anyway..

We used to have a very early morning train (about half one in the morning)from Melton Mowbray-Luton Limbury Road which was a freightliner of sorts..canvas sided containers on bogie flatwagons carrying petfoods from Pedigree Petfoods at melton to Luton for road distribution.Very often we would be ahead of time leaving melton and would be put into the loop at Oakham to await time.This loop was called Cemetary Sidings,as it(predictably!)was next to a cemetary.

The driver i had that night was an ex GC man from Leicester Central shed who moved over when that shut..I forget his name.Anyway,we were quite early(it was around 2.15 am) and were signalled into the loop,as expected.As we stood waiting time,I made a can of tea on the engine stove and we had a drink... quite pleasant,dark starry night,no sound apart from the engine gently ticking over,semaphores glowing dimly against the dark sky..the driver sat quiet for a moment,then said"This place is supposed to be haunted y'know Stu"

"Is it? "

"Yes...lots of folk have seen weird stuff round here"

"Oh...well,probably with the cemetary eh? Folk get nervous around them at night I suppose" I replied(By this time I did feel a bit edgy!)

Anyway,we sat a bit longer,and then he said he needed to go for a pee,and with that he climbed out the cab and went to do what he needed to do.

About 10 mins passed..the driver still hadn't returned,and I began to think "Has he fell/hurt himself/where the hell is he?"

I waited a few more minutes,and couldn't wait no more..I got out my seat,and walked across the cab(a 47) to the droplight window next to the drivers seat to look out..right at that moment a face rose up looking straight at me bathed in an eerie green glow...to say I screamed was an understatement!!

The driver had only gone and took his bardic lamp with him,turned it to the green light and waited on the engine steps until I went to see where he was,after telling me the bloody ghost stories!!

Needless to say he found it more funny than I did at the time!!

 

[O L Leigh]

Ilford EMUD sometime cock up just like Bletchley, even in more recent times.

A couple of years back one of our chaps went to take out a single Cl315 from Liv St down to wherever. The unit had just worked in ECS from the Car Sheds as part of an 8 car train and been split on arrival with the country-end unit already out in service. Our man opens up the cab, places his bag on the floor, goes to the driving cab and... oh!!

There was the entire brake control column on the drivers seat and a huge hole in the desk where it should have been.

Ungreat: I think there must have been a long tradition of scaring new guys down at Cemetery Sidings, as that's a story of heard a few times before.

There was a way you could have got your own back on the senior man in a similar fashion. Just wait until he's nodded off in the messroom, set your bardic to the red filter, shine it right in his face and yell as loud as you can "Bill!!! You've got a red 'un!!!!". Just be ready to run.

O L Leigh

 

[Meld]

As an aside to these excellent tales there are loads more here http://www.biffo.net/biffo/cville/lifemain.htm

As our driving friends will agree most if not all the escapades/pranks mentioned there, they wil have seen, done or fell victim to.

Thanks for the memories - keep em coming

 

[ungreat]

I know the driver who wrote that book,and would just like to add that it is a very good read.You can read it online as well.

 

[driver9000]

It was a cold winters night a few years ago , I had been completing my passing out on practical handling of the DMUs I was to sign. All that remained was the 153 we were currently working with. We arrived back at 22:43 and the unit was booked to layover until around 01:00 so my traction inspector had the idea of taking it back on its own so we could cover some rare goods lines we sometimes have to operate over when running ECS. He got permission from control and the signal box, we got the road and roared off into the night! We were building up speed nicely, got to about 65mph when we had to shut off as we were to be checked down for the connection into the goods line, the next signal was sure enough at danger, as I passed over the magnet it cleared to a yellow with the appropritate indication. Very gingerly picking our way along a line that clearly hadnt seen a train for a while, we wobbled along at 10mph clipping trees as we passed. The signal that protects the exit was at danger, the signalbox just opposite controlling our movement. As I drew up to the signal it changed to green, I opened up - as soon as the wheels moved the signal went back to danger! I threw the brake back on, and the signal changed back to green!! Im not one to trust a signal that does that so I got down to use the SPT. The signalman explained that when we turned into the loop we vanished off his panel, but knew we were ok as he had been watching our progress out the window. He then said a passenger train had caught up with us, so could we wait for the signal please. No problem, it was a pleasant night so we stood on the embankment chatting, then 2x156s stormed past us, soon after the signal cleared. We climbed back onboard and, I opened up, released the brake - the singal went back to danger again!! I stopped again and the signal changed to green. I duly got down again and was informed that he had lost point detection I saw the points move back and forth a couple of times, and was then informed another train had caught up - could we wait please. about 10mins later a 150 running ECS passed us by - the guard waved! The points moved and the signal changed to green, I opened up and released the brake. As soon as the train moved the signal went back to danger, then changed back to green!!! I got down for a third time, the signalman couldnt explain why the signal kept failing, he pulled the signal off again, and said "The route is set, its green now, if it reverts again pass it at danger" We climbed back up and sure enough as the train moved off the singal went back to danger, as we passed it we watched it flicking between Red & Green. We stopped outside the box as the signalman was stood on his steps to ask us to fill a 3185 form in when we got back to the depot. All that took place over the space of about 40mins. We carried on towards the depot, getting stopped another couple of times due to a stopping passenger train in front of us.

At the end of the night I became a fully fledged driver :grin:

 

[Jordy]

Great stories everyone, keep em coming!

