our biggest crime was to leave a penny on the line and stand well back.
Cupie said
03:55 PM Mar 14, 2022
We used to hitch a ride on the coal wagons on the way to & from the small bush coal mines ... until one of the group fell off & had his leg severed. About age 10.
peter67 said
07:06 PM Mar 14, 2022
Craig1 wrote:
our biggest crime was to leave a penny on the line and stand well back.
That was always fun. Walking 500 or so mtrs up the track from a crossing and stamping on the little lever the train ran over to trigger the bells and boom was also fun. Especially if you could see the traffic backed up from where you were standing.
Buzz Lightbulb said
03:23 AM Mar 15, 2022
Craig1 wrote:
our biggest crime was to leave a penny on the line and stand well back.
You were rich. We could only afford farthings.
86GTS said
06:09 AM Mar 15, 2022
Yeh, trains take a bit of pulling up.
My late father-in-law was a driver of Melbourne suburban trains. On the Hurstbridge line there was a stretch called "suicide bend" because it ran adjacent to 3 psychiatric institutions & there had been many incidents there. A man that had unsuccessfully tried to throw himself under a car ran onto the train track in front of my father-in-laws train. Both his legs were cut off. As my father-in-law approached him on foot he threw rocks from the track balast complaining that he hadn't been killed. My father-in-law retired 3 months later.
Craig1 said
09:36 AM Mar 15, 2022
Too many thoughtless people do not think of train driver, or in older days the guard had to do all the $h.t stuff.
RichardK said
12:33 PM Mar 15, 2022
Ahh yes, the memories...... when the Busselton Jetty was was complete (prior to the storm that washed the main section away) an ancient steam train would take wagons loaded with timber to the end (about 1.3 miles then) bro and I who fished constantly would ensure that we had a few blowies and get them to puff up and place them upside down on the tracks as the train was coming, result was mashed blowies that made the train wheels slip much to the annoyance of the drivers.
Sadly there is no more export of timber there and the state ships no longer use the jetty.
Cheers
RichardK
KJB said
12:53 PM Mar 15, 2022
RichardK wrote:
Ahh yes, the memories...... when the Busselton Jetty was was complete (prior to the storm that washed the main section away) an ancient steam train would take wagons loaded with timber to the end (about 1.3 miles then) bro and I who fished constantly would ensure that we had a few blowies and get them to puff up and place them upside down on the tracks as the train was coming, result was mashed blowies that made the train wheels slip much to the annoyance of the drivers. Sadly there is no more export of timber there and the state ships no longer use the jetty.
Cheers RichardK
What are "blowies.." ?????? KB
Bobdown said
03:31 PM Mar 15, 2022
KJB wrote:
What are "blowies.." ?????? KB
Blowfish or puffer fish, annoying little buggers when trying catch a decent fish.
Cheers Bob
KJB said
03:41 PM Mar 15, 2022
Bobdown wrote:
KJB wrote:
What are "blowies.." ?????? KB
Blowfish or puffer fish, annoying little buggers when trying catch a decent fish.
Cheers Bob
Thanks...........(I am not a "fisherman..") KB
chappy said
11:36 PM Mar 25, 2022
My hubby was a cane train driver. 1 cane farmer on his farm didn't want to give way and my hubby went to court! Dismissed of course. His line went past a school and the students would walk on the line listening on their ear phones, so many near misses! Drivers not paying attention because the cane trains only went for 5 or so months! In North Queensland many crossings don't have flashing lights or boom gates! Luckily he got out before he was too scarred!
1
Magnarc said
09:10 AM Mar 26, 2022
Craig1 wrote:
our biggest crime was to leave a penny on the line and stand well back.
Just to add to your comment Craig when a 90 ton steam locomotive runs over a penny you can feel it on the footplate. Happened to me lots of times.
Confession. Did it myself when I was a lttle terror!!!!
Magnarc said
10:33 AM Mar 26, 2022
Talking about trains reminds me of an incident involving my dear old dad who was a driver of some 30yrs on British Rail, but first some background is needed. In the mid to late 1800s the company decided to run a line from Cleethorpes in Lincolnshire to Lincoln which would then join what is now the East Coast Main line at Doncaster. In order to do this and avoid an expensive detour, they would have to run it through land owned by the Earl of Yarborough, who was also the Master of the Brocklesby Hunt.
The Earl agreed to let them do this with a couple of provisos. Rent would be payable, (they were still paying it in the 1950s !!!) and the second was that the Hunt would have right of way if they needed to cross the line. (yes I kid you not) Now, locomotives in the 1800s did not travel at very fast speeds but in the 1950s they certainly did.
Father left Cleethorpes mid morning with a rake of 12 coaches bound for Doncaster. I can't recall the actual date but I know it was on a Saturday. The loco was the Brittania class 4-6-2 Oliver Cromwell which weighed in at 94 long tons. After a stop at Grimsby Town station they gradually built up speed and by the time they were approaching Roxton Siding signal box they doing some 80mph. The signalman had pulled off the Distant signal which meant that they had a clear run through the section to the next box at Habrough.
