Apologies for yet another related thread, but I visited Tramlink yesterday
and travelled to all of its termini; I took a few pictures, probably best
discussed in a separate thread:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/reclin...57676976959855

Some comments:

- Accident site damage

The accident site has been restored, but there had obviously been more
track damage than I'd realised. Much of the track in the immediate area has
been relaid and there's a lot of fresh ballast. The earth has also been
disturbed, but the only sign of the accident is four traffic cones (why?).

- Stantions

There are a lot of sturdy OHL stantions in the area where the derailed tram
slid along the ground. It's lucky it didn't crash into any of these at
speed, or the casualty rate might have been much worse. As shown in one of
my pictures, at least one of the stantions is listing a bit, so maybe the
tram did slide into it, but at low speed.

- Speed limits

There are a lot of lineside speed limit signs, and the limits vary quite
dramatically in some places. Much of the network uses old BR alignments,
which typically have 80 km/h limits, but these are sometimes linked
together by very tight curves, where the limits can be as low as 15 km/h.
There are also many single track sections, which have low limits at the
points. The depot entry road has a 10 km/h limit. I don't know if any of
these limits have been reduced after the crash.

- Speeds

Needless to say, the trams are currently being driven very conservately,
well within the posted limits. I don't know if this is official policy, or
just the drivers being extra careful. At no point did any of the trams I
travelled on get close to 80 km/h. At the accident site, there were two
blokes in high viz with a radar gun, checking any trams that might be
exceeding 20 km/h (most were actually doing about 15 km/h). With these
lower speeds, journey times are extended, and I saw some irregular
intervals. The trams were also more heavily loaded than might have been
expected at a normally quiet time.

- Speedos

I have included pictures of the speedos in both the old Bombardier and new
Stadler trams. I can comfirm that they work in the rear cab. They are
prominently placed in both dashboards.

- Safety notices

There are reassuring safety notices on the stations and the trams, but I
assume the locals have all read them already, as I saw no-one looking at
them. There were also a couple of blokes in pink vests at Sandilands,
presumably to reassure nervous passengers or answer questions, but I didn't
see anyone talk to them. I did hear some passengers discussing the
accident, but none seem worried about travelling by tram. One did comment
how much more slowly they were now travelling.

- Tributes

There are two sets of floral tributes. The larger one is to the west of
Sandilands, but a smaller set has been placed by the council at the nearest
publicly accessible spot to the accident site. There's currently no
memorial, but I suspect that there may be one in due course.

- No other photographers

I was surprised not to see any other photographers. No-one commented on my
taking pictures.

- Touch-in

As an aside, Tramlink passengers still seem to be confused by the need to
touch in, but not out, except at Wimbledon. I saw one woman touch out at
another station, while another woman dived out when she realised she hadn't
touched in.

- Wimbledon

I finally had a look at the new Wimbledon platform. Conveniently, there was
one old and one new tram in the two platforms.

In message
-sept
ember.org, at 15:43:02 on Wed, 23 Nov 2016, Recliner
remarked:

The earth has also been
disturbed, but the only sign of the accident is four traffic cones (why?).

Do you think there should be more or less marking out of the crash site?
--
Roland Perry

Roland Perry wrote:
In message
-sept
ember.org, at 15:43:02 on Wed, 23 Nov 2016, Recliner
remarked:

The earth has also been
disturbed, but the only sign of the accident is four traffic cones (why?).

Do you think there should be more or less marking out of the crash site?

I was just describing the scene, not expressing any opinion; I was just
curious about the four traffic cones. I wonder if they are marking
something, or were just left behind once the accent scene was cleared.
Perhaps they're a temporary reminder to the drivers?

I'm sure there will be a permanent memorial, but probably not at the
inaccessible scene itself.

In message
-septe
mber.org, at 10:38:29 on Thu, 24 Nov 2016, Recliner
remarked:

The earth has also been
disturbed, but the only sign of the accident is four traffic cones (why?).

Do you think there should be more or less marking out of the crash site?

I was just describing the scene, not expressing any opinion; I was just
curious about the four traffic cones. I wonder if they are marking
something, or were just left behind once the accent scene was cleared.
Perhaps they're a temporary reminder to the drivers?

They might be to mark (and protect) the site in case the investigators
want to go back and look for more evidence buried in the ballast in the
near future.
--
Roland Perry

Roland Perry wrote:
In message
-septe
mber.org, at 10:38:29 on Thu, 24 Nov 2016, Recliner
remarked:

The earth has also been
disturbed, but the only sign of the accident is four traffic cones (why?).

Do you think there should be more or less marking out of the crash site?

I was just describing the scene, not expressing any opinion; I was just
curious about the four traffic cones. I wonder if they are marking
something, or were just left behind once the accent scene was cleared.
Perhaps they're a temporary reminder to the drivers?

They might be to mark (and protect) the site in case the investigators
want to go back and look for more evidence buried in the ballast in the
near future.

Perhaps, though it would have made more sense to search the ground
thoroughly before laying the new ballast on it. Also, I don't think they
need to look for any more evidence for why and how the accident happened.

In message
-sept
ember.org, at 11:46:23 on Thu, 24 Nov 2016, Recliner
remarked:

They might be to mark (and protect) the site in case the investigators
want to go back and look for more evidence buried in the ballast in the
near future.

Perhaps, though it would have made more sense to search the ground
thoroughly before laying the new ballast on it. Also, I don't think they
need to look for any more evidence for why and how the accident happened.

They won't know that in the general case, perhaps there's a broken bolt
they didn't find the first time.
--
Roland Perry

In uk.transport.london message 1937080565.501606484.226720.recliner.ng-
, Wed, 23 Nov 2016 15:43:02,
Recliner posted:

- Stantions

Stanchions

--
(c) John Stockton, Surrey, UK. Turnpike v6.05 MIME.
Merlyn Web Site - FAQish topics, acronyms, & links.

Dr J R Stockton wrote:
In uk.transport.london message 1937080565.501606484.226720.recliner.ng-
, Wed, 23 Nov 2016 15:43:02,
Recliner posted:

- Stantions

Stanchions

Yes, thanks. I should just have said masts.

On 03/12/2016 23:27, Dr J R Stockton wrote:
In uk.transport.london message 1937080565.501606484.226720.recliner.ng-
, Wed, 23 Nov 2016 15:43:02,
Recliner posted:

- Stantions

Stanchions


Gezundheit!

--
Graeme Wall
This account not read.