I’m currently sat on a train at Taunton station, and at the time I write this paragraph my computer tells me it’s 10.00am. I left Tiverton Parkway station at 9.04. This train was due into Paddington at around 11.30.

The reason for this delay is because ‘somebody in the Bridgwater has solen the signals’. Now, I know it’s not the signals themselves that have been stolen, more the signal cables. A while ago, again on a London trip I made, my return journey wasn’t actually late per ce, but it was the first train out of Paddington all evening – a 10.30pm train that I caught was the first to leave Paddington for the West since about 8.30 (a cancelled train which, incidentally, would have been the last train to go through Taunton, Tiverton, Exeter et al and therefore the train I would have caught had I not driven to Bristol.) Again, delays of quite a magnitude caused by somebody just outside the M25 boundary stealing signalling cable.

What possible use could they have for this cable? I guess signal cable is just a heavy-duty electrical cable as it just sends electrical pulses down it. Who would need that cable, except railways? Who would buy the cable off the people who stole it? Unless it’s some hard-strapped heritage railways probably not many uses could be found for it. Of course, I do not know; I did warn you that this was a rant.

For kicks then? Possibly. Causing disruptions to what must be a good couple thousand passengers across a railway network.

(I have just heard a whistle which means we’re probably leaving Taunton now, at 10.09. The train hasn’t started moving yet and there are still whistles going on on the platform…)

I don’t know what the capacity of an HST is. A quick search (and it was quick I’m afraid) yeilded no results. (Now we’re moving, computer time 10:11.) Actually, the update of the train departure proved a point there.

We’re on single block working at the moment, one train in, one train out between Taunton and Bridgwater. Our journey between leaving Tiverton Parkway and leaving Taunton took around 65 minutes. I will see how long it takes to get to Bridgwater to see now many trains could have travelled up the line from there onwards.

It’s quite interesting hearing what people are saying on their mobile phones to their loved ones (not ‘Aagghh I’m going to die!’ unfortunately). There is somebody who has said that they’re using stop-go boards on the line (that would be quite interesting actually). (We’ve stopped again now – 10.13 – waiting for what we have been told is the second train ahead of us to clear the section. So that’s at least two trains disrupted, not to mention the trains since it happened around 6.30 this morning.)

I’m kind of losing my train of thought here (no pun intended – seriously) so please bear with me.

Yes, I was talking about what people have been saying in their mobiles. We’ve had the stop-go boards, we have somebody on here who appears to be going to an interview at, what I assume will probably be an office of Marks & Spencer’s who was apologising that they would be late, we’ve had somebody who seems to be in the middle of a corporate merger and is unable to make the official handover (or something like that).

Believe it or not, when we were first told about what the problems were, there was a tiny ripple of laughter pass through the carriage at the thought of somebody stealing signals. Of course, that was almost an hour ago now, and I think a lot of people have realised that it’s not really a funny thing that has happened.

Something has happened which has reminded me of it happening. We’ve had a few announcements – recorded ones mind – saying ‘Would the train manager please contact the driver?’ which I’ve never heard before, even when I have been on delayed services. (Last year, there was flooding on the line between Exeter and Tiverton, which meant that I couldn’t get down to Exeter to get my ‘megatrain’ service to Waterloo, so had to get a single to Paddington which again was late running. A Cross Country service came down and obviously couldn’t continue, so turned around and took us all, initially to Bristol to change, but it turned out it was only as far as Taunton when we were told that the HST in the opposite platform would be going direct to Paddington and we should get that one. OK, it did go direct to Paddington, but there was a looooonnnnnggggg wait at Taunton, and although we were a fast service, we were stuck behind a slow service as far as Westbury. anyway – I think I’ve digressed from my point slightly!) (10.22 and still waiting the other side of Taunton.)

I wonder what other pre-recorded announcements the driver has to play with, or whether he has the ability to do live ones. I remember a while ago being on a train where the train manager seemed to have been a failed radio presenter (no snickering at the back there please). “I’ve been John, your train manager for this journey. Your driver was Mike, and your canteen staff were Janet and George. This has been a First Great Western service to London Paddington, thank you and see you soon.” (then added the “all change please, all change” which I think is something they have to say when a train terminates)

Have you had one of those days when things start to go right, but very soon go wrong but you carry on regardless?

