Tuesday 11 December 2012

Signal Failure

I've mentioned in the past the billions of pounds of new technology being thrown at the railway crossing near us to make it fully automatic.

In the picture below you can see the modern souless metal box of tricks on the left which is replacing the charming old relic on the right (cue cutting comments).

One of the jovial chaps who used to manually open and close the gates and light the oil burning lamps made the touching little sign to commemorate the passing of this 19th Century institution.

Anyway, the update is that the new set up was commissioned last week and the state of the art ground radar doesn't work. The solution? (There are dozens of various 'solutions' vans parked up the road). But what is actually operating the gates?

Let me tell you. The gates are operated by one of the poor downtrodden signalmen parked in his own car for 12 hour shifts manually pressing a remote after a visual check.

10 comments:

Z said...

In this weather? I had to wait for the Sage for 10 minutes yesterday in the car and I was jolly cold. As to the rest - no comments, as it said at the end of the post (but won't any longer).

Tim said...

I've instinctively tried to avoid trains ever since the Paddington disaster (which I missed by three minutes), and this isn't encouraging me back ...

Zig said...

Oh ffs - if Mr Murph were here he'd be writing to No 10 about this, can't La Lil start a petition we are in the eurozone after all.

Martin said...

I'd like to come up with a clever remark, but I can only produce a sigh...

dinahmow said...

And the first time some twit thinks he can beat the train and tries to do so...?
When I was a kid we had a "proper" man on the rail gate. If any kids tried to sneak through he'd whack them on the backside with his "stop" sign. Don't suppose they'd be allowed to do that today.

Sir Bruin said...

Are you on a crossing? If not, you are considered to be "On or near the line" if you are at a point that is inside the boundary fence and is within 3 metres of the nearest running line. How pompous am I?

Rog said...

Z: He had to have his engine running which added to the wrongness.

Tim: I hope you turned up in a duffle coat with a please-look-after label round your neck.

Zig: Good point. Mmme Lil is far too laid back about any issue not involving rabbits and squirrels.

Martin: Only 3 letters short of "signal" though...

Dinah: Exactly. I've no idea how a bloke at a computer screen 50 miles away is going to tell kids off. Crowd sourcing via Twitter perhaps?

Sir B: I've got you pencilled in as CEO of my fully re-nationalised rail system when it eventually arrives. And also a replacement for Bruno Tonioli on Strictly.

Unknown said...

I suppose we must have progress (irony).

mig bardsley said...

Seems to me that it makes no more sense to have fully automatic level crossings than to have fully automatic planes.
(Oh goodness! They haven't yet, have they???)

Pat said...

Mike and Ann took the words out of my mouth. Didn't recognise you in your titfer. The doggies gave you away.