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Eltham Well Hall Rail Crash
The Eltham Well Hall rail crash was an accident on the British railway system that occurred on 11 June 1972 at approximately 21:35. An excursion train from Margate to Kentish Town derailed on a sharp curve at Eltham Well Hall station, Eltham, London. The curve had a maximum permitted speed to be taken at but the train was estimated to have been travelling at resulting in the locomotive and all but one of the ten carriages derailing. The driver Robert Wilsdon and five passengers were killed, and 126 people were injured. At the subsequent public inquiry it was revealed that Wilsdon had been intoxicated by alcohol. Robert Wilsdon The driver of the Excursion train was Robert Wilsdon, a Driver for British Rail's Southern Region based at Hither Green TMD since December 1961. He had been working on the railways since 1958 and was experienced to drive the British Rail Class 47 locomotive, which would occasionally come down from trains in other regions. Despite his experienc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Evans (trade Unionist)
William John Evans (4 October 1899 – 23 August 1983) was a British trade union leader. Evans began working for the London North Western Railway in 1916, but almost immediately left to serve in the Royal Navy, as World War I was ongoing. Demobbed in 1921, he returned to the railways, and joined the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF). He also became active in the Labour Party, and served on Eccles Town Council from 1932 to 1934. In 1934, Evans was elected to the executive committee of ASLEF, and he served as the union's president from 1937 to 1939. He then became its full-time Organising Secretary, serving until 1956, when he was promoted to become Assistant General Secretary. He was elected as General Secretary of ASLEF in 1960, but retired three years later. From 1963 to 1969, he was the civil representative on the National Association for Employment of Regular Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen. Evans also served on the General Council of the T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bitter (beer)
Bitter is an English style of pale ale that varies in colour from gold to dark amber, and in strength typically from 3% to 5.5% alcohol by volume. History The term "bitter" has been used in England to describe pale ale since the early 19th century. Although brewers used the term "pale ale", before the introduction of pump clips, customers in public houses would ask for "bitter" to differentiate it from mild ale; by the end of the 19th century, brewers had begun to use the term as well. During the 20th century, bitter became the most popular type of draught beer sold in British pubs and has been described as "the national drink of England". In Scotland, bitter is known as either "light" or "heavy" depending on the strength, colour and body. Bitter is traditionally cask conditioned and either dispensed by gravity through a tap in the cask or by a beer engine at "cellar temperature" of 11° to 14° Celsius (50° to 55° Fahrenheit). The popularity of craft brewing in North Amer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Rail Mark 1
British Railways Mark 1 is the family designation for the first standardised designs of railway carriages built by British Railways (BR) from 1951 until 1974, now used only for charter services on the main lines or on preserved railways. Following nationalisation in 1948, BR had continued to build carriages to the designs of the "Big Four" companies (the Great Western, Southern, London, Midland and Scottish and London and North Eastern railways), and the Mark 1 was intended to be the standard carriage design for use across all lines, incorporating the best features of each of the former companies' designs. It was also designed to be much stronger than previous designs, to provide better protection for passengers in the event of a collision or derailment. The Mark 1 coaches were built in two distinct tranches: the early vehicles (1951–1960) and the 'Commonwealth' stock (named from the type of bogie used) from 1961 onwards. Construction The design was used for hauled passe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tourist Standard Open
Tourist Second Open or Tourist Standard Open, abbreviated to TSO, is a type of British Railways coach. The designation "Tourist" was originally as opposed to a normal SO ( Second Open) coach. Both types have the same number of seating bays per coach, but the TSO has four seats across, arranged 2+2 either side of a central aisle, while an SO has 3 seats across, arranged 2+1 with an offset aisle. Both offer the same legroom, but there is slightly less width per passenger in a TSO. Even though the designations would appear to suggest that the SO was the standard type and the TSO a variant, in reality the TSO has been the default design of open coach on British Railways since the dawn of the Mark 1 era, built in large numbers, with comparatively few SO vehicles constructed, mainly for use as Third/Second/Standard class restaurant cars. In 1987, British Rail changed the title to Tourist Standard Open, when "Second Class" became "Standard Class" across the network. The TSO designati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Composite Corridor
