Podcast: Signals to Danger - Railway disasters in the UK

[Fokx]

Dan Fox, TPE station manager for Hull and Humberside has started a new podcast series called ‘Signals to Danger’. A railway themed podcast looking at the worst and most significant railway disasters to the UK rail network.

Episode 1 has been released and focuses on Great Heck

Available on Spotify, Stitcher or Buzzsprout.

Twtter:
@SignalstoDanger

Signals to Danger - A UK rail disaster podcast
A new rail themed podcast, exploring the worst and most significant disasters on the UK rail network. Available on Spotify, Stitcher or Buzzsprout.

 

[LOL The Irony]

Dan Fox, TPE station manager for Hull and Humberside has started a new podcast series called ‘Signals to Danger’. A railway themed podcast looking at the worst and most significant railway disasters to the UK rail network.

Episode 1 has been released and focuses on Great Heck

Available on Spotify, Stitcher or Buzzsprout.

Twtter:
@SignalstoDanger

Just listened to it and it was rater good. I can't wait for episode 2.

 

[tpfx89]

Episode two is in the making, spoiler alert, we'll be covering Potters Bar.

I've also set up www.signalstodanger.com where I'll be adding episode notes, maps, sources and a few photos from the reports to underline some of the points.

Glad to here you enjoyed it!

 

[malc-c]

Very professionally edited and produced. I did find the background music at the very start when you set the seen with the sunrise a little too loud draining out your introduction, but other than that it was a pleasure to listen to and can't wait for the next episode

 

[heedfan]

Any chance of this appearing on PocketCasts?

 

[Peter C]

I listened to the first episode of the podcast the other day and I thought it was really good. I think the way the topic is described really gets the information across in a clear way. I look forward to the next instalment!

-Peter

 

[tpfx89]

Any chance of this appearing on PocketCasts?

Hi there, I had to wait for it to be approved on Apple Podcasts and then it got listed on this. You'll find it there now;

Signals to Danger - Railway disasters in the UK

The UK's rail network is one of the safest in the world, but this is a reputation that has been hard-won through a dark history of death and destruction. Each of these accidents has helped to prevent another in the future. Signals to Danger is a series of Podcasts exploring and explaining the...

pca.st

 

[heedfan]

Hi there, I had to wait for it to be approved on Apple Podcasts and then it got listed on this. You'll find it there now;

Signals to Danger - Railway disasters in the UK

The UK's rail network is one of the safest in the world, but this is a reputation that has been hard-won through a dark history of death and destruction. Each of these accidents has helped to prevent another in the future. Signals to Danger is a series of Podcasts exploring and explaining the...

pca.st

Wonderful, thanks! I enjoyed the first one through Spotify, but I find it so much easier to use PocketCasts when driving. Looking forward to the next episodes.

 

[tpfx89]

Hello all,

Just to let you know episode 2 is now available if people have a spare 45 minutes!

Cheers!

 

[LOL The Irony]

Hello all,

Just to let you know episode 2 is now available if people have a spare 45 minutes!

Cheers!

Thanks, I'll take a look.

 

[malc-c]

Just listened to episode two and would agree that your production values have improved no end. There was no evidence of the individual recording sessions present in episode 1, with nice consistent levels and tone. If I had to be critical of anything it would be that for me whilst listening on headphones, the levels of the background music could do with a little tweaking as in placed they are loud compared to your voice, so you have to drop the volume when the music is playing, and then turn it back up a tad when the narration commences. The second criticism as such, it's too short..... I could listen you you telling the story of events for ages. You have a good story telling voice and create impressions in the listeners mind very well. When you described the Railtrack worker examining the incorrect set of points by torchlight I could see that person standing there with the torch shining on the rails as trains passed.

Looking forward to episode three with baited breath

 

[alxndr]

Listened to both today, a very good listen and you do a surprisingly good job of describing the events without relying on the use of diagrams to illustrate matters. I feel you're getting it about right in terms of technicality too, although I am very familiar with points/track circuits/etc I didn't find the descriptions patronising or boring to listen to, but I feel they'd probably be sufficient for someone less familiar with the railway to also understand.

I'm a bit sporadic in my podcast listening, but I'll try and remember to keep an eye out for future episodes! Are you planning to stick to the more recent incidents or also delve into older ones too?

 

[tpfx89]

Thanks for the kind comments and good feedback!

