Keep your head in!

[Table 52]

I just witnessed a lovely announcement on a Great Western HST. "This is a safety announcement. Could the person at the front of the train who's sticking his head out the window please stop doing so, as the electrification programme means it's not safe to do so, and I'd like to get this train to its destination without incident"

Have the good old days all but gone?

 

[theironroad]

I just witnessed a lovely announcement on a Great Western HST. "This is a safety announcement. Could the person at the front of the train who's sticking his head out the window please stop doing so, as the electrification programme means it's not safe to do so, and I'd like to get this train to its destination without incident"

Have the good old days all but gone?

Bearing in mind a rail enthusiast on a charter lost his life after such an incidence a couple of years ago and that the gwr electrification process has meant lots of new lineside structures, which weren't there in the 'good old days', it's a pretty appropriate warning.

 

[Mag_seven]

"This is a safety announcement. Could the person at the front of the train who's sticking his head out the window please stop doing so, as the electrification programme means it's not safe to do so, and I'd like to get this train to its destination without incident"

Its just not safe to stick your head out of the window - period!

 

[DenmarkRail]

Natural selection . It’s these sorta people who now mean we can’t have good slam door stock, and we have to have boring plug doors on long distance trains.

 

[Y Ddraig Coch]

Its just not safe to stick your head out of the window - period!

Stick your head out, no, it isn't safe, but to stand at the door with your face feeling the wind on it is definitely part of the fun of old stock. Guarantee you wont see me sitting down if I get a LHCS. Brings back lots of memories of been a kid. when most stock had drop down windows.

 

[Mikey C]

I immediately thought of this classic scene

 

[E_Reeves]

Whenever I go on slam door stock, having the window down is the highlight of my trip!

 

[class 9]

Another thing to bear in mind is that vegetation has been left uncontrolled in many places, the trains themselves shape the trees/bushes!

 

[TractiveEffort]

It’s also pretty selfish having the windows open on HST MKIII coaches when it’s hot, means the aircon is trying to cool down the external environment as well as the internal....... then people moan it’s too hot in the coaches!

 

[Hadders]

That’s why there are internal sliding doors between the coach and vestibule.

 

[TractiveEffort]

That’s why there are internal sliding doors between the coach and vestibule.

Which are constantly being opened and often locked open, they are far from air tight and not designed to temperature seal the saloons. It makes a big difference having the droplights open or closed to the efficiency of the A/C.

 

[LowLevel]

There was another injury on an EMT HST the other week when someone required hospital treatment after sticking their head out for some air, apparently.

We shouldn't have to deal with that kind of rubbish but members of the selfish and or stupid brigade insist on picking up injuries/occasionally getting decapitated regardless which we get the joy of sorting out.

Sticking your head out of a train window at speed has always been a stupid thing to do, it's not a new phenomenon.

 

[Bertie the bus]

Bearing in mind a rail enthusiast on a charter lost his life after such an incidence a couple of years ago ...

I don’t think he did. The incident you are referring to was an off duty railway employee on a scheduled service, not a rail enthusiast on a charter.

 

[43096]

I don’t think he did. The incident you are referring to was an off duty railway employee on a scheduled service, not a rail enthusiast on a charter.

He was an enthusiast as well (volunteer at the Bluebell IIRC?), but the train involved was a Gatwick Express 442, in the Balham area.

 

[Bertie the bus]

I know he was an enthusiast as well but people are usually defined by their jobs and not their hobbies. Enthusiasts and railtours get enough stick as it is, especially from some rail employees on forums such as this, without people just making things up.

 

[yorkie]

This debate has been done before, it won't be any different now!

It’s also pretty selfish having the windows open on HST MKIII coaches when it’s hot, means the aircon is trying to cool down the external environment as well as the internal....... then people moan it’s too hot in the coaches!

Surely this is the reason for having internal doors?

 

[HLE]

Big difference from sticking your head out on a pres line @25mph max than 125mph on a HST. There wouldn’t be any reaction time. Sadly a very small minority of passengers still insist on sticking their heads out of windows on the expresses - and not just heads but half the top of the torso.

Well done to the guard for making the announcement.

 

[ooo]

It’s also pretty selfish having the windows open on HST MKIII coaches when it’s hot, means the aircon is trying to cool down the external environment as well as the internal....... then people moan it’s too hot in the coaches!

As well as that it can be very noisy when at speed with windows open

 

[pt_mad]

What's the procedure during dispatch if someone is standing just inside a door on a MK3 and is putting their head out?

Would this stop the train safety check or is it allowed within the rules as the doors aren't obstructed and it's their own risk?

 

[E_Reeves]

What's the procedure during dispatch if someone is standing just inside a door on a MK3 and is putting their head out?

Would this stop the train safety check or is it allowed within the rules as the doors aren't obstructed and it's their own risk?

I've seen people told to close the window before dispatch, but the staff didn't make a big fuss out of it.

