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Theft from the Tesco Train....

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Lawman

Lawman

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Folks... were i reside on the West Coast main line, Scottish area, there is a part of this line which runs, lets just say.. through the Scottish bronx..!! (even the taxi's dont stop in this area..lol)

Spoke to a friend and also observed this in local press...
The Stobbart Tesco train, while stopped at a red signal, had many of its canvas containers ripped, local youths entering the container and running off with various flat screen TV's and other electrical goods etc!

Due to this, I now believe that all the Tesco containers are now made of steel. is this the case and has this kind of incident ever happened down south of the border?
 
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northwichcat

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I've heard of bricks and petrol bombs being thrown at freight trains on the WCML in England but never heard of things being stolen from freight trains.
 
scotsman

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Lawman said:
Folks... were i reside on the West Coast main line, Scottish area, there is a part of this line which runs, lets just say.. through the Scottish bronx..!! (even the taxi's dont stop in this area..lol)

Spoke to a friend and also observed this in local press...
The Stobbart Tesco train, while stopped at a red signal, had many of its canvas containers ripped, local youths entering the container and running off with various flat screen TV's and other electrical goods etc!

Due to this, I now believe that all the Tesco containers are now made of steel. is this the case and has this kind of incident ever happened down south of the border?
Click to expand...

The containers are curtainsiders
 
O

Oliver

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jcollins said:
I've heard of bricks and petrol bombs being thrown at freight trains on the WCML in England but never heard of things being stolen from freight trains.
Click to expand...

There was a case on the North London line a few years ago when a Ford Motor Co train was stopped by thieves at a station by interfering with the track circuits. The thieves then got into the train and removed several wheeled pallets of car parts. The curve of the track was apparently such that the driver (and guard in rear cab) couldn't see the back of the train, where all this was going on.
 
CosherB

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Oliver said:
There was a case on the North London line a few years ago when a Ford Motor Co train was stopped by thieves at a station by interfering with the track circuits. The thieves then got into the train and removed several wheeled pallets of car parts. The curve of the track was apparently such that the driver (and guard in rear cab) couldn't see the back of the train, where all this was going on.
Click to expand...

23rd January 1975. You didn't mention the tragic outcome of that. Futher on, on the WCML curve south of Watford, some stillages fell out of the opened containers onto the track, de-railing a southbound Manchester - Euston express that then hit a northbound Glasgow sleeper

The driver of the Manchester train was killed, several others injured, and the 86-209 of the Glasgow train ended up at the foot of the bank on the inside of the curve where it stayed for several weeks untill an approach road could be built over the soft ground for a crane and low loader to reach it.

That land at the foot of the bank is all built up now, with, I think, a supermarket where the 86 came to rest.

Accident report here: http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/DoE_Watford1975.pdf
 
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O

Oliver

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Captain Speaking said:
23rd January 1975. You didn't mention the tragic outcome of that. Futher on, on the WCML curve south of Watford, some stillages fell out of the opened containers onto the track, de-railing a southbound Manchester - Euston express that then hit a northbound Glasgow sleeper

The driver of the Manchester train was killed, several others injured, and the 86-209 of the Glasgow train ended up at the foot of the bank on the inside of the curve where it stayed for several weeks untill an approach road could be built over the soft ground for a crane and low loader to reach it.

That land at the foot of the bank is all built up now, with, I think, a supermarket where the 86 came to rest.

Accident report here: http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/DoE_Watford1975.pdf
Click to expand...

I'd forgotten all that. 1975? Time flies - I would have guessed about 1990-5. Thanks for filling in the story.
 
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Mr Spock

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I am sure that there have been stories on and off for a few years now about Tesco trains being robbed in Scotland when at signals.

There was also a story about people climbing on car trains in the London area and removing radios from the cars, one person was supposed to have been electrocuted when getting to close to the overheads.
 
Greeny

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At Garston thieving from Freightliners was regular - almost everything you could think of (sensibly that is) got nicked.

