Castle Cary station - services, incidents, facilities, car parking and awards (merged topic)

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

I see P3 was only used in the down direction today.

Track or signal issues preventing use in up direction perhaps?

[PhilWakely]

I see P3 was only used in the down direction today.

Track or signal issues preventing use in up direction perhaps?

A possible explanation. The TM^‡(resolve) was completely bemused - she was expecting us to pull into P3 and even expressed her surprise when announcing the Castle Cary stop. If there were signalling issues, wouldn't she have been advised?

The other event that even puzzled the station staff was the additional holding of 1A92 to run behind the Wizard and thus be forced to run slow to Blatchbridge Junction (Frome) and te delayed still further.

[JayMac]

Could have been last minute when signaller tried to set route. Although with a long wait outside the station it would be unusual for the driver not to have be advised over the radio.

May have been communication issues also.

I merely hypothesise. 

Could have just been a Grade A balls up!

[Chris from Nailsea]

Sorry mods - I decided to start this separate thread about the weymouth Wizard rather than add it to the existing thread as I believe that an incident with the returning Wizard today (18th July) needs discussing and answers provided. Feel free to re-merge it if you wish!

Purely for the record: that's fine with us, PhilWakely, in view of the specifics of this particular incident. 

[JayMac]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

A tractor driver was nearly hit by a train travelling at 73 mph (117 kmph), an accident investigation report found.

The farm worker was towing a trailer over the level crossing at Thorney Marsh Lane near Castle Cary, Somerset, on the morning of 26 November.

A Great Western Railway train travelling from Westbury to Weymouth narrowly missed the vehicle.

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB^▸ (Rail Accident Investigation Branch)) identified a miscommunication between the driver and a signaller.

In its report, investigators said the train driver saw the tractor starting to cross, sounded the horn and applied the emergency brake.

The train came to a stop 450 metres past the crossing. The train driver and the farm worker then both called the signaller to report the near miss.

CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision) photos from the train showed the tractor and trailer cleared the line when the train was around 30 metres from the crossing.

Four minutes late

The train involved was four minutes late leaving Castle Cary railway station and had not passed the crossing when the tractor driver called the signaller asking if the train had been through.

The RAIB said the signaller did not to hear this correctly and assumed that the train had passed the crossing. He did not confirm this with the driver and told him he could cross.

Investigators said the incident "demonstrates the importance of signallers leading the conversation during phone calls from crossing users who may not be accustomed to safety-critical communications".

It also advised that "signallers fully consider and understand the information available to them when deciding whether to give a crossing user permission to cross the line".

The full RAIB safety digest can be read here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/safety-digest-022017-thorney-marsh-lane/

[Eliza]

We plan to travel from Taunton to Dorchester, changing at Castle Cary, as that will give us the quickest journey.  My husband uses a wheelchair, although he can walk, so are the station staff, who will know of our arrival, likely to take us across the track via the barrow crossing? Should I be delighted by this novelty or scared witless, having read of the near miss at the level crossing at Thorney Marsh Lane?

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/safety-digest-022017-thorney-marsh-lane/

We intend travelling on a Friday (the 09.21 departure from Taunton), when Castle Cary Station is manned.

[grahame]

Hi, Eliza

The barrow crossing at Chippenham was used for many MANY years without (to my knowledge) incident, and I've not heard of any incidents at Castle Cary or other barrow crossings in modern times.  There have been incidents at "occupation" crossings - including the one you mention at Thorney Marsh, but those are very different crossings indeed.

With a barrow crossing, you have two sets of professional staff involved - the signal person on the phone, and fully safety trained rail staff there physically with you too, whereas with an occupation crossing it's only the signalman on the phone - a much greater risk, and even there problems are mercifully rare.   In fact so rare that the make press headlines and merit a full enquiry when they happen to see if even those few can be reduced to none.

Be delighted at the novelty - it's going to be much safer to cross the railway at the barrow crossing than it would be to cross a road.

[Eliza]

Thanks, Grahame, for your explanation that a signalman gives the all clear to use a station (barrow) crossing, and that it's not just left to the platform staff to decide.  I'll put best foot forward, if we are offered that option.

[grahame]

How long does the crossing at Castle Cary take?

Yorkshire Coast Radio tells us 20 minutes at Bridlington!

People who use Bridlington railway station are being warned not to get caught out by a new rule.
Anyone travelling towards Scarborough who can't walk over the footbridge needs to be there 20 minutes before the train leaves.
It's to allow enough time to be escorted over a crossing safely instead.

[brompton rail]

I believe that the Scarborough platform at Bridlington station is a slight walk from the normally used terminating platforms (most Brid trains are terminators from Sheffield/Hull). In addition, as the line from Bridlington to Scarborough is single track, trains arrive from Hull and wait several minutes for the southbound service from Scarborough to arrive. That means that when staff might want to transport a passenger to the Scarborough bound platform (the only one at Brid without level access) both those platform lines are occupied by trains. I don't know if there is a rule prohibiting use of the barrow crossing whilst there is a train in section, but I can see that might be good practice.

[bradshaw]

An HGV struck the bridge over the Weymouth line this morning, closing it for some time. NR^» (Network Rail - home page) have tweeted this which includes image
https://twitter.com/networkrailwest/status/1161217250424164357?s=21


Just seen it reported on another thread, feel free to delete or move

[GBM]

Thanks for the NR^» (Network Rail - home page) link to the photo.
Some strike!

[Thatcham Crossing]

Thanks for the NR^» (Network Rail - home page) link to the photo.
Some strike!

....and a somewhat precarious position for the driver where the tractor unit ended up

[ChrisB]

The BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) newspage (I can't find it again to retrieve the URL) has 2 photos from the road, rather than the rail.

[grahame]

More photos at

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-49331977