Those sites are useful for those who have any interest in anything other than trains OR British Rail. Now, how easy is it to find anything on British Rail? I found it difficault on that site.
Now, I wonder if there is an eBook on "Broken Rails", which was published in the aftermarth of Hatfield
(one I don't have sadly!
). For those who don't know what happened at Hatfield, I am sure C:Amie will have a shiver down his spine when he reads this
(bad memories
), Railtrack was suffering under-investment and was on the drive for profiteering to satisfy share-holderes. In 2000, a severe derailment happened, a London - Glasgow
(IIRC
) express service run by GNER, derailed around 20 miles from Londons Kings Cross at around 100-125mph. The derailment happened on a bend near Hatfield and Loco 91029, later refurbished as 91129 of the Class 91 was leading the train, the locomotive escaped unhurt, the 2 carriages behind were also intact, the rest of the train was sprayed across the down slow/relief line
(the slow line from London Kings Cross, the line away from London is known as the "down" line, wherever you are.
) and sadly, 4 lives were lost in the incident, IIRC, they were in the buffet car, which suffered the worst damage with its roof ripped off while it scraped against an overhead line electrification equipment post
(OHLE
).
The cause to the incident was atributted to a broken rail, that disintergrated just below the train, causing the 7 out of the 9 Mk4 1990's built railway carriages to get flinged about like toy's as they didn't make the turning.
The result was the check of 85 sites across the country and a case "if it aint broke, don't fix it"
(as usual
) advice was ignored. The lines were dug up and replaced. This repair work cost Railtrack hundreds of millions in repairs, only that only 2 miles away, in May 2001, the Potters bar derailment happened, causing the rear car of a Class 365 "Networker" to side swipe across a cross over from the fast to the slow lines at around 100mph, the rear car used the platform as a ramp and lodged itself into station buildings. IT stood up supprisingly well to the derailment, despite the bodies being made of aluminium rather than steel, which is weaker. I cannot remember the unit number before hand, I suspect it was 365 526.
On the other hand, if you compare what happened at Labrook Grove in 1999, the front car
(The DMCL IIRC
) which was of the same family of trains
(Networkers
), of a simliar design, didn't stand up that well, that disintergrated against the weight of the HST power car.
Edit: Sorry, focused on the wrong company!
So, all these incidents, soo many bad memories
(appogies to those families involved - I know many would rather I didn't talk about it, but it is related to the book that I am talking about. Those incidents were quite horrific and shocking
), so, what link does this have to a eBook? The eBook is said to go behind the scenes supposibly explains the broken promosies and the bad side of Railtrack, now Network Rail as well as other privised companies and see how they wrecked the rails of the UK. Privisation was always controversial and now extremely unpopular. We can only wish for the days of renationalisation, but what would
(re
)nationalisation solve? The Railways are an expensive and extremely hazardous business. In Clapham Junction, there are over 2000 train movements everyday, if one piece of equipment
(signal
) developed a fault, then, the consiquences would be disastrous.
http://www.christianwolmar.co.uk/books/broken_rails.shtml (for the link
)
Edited by Wessex_nut 2005-09-07 2:11 PM
), a copy of MS money and a copy of MS Outlook. 