Great Western Coffee Shop

I've found a video called "About Time". (of which "Part 1" is linked below) It was made by Network South East (in my guess late eighties/early ninties) for staff, and demonstrates how to run a punctual railway.

It makes out so many good points that are relevant today. (from a passenger's pov) Things like: drivers not coming out of the staff room 30s after the train should have left, and not having the attitude that time can be made up later - two thing which I observe too often.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V_EL9g8ylQ&feature=related

It is also pleasing to hear the correct term "signalman" used in the VT, instead of wrong "signaller".

No all signallers are male.

A woman can be a signalman. It is a gender specific word, as the "man" comes from he Latin "manus" meaning "hand". A signalman operates signals by pulling a lever, or pressing buttons. (i.e. using their hands)

It is the same reason why a woman can be a chairman - a chairman HANDles the meeting.

"Signaller" suggests that the person is standing next to the tracks signalling to the trains waving a flag! No they're not signalling, they are operating the signals.

Well said Btline lets get a campaign going to bring back signalman/men.

When my grandmother was Mayor of Southampton she ws Mr. Mayor and woe betide anyone who forgot and called her the Mayoress (who was my mother).

Back on the subject there is also a very good BTF film about running on time done in the late 60/70s (when the Hoovers were new.). It's a Euston to  Glasgow train and shows how from a late start due to driver not switching AWS from one of loco to other it's finally well over 15 minutes late at Preston. The Hoover came on at Crewe and looks brand new and a low number.


 

It is called "the Pain Train", IIRC

At Worcester on many occasions! (LM services especially)

My favourite is when the minutes state "It was the Chair's decision...."

The apostrophe 's stands for "his", i.e. "the Chair, his decision"

I love how the English language invariably has the last laugh. The misguided P.C. brigade can try all they want to mangle our vocabulary, but in the end common sense will always prevail.

There was very very bad spell several years back on GW and GW link particularly in the evening peak. Trains were leaving late from Padd because the driver was late arriving on an incoming service and the changeover was too tight.

Would hope with the better timekeeping FGW is managing to obtain and longer turnrounds for drivers at Padd this problem has been solved. But it is an illustration that punctuality has to worked on and it requires constant effort to maintain a consistently high level.

Be prepared to be surprised, because it is. I do, however, appreciate that you, and most other train crews, would never do this.

Indeed, thankfully, it has got better in the past year or so. Timetable slack does not help the matter...

If you watch the video I linked to, you can see an eg of a railwayman who admits that they used to not care as much about starting a train late. However, they now appreciate how important punctuality is. Another interesting part is the driver who describes how a 2 minutes delay stating at Ramsgate (I think) unavoidably ends up being a 10 minute delay at London.

In conclusion, I still think that lessons could be learned from the vid today.

Something very apparent on the XC nework too, where delays at the start of a journey mean the entire rain can end up hours late

Sorry for the mis-understanding. I wa not pointing the finger at anyone - mearly pointing out what I had observed. :)