Another RHDR Accident

dikkidee · Post by **dikkidee** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 3:03 pm

JSR86 - I will be running a driving course down to the Marsh over the next couple of weeks I normally go to the RHDR cafe at Dungeness - I will detour to New Romney instead and sign the book. - Dikkidee

rwaceyw · Post by **rwaceyw** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 10:32 pm

GavinW wrote:
BR7MT wrote:
I think jbilton that you should stay quiet from now on. You obviously do not understand the situation on Romney Marsh and are therefore not able to comment on it.

Best thing said on this thread!

Hear hear!

David

jbilton · Post by **jbilton** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 11:26 pm

Hi
Well I had been....but not because some juvenile members think its a good idea...but mainly because there isn't much point in posting further, when the majority of posters really don't think there is a problem.
I even had PMs arrive telling me how the railway was fine before the motorcar came along

.
I hope, in fact I'm fairly confident, that the real managers of the railway will be more realistic.
I do find it a little perverse that the intelligence levels shown by some of the posters, who are probably qualified UK car drivers, just goes to show what the authorities are actually up against.

Cheers
Jon

JSR86 · Post by **JSR86** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 6:24 am

rwaceyw wrote:
GavinW wrote:
BR7MT wrote:
I think jbilton that you should stay quiet from now on. You obviously do not understand the situation on Romney Marsh and are therefore not able to comment on it.

Best thing said on this thread!
Hear hear!

David

Definetly the best thing said hear for ages.

allypally · Post by **allypally** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 7:45 am

Ok, can we now stop the needless assumptions, and so on, this is now turning into a small flamewar. Railway bias here is quite obvious, which is understandable, but it's a sensitive discussion, and here, having a go at jbilton for his views and opinions, where you have been posting yours, is not the correct way to go about it. Please cease to do that now.

BR7MT · Post by **BR7MT** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 10:32 am

Right, I'll put this to bed ally.

jbilton - yes the way I said it was wrong, I apologise for that. But please consider that the railway is a preserved line and that after the last accident the insurance cost did increase rather a lot which is almost enough to wipe out operating profit for the year. Obviously the profit would be used to pay for barriers at crossing.

My feelings still are that if we were in a responsible society that barriers would not be required. However this second accident has shown that car drivers still cannot be entirely relied upon to act correctly at open level crossings.

Incidently, I am 21 and don't have a driving licence. I haven't even started learning yet.

Part of the reason behind my original post was that I spoke to Mr Martin during December about this very issue, I know quite a bit about the situation as a consequence. I cannot though post everything that I was told because it was in confidence.

So I will close with expressing my sympathy for the Martin family and the RH&DR family. I hope this type of accident never happens again and that a practical way around the crossing problems on the line can be found.

Best Wishes

Dan

jbilton · Post by **jbilton** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 11:11 am

Hi Dan
No need to apologise ....as I didn't find any of your posts offencive.
I think one or two of the more childish members were just taking your words out of context.
I appreciate the railways dilemma, and believe it or not I am pro the railway(any railway for that matter).
But obviously red lights do not unfortunately stop the accidents....and banning cars, hanging drivers etc are not really viable options....however attractive they may appear.
Cheers
Jon

JSR86 · Post by **JSR86** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 5:58 pm

I agree that some posts towards jbilton may be considered childish but you have to remeber that we at romney have lost a very good friend and when someone suggests that we as a railway did nothing to stop it from happening when everything that should be nessecary has been done it tends to casuse offence especally as less than a week has passed since the tragic event itself. I apologise if what i posted casused offence but all i ask is that some consideration for peoples feelings is put into posts in the future.

allypally · Post by **allypally** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 6:24 pm

Yes, I can see that, which is why I didn't point any fingers, or take any action against anyway. May I just say again that I am indeed extremely sorry for the personal loss of the railway.

rlmathers · Post by **rlmathers** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 3:05 pm

What is a life worth?

For this type of narrow gauge working railway, there should be a Traffic Supervisor, either in the cab with the driver or in the first coach.

The Supervisor should disembark halting all traffic before the train may proceed.

If anyone is considering costs.
Answer my initial question.

This must not happen again.

My sincere condolence to the Martin family and the RH&DR family.

Kindest regards

Ray

Christopher125 · Post by **Christopher125** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 5:01 pm

really - Cost is very, very important because the railway can't afford to employ more people do that. Plus, it would make the timetable into a shambles and fewer people would travel on the railway - simply not a realistic course of action, whatever tragedy happened.

Why do people keep on coming up with (bonkers) ideas? The railway management have felt the loss much more than most people on this site (especially in the GM's case) so there decision I am sure will be the best one. And I can categorically say that having a 'supervisor' will not be one of those ideas!

Chris

JSR86 · Post by **JSR86** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 6:03 pm

rlmathers wrote:
For this type of narrow gauge working railway, there should be a Traffic Supervisor, either in the cab with the driver or in the first coach.

The Supervisor should disembark halting all traffic before the train may proceed.

Ray

good idea if the railway was not running a timetabled service but with 13 LCs in 13 1/2 miles of track and lets say it took 2 minutes to cross each crossing in this manner it would add an etra 26 minutes to the 65 minutes it takes to travel from hythe to dungeness a total of 91 minutes meaning a round trip from hythe to dungeness taking around 3 hours instead of the just over 2 hours it takes now. and yes i know what the next post will say that a life is worth more than 26 minutes but the railway offers a practical transport link for the communitys along the coast. just one eample is the school train if that did not run becasue of the time delay that would means at least 2 or 3 coaches on the narrow and winding marsh roads. insted 1 diesel loco takes them all together and safey without casuing traffic chaos on the surrounding roads.

jp4712 · Post by **jp4712** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 8:03 am

I'm no longer sure this thread is making any progress or is doing anything but go round in circles. Given that it's a sensitive subject involving a death I am tempted to lock it, but will not do so at the moment as I hate to lock a thread unnecessarily. If anyone has a strong feeling either way please PM me or any mod.

Paul

[edit] I have had PM representations from members telling me that they find this topic insensitive and inappropriate. I have had no PMs asking me to allow the topic to remain open. One of the PMs said "In the last 2 years I have had to deal with the tragic death of two of my colleagues, so please stop this useless chit chat".

Thread locked.