11:43 Bedford to Brighton FCC train overshot Preston Park Station this morning.

[Norman Potting]

442s are all I drive now. Actually driving them is a pleasure (well okay the cab is a bit cramped) but it's the unreliability that us blokes at Victoria (and, I'm sure our passengers) find frustrating. The 442s were in storage for quite some time at, I think, Eastleigh which didn't do them a lot of good. I'm afraid we're stuck with them for a fair while yet. I think that any Southern manager that praises the 'Wessex Electrics' is just singing from the company songsheet and not from any heartfelt opinion

When they were new they were possibly the best units on the old Network South east. I am sure they actually still had compartments for first class and a proper buffet counter with a "snug" type bar area adjacent - I am 99% sure that they have been ripped out for more seating.

 

[Stat Brother]

Fair enough. I was with my two kids and I said as we went under the bridge by Withers 'this ain't stopping at PP for some reason' we approached the platform I would estimate at about 50mph.

Then braked hard which pushed us all around a bit as we were standing in the doorway ready to alight.

We were in the second unit of two, (coach 8) and we stopped almost opposite the platform exit. The smell of the brakes, plus the fact he was desperate for a pee , really upset my lad.

After a couple a minutes the driver announced he had lost concentration , and the signaller had declined his request to reverse. I estimate the front unit well overshot the platform.

Fair play the bloke held his hands up, but losing concentration to that magnitude, really?

I haven't emailed Lawson re this and probably won't , but as British Bulldog says, I doubt it will go unnoticed.

I wonder how many threads you've started, over the years, like this.
You start with a relatively minor personal slight.
You take it to the furthest extreme possible.
You get roundly turned on by everybody else.
You back track your original spoutings.

Don't tell me, you're current composing a news paper column about the minor incident.

1st post: 'Email sent to Neal Lawson'.
2nd post: 'I haven't emailed Lawson'.

 

[vegster]

I wonder how many threads you've started, over the years, like this.
You start with a relatively minor personal slight.
You take it to the furthest extreme possible.
You get roundly turned on by everybody else.
You back track your original spoutings.

Don't tell me, you're current composing a news paper column about the minor incident.

At least NMH had the decency to quit the board, eventually.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Indeed it won't. The signaller with be duty-bound to report the conversation with the driver. If it was a Bedford/Blackfriars-based driver (with work still to do) I imagine he will have been met by a manager and a spare Brighton driver would have finished the shift. If it was a Brighton driver on his last working, he still would have been met at the buffer-stops by a manager but wouldn't have been on his way home for over an hour.
I don't want to speculate but approaching Preston Park at (you say) 50mph suggests his (the driver's) mind was already fixed on Brighton. FCC (and Thameslink before them) had some weird and wonderful stopping patterns and he might just have realised his mistake too late (well, let's face it he did) but once done there's nothing you can do. It was a bit unfortunate that he wasn't allowed to 'set-back' into the platform....this is permitted in the Rule Book but the signaller must've had his reasons. Was the train running late with another service close behind? Further delay may have impacted on the return journey departure from Brighton. As I say, it's only speculation but it's unlikely that the safety of the train was in any way compromised. Had the driver been travelling under cautionary signals (ie Yellows) then he would have reduced speed accordingly. This is most likely a case of not looking at his schedule card (showing the stopping pattern) properly.

Out of interest - and I know nothing about it, even as a commuter for 25 years - but these days how is it possible ? The trains know where they are via GPS, they must know what their stop schedule is (it's shown on the ticker if nothing else), so it sounds completely trivial these days to have an audible warning when approaching a train you're supposed to stop at. It woud only take an hour to write a phone app to do it.

 

[theboybilly]

Out of interest - and I know nothing about it, even as a commuter for 25 years - but these days how is it possible ? The trains know where they are via GPS, they must know what their stop schedule is (it's shown on the ticker if nothing else), so it sounds completely trivial these days to have an audible warning when approaching a train you're supposed to stop at. It woud only take an hour to write a phone app to do it.

I can only guess that the train involved was a Class 319 unit(s) which don't have automated announcements or displays in the carriages. I don't know if fitting these things are in the pipeline (they are 35 years old now)
This incident of missing Preston Park, with the driver attempting to stop in the platform albeit too late, smacks of human error, in my view just not reading the schedule card properly then checking it one last time but too late. I can actually think of a time that I nearly did similar - same station but in the other direction. I left Brighton and the signaller put me into the up loop platform where there was a red signal to stop me (he did this so that a late-running Southern/Connex fast service could overtake me)
I stopped in the platform but didn't release the doors to let the passengers get on or off but then a revenue officer knocked on the door to ask why I hadn't done so. In short, my schedule card page had flipped over in a breeze and I was looking at the wrong service card. No harm done other than a few seconds delay for the punters, but if the signal had gone to yellow I'd have probably have left a few irate passengers both on the train and on the platform. Hopefully I'd have realised my mistake by the next scheduled stop.
So that's it really, we're all human, and thankfully these incidents aren't really that common. I can't think of a way to eliminate the risk of missing stops other than a driver giving a running commentary while going along (to himself, in the cab) It's a post-incident technique that train companies advise drivers to use sometimes after they've had a mishap of some sort. I can see the benefits but imagine that a few would feel uncomfortable using it.

