CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
Have you ever seen Stir Crazy with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. There is a scene where the bull rider explains why a bull is more dangerous than a Freight Train. 'when a freight train runs you over it don't backup and finish the job!', at this point Richard Pryor screams in fright...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-15257845
It appears the bull rider was wrong.
Cow leg bone derailed a train and caused a fatal accident near Polmont in 1984. Cows and trains dont mix.
Plaque at Polmont commerates the Polmont Disaster. I believe it was very serious with a number of people dead.
I was present at the polmont disaster, was a witness/helper/bystander, take your pick, its seriously not nice ! Farmers fences became a huge issue thereafter, pretty much in the same way that road bridges became reinforced and rebuilt after that guy fell asleep at the wheel of a landrover and trailer and crashed through a bridge wall onto the rails and was hit by train, carnage ensued.Polmont issue was a small cow, but train frontage design was changed almost instantly, as far as i can recall it was a DMU train,not even particularly fast. Polmont has unfortunately not only this disaster with its name, few years earlier a friend of ours was killed cause she got her foot caught in the rails when taking a short cut,a few years later, several P WAY guys, ( track maintenance ) were killed due to a fairly simple error, the whole train / men interface was replaced after that with many more observers now needed . I think !Trains are big and very unforgiving,take a walk around Boness railway museum and get up and close with the "sore" bits of these things and youll never play on the rails !
"as far as i can recall it was a DMU train,not even particularly fast"
Actually it was one of the fast push-pull Edinburgh-Glasgow trains.
Heavy locomotive at the back (in one direction) and a light driving car at the front (in this case).
Consequently 'cow catchers' were fitted.
This was yesterday -
"BBC News - Dundee to Aberdeen trains run again after bull crash"
Chdot - I'm pretty sure the technical term is "object deflector", although I like the idea of some wild west style cow catcher attached to the front of a ScotRail DMU.
"I'm pretty sure the technical term is "object deflector" "
Quite probably, but given the reason...
In cases like this the problem isn't just that the train hit something that shouldn't be there, but ran over it causing the carriage/train to derail. More likely if whatever is at the front is fairly light.
@chdot.....I stand corrected, it wasnt the most pressing things in my mind that day, we were in the garage, building stock cars when it happened and ran across the fields, we helped as we could but as the emrgencys arrived we left em to it!
thanks anyway !
scott
I think it's been mentioned (by me) before, but speed restrictions apply to the Class 91 (a.k.a Intercity 225) trains that are run by East Coast when running the driving trailer "flat end" first or when running driving trailer first where there is a probability of snowdrifts for the above reason of them being susceptible to rising up and over any obstacle they might hit at speed.
This is also the reason (I am 99% sure) that all subsequent driving vans have no passenger accommodation. If you look at photos / footage of Polmont, the lightweight leading trailer (which was converted form a regular carriage by adding a cab at one end) was thrown around on itself and pushed on by the weight of the heavy train and locomotive following up behind. This is where most of the casualties occurred, even through the structure of the cars remained largely intact. I *believe* it will take some sort of rail design handbook / legislative change to change this for the replacement intercity trains if they are locomotive and trailer rather than multiple-unit based.
Train design geekery lesson complete.
@splitshift
"it wasnt the most pressing things in my mind that day"
I can understand that - can't have been pleasant.
Never mind Peter's Yard, I think many on this forum (and I include myself) would have a grand day out at York Railway Museum.
That would be a long ride Tom, ~200miles.
Kaputnik - Railway Group Standards governing vehicle design, structure and crash worthiness changed on 5 March 2011. This removed the requirement that a specific risk assessment for leading rail vehicles, designed to carry passengers or catering staff, capable of travelling over 100mph had to be approved by HMRI.
The new standards are Europe wide and use a different system of assessing crash worthiness.
Old Standard: http://www.rgsonline.co.uk/Railway_Group_Standards/Rolling%20Stock/Guidance%20Notes/GMGN2560%20Iss%201.pdf
New standard: http://www.rgsonline.co.uk/Railway_Group_Standards/Rolling%20Stock/Guidance%20Notes/GMGN2686%20Iss%201.pdf
Out nerd that if you will!
Out nerd that if you will!
I'll get back in my box :)
But yes it would seem that they have already changed the specifications that I thought might need changed.
Worth noting how incredibly strong modern rolling stock is, particularly Mark IV (225) cars and the Pendolinos. Where they have been involved in accidents it could have been a lot, lot worse.
It's only 200 miles to York? Let's Go!
's all downhill to England, right.
That would be a long ride Tom, ~200miles.
You could always take the train.
...and don't the CTC have a York Rally sometime each summer? Could be the perfect time to go.
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