Train Sidings



TikaTakaTico said:
I guess they could request a specific goods vehicle, if it was their favourite for instance. But normally they are moved in trains (all trains afaik are made up of only one thing being transported- coal for instance, or cement- so no mixing- well maybe the cement on route)
The trains (IE the formation of vehicles) are usually stored together somewhere near where they are needed- since they aren't usually one off, instead they are regular trains)
So what you are seeing when they are all higgledy piggledy is likely ones that are being scrapped (or the rail ones might be part of a maintenance formation)
Also peterboro has a heritage railway that joins the mainline so you might be seeing their stock in the sidings.
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you sound like someone who has knowledge of the railways, like myself
 
I was on a train once and a bloke looking out the window sarcastically muttered something about the ‘lazy bugger’ track workers, leaning on the shovels at the side of the track. The fella sat opposite him asked him if he’d prefer them to be shovelling ballast or mending track as the train hurtled over their bodies or or whether moving to a place of safety after their lookout had sounded the warning was a better idea. I may have chortled.

There’s a lot of complex logistics associated with project planning, maintenance work and on-track machinery that needs to be moved around. Including state-of-the-art track inspection vehicles, ‘possessions’ (so that different disciplinary teams can perform overlapping work in a timed fashion to minimise closure of sections of track) and even more complex work that takes place whilst the infrastructure is still in operation. The logistics of interconnecting, signalling, track worker, telecoms, on track machinery, plant, et al, can be quite a challenge.

The rail infrastructure in the U.K. is the oldest in the world and probably the most complex and busy in relation to the territory it covers. But of course the only time anybody heard about what’s happening is when there a problem or those that work on it get a bit uppity.
 
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Brian Griffin said:
I’ve spent quite a bit of time on trains recently and I’m curious about sidings or yards, I guess they may be called.

It seems like a load of shit is just chucked in them randomly. For example in Doncaster it looks like many lines of trucks just dumped - some connected together, some single. What I assume is a snow plough. A large number of flat bed things, assume for transporting rails. And a large number of not being used locomotives.

This isn’t just Doncaster, it’s numerous places up and down the line.

How does the owner know where all this stuff is? And when they want it to do something, how do they go about getting it altogether and then actually moving it up and down the mainline?

It looks a nightmare.
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Depends on the equipment.

You’re right, we would have ploughs left in various locations.

Others would be track scanners, dump cars to replace ballast and ties (sleepers), some to relay rail, some to grind rail, repair switches etc. there’s repair crews that will come and collect them when needed or move them around.

It’s not hard to track them, most have trackers on them
Brian Griffin said:
No, thank you- I just can’t get my head around the mess as I see it.

So if a truck is needed does somebody just request ‘a truck’ or do they request ‘truck 1234’ and somebody has to find it.

I worked in haulage and logistics for years and I thought that was a mess!
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My job is to plan train moves.

We have fixed trains, but people send me requests if they need anything they need moving additionally. So I plan what train can pick up what car/equipment. Working out what trains are already delayed so to have the least impact on the main line moves.
 
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PTID said:
You have to, and move your tools and stand a certain distance away from the train, You would be breaking the rules if you didn't and probably lose your PTS /Sentinel card, the card needed to work on the railway network
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I retired from the Rail industry in 2020. I was only reporting what I overheard a bloke on a train saying. The point was that they weren’t working. Not that that they had or didn’t have tools. They were obviously in a place of safety but I didn’t think the detail was relevant to the story.

I expect Brad Pitt will be keen to play me in the film though.
 
We have grove park and hither green just 3 stops along our line and I get a stupidly early train so I get to see some pretty cool kit.

Likewise the Victoria pullman goes through a narrow cut to head down into kent on a Sunday. The bridge is about 200m from my house in the forest.

I love trains
 
If you travel through Peterborough, you'll pass the GB Railfreight depot on the east side of the train, just north of the station. By the trackside there is an old fashioned decorative mileage sign proudly displaying

<---------Stadium of Light 170 miles London 73 miles -------->

(Approximate numbers as I can't find any pictorial evidence online and have only passed it on a moving train)

The CEO John Smith is a Sunderland fan.

This is the same company that operates locomotive 66725 which has been named Sunderland in the style of the LNER B17 "Footballer Class" locomotive Sunderland of 1936. Complete with scarf and club crest.

Can be seen all over the country!

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Passed through Peterborough this morning and managed to get a snap of the Stadium of Light to Wembley signage at the GB Railfreight yard, with a well timed Grand Central passing as well. Just to prove i wasnt talking complete bollocks before. I couldn't find an image of it online anywhere

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<188 miles Stadium of Light - 85 miles Wembley>
 
Beau Peep said:
Passed through Peterborough this morning and managed to get a snap of the Stadium of Light to Wembley signage at the GB Railfreight yard, with a well timed Grand Central passing as well. Just to prove i wasnt talking complete bollocks before. I couldn't find an image of it online anywhere

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<188 miles Stadium of Light - 85 miles Wembley>
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Where you on a XC going to/from Stamford?
 
If you think it's chaos now, imagine the time of steam trains and trains that carried different types of cargo on a much bigger network with loads of different yards and sheds.

And no Internet or computer coordination either!
 

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