A few years ago I got to watching those sit in the cab videos on YouTube, I noticed as you travelled on some routes you came across those track men working on the rails etc, the driver sounded the horn and they stood at the side till it passed. Most times they gave a wave to the driver, well I posted in the comments below the clip: "How do I get a job with those guys who just stand there and wave at the trains, I could do that?" I got a reply: "They don't just stand there waiting for a train so they can wave, they are rail workers working on the tracks, doing repairs etc." I replied: "Oh I see, I thought it was some kind of spotters club or something." His reply: "Geez!!!" Col.
In Austria, and I would assume in many other countries it's the same, track workers are required to raise their hand and look at the driver of an approaching train after they use the horn to signal their approach, after they get out of the way of course. This is to let the driver know the workers have heard the horn and are aware of the train approaching, if a worker does not react drivers are instructed to slow down and eventually apply the emergency brake, to avoid accidents. That's why you're not allowed to listen to music, make phone calls or do anything else distracting while on the tracks. I remember one of my coworkers got told off by our trainers during shunting training, because he got his phone out to take pictures while we were walking across tracks at Vienna Westbahnhof.
They are not “waving” per se to be friendly but as Jan says, an essential acknowledgement they have heard the warning horn.
Westbahnhof has some impressive track network/web/yards around it... there is a nice steel bridge over a section of the tracks: would be nice to see stuff like CJX5 route or St.Polten camel hump trains (OBB 1144 + Wiesel dosto + 2-4 CityShuttle coaches + Wiesel control car) in TSW
As said above they are often track workers letting us know that they know we are there and that they aren't going to walk out in front as we whizz past, and it looks as if you were joking anyway. But I have noticed that there are more spotters these days (not very many I must admit) who seem to be wearing the orange hi vis coat things and waving their hands off to try and get the horn blown. Edit: I am very sorry for that first sentence as I am struggling to read it back without tripping over it, but hopefully the correct meaning comes across.
I really hope this doesn't catch on - and have always been concerned with how professional a random person can look by simply wearing a high-visibility vest. How can you tell that they aren't actual employees?
Like I say it is not many people, but ask me only ten years ago I probably would have laughed, or perhaps thought of a couple of specific occasions. Yes you see it with these youtubers where they where a hi-vis and they get into football games for nowt as well. Not very easily at all, especially at a distance where all you can see is an orange man. As you get closer you notice the camera and frantic waving or pumping their fists 'asking' for a toot. It is still not a very good thing at all for people to be doing, especially as spotters, who you would think would understand why not to do it!
I used to wear a hi-vis at work (airport), and also on my motorcycle, having said that many a time a car pulled out on me and they said they didn't see me, I don't ride now though. Col.
In my experience having been on both sides (enthusiast and professional), there are two types of rail enthusiasts. There are the normal, reasonable ones who’ll stand on a platform taking pictures and perhaps greet the driver if they do so as well. Then there are the problematic ones who sneak into places they don’t belong in and don’t even show any acknowledgement of what they were doing when caught. We had (admittedly only a few weird) people sneak into the depot just because they heard that we had a loco in a special livery there currently.
I can remember as a kid I got in to train spotting, there was a rail line very close to where I live and we used to meet by a bridge and wait for them to pass. There was one kid who's dad uses to take him to places spotting where there were trains we would never see and he shown us in the book the trains he had seen. I heard of a depot called 'Longsight sheds in Manchester' where the trains uses to go to be serviced, we had to get a bus to get there, there was no security in those days and kids used to just wonder about the place, going in the cabs, nobody bothered to shift us off, thinking back now it was really dangerous as some trains were moving about. That rail line close to where I live, I have not seen a train on it for years where at one time it was busy, mostly goods but the odd passenger. Col.
I was waving on airplanes at take off when I was a kid. Never could see it, but I was totally sure the pilots waved back. Yes. Speaking of waving back, and I probably need to change that medication, but this short classic pops to my mind:
I were never really a spotter myself, but I did live next to the railway and my dad worked on it before I did and yes this is my conclusion as well. The normal ones (the vast majority), I really do like and do genuinely enjoy having a conversation with them and letting them have a sneaky look around, and I do like to give a good blast on the horn, for safety reasons of course! But then you do get the trouble makers (who are very much a minority) who cause nightmares, through their ignorant and arrogant behaviour like wearing hi-vis or purposefully standing significantly over the yellow line for a toot. There are certainly a few dodgy characters I can think of, though there are loads goodens as well.
A railway story I must tell: When I was kid as I said earlier I live close to a rail line, in those days it was all steam engines, well we had a neighbour who used to go and stand by the track near the signal. She knew the times of the trains and when one came by she used to show something and the drivers used to throw lumps of coal for her. Times were hard in those days so every little helped lol. Col.
Sadly I don't have any memories of steam myself, but heard many many stories and with my dad being a railwayman himself this does not take me by surprise at all. I bet you also knew all of the times of the trains: I know I certainly would have! It were a very, very different world to now though. Plenty of stories from what I used to get up to, but not only is this thread not at all related to them, I also wouldn't have thought anyone would want to suffer my storytelling for too long!
