Chaos at Leytonstone, 17.9.14

The incident was a signal failure that took ages to fix. I believe the problem with the train on Plat.1 (I thought it was on Plat. 2) was that there wasn't a TOp available to take over, the TOp who'd brought it in was already late finishing so rather than send it empty to Woodford sidings and make them even later someone decided to leave it on the platform until a TOp became available, none of which seems to have been passed onto the station staff at Leytonstone.

I was on one of the three trains that went up to Hainault, relieving a TOp who was due to finish their shift. I thought the "minor delay" announcements rather ironic but Wood Lane kept it up all day.

Both sides have come to a mutual agreement and the industrial action has now ended

EB train tipped out on no 3; proceeded on EB towards Snaresbrook, driven back into no 2, and **eventually** returned WB from there. Unattended train in No1 which I was told had done the same 10-15 min before (I obviously didn't see this myself). Train on shuttle from Epping terminated in no 2. Unattended train on no 1 was then given green at country end, which persisted, seemingly unobserved, for some 10 min. Train on no 2 **at length** given white light and departed.

Yes, tut. Green signal at country end no 1 reverted to red. Then train on No2 did finally get away northwards towards Epping. So far as I could see train on no1 was dead all this time. I don't know enough about the working rules to say what was taking place.

Perhaps a new system of ATO?

Not being there at the time, it's not appropriate to comment on the exact circumstances. However, a couple of general points spring to mind:

1) You must remember that during times of disruption workload for the controllers and signallers increases significantly. For operational purposes, "Wood Lane" comprises 5x individuals - 2x controllers and 3x signallers, between them looking after the entire line. When things go up the wall, the main lines of communications are between the controller, signallers and the train crew Duty Managers. Consider how many phone calls this may involve, add in a few engaged tones here and there, and you can see why situations sometimes don't get resolved as quickly as some would like.

2) Before taking a release on a cleared signal, the signaller must confirm that the train isn't going to move. Normally this is done verbally with the driver. The signaller has no magic way of knowing there's not a driver on the train, or one just in the process of getting on and about to move. So it might be necessary to confirm with the local Duty Manager or station staff, or if lucky there might be a suitable CCTV camera. If the signaller were to take a release just as a train moved off, this is an operating incident which will result in an interview with a manager, as well as having further delay and safety implications.

Just had a little look on Trackernet, this doesn't give a complete picture of what was going on, however it appears the reverse off the platform option wasn't available in any case as there was another train doing a mainline shunt west of Leytonstone at the time. Speculation, but it would appear the move may have been the result of no available driver and simply to get the train out of the way.

The train on Plat 3. was supposed to be an Epping but there was no one available to relieve the driver who was finishing their shift and they certainly weren’t about to reverse off Plat 3 to do another trip west even if the road wasn't already blocked by a train on the mainline shunt. That left two choices, either do the Epping road mainline shunt over to Plat 1 or run empty to Woodford sidings then ride the cushions back to Leytonstone to book off. They went for the quickest option but it seems that Wood Lane simply forgot that the reason they’d done the shunt move in the first place was because the driver was booking off with no replacement.

So why not send the train on Plat 2 east instead? Possibly the driver was a White City or West Ruislip duty and didn’t have enough time for an extra trip east before they were due to finish.

It usually is when things go wrong.

I've not heard of anyone doing it since I became a TOp in 2003, they don't even bother doing it as part of the training, just show you where it is and go through the move on a computer.

Stapler's certainly witnessed something you don't see every day - though that must be small consolation!

I've always wanted to see the wrong-road starter at Woodford platform 3 clear, but despite all the hours I've clocked up there (usually waiting for a Hainault train ) I've never seen it.

If memory serves there was a skeleton service: Debden - Epping during engineering works a few years back. My mind might be playing tricks on me.

As I'm sure you know there is an early morning rusty rail move which goes Debden to Theydon Bois via Debden siding, but - of course - that's not quite the same as the west-east reversing move.

Edit: I reckon east to west at Woodford via mainline shunt from platform 3 to platform 2 must be a pretty rare move as well.

Hehe, I envy you There's planned engineering work that will see the line part closed east of Woodford - I'm hoping I might get to see it then


That one's actually booked! Train 66D is booked to go 08 46¼ Hainault (3) - 09 43 White City (3), from where it goes 09 47 White City (3) - White City siding. It then returns to form the 10a03 White City (3) - 10 57 Hainault (3) via Newbury Park.

I have once or twice seen a train in White City siding.

That's what I was worried about!

I've just been looking at WTT 67 and there is a rusty rail train on Sunday morning which does the east-west mainline shunt move at Northolt and one in the night which does the west-east move at North Acton via mainline shunt. Both of these, though, are done by trains which aren't in service so it's not quite the same.