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 10/12/23 - Winter Timetable starts
14/12/23 - Estimates of station usage: Ap
24/12/23 - Paddington closed
25/12/23 - No GWR trains

On this day
8th Dec (2018)
Old Oak Common depot closes (*)

Train RunningCancelled
16:50 Plymouth to London Paddington
17:10 Gloucester to Weymouth
18:10 Taunton to Cardiff Central
18:30 Plymouth to Penzance
18:36 London Paddington to Plymouth
18:59 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington
19:04 Paignton to London Paddington
19:06 London Paddington to Bedwyn
19:15 Penzance to Bristol Temple Meads
19:20 Reading to Redhill
19:23 London Paddington to Oxford
19:39 Bristol Temple Meads to Gloucester
19:45 Banbury to London Paddington
19:58 Cardiff Central to Taunton
20:01 Reading to Gatwick Airport
20:01 Severn Beach to Bristol Temple Meads
20:04 Bristol Temple Meads to Filton Abbey Wood
20:05 Liskeard to Looe
20:05 London Paddington to Newbury
20:06 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa
20:10 Gloucester to Bristol Temple Meads
20:13 Swindon to Westbury
20:16 Frome to Westbury
20:28 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare
20:32 London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa
20:37 Looe to Liskeard
20:42 Bedwyn to London Paddington
20:48 London Paddington to Swansea
20:53 Filton Abbey Wood to Bristol Temple Meads
21:00 Penzance to Exeter St Davids
21:02 Oxford to London Paddington
21:04 London Paddington to Plymouth
21:05 Liskeard to Looe
21:08 London Paddington to Didcot Parkway
21:11 Gloucester to Bristol Temple Meads
21:16 Westbury to Swindon
21:29 Gatwick Airport to Reading
21:37 Looe to Liskeard
21:56 Newbury to London Paddington
22:03 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads
22:16 Cheltenham Spa to Swindon
22:24 Plymouth to Exeter St Davids
22:30 Swindon to Westbury
22:36 Didcot Parkway to Reading
22:44 Taunton to Bristol Temple Meads
23:42 Swindon to Cheltenham Spa
09/12/23 05:58 Plymouth to London Paddington
09/12/23 06:27 Plymouth to Gunnislake
09/12/23 07:16 Gunnislake to Plymouth
09/12/23 08:22 Plymouth to Gunnislake
09/12/23 08:35 London Paddington to Exeter St Davids
09/12/23 09:14 Gunnislake to Plymouth
09/12/23 11:36 Liskeard to Looe
09/12/23 12:08 Looe to Liskeard
09/12/23 12:36 Liskeard to Looe
09/12/23 12:45 Truro to Falmouth Docks
09/12/23 13:05 Looe to Liskeard
09/12/23 13:15 Falmouth Docks to Truro
09/12/23 13:50 Liskeard to Looe
09/12/23 14:15 Truro to Falmouth Docks
09/12/23 14:22 Looe to Liskeard
09/12/23 14:45 Falmouth Docks to Truro
09/12/23 14:50 Liskeard to Looe
09/12/23 15:19 Looe to Liskeard
09/12/23 15:30 Weymouth to Gloucester
09/12/23 19:09 Gloucester to Bristol Temple Meads
09/12/23 19:54 Cardiff Central to Bristol Temple Meads
Short Run
15:03 London Paddington to Penzance
15:50 Penzance to Gloucester
16:35 London Paddington to Plymouth
17:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
17:28 London Paddington to Taunton
18:02 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington
18:29 Weston-Super-Mare to London Paddington
18:34 London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa
19:04 Didcot Parkway to London Paddington
19:04 London Paddington to Penzance
19:10 Weston-Super-Mare to Severn Beach
19:20 London Paddington to Didcot Parkway
19:35 London Paddington to Didcot Parkway
19:36 Didcot Parkway to London Paddington
19:59 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington
20:03 London Paddington to Plymouth
20:07 London Paddington to Didcot Parkway
20:08 Didcot Parkway to London Paddington
20:24 Exmouth to Cardiff Central
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Author Topic: OTD - 1st February (2003) - Space Shuttle Columbia breaks up killing 7  (Read 1626 times)
grahame
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« on: January 31, 2022, 11:00:01 pm »

From Space.com

Quote
The Columbia disaster occurred On Feb. 1, 2003, when NASA’s space shuttle Columbia broke up as it returned to Earth, killing the seven astronauts on board. NASA suspended space shuttle flights for more than two years as it investigated the cause of the Columbia disaster.

An investigation board determined that a large piece of foam fell from the shuttle's external tank and breached the spacecraft wing. This problem with foam had been known for years, and NASA came under intense scrutiny in Congress and in the media for allowing the situation to continue.