 

[ungreat]

Blimey,this is jogging the memory!

Whilst at Toton in the 90's,I was working an empty MGR train to Clipstone one summer saturday evening.As i approached Mansfield Woodhouse,the semaphore distant was "on"(i.e at caution) which was unusual,as at weekends the box controlling that signal was normally switched out and the signals left at clear,thus creating a long block section but not slowing down traffic.

Approaching the box,the home signal was indeed at danger,but even I could see that the box was obviously closed.Anyway,I still had to use the signal phone to patch through to the next open box to get permission to proceed.No sooner had I got onto the trackside off the Class 58 I had that trip when a loud "ping"echoed off the engines cab side,followed by several more...I quickly cottoned on I was being shot at by air rifles!!

The local little darlings had only cut the signal wires,causing the semaphore arms to drop to danger,so they could have a big target to shoot at.I hadn't signed that route long,and it was only my 2nd trip,but apparently it was quite the regular occurance along there at the weekend!!

 

[JoshW1992]

Blimey, that must have been scary!

Great stories and definately keep 'em coming!

 

[Jordy]

I have to agree, more please!

 

[JonG]

More like this please.

 

[ungreat]

I remember one sunday many years ago all services from Nottingham/Derby to St Pancras were being diverted via Corby due to engineering work..not all the crews signed this route so we(was at Leicester depot at the time) were booked to conduct some trains over the route,as we used it regularly.We were asked to conduct a Notts crew with a HST over this bit,and we picked them up at Loughborough on the slow roads,and went via Melton towards London

We were signalled at Manton Jct to go via Corby as normal,but were cautioned due to a potential blockage and asked to "examine the line through Corby tunnel" Crawling through,we discovered a JCB digger straddling both roads...to say we were surprised is an understatement!Apparently the local kids had nicked it and placed it there..charming people!

I think that was 1990
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Also remember back in 1989 going into Wellingborough yard with a load of condemned wagons,and we went to look at the old train crew mess..it was like time had stood still..old notices,empty cups..as if the crews had been whisked away and left their stuff behind..it was spooky!

 

[ungreat]

Been reminiscing at work today with an old mate(had a spare turn) and we really had a good time talking about some of the old days and the stuff that happened..he was on the railways when Baby Deltics were just finishing so he had some good tales to tell!

I'll post another tale soon..got a few more to tell

 

[Bayum]

I remember one sunday many years ago all services from Nottingham/Derby to St Pancras were being diverted via Corby due to engineering work..not all the crews signed this route so we(was at Leicester depot at the time) were booked to conduct some trains over the route,as we used it regularly.We were asked to conduct a Notts crew with a HST over this bit,and we picked them up at Loughborough on the slow roads,and went via Melton towards London

We were signalled at Manton Jct to go via Corby as normal,but were cautioned due to a potential blockage and asked to "examine the line through Corby tunnel" Crawling through,we discovered a JCB digger straddling both roads...to say we were surprised is an understatement!Apparently the local kids had nicked it and placed it there..charming people!

I think that was 1990
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Also remember back in 1989 going into Wellingborough yard with a load of condemned wagons,and we went to look at the old train crew mess..it was like time had stood still..old notices,empty cups..as if the crews had been whisked away and left their stuff behind..it was spooky!

Ouch - whats normal line speed on that stretch then? If the signal hadn't been at danger - how fast would you have hit that digger at =|

 

[ungreat]

At the time it was 60mph through the tunnel if I remember rightly

 

[P156KWJ]

I know many drivers at the GCRN, and we had an incident back in December 2005, when it was the santa specials. On the last diagram, it was decided to go further down the line past Rushcliffe to the up end of Barnstone tunnel. As the class 25 entered the tunnel, it looked like someone had built a barrier across the end of the tunnel. He slowed down and then ruled that out and thought "blimey that's overgrown a bit!" Then a second later realised it was actually all mud and clay, and thought "oh ****" and dumped brakes to emergency. Of course, santa goes flying down the train waiting to have a go at the driver, whilst he gets out to find the tunnel ankle deep in runny clay as a result of a landslip! The field next to the tunnel also had lots of clay shoved in the corner. When they moved in to clear the line, they had to shift nearly 200 tonnes of mud and clay

 

[Juniper Driver]

There was a way you could have got your own back on the senior man in a similar fashion. Just wait until he's nodded off in the messroom, set your bardic to the red filter, shine it right in his face and yell as loud as you can "Bill!!! You've got a red 'un!!!!". Just be ready to run.

Fantastic...Im going to try this.

 

[driver9000]

I remember a tale of a newbie secondman many years before my time he was on one of his first turns with a driver. They were travelling through a long tunnel in the pitch black, the driver suddenly says "Ive had enough of this" the next thing the secondman hears is the cab door opening and slamming shut. They come out into the open and the young secondman finds himself all alone in the cab, naturally he starts to panic a bit until the driver appears from the engine room door laughing his little socks off!!

 

[class 313]

I remember a tale of a newbie secondman many years before my time he was on one of his first turns with a driver. They were travelling through a long tunnel in the pitch black, the driver suddenly says "Ive had enough of this" the next thing the secondman hears is the cab door opening and slamming shut. They come out into the open and the young secondman finds himself all alone in the cab, naturally he starts to panic a bit until the driver appears from the engine room door laughing his little socks off!!

I'd **** bricks if I was him!