Gunnersbury signal
 

On Wed, 16 Apr 2008, Charles Ellson wrote:

On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 07:02:16 -0700 (PDT), Boltar
wrote:

On Apr 16, 2:15 pm, Mr Thant
wrote:
On 16 Apr, 13:28, Boltar wrote:

You'd think he might have remembered which side the platform was on
and which door he got out of when he arrived. Was the man half asleep?

But the problem was that he did remember. Camden has two northbound
platforms in essentially an island formation, albeit separated by
passageways. When he switched to other train he got in what have
looked to him like the same end, but was actually the south end.

Oh I see , I thought he went back into the same train after going for
a pee or something. Still , even so , it seems a strange mistake to
make.

Not with the lack of the visual references surrounding an open air
station which would make the result of such a momentary aberration
"upstairs" rather more obvious. The scenery in a tube station is 100%
manufactured and consequentially many of the visual references at
different locations can be similar if not identical.

To a point. To head for the north end of a train and end up at the south
does require a pretty catastrophic failure of one's internal sense of
direction, and it's not as if the route between the platforms is that
complicated. There's also the fact that he drove off in a direction which
didn't have a green starter next to it. You're right that it's easier to
get confused underground than overground, or indeed when wombling free,
but i still don't think it's easy, and this was still a "strange mistake
to make".

tom

--
Taking care of business

Gunnersbury signal
 

Railsigns.co.uk wrote:
On Apr 15, 6:56 am, "Clive D. W. Feather" cl...@on-the-
train.demon.co.uk wrote:

Do either of you know what's on the plate? The PDF seems to show
three rows of text.


I'm not certain, but I think it's "GB507" over "LOS" over a right-hand
arrow.

That's correct. I've mailed Clive a photo.
--
Richard J.
(to email me, swap 'uk' and 'yon' in address)

Gunnersbury signal
 

On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:40:20 +0100, Tom Anderson
wrote:

On Wed, 16 Apr 2008, Charles Ellson wrote:

On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 07:02:16 -0700 (PDT), Boltar
wrote:

On Apr 16, 2:15 pm, Mr Thant
wrote:
On 16 Apr, 13:28, Boltar wrote:

You'd think he might have remembered which side the platform was on
and which door he got out of when he arrived. Was the man half asleep?

But the problem was that he did remember. Camden has two northbound
platforms in essentially an island formation, albeit separated by
passageways. When he switched to other train he got in what have
looked to him like the same end, but was actually the south end.

Oh I see , I thought he went back into the same train after going for
a pee or something. Still , even so , it seems a strange mistake to
make.

Not with the lack of the visual references surrounding an open air
station which would make the result of such a momentary aberration
"upstairs" rather more obvious. The scenery in a tube station is 100%
manufactured and consequentially many of the visual references at
different locations can be similar if not identical.

To a point. To head for the north end of a train and end up at the south
does require a pretty catastrophic failure of one's internal sense of
direction, and it's not as if the route between the platforms is that
complicated.

If you watch other people you can often find similar left/right
up/down north/south errors being made, usually there is a more
immediate "prompt" (such as the wrong action being physically
prevented without harm) that causes a quick correction. "Senior
moments" are by no means limited to older people. There could also be
an element of repetition involved in the form of the driver doing what
would have been normal at the station where he changed ends on a
normal day.

There's also the fact that he drove off in a direction which
didn't have a green starter next to it.

It would be interesting to know if he'd ever SPADded/tripped at an
unlit signal (assuming he'd ever managed to find one) indicating that
unconsciously he might only be looking for reds.

You're right that it's easier to
get confused underground than overground, or indeed when wombling free,
but i still don't think it's easy, and this was still a "strange mistake
to make".

Gunnersbury signal
 

In message , Charles Ellson
writes

If you watch other people you can often find similar left/right up/down
north/south errors being made, usually there is a more immediate
"prompt" (such as the wrong action being physically prevented without
harm) that causes a quick correction. "Senior moments" are by no means
limited to older people. There could also be an element of repetition
involved in the form of the driver doing what would have been normal at
the station where he changed ends on a normal day.

This is a particularly unusual procedure and it's highly likely the
driver has never done it before. It's not a standard thing to do and I
suspect won't be done again in a hurry.

The bottom line is though that the driver entered the wrong cab (which
we've all done at some point!) but instead of checking the starter was
clear, relied on the view of the platform repeater in the on-board CCTV.
This is all in the RAIB report.

For myself, if I do any unusual move, I always ensure I can see exactly
what's going on. I would rather delay the service for a couple of
minutes than have this happen - but then that's just me. I do remember
having to reverse West to East at Hyde Park Corner not long after I
passed out. It took me a good two minutes to find the signal (which is
tucked away from the cab view on the tailwall in this case) and there
was no way that train was going to move until I found it.
--
Steve Fitzgerald has now left the building.
You will find him in London's Docklands, E16, UK
(please use the reply to address for email)