EDIT: Original post above this one (which created the misleading subject title) removed.

More details for those that want to read the less-biased story for themselves:

http://www.railmagazine.com/news/networ ... -suspended

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lancashire-32167724

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-wiltshire-32099296

Your title says "UK Mainline Steam Tours BANNED" and the very first word in your post is "Almost". You can't be "BANNED" and "Almost BANNED". Either you are or you aren't.

Edit: it's a partial truth. It's like saying "Class 1 railroads don't allow steam" when some do. A more accurate sentence would "CSX doesn't allow steam". In this case it's only West Coast Railways that has been temporarily banned, not all UK mainline steam.

I think he got his point across...tomayto, tomahtoe



...forum rivet counters....

It's up to the moderators but I too object to the factually incorrect subject line.

Another technical website I am on bans all subject lines that do not succinctly state what they are about, no "You'll Never Believe This" subjects in order that readers can more easily choose which threads to read. An outright lie would probably get you banned. I think that is a good policy.

This update just in via Heritage Railway Magazine's Facebook page:

So - another operator - meaning different crews? What are the generic differences between operating groups in the UK? How are the same trips allowed to run, same motive power, and Network Rail is ok with it - because it's a different operator?

It's because the concern isn't that steam is inherently unsafe, but that West Coast Railways don't have a sufficiently robust system to make sure they operate in a safe manner.

Essentially the circumstances were that the automatic warning system wasn't acknowledged when a speed limit magnet was passed - this caused the brakes to be applied automatically and per procedure the train should have been brought to a halt and the signaller notified. Instead the automatic system was isolated by the locomotive crew and the train subsequently passed a signal at danger, fouling the junction, and only through luck wasn't involved in a collision.

If I were to give you an American analogy, it would be that, to make up an example, the Friends of the 261 suddenly had their own insurance cancelled for a 261 trip from Milwaukee to Chicago, but then made arrangements to operate the trip under Amtrak auspices and insurance with an Amtrak Genesis loco cut into the consist, and all of a sudden the trip is back on.

Details like this have lurked in the "fine print" of many main line excursions for decades. You might be surprised to learn that many NRHS excursions in the 1970s and 1980s were actually technically operated by a separate wing of the RailRoad Enthusiasts, because RRE got insurance necessary to the trips' operations. (I never heard all the details, but I think RRE got insurance that was somehow refused to the NRHS or whatever.)

I'm still not privy to the fine details of what just happened to allow another operator to take over the trips, but what I can tell you is that in the modern post-nationalisation/BR days, Train Operating Companies (TOCs) are granted franchise rights to operate, subject to renewal, revocation, etc. This includes the charter operator under whose aegis the steam trains were running. This is akin to a state DOT here certifying and/or licensing a charter bus operator or trucking company; some, especially the notorious "Chinatown bus" companies on the Eastern Seabord, have lost their certification, and thus their operating rights, after numerous headline-grabbing fatal accidents. Another analogy: a bar or restaurant being shut down for a health code or liquor violation, which could be taken care of in one day or after hearings before the liquor board about those violations.

In this case, after the second SPAD (Signal Passed At Danger) incident, this operator's franchise has been TEMPORARILY revoked; they probably made hasty financial arrangements to allow another company like Pathfinders to run the scheduled charters in the interim.

Although West Coast Railways does indeed operate the majority of main line steam charters (as far as I can tell), they are not the "only game in town," and to use a headline that implies that ALL UK main line steam has been banned for good is still disingenuous.

Indeed, given that true of banning of mainline steam has happened in the past in Britain, the headline led me to believe another such event had taken place. A revocation, hearing and trains still rolling is not a ban.

Forgive me, but I'm not up on British railroad terminology, but this basically is a stop signal violation?

SPAD
Signal passed at danger

Running a red block. Yes, that's effectively what SPAD is. Note that this was not a "banner" test by management. If, as some of the writing says, the crew disabled the ATS circuit, then I can see the operator getting a serious smackdown, and rightfully so.

Michael Seitz
Missoula MT

I think some British ATS systems have override controls in the cab. Comments anyone?

a tip from advertising....get attention

The poster did that and clued you on to more information in his text.


so the West Coast group won't be running the trains, another organization is handling them, well now to keep them passengers with tickets happy. CTA in Chicago has good rules when you jump a red signal and they will take it serious. They may investigate, find the problems, get pointy fingered, slap you around with something then all will be good. I think we will want to know why the incident ourselves, so would the passengers and whomever else, but I bet West Coast will be back running them.

That's actually what we try to avoid in digital marketing. Subjects/titles that aren't paid off in the content are among the least effective kinds of digital comms. You may prompt a click, but you are less likely to convert.