West Coast Railways incident at Reading - 13 June 2015

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

Details are sketchy but I'm reading on other forums and social media that West Coast Railways may have had another operating incident today. A WCR operated railtour at Reading apparently moved along the platform when passengers were alighting and the guard was on the platform.

According to a video posted on youtube the driver of the steam loco was relieved and a rescue loco and new crew arrived some time later to move the train ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) to Southall. Passengers had been detrained and transferred to scheduled services.

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U63629/2015/06/13/advanced
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_WoLyz0qmQ

[BerkshireBugsy]

Details are sketchy but I'm reading on other forums and social media that West Coast Railways may have had another operating incident today. A WCR operated railtour at Reading apparently moved along the platform when passengers were alighting and the guard was on the platform.

According to a video posted on youtube the driver of the steam loco was relieved and a rescue loco and new crew arrived some time later to move the train ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) to Southall. Passengers had been detrained and transferred to scheduled services.

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U63629/2015/06/13/advanced
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_WoLyz0qmQ

Suggestion to mods  - I understand why bnm posted as an add on to the SPAD^▸ (Signal Passed At Danger - very bad!) incident (it makes sense to me) but is it worth changing the title of this thread?

[johoare]

Details are sketchy but I'm reading on other forums and social media that West Coast Railways may have had another operating incident today. A WCR operated railtour at Reading apparently moved along the platform when passengers were alighting and the guard was on the platform.

According to a video posted on youtube the driver of the steam loco was relieved and a rescue loco and new crew arrived some time later to move the train ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) to Southall. Passengers had been detrained and transferred to scheduled services.

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U63629/2015/06/13/advanced
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_WoLyz0qmQ

I was on that train and had just got off at Reading.. As far as I could see everyone else was off and the doors were closed and the train was ready to go when (I an pretty sure) it was despatched but then had to stop as the whistle was blown twice (apparently this is a signal to stop the train again)..  I am pretty sure the guard wasn't on the platform though one of the rail tours guys was as he had got off of there so that may have caused some confusion as he was in a hi-vis..

[Chris from Nailsea]

Suggestion to mods  - I understand why bnm posted as an add on to the SPAD^▸ (Signal Passed At Danger - very bad!) incident (it makes sense to me) but is it worth changing the title of this thread?

Indeed, a constructive and helpful suggestion, BerkshireBugsy: I've therefore split off these latest posts and created a new topic for this most recent rather worrying incident. 

[johoare]

I would be interested to know what did happen at Reading last night.. I was one of the slowest people getting off of  the train (they were waiting to close the door when I got off) and I was on the platform for a couple of minutes before the train started to move.. Most other passengers who had alighted had made it to the front of the train to wait to see it leave..

When it did start and then stop suddenly I DID^▸ (Didcot Parkway) look behind me and say that there were still train crew  on the platform until I realised that it was the man from the rail tour company who wasn't supposed to be on the train as he was getting off there anyway

This is all my personal experience however..

I did feel a bit sorry for the people at Twyford and Maidenhead that I saw (and the rest of the stations into Paddington) who were waiting to see the train come through.

[insider]

Mis Communication between Guard and Driver via Radio.

Driver thought he could go. The RA was not given.

Guard still on platform, not ALL doors were closed.

Guard jumped back on and operated brake handle.

Network Rail declared to WCR that must terminate and the loco booked to haul from Pad to be diverted to RDG^▸ (Rail Delivery Group, or Reading station, depending on context), to clear service.

[eightf48544]

Thanks for the summary Insider.

Interesting that it was Radio that seemed to cause the problem maybe there's still a place for old fashioned flags! Difficult to misinterpret a waving green flag.

[Boppy]

Hi,

I too was on the same steam tour and I was due to get off at Reading where I live.

My friend and I alighted pretty quickly and walked forward to see Mayflower leave.  Whilst we were walking along to the front the train moved forward a couple of metres (not beyond the signal which was green) and then stopped.

The Reading Station dispatch crew came up to the front of the train to ask why did it move forward?  This was whilst I was standing next to the engine but I didn't hear the reason given.

A bit after that the signal went red and about 15 minutes later everyone else had to disembark at Reading.

I have some footage after it stopped on camera and there were a few folks already at the front who must have filmed it all.

Boppy.

[JayMac]

Another video:

https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/danwarman1/18789584972/

In this one you can clearly hear FGW^▸ (First Great Western) dispatch staff (including I believe, a FGW DSM) asking why the train moved forward. She confirms what the driver says by repeating, "You've accidentally moved forward?", it then appears that she exclaims to her colleague, '******* hell."  That does rather indicate that station duties were not complete and the RA not given.

WCRC really don't need to be dealing with another 'safety of the line' incident so soon after getting their licence back.