This is one of those days I think. Just like the story I told earlier about last October when there was flooding. I could have just turned around and gone home again, but no, I will continue!

I’m kind of running out of things to say here. This started out as a rant, but has kind of petered off a bit. I sent an email at work like that once. It started off as a proper rant at people who were having a go at me for no real reason, or where there was a reason but the reason meant it was ultimately their fault. (I should have taken that sandwich mum made me…) The email started with good intentions of being rant like, but kind of ended up as a ramble by the time I finished. And given that most people seem to read the first sentence of what I write and the last sentence, all the meaty stuff in the middle was pointless.

In that vein, I guess I should finish now as the people who have read the first sentence will be coming back to join the service now.

It’s 10.30. I left Tiverton Parkway station roughly on time at 9.04. I need a coffee so will go up to the buffet in a bit. We are currently waiting outside Taunton. I don’t think we’ve even gone under the Obridge yet. Oh well. I will update you.

It’s times like this (well this is the only time really) that I think I should have a Twitter account, then people would actually be in a better place to read my random rants like this. You know, I was introduced to Twitter before it became ‘famous’ with Stephen Fry being the unofficial spokesperson for it. Now everybody has an account and it’s kind of lost its geekiness.

We’ve just been told that I can’t have a coffee because the buffet car boiler has broken down…

* sigh *

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The first one is a sample radio report done at the October 2009 Tube Challenge Random 15. OK, the first song I used on it is a little predictable, and while editing it I realised that I use the same phrases a lot (“… but we shall see” being one of them) but given that it’s kind of the first time I’ve done something proper like this I don’t think I did too bad a job really!

Duration 17m26s. Created 20 October 2009.

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A – Did she just say ‘is this second class’?

B – I think she did

A – I’ve got a good mind to go up to her, crush a can of Stella on my head and urinate on her leg.

B – She’ll probably get her butler to beat you up

Well, I thought it was funny.  Perhaps you had to be there…

(I later found out that these two people on the seats behind me didn’t know each other before they got on the train.)

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Sodor Rail – the Fat Controller’s new privatised railway company serving the Island of Sodor – must have the worst safety and timekeeping record for any railway.  I shall prove this now by going through the Thomas the Tank Engine Collection – a book I received for Christmas a few years back.

Thomas and Gordon: Thomas, on coach shunting duties, comes into the station later than intended, meaning that Gordon’s express leaves only just on time. Thomas is not uncoupled from the train. OK, so it’s not an accident or anything, but a potential late running express train. However, Thomas did end up at a station that wasn’t his own, required posession of a siding and also a path to return to his own station and yard.

Thomas’s Train: Due to an engine (Henry) failure, Thomas is entrusted with pulling the passenger train that Henry cannot.  He leaves the station without being coupled to his train, and has to return to get them. This would have left the train to leave the station late, due to an engine failure, and as Thomas wasn’t correctly coupled to the train it would have left much later than scheduled. Again, a path would have been required for this late running train as well as Thomas having to return to the station. I will disregard the incorrect punctuation in the title for now.

Thomas and the Trucks: Thomas and Edward swap duties, so Thomas is heading a goods train.  He fails to stop at the correct station and just about stops in time to avoid the buffers at the end of the line. To quote the book, ‘luckily the line was clear as they swerved into the goods yard’. Of course, there is also the unplanned swapping of engines between duties, which resulted in an engine not cleared for goods use to be used. There is also the issue that Thomas, who is ‘tired of pushing coaches [and] wants to see the world’ doesn’t have the correct route knowledge for this line.

Thomas and the Breakdown Train: A new engine, James, has an accident caused by his brakes catching fireand Thomas helps retrieve him. A derailment is never good news really.  The front trucks are all damaged in the crash and so is James’ tender.  Goods in those carraiges is also damaged then, as well as the rails and the lineside fencing.  James however is fine but is sent for repairs.

