Great Western Coffee Shop

Oh Dear  :o

FGW State cow hit on the line, while BBC Devon Travel has a just broken down train at Umberleigh.

With all the closures of the line, with replacement bus services over the last few years, with gully clearing, tree felling and fence improvements it does make you wonder how these events still happen.

Perhaps its the livestock just get a closer view of a Pacer.  On a more serious note, good to see from FGW site that no passengers or staff injured.

mooooooooo-ve

My first thought on reading that was that it was referring to a State Cow. I wondered at first if perhaps Devon had been won by the communist party in a recent by-election. At least the trains would run on time, I suppose.

maybee a train didnt hit a cow rather someone just got angry and hit a cow

No.......it hit a cow. Got wedged under rear wheel of 142030. Unable to move train for fear of derailment.

Sad about the cow, though, seriously.  :(

How is it that, with all the work being done on the railway infrastructure, there are still gaps big enough to allow a cow to get onto the tracks?

Farmer left a gate open, probably.

There was an issue on Sunday with a sheep on the line.

Internal message of the day was:

"Tried to coax the sheep out but it is hiding in the bushes and refuses to come out... More when known."

thats nasty feel bad about the jokes now i doubt that was plesent for passengers or staff to see

You'd have thought that would have been more of a problem on the south wales branches.  ;D

An expert writes:-

Welsh sheep are too intelligent to get hit by trains.  They even roll across cattle grids on their backs (the sheep that is, not the trains).

The worst thing to happen to Welsh lamb in the last decade is wheelie bins.  The sheep used to browse in conventional bins but they can't get in to wheelie bins so easily.  So their diet's been ruined.

 :(

That's an interesting point, Welshman  ;D

I remember seeing, in the Forest of Dean (so not Wales, but the point remains!) a sheep picking its way very carefully over a cattle grid.

And that may be the problem: animals will learn to cross man-made barriers - rather as human beings will probably eventually work out how to cross these, in order to stray onto the tracks:

(http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/apr08photos/130408nailsea28.jpg)

Welsh sheep would ignore the sign anyway, as it isn't bilingual.

when jumping the tracks aim for the lucky third rail and never wear rubber boots

Ah yes, that third rail which only exists on the former Southern Region and on Merseyrail...

.... dont be silly