The Composite Corridor (or CK) is a railway coach with a number of compartments, some of which are standard class (previously second, né third class) and some first class, linked by a side corridor. History The composite coach was a standard coach design going back to the early days of railways, enabling a railway company to provide multi-class passenger accommodation in a single vehicle and so reduce costs. In the book "Red For Danger" by L.T.C Rolt it is mentioned that the train which came to grief at Wigan on the night of 2 August 1873 featured a Caledonian Railway composite coach. Early composite coaches did not feature corridors or gangways between the vehicles. Gangwayed stock Once communicating gangways between coaches were introduced, a side corridor was provided to allow passengers and staff to walk up and down the train, while seated passengers in compartments were not disturbed, and thus the various types of side-corridor coaches were developed. Non-gangwayed st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Standard Corridor
The Second Corridor (previously Third Corridor) type of railway carriage was one of the standard mid-20th century designs, and was coded SK (previously TK) by the LNER and BR, and CF by the LMS. The layout of the coach was a number of compartments, all of which were second class (known as third class until 1956), linked by a side corridor. The British Railways Mark 1 SK was the most numerous carriage design ever built in the United Kingdom. The original number series carried was 24000–26217. From 1983, those carriages in the 25xxx and 26xxx series were renumbered 18xxx and 19xxx. There were two variants, those built for the Midland, Scottish, and Eastern / North Eastern regions had six seats per compartment, with fold-up arm-rests which folded into the seat-back, while those built for the Southern and Western regions, with their heavy commuter loadings into London, had eight seats in each compartment, and no arm-rests. Seating was of the interior sprung bench type. Over t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dartford Railway Station
Dartford railway station serves the town of Dartford in Kent, England. It is down the line from . Train services from the station are operated by Southeastern and Thameslink. Southeastern also manages the station. Dartford is a major interchange station in the North Kent region of the Southeastern network. Ticket barriers control access to the platforms. Dartford Railway Station has become the busiest station in Kent with an annual passenger usage of 4.62 million in 2018/19. Between 2018 and 2019, use of the station increased by 11%, a much higher rate than other stations across Kent. More people use Dartford railway station than Ebbsfleet International and all the other stations in the Borough put together. The station is where three lines from London meet: * the North Kent Line, via Woolwich Arsenal * the Bexleyheath Line * the Dartford Loop Line via Sidcup. Westbound services normally terminate at London Charing Cross, London Cannon Street (both via London Bridge), Lond ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London Bridge Station
London Bridge is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Southwark, south-east London. It occupies a large area on three levels immediately south-east of London Bridge, from which it takes its name. The main line station is the oldest railway station in London fare zone 1 and one of the oldest in the world having opened in 1836. It is one of two main line termini in London to the south of the River Thames (the other being Waterloo) and is the fourth-busiest station in London, handling over 50 million passengers a year. The station was originally opened by the London and Greenwich Railway as a local service. It subsequently served the London and Croydon Railway, the London and Brighton Railway and the South Eastern Railway, thus becoming an important London terminus. It was rebuilt in 1849 and again in 1864 to provide more services and increase capacity. Local services from London Bridge began to be electrified in the beginning of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Secondman
{{unreferenced, date=August 2017 A secondman or second man is a railway employee who assists the driver of a train. For this reason the term driver's assistant is also used. In this role, the second man could learn the duties of the driver and on passing the relevant tests and examinations become a driver himself. With the ending of steam traction on many railways, the job of fireman or boilerman was made obsolete. However, there were still many duties to be performed with diesel and electric traction that the driver could not do by themselves, such as preparation of locomotives, operation of train heating systems, shunting duties, and many others. With increasing automation of rolling stock, many trains today only require the operation of a single driver, and thus this post has started to disappear. However, it remains in many places, especially on heavy freight, express routes and night trains. Trainee drivers (often known as ''traction trainees'') may also act as secondmen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ramsgate EMU Depot
Ramsgate EMUD is a traction maintenance depot located in Ramsgate, Kent, England. The depot is situated on the Chatham Main Line and is immediately northwest of Ramsgate station, with access to the maintenance facilities and stabling sidings almost exclusively accessible from the Margate direction. Trains coming from Minster junction can only access the depot reception roads, the carriage cleaning shed (roads 1-4) and stabling roads 5-6 without reversing. The depot code is RE. Accidents and incidents * On 28 January 1993, 4CEP unit 1521 overran the buffers at the depot, with one driving carriage left perched precariously above houses. Three similar incidents had happened in the previous ten years. Allocation The depot is operated by Southeastern and maintains Class 375, 377, 395, 465 and 466s. The depot is the home depot for the Class 375 and 377/5 units, although in practice these are also maintained at Gillingham and Slade Green Slade Green is an area of South E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