G
 
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stuartmoss

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In the 1950s and 1960s, my dad as a young teen and his mates regularly pinched from stopped trains around Hebden Bridge. In his own words 'everyone that could do it, did do it, you risked a belting if caught, but it was the thrill of it. If you were lucky you'd be into a carriage of toys or tools, if you were unlucky it would be woman's shoes! I once went home with 20 loaves of bread from a train, we fed the street with it!'.
 
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merlodlliw

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Lawman said:
Folks... were i reside on the West Coast main line, Scottish area, there is a part of this line which runs, lets just say.. through the Scottish bronx..!! (even the taxi's dont stop in this area..lol)

Spoke to a friend and also observed this in local press...
The Stobbart Tesco train, while stopped at a red signal, had many of its canvas containers ripped, local youths entering the container and running off with various flat screen TV's and other electrical goods etc!

Due to this, I now believe that all the Tesco containers are now made of steel. is this the case and has this kind of incident ever happened down south of the border?
Click to expand...

Without mentioning the estate(next public holidays says part of it) is it near the zoo?
 
D

DazCM

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When I was a kid in the mid 80's, my dad always used to tell me about why the lineside trees were cut down between Newton and Cambuslang, which was to stop the theiving scroates from hiding in them and then nicking stuff from stopped trains.

How true this is I'm really not sure...
 
38Cto15E

38Cto15E

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Unfortunately the thieves know that even if they get caught the penalty will be trivial, make them pack sleepers on the permanent way or cut back the trackside bushes on a preserved railway as part of their community work.
And that includes YOU, Tox 8/9/10 :)
 
Eng274

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merlodlliw said:
Without mentioning the estate(next public holidays says part of it) is it near the zoo?
Click to expand...

Where is there a zoo near the WCML? Or is that the joke..

(The joke being, Glasgow is the zoo)
 
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142094

142094

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Have heard of people half inching coal from hoppers stabled overnight in sidings, but TVs is a new one for me.
 
Lawman

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Folks, by all accounts, it was like a scene from the film "Whiskey Galore" except this being TV's galore!!
From what i have heard, everyone and their granny was involved in this incident! And lets just say, every house on the scheme now has a brand new flat screen TV and they didnt come from Currys!!!

(Just outside Glasgow!!) :)
 
telstarbox

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Does the locale in question rhyme with "beast and mouse"?

Also, not to cast doubt on the OP, but I can't find any news stories about this -when did it happen?
 
tbtc

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What's the fuss?

Stealing 50" televisions from trains is surely not a crime as long as they didn't go into First Class?
 
Eng274

Eng274

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tbtc said:
What's the fuss?

Stealing 50" televisions from trains is surely not a crime as long as they didn't go into First Class?
Click to expand...

I think a few benefit fraud officials should be let loose in the said area.

BFO: "How did you get yer shiny new telly byrraway?"
Miss X: "ma man lifted it oaf a passing train..erm, I mean he spent his hard-earned bread oan it"
BFO: "This is the man who you haven't declared as residing here on your benefit form?"
Miss X: "Ehhh a mean he boaght me it as a present ken, hes ma brother"

Either answer opens a can of worms easier than a Tesco wagon.

On a different note, how does this affect the £4,800 profit per minute Tesco allegedly makes?
 
Old Timer

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tbtc said:
What's the fuss?

Stealing 50" televisions from trains is surely not a crime as long as they didn't go into First Class?
Click to expand...
And as long as they returned to standard class when asked !

On a more serious note, the Dagenham to Halewood car trains in the 1970s were always being targeted from Woodgrange Park right across the north London lines, the car radios being the item being stolen. It was such a problem that we used to hold these trains back until they had a clear uninterrupted run across to Willesden.

On a few occasions, the Police set a trap by having the train stop specially and then hidden Officers would chase the thieves, and usually caught a fair number.
 
MidnightFlyer

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Do you think this would deter Tesco and other larger companies using rail for freight transport?
 
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