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| Clapham Junction Anniversary 12/12/2012 at 11:22 #39131 | |
Steam Buff
101 posts |
Hi Just wanted to mention the 24th anniversary of the Clapham Junction Rail Disaster. Our hearts go out to the family of the people who lost their lives on that fateful day 24 years ago (12 Dec 1988) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clapham_Junction_rail_crash Log in to reply |
| Clapham Junction Anniversary 12/12/2012 at 14:53 #39138 | |
moonraker
370 posts |
I remember it well  . I think that's what brought in the 72 hour maximum working week. In those days you would be expected to finish a night turn say on a sunday morning but still be expected to be back on duty at 2 pm the same day. It all changed after Clapham
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| Clapham Junction Anniversary 12/12/2012 at 15:32 #39139 | |
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Noisynoel
989 posts |
Actually, it didn't stop the doubling back. I joined in '89 and done Nights to lates and earlys back nights back lates over a weekend for a number of years, as did signallers
Noisynoel Log in to reply |
| Clapham Junction Anniversary 12/12/2012 at 17:12 #39141 | |
58050
2659 posts 
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Although it wasn't necessarily enforced properly every where. We had a double back at Liverpool Street Regional Control finish 0600 Sunday morning to return back 1400 Sunday afternoon. To save the double back whoever was on nights stayed on duty till 1400 Sunday afternoon as it was awkward to get home on the train Sunday morning what with engineering work etc. So we used to do a 16 hour stint instead. Not as bad as it sounded cos on nights all the lights would be off & feet up. Unless something kicked off or your phone rang it was fairly relaxed. With an excellent office fry up around 0900am on Sundays.
Last edited: 12/12/2012 at 17:12 by 58050 Log in to reply |
| Clapham Junction Anniversary 12/12/2012 at 19:52 #39160 | |
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moonraker
370 posts |
I think the 12 hour rest between turns came in some time afterwards but not too sure when. When I was at Swindon on the platform we had doubling back when I joined in '87. And the same when I went to the yard shunting.
Last edited: 12/12/2012 at 19:52 by moonraker Log in to reply |
| Clapham Junction Anniversary 13/12/2012 at 04:59 #39166 | |
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Hooverman
306 posts |
As signaller now, you are still allowed to have one double back Saturday into Sunday, as long as it's part of your base roster. At TBASC the signallers voted for a roster without them in about 7 years ago now when we had to change our roster.
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| Clapham Junction Anniversary 13/12/2012 at 09:23 #39167 | |
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Steam Buff
101 posts |
Are we going off topic from my original post. If not then ignore this post 
Last edited: 13/12/2012 at 09:42 by Steam Buff Log in to reply |
| Clapham Junction Anniversary 13/12/2012 at 09:58 #39168 | |
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kbarber
1742 posts |
" said:Are we going off topic. :) Not really. Limits on working week and doubling back were recommended by Sir Anthony Hidden in his report into the Clapham disaster (and BR paybill software had "Hidden 18" monitoring tools added so the personnel manager received detailed monthly printouts of any exceedences). Some areas were fastidious in implementing Hidden 18. Some weren't. I took part in interviews for the new Wembley Yard signalbox in early 1994; one applicant was a relief signalman on the North London and it rather quickly became obvious that he was working just as many hours as we used to in 1979, before the West Hampstead commissionings filled a few of our vacancies. (He didn't take up the post... we later heard that he'd been given a grade on a personal basis, although it wasn't (apparently) in return for staying where he was.) Reading Hidden was fascinating. Where an old Railway Inspectorate report would simply say that lines were "...worked by the Track Circuit Block system..." on the basis that everyone reading would understand what was meant, Hidden (a barrister at the time) went in for a detailed description of how track circuits and automatic signalling works. I suspect he may have been a classics scholar or something; he certainly wasn't a scientist or an engineer. So you could see this brilliant mind wrestling with the practicalities of the electrics, in order to render it in a language that made sense to him and the likes of him. I certainly recall the morning of the accident, with news filtering in to the office. Initially I was concerned that my father might've been on the train, but it turned out he'd been attending to the cement mixer on the line further south that had delayed the up Bournemouth. By mid-morning we knew that the signal in rear was still showing yellow as yet another train approached it, although we didn't find out how that came to be for some days. A very sobering experience. Log in to reply |
| Clapham Junction Anniversary 13/12/2012 at 17:28 #39184 | |
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Firefly
521 posts |
I was still at school but I remember the day clearly. The TD teacher always used to have the radio on during lessons and I remember the news breaking during Simon Bates's show. Initially I thought they were talking about the cement mixer incident at Parkstone however it soon became clear that this was far more serious. Little did I know that 4 years later I'd be an apprentice working for the Signal and Telegraph department and eventually responsible for testing resignalling schemes like the WARS scheme which was at the heart of the accident. Log in to reply |
| Clapham Junction Anniversary 13/12/2012 at 22:24 #39195 | |
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benstafford
88 posts |
I remember speaking to my great uncle who said that he had originally been rostered to drive the oBurnemouth train but something had been changed at the last minute. The conversation is lost in the depths of my memory now. I remember the bit where i discovered that he was rostered to drive our train home ... On the wrong day! He wuold have let me ride up front in the 47!
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