Wednesday 1 September 2010

A Smashing Bank Holiday at Yarwell



The Bank Holiday weekend was a busy one at the railway with a great atmosphere on the packed trains, especially the Thomas shuttles.  I worked as TTI on both Sunday (44422 and the Mk1’s) and again on Monday in the DSB’s that had class 14 D9516 up front.  Although the Mk1’s are the pick of the coaches to travel in, I must say that on a busy train the DSB’s are a lot easier to manage, being open plan.

Time keeping was good both days, and everything seemed to run rather smoothly except for a single instance of vandalism on Sunday; amazingly enough at Yarwell Junction; hardly downdown Orton to say the least.  A child picked up a stone and threw it at the DSB coach in the platform.  It bounced off the bodywork, so the girl chose another stone and lobbed it straight through a window, shattering it.  Had a family been sitting there – it was a Thomas shuttle, remember – they’d have been showered with broken glass.  Not an appealing thought by any means.  What made the incident worse was that the girl’s father was with her throughout the incident and said absolutely nothing.  So that’s another Vicky Pollard in the making it would appear.


Despite this, the weekend was good fun, and the people certainly enjoyed themselves on the trains I was working.  On Monday there was time for a spot of informal photography as the diesel hauled DSB’s tend to be quieter than the steam hauled Mk1 trains.  I had some lovely chatty family groups on board; a real pleasure to have time for a chat after a week in my lorry speaking only to dodgy car dealers!


Next weekend is promising another new experience for me as I’ve been offered the opportunity to work on the demonstration TPO trains that will be hauled by Thomas between Wansford and Yarwell.


2 comments:

  1. Pretty shocking behaviour, and it doesn't say much for the parent either. Some issues there, I suspect, not least being crap parenting. Your header shot is absolutely brilliant.

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  2. Thankfully events like this are rare enough to warrant a story, so that's something positive, I think ...

    The header shot was taken from the rear of the DSB coaches that have gangway windows, and permit an unusual angle. Despite the muck on the glass I'm delighted with this shot, glad you do too and many thanks for your appreciative comment!

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