Episode three is now in the process of being written, looking to release it on Sunday if life allows me to crack on with it! Hoping to keep polishing the product as well.

I'm planning on doing a good variety, there's a good old list to work off, but I don't want to burn through all the more recent, well known ones straight away. Expect to see some early BR in upcoming episodes and possibly some Big Four as well.

describing the events without relying on the use of diagrams to illustrate matters

This is one of the things that has led to rewrites galore. I love to grab a pen and paper to show people things normally, but this has been a refreshing challenge trying to do it with words alone!

 

[Cowley]

Thanks for the kind comments and good feedback!

Episode three is now in the process of being written, looking to release it on Sunday if life allows me to crack on with it! Hoping to keep polishing the product as well.

I'm planning on doing a good variety, there's a good old list to work off, but I don't want to burn through all the more recent, well known ones straight away. Expect to see some early BR in upcoming episodes and possibly some Big Four as well.


This is one of the things that has led to rewrites galore. I love to grab a pen and paper to show people things normally, but this has been a refreshing challenge trying to do it with words alone!

Really interesting @tpfx89. Looking forward to the next one when you get it finished.

 

[TheEdge]

I'm planning on doing a good variety, there's a good old list to work off, but I don't want to burn through all the more recent, well known ones straight away. Expect to see some early BR in upcoming episodes and possibly some Big Four as well.

Glad to know you are looking at some older and lesser known ones. I assume you've already got the likes of Clapham, Quintshill and Harrow and Wealdstone on the list? Norton Fitzwarren (1940) is an interesting one if its not already in your sights.

 

[55002]

Just seen this and downloaded from Apple, looking forward to it. The Heck one, I was waiting for the train that day as I commuted to London daily, got to know the train crews on it including the guard. Very sad listen that will be.

 

[tpfx89]

In answer to the question of heading back a little earlier, I certainly will be, episode 3 will be dropping at some point on Sunday in time for Mondays commute and the accident in question is the derailment at Nuneaton in 1975.

I've also updated the audio on episode one so if anyone found it hard to listen to the sound quality should be a little better.

Definitely want to keep the podcast going for a while and if I can keep a core of people tuning in I'll space out the "big" ones so I don't burn through them all in the first couple months!

 

[malc-c]

Personally I would much prefer quality productions once a month rather than something that comes over as being a little rushed just because you have imposed your own unofficial deadlines in order to maintain a weekly schedule. It also means the material won't be exhausted so quick

One possibility, to break up the big incidents, possibly have an episode which features some of the quirky incidents where a runaway wagon got away, or there was a bump in a depot (like the HST/800). There could be two or three of these simpler shunts all in one episode.

 

[tpfx89]

Evening all,

Episode 3 is now live and kicking wherever you get your podcasts, or at www.signalstodanger.com!

 

[Cowley]

Evening all,

Episode 3 is now live and kicking wherever you get your podcasts, or at www.signalstodanger.com!

That’s tomorrow morning’s headphone entertainment sorted out then.

 

[malc-c]

I am really enjoying this series. I have one negative comment for issue 3, and that is the long pauses between parts of the narrative. I had to check that Spotify hadn't paused or stopped. A full 8 seconds of silence around the 4 minute mark and 11 seconds around 37 minutes in, whist not long is reality, seems an eternity when listening to a story

It also felt a little disjointed, by that I mean the description of practices and procedures might have been better described at the beginning so its set the scene for the journey you are about to take us on, rather than covering them post event.

Please take these comments as constructive criticism and feedback. Others may prefer the pauses and format, we are all individuals with differing opinions. I do appreciate the effort and research you place in to these podcasts, and as mentioned before, you have an excellent storytelling voice.

 

[tpfx89]

I am really enjoying this series. I have one negative comment for issue 3, and that is the long pauses between parts of the narrative. I had to check that Spotify hadn't paused or stopped. A full 8 seconds of silence around the 4 minute mark and 11 seconds around 37 minutes in, whist not long is reality, seems an eternity when listening to a story

It also felt a little disjointed, by that I mean the description of practices and procedures might have been better described at the beginning so its set the scene for the journey you are about to take us on, rather than covering them post event.

Please take these comments as constructive criticism and feedback. Others may prefer the pauses and format, we are all individuals with differing opinions. I do appreciate the effort and research you place in to these podcasts, and as mentioned before, you have an excellent storytelling voice.

