I was returning from Kenton to E&C (a long journey in and of itself) when, at
about 9:55 pm, just south of Waterloo, the emergency brakes engaged and the
train stopped dead. For 35 minutes we sat there. The driver came out of her
cab and looked out various windows at the tunnel wall, searching for I know
not what. She made about 4 announcements, the gist of which was that "a
supervisor was on his way to ensure that the track ahead was safe for the
train to proceed". This supervisor took quite a while to get there.

Finally, after 35 minutes, the train shuddered into life and pulled into
Lambeth North where we were decanted to await the next train.

What was really galling was the recorded announcement, while we were waiting
for the next train, saying that "there is a good service on the Bakerloo
Line." How could there be, with a train stuck southbound for 35 minutes?

Anyone here connected with LUL who might know more about this particular sad
story?
--
Chris Hansen | chrishansenhome at btinternet dot com
|http://www.hansenhome.demon.co.uk or
|http://www.livejournal.com/users/chrishansenhome/

"Christian Hansen" wrote in
message ...
Finally, after 35 minutes, the train shuddered into life and pulled into
Lambeth North where we were decanted to await the next train.
What was really galling was the recorded announcement, while we were
waiting
for the next train, saying that "there is a good service on the Bakerloo
Line." How could there be, with a train stuck southbound for 35 minutes?
Anyone here connected with LUL who might know more about this particular
sad
story?

Sounds like a SPAD of some sort. At some locations the signal doesn't go
back to danger until the first car or two of the train have passed by, so
it's sort of possible to get away with a SPAD by walking back through the
car to see if the signal is still green. I've certainly seen this done on
the approach to Whitechapel H&C. As for the subsequent delay, Lambeth North
has a crossover just north of the station, so the points would have to be
secured (to prevent possible movement before the train arrives or under the
train) manually before the train could move.

The SPAD could have been caused by technical problems (going from green to
red in front of the train), or because of driver error. Alternatively
(though unlikely), the train might have been "tripped" by an object on the
track, which might have caused some confusion as to whether this had been
done by a signal or not.

On Wed, 8 Jun 2005 23:09:33 +0100, "David Splett"
wrote:

"Christian Hansen" wrote in
message ...
Finally, after 35 minutes, the train shuddered into life and pulled into
Lambeth North where we were decanted to await the next train.
What was really galling was the recorded announcement, while we were
waiting
for the next train, saying that "there is a good service on the Bakerloo
Line." How could there be, with a train stuck southbound for 35 minutes?
Anyone here connected with LUL who might know more about this particular
sad
story?

Sounds like a SPAD of some sort. At some locations the signal doesn't go
back to danger until the first car or two of the train have passed by, so
it's sort of possible to get away with a SPAD by walking back through the
car to see if the signal is still green. I've certainly seen this done on
the approach to Whitechapel H&C. As for the subsequent delay, Lambeth North
has a crossover just north of the station, so the points would have to be
secured (to prevent possible movement before the train arrives or under the
train) manually before the train could move.

The SPAD could have been caused by technical problems (going from green to
red in front of the train), or because of driver error. Alternatively
(though unlikely), the train might have been "tripped" by an object on the
track, which might have caused some confusion as to whether this had been
done by a signal or not.

And you would be correct in your assessment. I checked the report. The
area did need to be clipped and scotched because of the points being
present at junction to London Road depot.

There was a train in section that needed to be evacuated by joining it
to a train already in a platform and that also contributed to the fairly
long delay.

It sounds as if the OP was on the affected train as it was detrained
when it reached the next station.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!