Who else got caught up in the pandamonium of Network South East trains yesterday

BTW I really like this picture :

See that wooded hill in the background ? That’s Croham Hurst Wood, site of a round barrow burial ground, and it’s at the top of my road – a few hundred yards away. Plenty of single track there, and all about 5 mins bike ride from East Croydon station. It’s not a very large area though, but there’s loads more nearby. Few people who don’t know Croydon realise that.

Ernie – We’re British. Moaning about the speed at which builder types work and the length of their tea breaks is what we do best. Though I agree that, in this case, the comments seem unfounded.

Just wanted to point out that you were wrong to dismiss geoffj’s suggestion as being quite as stupid as you made it out to be.

See that wooded hill in the background ? That’s Croham Hurst Wood, site of a round barrow burial ground, and it’s at the top of my road – a few hundred yards away. Plenty of single track there, and all about 5 mins bike ride from East Croydon station. It’s not a very large area though, but there’s loads more nearby. Few people who don’t know Croydon realise that.

Shhhh!

you were wrong to dismiss geoffj’s suggestion as being quite as stupid as you made it out to be.

If I was dismissing anything as stupid, then it was this comment by geoffj : “Oh hang on – thinking! That’ll be someone elses job”. I’m sure the track workers tackled the problem in the most effective way. The suggestion that they didn’t bother “thinking” is both insulting and baseless imo.

BTW your two pics are hugely unconvincing – in the second one there appears to be considerable more debris. That’s hardly surprising though as it took two hours to shut off the water main (which was over 4m underground) But that’s by the by – whichever way they tackled the job I’m sure it was the most appropriate.

Thomas and the Men In Orange.

Thomas was sitting in the sidings with all his friends yesterday, “oh dear what are we going to do”? he cried. “All the friendly passengers who pay their fares and stand to attention at the platforms waiting for us to take them home will all have gone in cars and on bikes by now” he sobbed. “Don’t worry” said Henry the Green Engine, “it’ll be fine, no one really cares if we p*ss them off, they’ll be back tomorrow cos’ they’ve got no other way of getting to work” But Thomas couldn’t sit there, he had to get there and get there fast. So he pootled off to Croydon.. Toot tooot, he blared, toot toooooot.. he huffed and puffed and made his way. He got there just in time to see a sight he’d seen all to often. He laughed and laughed at the Men In Orange standing around doing sod all whilst his passengers became ever more angry and displeased “oh, this is fekin typical” he thought. He recognised some of the Men In Orange Bert was doing is normal duty. putting the kettle on. Sammy was reading the Sun and Marty was still chomping on his Bacon sandwich from the morning. Tom the 15th Forman in line was resting his arm on the sparkling yellow pole he carried around with him, Nigel the 12th Forman in line was standing there too chatting about last nights TV.. Thomas noticed lots of cigarettes being lit up and a copy of the Daily Star wafted gently past his funnel. “Oh, please do something you lot” he tooted. But all the Men In Orange were bothered about was overtime, they were not going anywhere fast… Then Gerald the 18th inline Forman walked over to Thomas and whispered in his fire bucket “Oi, you cross this line fella and I’ll make sure you never cross any points again sonny, got that eh.. I’m a union man me and we know who you are” Thomas was so upset, he knew thas was it, he gently reversed back up the track sobbing, knowing full well the threat made would come real.. and sighed to himself “never come between the Men In Orange and Ovetime”

Oh sod it, I’ll save the hypertension.

I made the suggestion “that a practical solution was beyond the capabilities of the folk on the scene” ?

Well I expect the “practical solution” to this :

To come from management, not the guys sent to clear the mess and who worked through the night to shift 2,400 tons of debris. Or do you think management has no role to play and should be scrapped ?

Having said that, I am only too aware that solutions to problems do indeed often come from ‘the guys on the ground’, and that management proves itself often to be utterly incompetent.

(in response to geoffj’s edited post)

Why is everyone still arguing about this?

Why is everyone still arguing about this?

You need it explained ? OK. Well this landslide/flooding occurred on a main train line. Luckily all safety procedures appear to have worked and no train was derailed nor was there any injuries/loss of life. Bus replacement services were provided, although because of the sheer volume of traffic on that line it understandably struggled. Gangs of track workers worked through the night to shift 2,4000 tons of debris. By the next day the line was more or less back in full operation.

That was the good news. Unfortunately, and totally predictably, a few wallies are always quick to whinge about most things, and this was no exception. Apart from the general all-embracing whinge, the track workers were singled out by a couple of individuals for special criticism. And of course just for good measure, so were the trade unions, but wait, haha it was just a “joke”.

Equally unsurprisingly, and also totally predictable, I come along and defend the track workers against absurd and unfounded allegations. An “argument” of a sort ensued. HTH

Well it was a hard jorney home but given that it’s all up and running again today I think whoever was responsible should get a medal.

It was pretty messy down there.

Now if someone could photoshop The Badger and his track pump into the above picture…

Well it seems a very good job has been done by a few for so many, and quite a few on here have ridiculled their actions, thats naughty.

But thankfully as said before nobody was killed and there wasnt a serious derailment.