Absolutely taking it as constructive! I've made no secret of the fact this is my first time making one of these so I'll certainly be steered by the feedback.
The silences weren't supposed to be silent, whereas in the last episode I inserted some "stings" of music to break up sections, this time I've tried to "swell" some subtle background music but it really just wasn't loud enough, even audible to be fair.

The best thing about the podcast format is that I can update the audio file, so as I type this, the new version with 10 minutes' worth of work I've just done on it will be live without distracting silences!

Thanks for the feedback, please feel free to keep it coming.

 

[malc-c]

I did wonder if there was to be a music interlude given the length of the silence. Thanks for taking the comments in a positive way. It's always difficult when providing feedback which in some way supports these sorts of projects, because of the fine line between constructive and insultive crittercism as the comments can be taken in the wrong context.

I've listened to podcasts by professional production companies and with some recognised names in the subject field and these were not up to your standard, so in my view you are doing a fantastic job on the production of signals at danger.

 

[tpfx89]

Evening all,

Just to let you know episode four has dropped. Little step back in time to 1953 for Irk Valley Junction.

Hope you enjoy!

 

[Cowley]

Evening all,

Just to let you know episode four has dropped. Little step back in time to 1953 for Irk Valley Junction.

Hope you enjoy!

Thanks Dan. Looking forward to listening to that tomorrow.

 

[malc-c]

Another enjoyable episode. I tend to use headphones when listening to things, and noticed that the audio appears to be in mono, is this just something to assist with bandwidth or is that how its recorded?

As a suggestion, when running the intro clip with the many news items overlapping, it would be cool to have them individually playing in the left and then right speakers. So one is playing in the left, whilst the other starts in the right...I did find this episode a little harder to follow as the narative did keep going off at tangents to explain signalling etc... maybe this would have been better to set the scene at the beginning, explaining how the signals looked and operated before detailing the crash....

Anyway, I hope the comments are taken constructively... I am really enjoying the series and hope that they continue

 

[tpfx89]

noticed that the audio appears to be in mono, is this just something to assist with bandwidth or is that how its recorded?

That was due to the fact if I record my voice in Stereo, the file size literally doubles, around an hour of voice recording comes in about 1.5Gb and Stereo doubles it. It wouldn't be that constraining if I just mixed the file down and exported it, but I like to keep that project file so I can go back in and tweak it later as I did with episode one.
Because my audio is literally just me talking straight on to a mic I didn't see the benefit in recording in stereo. The only thing that would possibly work would be that intro and I have considered doing that when I update it (might be a season 2 move though).

Thanks again Malc

 

[Cowley]

@tpfx89 - I like the idea of doing an episode explaining some of the safety systems, what they do, and how they came about.
I’ve passed the podcast onto a couple of friends that are interested in engineering but aren’t versed in some of the railway terminology so it’d definitely be useful for them.

 

[tpfx89]

@tpfx89 - I like the idea of doing an episode explaining some of the safety systems, what they do, and how they came about.
I’ve passed the podcast onto a couple of friends that are interested in engineering but aren’t versed in some of the railway terminology so it’d definitely be useful for them.

The hosting service I've got lets you tag short episodes as bonus ones, so I'm considering doing a few 10 minute ones to sit in between the main ones, potentially looking at one safety system an episode, AWS or Interlocking etc or maybe grouping "similar" ones, so I would do in-cab systems, AWS/TPWS/DVD in one slightly longer episode.
You guys are fairly "core" listeners, would you prefer a few shorts with a single focus or a couple of longer, more general episodes on the systems?

 

[alxndr]

There are pros and cons to each, but on balance I think I prefer the idea of separate bonus episodes.

Longer and general suits the podcast format a little better as there is a tendency to listen while doing other things (cooking, cleaning, driving, falling asleep etc) where people might not want to have a short episode run out and have to find something else to listen to after.

Short, specific, episodes might be more useful in terms of accessing the information though. It would make the separate systems clearer, and more obvious that they are different systems with different purposes. It would also mean that if someone wanted to go over a particular system again they would be able to find it easier than having to hunt for the right part of a general episode. Or in my case, I could prioritise listening to one about DVDs over the systems I'm familiar with like AWS and TPWS.

Shorter episodes would also mean that if you think of something else that could do with additional explanation outside of a main episode then you could just add another bonus episode rather than trying to slot it into an existing one (if that's even possible to do). Would also make it clearer to listeners that there's new content!