Unnerving experience on 1803 from Paddington

[johnselekta]

I ended up on the 1803 (but hugely late) GWR class 802 Paddington-Penzance (well, Plymouth, smh) service last night, my 1800 train got cancelled via Bristol, possibly the next one down the ill-fated line and signal failure given as the reason.

Quite unnerving hearing this today though - as some sort of large metal debris either fell off the 802 or got ran over by it around Westbury (I was in Coach J). The object bounced right under me with multiple almighty clangs which I felt through the floor. Another passenger and I looked at each other a bit spooked..but when it bounced off into the inaudible distance, I figured pulling the alarm might have been a bad idea - especially given how packed and late the train was. Reported to Driver at Plymouth where it terminated and woke up to people ringing me to make sure I got back.

Maybe it was a chunk of cracked chassis, who knows...

 

[AlterEgo]

I ended up on the 1803 (but hugely late) GWR class 802 Paddington-Penzance (well, Plymouth, smh) service last night, my 1800 train got cancelled via Bristol, possibly the next one down the ill-fated line and signal failure given as the reason.

Quite unnerving hearing this today though - as some sort of large metal debris either fell off the 802 or got ran over by it around Westbury (I was in Coach J). The object bounced right under me with multiple almighty clangs which I felt through the floor. Another passenger and I looked at each other a bit spooked..but when it bounced off into the inaudible distance, I figured pulling the alarm might have been a bad idea - especially given how packed and late the train was. Reported to Driver at Plymouth where it terminated and woke up to people ringing me to make sure I got back.

Maybe it was a chunk of cracked chassis, who knows...

Sounds like a rock or a concrete block, I have experienced running over one on a 390 before.

 

[johnselekta]

Sounds like a rock or a concrete block, I have experienced running over one on a 390 before.

Sounded more like an exhaust falling off to me, or an old tin bucket, would love to know though!

 

[snookertam]

Sounds like a rock or a concrete block, I have experienced running over one on a 390 before.

I’ve been on a 170 running over a stag. That’s noisy.

 

[norbitonflyer]

I ended up on the 1803 (but hugely late) GWR class 802 Paddington-Penzance (well, Plymouth, smh) service last night, my 1800 train got cancelled via Bristol, possibly the next one down the ill-fated line and signal failure given as the reason.

Slightly confused by this - as Salisbury is not on the route of Paddington-Penzance trains, whether routed via Bristol or Westbury. And an accident at 1843 is unlikely to be the cause of a cancellation at 1800

 

[Trackman]

I’ve been on a couple trains and wondered what on earth we had hit and was rolling about under the carriage.
It is unnerving, but on the occasions it’s happening to me the driver has kept going so it can’t be that much of a deal.

 

[Bletchleyite]

A piece of ballast rattling around the underside of a coach does make a heck of a racket.

 

[Andy Pacer]

I ended up on the 1803 (but hugely late) GWR class 802 Paddington-Penzance (well, Plymouth, smh) service last night, my 1800 train got cancelled via Bristol, possibly the next one down the ill-fated line and signal failure given as the reason.

Quite unnerving hearing this today though - as some sort of large metal debris either fell off the 802 or got ran over by it around Westbury (I was in Coach J). The object bounced right under me with multiple almighty clangs which I felt through the floor. Another passenger and I looked at each other a bit spooked..but when it bounced off into the inaudible distance, I figured pulling the alarm might have been a bad idea - especially given how packed and late the train was. Reported to Driver at Plymouth where it terminated and woke up to people ringing me to make sure I got back.

Maybe it was a chunk of cracked chassis, who knows...

Please excuse my ignorance but what is "smh" ?

 

[Bayum]

Please excuse my ignorance but what is "smh" ?

‘Shaking my head’.

 

[voyagerdude220]

I’ve been on a couple trains and wondered what on earth we had hit and was rolling about under the carriage.
It is unnerving, but on the occasions it’s happening to me the driver has kept going so it can’t be that much of a deal.

I recently posted elsewhere on here about an experience I had with a sudden, very loud clattering noise on a 221 several years ago.

I had been very tempted to pull the pass com. I came to the same conclusion as you (as I was in the very front carriage) that seeing the Driver was seemingly not reacting to the noise and we were easily doing 100+ approaching Lockerbie (line speed 125) that I should ignore the noise- However when I told the Driver when we reached Glasgow (there wasn't a Train Manager in the front set) he said he was completely unaware of any unusual noise- whereas the Train Manager in the rear set said she had been aware of it.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I recently posted elsewhere on here about an experience I had with a sudden, very loud clattering noise on a 221 several years ago.

I had been very tempted to pull the pass com. I came to the same conclusion as you (as I was in the very front carriage) that seeing the Driver was seemingly not reacting to the noise and we were easily doing 100+ approaching Lockerbie (line speed 125) that I should ignore the noise- However when I told the Driver when we reached Glasgow (there wasn't a Train Manager in the front set) he said he was completely unaware of any unusual noise- whereas the Train Manager in the rear set said she had been aware of it.

Did the Train Manager say if she had contacted the driver about it at the time? I would have hoped she would have done, but the lack of a stop and examine suggests she didn't?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Did the Train Manager say if she had contacted the driver about it at the time? I would have hoped she would have done, but the lack of a stop and examine suggests she didn't?

I suspect traincrew are well aware of what a bit of ballast rattling around the undercarriage sounds like, as they'll have heard it a number of times.

 

[voyagerdude220]

Did the Train Manager say if she had contacted the driver about it at the time? I would have hoped she would have done, but the lack of a stop and examine suggests she didn't?

I don't think they did.

 

[swt_passenger]

Slightly confused by this - as Salisbury is not on the route of Paddington-Penzance trains, whether routed via Bristol or Westbury. And an accident at 1843 is unlikely to be the cause of a cancellation at 1800

I think in the context of his first post the OP was using it as an example of a train, ie the GWR one, running over something on the track. That’s what was being reported on Monday but of course with later hindsight that wasn’t the case - it was a collision.