See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Columbia_disaster

Not a railway story, but a common transport thread that moving around has its risks (and for the writer of "On this day" things that go wrong are remembered by their day and month and provide easy material on otherwise quiet days).

But in history there's always been a common thread where problems are known and issues observed, but minimal attention is paid to them and lessons are not learned until there's a really spectacular accident.   Take a look (on rail) at absolute block working, at gas heating lighting in carriages, at continuous brakes, at single in tokens and interlocking, at signals passed at danger and you'll find repetition.  And so you see that Columbia was lost to a known problem.

Whilst there are still repeats to this day, I celebrate the RAIB (Rail Accident Investigation Branch) - Rail Accident Investigation Branch - who help keep them to a minimum.  I really don't want too many more "easy" days where there's a big accident to report.


Edit - correction to use of gas in trains
« Last Edit: February 04, 2022, 07:10:55 am by grahame » Logged

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broadgage
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« Reply #1 on: February 04, 2022, 06:41:13 am »

Pedant alert, gas was not used regularly for heating of railway carriages. Heating was generally steam from a steam locomotive, or an early diesel locomotive fitted with an oil burning steam heat boiler.
Waste heat from the engines is sometimes used on DMUs (Diesel Multiple Unit). Ye olde Hampshire units had engine derived heat in the coach with the engine and electric heat in the other vehicles.

Electric heat is now the norm.

Gas WAS used for lighting on trains, and was rather a fire risk under normal conditions and a very severe fire risk in case of accident.
In an accident it was almost inevitable that the gas pipes would be broken and the gas ignited, resulting in a general conflagration. Many victims who survived collision or derailment, burnt to death before they could be rescued. In one particularly horrific accident, many troops burnt to death in a train fire. It was reported that many men trapped in the burning wreckage begged for their officers to shoot them. Quintinshill I believe, during the first war, the death toll was over 200 but was never accurately established as the regimental records were destroyed in the fire.

Gas lighting did not cause the accident, it was caused by human error on the part of the signalmen. Gas lighting did however substantially increase the death toll.
That particular disaster lead to calls for electric lighting to be a requirement on all trains, and this was eventually achieved.

At least three different gas lighting systems were used, "oil gas" produced by the patented process of a Mr Pintsch, acetylene, and propane. All contained in metal tanks or cylinders stored under the coach.
A few very early systems used town gas contained in a canvas bag on the roof ! VERY early underground trains used this. Steam locomotive, in a tunnel, and flammable gas stored in bag on the roof, what could possibly go wrong.

I traveled on a train with working gas lights in about 1966. Gas lighting was IIRC (if I recall/remember/read correctly) meant to be banned by then, but BR (British Rail(ways)) still had a few gas lit coaches that were restricted to daylight use only. The train was late and darkness fell and the guard lit the gas lights !

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A proper intercity train has a minimum of 8 coaches, gangwayed throughout, with first at one end, and a full sized buffet car between first and standard.
It has space for cycles, surfboards,luggage etc.
A 5 car DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit) is not a proper inter-city train. The 5+5 and 9 car DMUs are almost as bad.
grahame
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« Reply #2 on: February 04, 2022, 07:14:42 am »

Pedant alert, gas was not used regularly for heating of railway carriages.

[snip]

Gas WAS used for lighting on trains, and was rather a fire risk under normal conditions and a very severe fire risk in case of accident.


Many thanks for that correction and all the extra data - much appreciated.  I have gone back to the original article and amended it to give the right information, as these "on this day" articles just might end up being highlighted again on this day in later years too and become "reference material", a book, or a video game!
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broadgage
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« Reply #3 on: February 23, 2022, 02:53:55 pm »

This vintage film about Australian railways features a mobile mother and baby clinic on the train.
Gas lights may be seen about 18 minutes in. Not lit, but perhaps still in working order.

And a bit O/T but vintage technology, the parcels being conveyed on the train included a Tilley paraffin clothes iron, just before the view of the gas lights.
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A proper intercity train has a minimum of 8 coaches, gangwayed throughout, with first at one end, and a full sized buffet car between first and standard.
It has space for cycles, surfboards,luggage etc.
A 5 car DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit) is not a proper inter-city train. The 5+5 and 9 car DMUs are almost as bad.
broadgage
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« Reply #4 on: November 24, 2022, 10:15:28 am »

The link in the above post seems to have vanished.

Here is a new link to the vintage film about Australian railways.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usi4LM_iVuw
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A proper intercity train has a minimum of 8 coaches, gangwayed throughout, with first at one end, and a full sized buffet car between first and standard.
It has space for cycles, surfboards,luggage etc.
A 5 car DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit) is not a proper inter-city train. The 5+5 and 9 car DMUs are almost as bad.
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

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