 

[Albumen]

First you read the insane ramblings of someone being minorly inconvenienced, then you read genuinely interesting in depth knowledge of the subject, making the OP backtrack. That's NSC at its best.

 

[Beach Hut]

Oh Timmy look what you have done now

 

[Ninja Elephant]

First you read the insane ramblings of someone being minorly inconvenienced, then you read genuinely interesting in depth knowledge of the subject, making the OP backtrack. That's NSC at its best.

Just to say as well, I think this thread has become really interesting now that the train drivers are regailing us with their memories. Call me a terminal bore, but I've enjoyed reading the anecdotes.

CLASSIC NSC, who knew it would end up being a cracking thread?! Cheers HB&B!

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Just to say as well, I think this thread has become really interesting now that the train drivers are regailing us with their memories. Call me a terminal bore, but I've enjoyed reading the anecdotes.

CLASSIC NSC, who knew it would end up being a cracking thread?! Cheers HB&B!

Clearly his strategy all along.

 

[theboybilly]

Just to say as well, I think this thread has become really interesting now that the train drivers are regailing us with their memories. Call me a terminal bore, but I've enjoyed reading the anecdotes.

CLASSIC NSC, who knew it would end up being a cracking thread?! Cheers HB&B!

Here's another anecdote for you then, but this time about our passengers, bless 'em:

I was working a Bedford-Brighton service and pulled into Burgess Hill on a Friday evening (about 10pm at a guess). A group of lads got on, obviously well-oiled, heading for the clubs. About a quarter of a mile towards Hassocks the brakes came on - I guessed that the lads were playing about with the doors (forcing them apart) so we came to a stand in the middle of nowhere. At the time we had revenue staff who cotrolled the doors between Gatwick and Brighton (that's not the case now) and the chap in the back cab asked what I was going to do. I said 'nothing, and don't you make an announcement or go into that carriage'. When the brakes are applied like this you get a two-minute delay before they will release, I don't know why they chose 2 minutes but that amount of time in silence must've seemed like hours to those lads as other passengers looked at them with distain for delaying them. After two minutes we were on our way, I made a brief announcement to apologise without mentioning the yoofs and we had no more bother. I always think going back to have a go at them would have resulted in more delays at each further station.

 

[nordicgod]

How is the knee billy boy

 

[theboybilly]

How is the knee billy boy

Rumbled. My knee is still sore thank you for asking. Hopefully Occupational Health will be gentle with me. Are you 'dressing up' for Watford?

 

[worthingseagull123]

But it is not an isolated incident.

First Capital Connect and Southern provide a shocking service. Both failing to deliver and should lose their franchises immediately.

Day in day out, incompetent staff, unreliable trains, crap rolling stock, baffling operational decisions and very poor customer service).

 

[Beach Hut]

But it is not an isolated incident.

First Capital Connect and Southern provide a shocking service. Both failing to deliver and should lose their franchises immediately.

Day in day out, incompetent staff, unreliable trains, crap rolling stock, baffling operational decisions and very poor customer service).

OK fire away, name and shame

 

[MissGull]

Just to say as well, I think this thread has become really interesting now that the train drivers are regailing us with their memories. Call me a terminal bore, but I've enjoyed reading the anecdotes.

CLASSIC NSC, who knew it would end up being a cracking thread?! Cheers HB&B!

Me too. Very interesting stuff. Please continue with more anecdotes.

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

Rumbled. My knee is still sore thank you for asking. Hopefully Occupational Health will be gentle with me. Are you 'dressing up' for Watford?

I knew a Billy who was a train driver years ago - might you be him? G/F was Carole who had a big C scare and you used to do "videos"

Same Billy?

 

[keaton]

This is what happened after the Reading game a few years ago isn't it? The driver forgot to pick up a conductor at Lewes, the forgot about stoppping at Falmer (as the conductor would have reminded him) and then went just past Falmer, stopped for alittle while but was refused permission to back.

 

[Arthur]

Can think of 3 or 4 times when this has happened on the Uckfield line in recent years. Normally though it's when they add additional stop(s) for whatever reason. Can imagine it's very frustrating for people wanting to get off at those stops.

 

[marshy68]

So he/she made a mistake. Get them the sack, go on. What has country turned into?

shame you are not as forgiving to drivers that break the highway code when stationery - you are happy for people to drive trains in a reckless fashion

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

I remember once,I think it was the early nineties, that a train overshot the platform at Moulescomb by a hundred feet or so. There was a brief pause and then the guard announced 'ladies and gentlemen, that was Moulescomb station........errr......' For a moment all was silent but then one by one, the people in our crowded carriage began to laugh. No one had died, no one was hurt. Some folks had to get off at London Road. Big deal. I remember the incident with fondness, it certainly had a short term impact on the travellers, most of which were now talking to one another like old friends.