Re: "lost" trains

[Stuart Ellis <mpp@zipworld.com.au>]

Roy the Boy wrote:

> Any body who believes for one moment that sand was responsible for the accident
> between 3801 and the intercity is either a fool or an SRA lackey. It should be
> remembered, that during the investigation it was revealed that there had been
> over fifty signal irregularities reported in that area. And yet the SRA
> persisted in trying to blame the driver of the intercity until the problem of
> the other person in the cab arose. When he confirmed that the intercity did have
> a green light, the SRA then came up with the sand idea. If that theory had been
> shot down, they then would have come up with a new idea. The SRA was not going
> to take the blame under any circumstances.

I do believe that sand was a major factor, plus a few other things at the time. I
saw a set of light engines disappear off the track circuits at Chullora a few years
ago, due to excessive sanding.  having worked in Signal branch as a signal
Electrician, you would think I would know something about it.  Track circuits can
fail to detect the presence of a train, if they are incorrectly adjusted or
impurities on the rail head after a buildup of rust on the tracks.  Just remember,
anything is possible on the railways, the last few weeks have proved this well.

i hope this helps

Stuart Ellis