At this time the Hunt was approaching Roxton from across the field with the fox some 50 yards in front of the pack and the scarlet coated twerps bringing up the rear. Now, as we well know your average fox is far from stupid, he knew that if he could get across the line in front of the train, he would have some valuable breathing space. Fox made it hounds didn't. Father hanging on the whistle the train with a combined weight of some 800 tons, ploughed through the pack. One of the twerps had to pull up so sharply he fell of his horse.
Now I am led to believe that these hounds are worth a considerable amount of money so you can imagine the stink that followed. With the Earl demanding full recompense a few days later father and his fireman, they had worked together for quite a number of years, were summoned to Lincoln by the District Superintendent with a "please explain".
When he got there he was asked why he made no attempt to stop. Now Pa was never one to suffer fools gladly, and he asked the Super how would he, (the super) achieve this with 800 tons travelling at 80mph with metal wheels to a metal track forty yards from the pack? When he also pointed out that the effect on the passengers had he emergency braked would have been horrendous, they would have been thrown around like rag dolls.
He was still given a caution!!!!!!
Oh...to be a train driver!
-- Edited by Magnarc on Saturday 26th of March 2022 10:36:36 AM
-- Edited by Magnarc on Saturday 26th of March 2022 10:39:01 AM
There are some morons out there.
We used to hitch a ride on the coal wagons on the way to & from the small bush coal mines ... until one of the group fell off & had his leg severed. About age 10.
That was always fun. Walking 500 or so mtrs up the track from a crossing and stamping on the little lever the train ran over to trigger the bells and boom was also fun. Especially if you could see the traffic backed up from where you were standing.
You were rich. We could only afford farthings.
My late father-in-law was a driver of Melbourne suburban trains. On the Hurstbridge line there was a stretch called "suicide bend" because it ran adjacent to 3 psychiatric institutions & there had been many incidents there. A man that had unsuccessfully tried to throw himself under a car ran onto the train track in front of my father-in-laws train. Both his legs were cut off. As my father-in-law approached him on foot he threw rocks from the track balast complaining that he hadn't been killed. My father-in-law retired 3 months later.
Sadly there is no more export of timber there and the state ships no longer use the jetty.
Cheers
RichardK
What are "blowies.." ?????? KB
Blowfish or puffer fish, annoying little buggers when trying catch a decent fish.
Cheers Bob
Thanks...........(I am not a "fisherman..") KB
1
Craig1 wrote:
our biggest crime was to leave a penny on the line and stand well back.
Just to add to your comment Craig when a 90 ton steam locomotive runs over a penny you can feel it on the footplate. Happened to me lots of times.
Confession. Did it myself when I was a lttle terror!!!!
Talking about trains reminds me of an incident involving my dear old dad who was a driver of some 30yrs on British Rail, but first some background is needed. In the mid to late 1800s the company decided to run a line from Cleethorpes in Lincolnshire to Lincoln which would then join what is now the East Coast Main line at Doncaster. In order to do this and avoid an expensive detour, they would have to run it through land owned by the Earl of Yarborough, who was also the Master of the Brocklesby Hunt.
The Earl agreed to let them do this with a couple of provisos. Rent would be payable, (they were still paying it in the 1950s !!!) and the second was that the Hunt would have right of way if they needed to cross the line. (yes I kid you not) Now, locomotives in the 1800s did not travel at very fast speeds but in the 1950s they certainly did.
Father left Cleethorpes mid morning with a rake of 12 coaches bound for Doncaster. I can't recall the actual date but I know it was on a Saturday. The loco was the Brittania class 4-6-2 Oliver Cromwell which weighed in at 94 long tons. After a stop at Grimsby Town station they gradually built up speed and by the time they were approaching Roxton Siding signal box they doing some 80mph. The signalman had pulled off the Distant signal which meant that they had a clear run through the section to the next box at Habrough.
At this time the Hunt was approaching Roxton from across the field with the fox some 50 yards in front of the pack and the scarlet coated twerps bringing up the rear. Now, as we well know your average fox is far from stupid, he knew that if he could get across the line in front of the train, he would have some valuable breathing space. Fox made it hounds didn't. Father hanging on the whistle the train with a combined weight of some 800 tons, ploughed through the pack. One of the twerps had to pull up so sharply he fell of his horse.
Now I am led to believe that these hounds are worth a considerable amount of money so you can imagine the stink that followed. With the Earl demanding full recompense a few days later father and his fireman, they had worked together for quite a number of years, were summoned to Lincoln by the District Superintendent with a "please explain".
When he got there he was asked why he made no attempt to stop. Now Pa was never one to suffer fools gladly, and he asked the Super how would he, (the super) achieve this with 800 tons travelling at 80mph with metal wheels to a metal track forty yards from the pack? When he also pointed out that the effect on the passengers had he emergency braked would have been horrendous, they would have been thrown around like rag dolls.
He was still given a caution!!!!!!
Oh...to be a train driver!
-- Edited by Magnarc on Saturday 26th of March 2022 10:36:36 AM
-- Edited by Magnarc on Saturday 26th of March 2022 10:39:01 AM