A Sad Sad Story

[ccmmick]

A Sad Story

It was in the late 60s at Goonbarrow ECC clay works the shunter a railwayman all his working life and coming up for reteirment i wont say his name.
He let a train of empties into the yard the train went up over the points

(and yes we all know how it should be done and we all know how it was done
no radios back then)

The driver stopped at the mark gave it a couple of minutes and then set back
the driver came into view of the works no shunter he stopped they all knew that something wasnt right they got off the loco and walked back and sure enough he was under the train.
He did that same move day in day out his mind must have been somewhere else that day and no one will ever know.

All involved that day have now sadly passed away.

ccmmick.

[reflector]

Yes, a sad tale indeed. Although, like most of us, I do at times get cheesed off at the worst excesses of the Heath and Safety brigade, we do need to bear in mind that a lot of it is for our own protection and that before the Health and Safety at Work legislation, too many people were killed or seriously injured simply trying to earn a living. I suppose the problem is trying to get the balance right.

[48111]

A sad story mate.Like you say, we all know how things were done etc, but any loss of life is sad enough.

48111

[Deathbyteacup]

Originally Posted by reflector

Yes, a sad tale indeed. Although, like most of us, I do at times get cheesed off at the worst excesses of the Heath and Safety brigade, we do need to bear in mind that a lot of it is for our own protection and that before the Health and Safety at Work legislation, too many people were killed or seriously injured simply trying to earn a living. I suppose the problem is trying to get the balance right.

As I work in the Health & Safety field, I can tell you two things.

Firstly, a lot of the things that people are supposedly banned from doing by "Health and Safety" is mythical. The ammount of things our lads complain about being banned from doing because of "Health & Safety" is quite laughable really.

Having said that we really push hard certain things people tend to hate but are very important. The key one which applies to the Railway Industry is wearing your high-vis, safety boots, and hat. You might not have needed them in the "old days", but a lot more people would still be around to make that moan if they had.

The other issue is the strictness of Health & Safety is down purely to the fact that, if you do have an accident, the first thing people do is put a financial claim in against the company for breaching Health & Safety. If we have one little detail out of place then the court rules in the claimant's favour.

Doomed if we do, doomed if we don't in this job.

[colchesterken]

on the subject of health and safety,I purchased the british film institute series of DVD
cost 100 quid but fantastic nostalga loads of 60s films
one was about hump yards when they were new.there is a bit of film where the shunter was running along the side of the wagons running down the hump appling the hand brake while the wagons were running down the hump..i thought that would not be allowed today,,proberley a good thing

[48111]

Yes colchesterken, that happened in yards all over the country, that is how they done it for years mate, but like you say it would not be allowed today.

48111

[locojoe]

Another sad story. A driver who was my regular mate at Enfield was electrocuted at Hertford East station whilst sweeping the coaldust off the cab roof of an L1. I had already transfered from Enfield when the accident happened.

[Deathbyteacup]

That is sad. But was doing such things "under the wires" not banned?

[locojoe]

Hi Deathbyteacup all steam locos that worked under wires had warning plates (white plate with a red sort of zig zag arrow) but I suppose after working on steam locos for many years he just forgot about the wires.

[48111]

Yes sadly this happened quite a few times under the wires. Very sad incidents all of them.

48111