http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5WvG9-jDXk
Vitally vitally important.
Wow!
Yes, WOW is right. This is a perfect example of why we should ALWAYS listen to the ENTIRE communication on both sides of a conversation before making a decision or move of any kind.
I am shaking after watching that; I can’t imagine how they felt.
What exactly didnt happen that should have happened? I thought the signalman (dispatcher) was rather vague in “applying” the block.
ed
[:O]
This type of error happens in every industry. At a mine where I worked as a student many years ago, a mill crew was replacing liners in a rod mill at a concentrator. Safety regs had the mill master switch locked out. At some point, they had to rotate the mil 120 degrees to get at the spent steel liners that were under the 12 tons of 800 lb. steel rods. The foreman agreed that all the crew were out of the mill, the switch was unlocked, closed, and the operator pressed the starter button for the 1000 hp electric motor that turned the mill.
Do I have to tell you the rest?
All the conversations within signal boxes are recorded so the conversation is basically as is.
It just goes to show how easy a slip can be made. I am suprised the extract of the video found it’s way onto youtube in the first place!
The confusion was between the “Up Fast Track” and the “Down Fast Track”. The Signaller blocked the “Down Fast” which was occupied by the stopped train, he did not block the "Up Fast (the adjacent track). The two people did not listen to what each other was saying, if they had they would have realized there was a lack of understanding. It sounded like the Signaller wanted to have the Voyager back onto the Slow Lines before checking out the problem. There are 4 Main Tracks in the area of Bletchley Station.
I have had a brush with the reaper dealing with a coloring agent for PP/2 plastic and a solvent for “evacuating”. Fancy BS talk for purging a tank of one color prior to changing to another color. I had signed off on the procedure, but I had no idea what I was doing. No one stepped up to tell me that the procedure was incomplete. Now IT IS complete! No one should take anything for granted at any time. Those guys were very lucky all they had to do was change their clothes.
“Always, always come to a clear understanding.”
Wow. Very true indeed! It’s a wonder they survived.