 

[yorksrob]

I was coming into a station on the Western Region quite recently and I had my hand rested on the door handle ready to open. Some member of platform staff in a harridanesque voice shouted at me to get my hand in.

We got further into the platform and I put my hand on the door ready to open it when the train was about to come to a stop. The same woman came up to me once the train had stopped and had another go at me for having my hand on the handle.

I told her that I had my hand on the door handle ready to open it and that it was locked anyway, so she was speaking nonsense. She went away.

 

[causton]

I was coming into a station on the Western Region quite recently and I had my hand rested on the door handle ready to open. Some member of platform staff in a harridanesque voice shouted at me to get my hand in.

We got further into the platform and I put my hand on the door ready to open it when the train was about to come to a stop. The same woman came up to me once the train had stopped and had another go at me for having my hand on the handle.

I told her that I had my hand on the door handle ready to open it and that it was locked anyway, so she was speaking nonsense. She went away.

Unfortunately she is not to know your level of expertise and, dealing with members of the public, has to assume the worst. I saw a woman trying to open a slam door (that was still closed) with such force that I wondered what would break first, the bolt or her hand! She was really tugging at it and I thought the handle would come off in her hand.

The platform staff doesn't know that you know to wait for the light/click to indicate the CDL has released, and probably doesn't want a train with a door fault on her platform

 

[yorksrob]

Unfortunately she is not to know your level of expertise and, dealing with members of the public, has to assume the worst. I saw a woman trying to open a slam door (that was still closed) with such force that I wondered what would break first, the bolt or her hand! She was really tugging at it and I thought the handle would come off in her hand.

The platform staff doesn't know that you know to wait for the light/click to indicate the CDL has released, and probably doesn't want a train with a door fault on her platform

Well, I visibly wasn't exerting any pressure on the door, so unless she had a visual impairment herself, there was no way she could reasonably conclude that I presented any sort of danger to the door mechanism.

 

[pt_mad]

I assume technically it must be allowed to give the train safety check complete while someone has their head out as otherwise after the train started moving off, if someone put their head out then (to say bye to friends or whatever they do), the train would presumably need to be stopped.

Leads me to think it's very undesirable by staff but is not part of the dispatch procedure to stop it happening and dispatch procedure can be completed regardless?

 

[mmh]

I was coming into a station on the Western Region quite recently and I had my hand rested on the door handle ready to open. Some member of platform staff in a harridanesque voice shouted at me to get my hand in.

We got further into the platform and I put my hand on the door ready to open it when the train was about to come to a stop. The same woman came up to me once the train had stopped and had another go at me for having my hand on the handle.

I told her that I had my hand on the door handle ready to open it and that it was locked anyway, so she was speaking nonsense. She went away.

Why would you do that, and be rude to her? If enthusiasts who know how slam doors work (and the locking isn't infallible) can't be trusted to behave sensibly with them there's no wonder they're going to sadly disappear.

You know that the door's locked, so why did you have your hand "rested on the door handle" before it had stopped? Unless you're short with remarkably long and shaped arms there's no way to rest your hand on the handle of a Mk3 door.

 

[Scotrail84]

I just witnessed a lovely announcement on a Great Western HST. "This is a safety announcement. Could the person at the front of the train who's sticking his head out the window please stop doing so, as the electrification programme means it's not safe to do so, and I'd like to get this train to its destination without incident"

Have the good old days all but gone?

Just don't do it. It is not safe no matter how well you think you know the route. It's a needless risk of life.

 

[yorksrob]

Why would you do that, and be rude to her? If enthusiasts who know how slam doors work (and the locking isn't infallible) can't be trusted to behave sensibly with them there's no wonder they're going to sadly disappear.

You know that the door's locked, so why did you have your hand "rested on the door handle" before it had stopped? Unless you're short with remarkably long and shaped arms there's no way to rest your hand on the handle of a Mk3 door.

I didn't tell her she was speaking nonsense (I was reporting here that she was), I just stated that I had my hand on the door handle ready to open it and that the door was locked anyway. She was the one being rude.

It's very easy to have your hand rested on the handle of a mk3. I like to be ready for when the light comes on so that I can leave the train quickly.

As for rail enthusiasts not behaving "sensibly", you really are talking out of the side of your hat if you think that having a hand on the door handle is in anyway a danger when coming into the platform.

 

[AlterEgo]

Hanging your whole head out of the window has risks which either increase or decrease in size based on a number of factors. On the multi track ECML at 125? Probably not the best idea. At the back of the Highland Sleeper as it winds its way across Rannoch Moor? You’ll be alright.

 

[43096]

Hanging your whole head out of the window has risks which either increase or decrease in size based on a number of factors. On the multi track ECML at 125? Probably not the best idea. At the back of the Highland Sleeper as it winds its way across Rannoch Moor? You’ll be alright.

Until you get to Cruach Rock....

 

[AlterEgo]

Until you get to Cruach Rock....

Not really going to pose a problem as you can see it from quite a distance and the train is only doing about 40.