I know we are going off topic but I think stories add to the sim in a way, Like there was a guy many years ago used to get the train and when the ticket inspector came along he never paid, the reason: He was a railway worker and not sure if they do now or not but then they travelled free. Well he was a regular on the train and a lot of the inspectors knew him, some by name as well. I think you might have guessed it but it turned out after many years he never worked for the railway, he just had the railway clothing, he passed himself off as a rail worker, he knew a lot of the slang and had convincing conversations with the guards etc. Not sure whatever happened to him once he got found out. Col.
Reading all of these stories has been incredibly interesting! All the trains I've ever seen have had powered doors, so it is really cool to hear stories from way before my time about things I could never imagine (random people entering depots, being able to remember train times, all sorts)! Personally, I am happy with the direction this thread is going! More stories please!
Ok another one, not that interesting but still: I went to a school (that isn't there anymore) and the field we used to play on at the back of the school the rail line ran just along side it so obviously we could see the trains, sometimes the driver would sound the horn/whistle and wave to us. There was a footbridge next to the school that crossed of the line, on that bridge was these ledges on the other side of where people walked. If saw a train coming we climbed over and sat on the ledge so when it passed we got covered in the cloud of smoke from the engine, at the time we thought it was fun, but years alter we realised how dangerous it was, could have easily slipped off but when you are kid you don't see the danger. The bridge is still there but I must look next time I pass to see if those ledges have been removed. Col.
You don't know what you have done there mate, I will have a rummage through my bank for a couple to tell when I get home! I don't know when Col did this but I would assume it were during dinner, as we could leave at dinner, though not the morning break. Although I don't remember steam I do certainly remember having more that one metal rule struck across my hand or wrist along with other physical punishments the teachers would make up!
Please do! Hang on, dinner? Did school not end at 3? Also, it is incredible that you were just allowed to leave! Something that would never be allowed today! A metal rule? Ouch! I forgot that violence was the way back then!
Dinner, as in lunch. I have breakfast in the morning, Dinner at Midday and Tea in the evening, sorry for the mix up! I think I finished at about 4 though rather than the more common 3 these days. Yes, not particularly pleasant, I had a screwdriver thrown at me once in whilst doing woodwork as well. There were some really quite wild teachers in my school! I think a quick story that always brings a smile to my face, and certainly one that would sound rather unbelievable to someone who only knows sliding doors, would be what my father would used to do when he had time off. The night before he would call up the station a few miles south and ask the stationmaster/manager (who he were good mates with) if he could have his paper and a bacon bap 'dropped off' to him by whichever train were closest to the time he wanted it. So then in the morning he would tell me he had a delivery coming and to go down to my Uncle's field, which ran right along the railway, and if I could bring a rabbit back he'd get me a bacon bap the next day. So I would set off, armed with my catapult and some 'borrowed' ball-bearings, down to the railway and whilst waiting I would try and catch a rabbit and, well, I am sure you can guess what, then wrap it in whatever material I had grabbed (sometimes an old bag and more than one occasion my mum's scarf) and wait out until the delivery arrived just watching the trains go past. The sound of those Deltics is forever engrained in me! Eventually, the train with the delivery would arrive, I would always know as they would give a good few blasts on the horn, so I would stick my thumb up and either the secondman would chuck the Newspaper and bap out the cab door, or the guard would chuck them out whichever coach he were in, I would grab them, take one of the pieces of bacon out the bap and ate it before wrapping it back up and head home, with the paper, bap and (in all luck) the rabbit. Looking back at that now it does seem rather crazy and I am not sure if someone in management had found out about this that they would be too happy either, but nothing ever went too wrong. I did try to make it quick, but I must admit it is not really not one of my skills! Ah those were the good times, though plenty of just as good times in more recent times too actually!
Ah! I was wondering why my old school kept saying school dinners! Woah! At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if there was an actual death in old schools from this kind of punishment, although I can't say I blame the teachers: children can be awful sometimes! That was an amazing story! It must have been difficult trying to throw what I assume is a variation of a sandwich while trying to keep it intact! I wonder if any of those drivers would recognise you today. I also wonder why your father wanted rabbits. Are rabbits edible? Was it common to have deliveries arranged through the station master, or was this something that only your father did? Did your father ever notice the missing bacon? I would love to hear more stories from Matt, Col, or anyone else!
I will answer your questions quickly, though not sure if I have time for another story until later this evening, though we'll see by the end of this post! No deaths from what I know of, though I would not be surprised, as it were even worse before my time apparently! Thanks mate, glad you enjoyed! Yes luckily baps (sorry, again I say bacon bap, rather than roll!) are very much like a ball, and it were proper bread and bacon, not modern light and fluffy rolls, and of course it were rather well wrapped, I think it only went wrong once, where the guard chucked it and it hit the fencepost, with it going everywhere, though I just put it all together and wrapped it back up and nowt else were said! Yes, I went on to work at a station myself at 16 and then went on to work alongside them, though by then most the drivers retired so it were mostly the secondmen, after they had progressed to driver. Because my dad worked on the railway we had loads of cab rides and owt like that and so I got to know the drivers well. Sadly some have passed, but I still see some of them now. The rabbits were for tea. Yes rabbits are certainly edible, and I think they are bloody lovely, especially after going through the effort to catch it. Sometimes I would catch a few, take a couple home, then sell the others! I would imagine it were done elsewhere, but as I say I certainly think management would have frowned upon it. No he never did, or if he did never said owt!