Thomas and the Guard: Henry’s train is late to Thomas’ branch line junction. He leaves quickly to get back to timetable, leaving his guard behind in the process, but is stopped at a signal. Now, the presence of a signal on a single-track branch line served by one train is a bit of a mystery in itself.  I must congratulate Sodor Rail in letting the branch line train wait for the late running main line train, caused by an engine problem; ‘my system is out of order’ (Henry – that’s two failures for Henry so far). I believe that Thomas did make up for the lost time on the route so that’s a plus.

Thomas goes Fishing: A water tower at a station is out of order, so Thomas is filled up with water from a nearby river with a bucket dropped from a bridge. Shortly after, Thomas experieces boiler problems and is sent to a siding where he is inspected to find that there is fish in him. First, an out of order water tower at a station is a problem, but not an uncommon one even on the mainland.  Thomas then stops on a bridge – what do the passengers think of this? – and is filled up with water from the river. This would have taken quite some time. At the next station, Thomas is uncoupled and sent to a siding, meaning that another engine would have to continue with Thomas’ train.  Fish is found in the boiler.  Why didn’t the driver and fireman notice the fish when they were pouring the water from the bucket into the engine? And why was Thomas blamed for it at the end – it wasn’t his fault…

Thomas, Terence and the Snow: Thomas, out in snow without his snowplough, gets caught in a drift and has to be pulled out with a tractor wile a bus comes for the passengers.  The wrong kind of snow? Maybe. Of course, we know from the beginning of this year what effect snow has on trains in this country, so we can’t really blame Sodor Rail for this one, and they did try and continue to operate a service despite the conditions.  I think that, despite the delays and cancellations to service, this one is a plus for Sodor Rail.

Thomas and Bertie: Thomas and a bus race between two stations. Thomas wins the race.  Such a common problem with the public transport infrastructure in this country. A bus and a train have been given the same route between two stations. I do think it’s a plus for Sodor Rail as they managed to get there first, and after this incidence, Bertie travels around the towns taking passengers to the station where Thomas then takes them onwards.

The Fat Controller’s Engines: All the engines on the Island of Sodor are going to the mainland.  While showing the shadowing replacement engines what they’re doing, Thomas has an accident and has to be repaired. Again, an accident which has left an engine damaged.  On the plus side, the workmen do manage to fix Thomas so he does manage to travel. Cause of accident, brakes I think.

Thomas comes to Breakfast: Thomas rolls out of his shed and, unable to stop, comes off the end of the (unbuffered) rails and into the stationmaster’s house (or the Fat Controller’s house on the TV series).  A cleaner has messed with the controls inside of Thomas, which is what causes him to roll out of the shed without a driver.  Temporary rails have to be laid on the road at the end of the siding in order to pull Thomas back, so the road would have to have been closed.  There is also sustainable damage to the stationmaster’s house and his garden (which included trees) while the stationmaster’s wife has to recook their breakfast.  ‘You miserable engine’…  A replacement engine – a diesel railcar of all things – has to be put onto Thomas’ branch line while Thomas is repaired. Again, Thomas gets the blame for this, rather than the cleaner who messed with Thomas’ controls…

I’ve just realised how long a process this is going to be.  This book is separated by character in the series and not in the order the stories were released in, so I shall continue next time with Percy, the Small Engine.

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So yesterday, after work at the Library, I was going to go to Barnstaple, but decided to head down towards Exeter, heading down the A377.  I stopped off at Eggesford railway station on the way, took some photographs round there, but as I couldn’t really be bothered to wait for a train to come (I’d have to wait there about forty minutes for that) I continued down to Exeter.

Last time I was at Exeter St Davids station, I had problems accessing the platforms to take photos (bloody ticket barriers) so decided to continue on.  It was while having my lunch at the Burger King at the M5 J30 services that I decided that I had never been to Honiton railway station so that is where I headed to next. When I got there, bizzarely I did see an ‘HST Stop’ sign on the tracks as I pulled into the station in my car, but even odder couldn’t actually find the sign when I got out to photograph it.  Again, I had a bit of time to wait until a train appeared, but it did and it was number 001 of the class City of Exeter. That information won’t be appreciated by any except any proper train afficondios out there (of which I’m not quite one yet!).

Anyway… Photos… here you go.

Railway 14-03-09 - Eggesford and Honiton

And as it happens, I didn’t have any problems with the auto focus on this camera, so I’m not sure what the student was doing wrong…

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