Trespassers on the railway tracks during the Flying Scotsman’s visit to Peterborough cost rail companies almost £60,000.

On Saturday (12 March) the Scotsman starts an eight day tour of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR) at Grosmont, with Network Rail, British Transport Police and the NYMR warning those who are planning a visit to see the Scotsman about the dangers of straying onto the tracks. . . .

Photographs shared online show crowds of people, including young children, stood in the path of oncoming trains with their view obscured by plumes of steam and smoke from the Flying Scotsman.

All trains on the East Coast Main Line had to be stopped as a result, causing a combined total of over eight hours of delays (516 minutes) to 59 train services, costing the railway almost £60,000 in compensation.

Emrys Warriner, head of route safety and environment at Network Rail, said: “While the turnout to see the Flying Scotsman showed the passion and support for steam engines, and indeed for the railway itself, the images of people stood on the railway taking photographs were deeply worrying."

:he solution is quite simple. we just need to run mainline steam often enough, so that the steam-starved public doesn't feel compelled to swarm the railway station like a pack of mindless zombies hitting the last brains truck in the world."

Why not simply offer blanket indemnity for running idiots over during such events, with no need to stop trains or delay others and cleanups at convenient times after the trespasser squashing? Little by little we'll improve the average intellectual quality in the herd.......which is no small thing.

Certainly hiring some additional security people to show up ahead of the train to keep the track clear isn't too much to include in the operating budget.

How about video monitors with continuous loops of pedestrian catastrophes at every photo location, such as that idiot who almost was creamed by a UP stack train while standing in the gauge photographing the Big Boy on the other track, or the horrible incident in the Chicago area involving a BN E-9 at a suburban station. You could dub in upbeat music, run the tape forward and reverse with slide whistles as it hits her, etc.

Taking this into consideration:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8ZDXCd59-U

I'd say the railway companies have a legitimate worry.

A schlemiel is a guy who spills his soup - he's not a victim. A schlemozzel is a guy who gets the soup spilled on him

the solution is quite simple. we just need to run mainline steam often enough, so that the steam-starved public doesn't feel compelled to swarm the railway station like a pack of mindless zombies hitting the last brains truck in the world.

The British run main line steam about 4 times a week......in a 150 mile radius of the country center.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lac-M%C3% ... l_disaster

Thankfully there hasn't been anything quite like this since then, but there have been other incidents, some spectacular, and now a tank train is often considered a "bomb train," with considerable negative publicity. Yet in spite of this proven risk, and the bit of a black eye the railroads get when running such shipments, the industry hasn't refused to handle such loads. This is particularly noticeable when there have been stories going around that the tank cars at LeMegantic may have not been properly placarded.