I think the fact that I don't know what a bacon roll is (but can imagine it) means it is my issue rather than yours. I am surprised nobody got food poisoning from eating a bacon bap with a serving of grass!
Right I suppose I had better keep my word! Another quick one I can think of, would be when I first started working on the railway at the station. From the first day I started working there to the last day I worked there, when I 'moved up' to a different role, there was this older gentleman, perhaps 60 years old, who every single day, without fail would come to the station, buy a cup of tea, cake and a platform ticket, would come through and just sit on the bench of platform two for a couple of hours, then go home. Every single day without fail in the time I were there. As always there were rumours running round like headless chickens about how he were waiting for someone he lost, or he were an inspector assessing the station's performance and so one day I asked him what he were there for. His response were 'there is nothing decent on the television or radio and I find watching people struggling to open doors and lug their stuff around much more entertaining!' So on one of my days off I went there and just sat with him and this is the thing that opened my eyes as to how stupid some people were: he would be disgusted at the people these days who struggle to simply press a button to open the train doors!
Hahaha! That is fantastic! I am surprised nobody thought to speak to him until you did. Indeed, I see countless examples of people trying to open regular doors the wrong way, and getting absolutely flummoxed, so I can imagine how frequently this would have happened. I try and reserve judgement, however, since I know that I could very easily make the same mistakes (but it can sometimes be quite funny). Every day, though - that is another level of commitment! I wonder why he liked platform 2.
I must say it can be painful to watch at times! Yes every day, though I don't actually know why it were platform 2 he chose to be honest. Suppose it were just quick to get to. I always have and will remember his name, James, as my son's called the same! Have you got any stories to share mate?
Wow that's really cool! Oh wow I didn't think of that. I'll need some time to think of something that isn't just two teenagers sitting over the platform edge and getting a good telling off from the approaching driver...
Fair enough, I must ashamedly admit I used to do that sometimes (before actually working on the railway at perhaps 13 or 14), but since becoming a driver I do shiver at this one. Though I have never told anyone off for doing it as I did do it myself and it don't feel right shouting at someone else not to do it. Just a quick friendly, 'don't do that lads' seems to do the job, rather than the rollocking and clip round the ear I got!
Since I can't think of anything else, I'll just elaborate on the platform edge one. I'd arrived at New Cross as part of a journey to travel on a bunch of London's trains, and on the other side of the station I saw an Overground train waiting at the start of the platform blaring its horn for a good 30 seconds. I had no idea why it had done this, but since I was going to board it, I decided to film it come into the platform on my phone, and once it stopped at the buffers, walk over the bridge and board it. Once it started moving, though, it stopped short again (much shorter than the buffers) and the driver walked over to the window and started shouting. I stopped filming at this point, because I suddenly realised why all this was happening, and decided to wait on my platform until the teenagers had been told to leave, and the train pulled forwards to the correct stopping point. Normal service resumed after that. I took a picture just as the driver rolled down the window (moments before I realise what was happening), but if I shouldn't put this picture up, someone please tell me and I'll remove it immediately. [REMOVED] Yes I could hear the driver clearly from the other platform. It was quite scary! He started off by asking if they thought they were clever, and ended with a couple of swear words and a threat to call the police.
That is not a clever thing to do especially at a busy station (the station I did it had only had 1tph, though of course that were still very stupid of me) as the trains are just so regular. Though as I say as a driver now I still don't shout because what is that going to achieve? He would have been better talking to them like adults as. On the picture it is probably best to remove it just in case because although the driver can't be seen clearly I do know how on things my TOC is and assume others are the same. Those overground drivers are quite often angry sacks of anger, I reckon it is jealousy of us who can drive 100 miles without needing to stop! That is a big no, no with my TOC is swearing, again I had an incident with being done for swearing, though mine were at a deer rather than passenger, and I had more of an excuse, sorry reason! Very interesting to read though mate and does just confirm my suspicion about LO drivers!
There is one clip somewhere on YouTube of some spotters waiting on the platform for a rare train to come, all armed with their cameras ready to take pics and film it passing. As it was approaching another steam train was coming the other way and it coincided with the the rare train passing the station, well the other train blew it's whistle and smoke everywhere plus it blocked the view of the rare train, after the other train passed and the smoke cleared the rare train had also passed so nobody got any pics or film of it. Somebody though did film all this happening, they were lucky to be there at the right time to capture it all. Col.
Of all the things to be blocked by, it was a steam train! Hilarious! I do wonder what could be rarer than a steam train though.
