I see what you mean, Stuving. It might not be as it looks, of course. There are what look like undamaged loose bolts in those pictures, plus the one through the rail. The metallurgist will be able to interpret this scene, to show what order everything came apart in.

From Twitter, so in the public domain:


Somebody tell me if there's a copyright notice embedded. I couldn't see anything. The Twitter description says "Plan and picture of splints" - the French word "eclisse" is used for fishplate.

There's a second picture in the SNCF^▸ (Societe Nationale des Chemins de fer Francais - French National Railways) Twitter feed:



These two, and the plans are brought together in RTL.fr, which includes a quote by Jacques Rapoport of RFF, which is roughly translated as "We know what happened, but not why it happened".

Messy.

So much for the cull, then. Although driving along the A361 North Devon Link Road on Saturday, you could be forgiven for thinking it was well under way.

Just heard news about this at the end of the TV news. Apparently, nothing is moving around Westbury, and services further afield are affected too. JourneyCheck mentions the lineside fire as the reason for termination of Cardiff to Portsmouth Harbour at Bath, but doesn't paint such a grim picture as BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) West.

That is a bit of a fringe disbenefit, I agree. E-mail notifications stop until you visit the site itself - is that an option available with Twitter?

Crikey - they won't be mending the tractor, I reckon. That could have ended much worse - thank goodness it didn't.

I think it merits its own thread. It's a cracking piece of kit, and I can't wait to see it in action - hopefully later this year. It would be good to hear reports of progress and see a few piccies.

On a day when signalling was a big problem at Birmingham New Street, I was sent from one platform to another several times by staff who were obviously as frustrated as I was with the lack of information. Eventually, I set off looking for the train myself, eventually finding one with Bristol TM^‡(resolve) showing on the front. I confirmed with the conductor that it was the next train to Bristol, and would leave as soon as the train in front got out of the way. A number of other passengers boarded just before the doors shut.

As we pulled out of New Street, next stop Cheltenham, a fairly elderly gentleman of oriental appearance asked the conductor what time we got to Telford.

Oh goody - a bridge! My views are by now well known.

Shades of the "Fair's fair fayre in Fareham"?

Blast! I knew I should've opted for Eggesford. I mean, it has an airfield AND a garden cewntre!

Er, Portsmouth Arms?

I also spell "reading" with a small "r". It makes perfect sense if you have been there.

Nice train ride through the countryside, ruined.


"Chinged" is clearly a technical term, but I think I know what you mean. I was once picked up by the fuzz. Made my eyes water, I can tell you...

Come on, BNM. "We're Kerniggits of the Round Table, we dance whenever we're able". Or so I thought over drinkie-poos last Wednesday.