Thanks for watching, check out me other bits! Thank you Jago: www.youtube.com/@JagoHazzard My new Album: madebyjohn.bandcamp.com/album/ambient-archiv-1 Outro Song:kzbin.info/www/bejne/mWKTpH-VgNR5hbc Instagram: instagram.com/plainly.john/ Patreon: www.patreon.com/Plainlydifficult Merch: plainly-difficult.creator-spring.com Twitter:twitter.com/Plainly_D
@aaronzimny82018 ай бұрын
Good piece as always. Thank you!
@piratemousie8 ай бұрын
🎉 Hey there! It would be super cool if you could cover the Cave Creek disaster in Aotearoa. It was massively tragic and entirely preventable, but no one knows fuck all about it outside of Aotearoa, I think you'd do a great job!
@shurmurray8 ай бұрын
Checked the merch. Where is thoose bingo cards? (:
@mattwilliams34568 ай бұрын
Hey John, I got no ads on this video. Is everything set for monetization?
@tin20018 ай бұрын
You and Jago should try and find a UK railway disaster that neither of you have covered (or did so long ago that you think you could improve) and do a collaborative video.
@PNW_Marxist8 ай бұрын
If I were the rail driver that reported the rough ride, correctly and in detail, I would be absolutely livid and heartbroken at the company bungling it and not checking the very specific section of rail I mentioned. No words.
@sapphireseptember8 ай бұрын
I agree. Probably a bit of misplaced guilt as well. 😟
@oliverbrigstocke13068 ай бұрын
I’ve met him, he’s a driver now
@nvelsen19758 ай бұрын
And if my experience in the railway industry is even 20% reflective, you'd have angry failing boomer maintainance crew backed up by union thugs on your case if you ever spoke up critically about it.
@phillipsmiley59308 ай бұрын
The then CEO of Railtrack was gerald corbett, his claim to fame is almost every company he headed he's manage to run into bankruptcy, after Railtrack he wrecked Woolworths UK. He's known as the man with the reverse Midas touch, everything the touches turns to S#it. Many werent please that he left railtrack with almost a £million severance, on top of his already excessive pay
@ianfromnyc8 ай бұрын
@@nvelsen1975Well then your experience is 0% reflective because as both a driver and a "union thug" I have never known either ASLEF (the drivers' union) or RMT (the maintenance union) to back down from a fight over safety issues. In fact, although it was only briefly mentioned in this video, pressure from the unions following Potters Bar and a few other incidents attributed to poor maintenance contributed to the replacement of for-profit private corporation Railtrack with non-profit publicly-owned Network Rail.
@oliverbrigstocke13068 ай бұрын
Here’s a cool fact, the staff member who reported the rough ride, is now a driver himself
@nickv40735 ай бұрын
Here's a cool fact. There are many many many conductors who work their way up to driver. Its a common promotion.
@mbryson28998 ай бұрын
I grew up in Cicero, Illinois, USA, an industrial town that bordered on Chicago. Trains of all types were everywhere, and one of the largest railyards in the US was located in the middle of town. As a kid back in the 70s I was occasionally allowed to tag along with maintenance crews. (It was a different era, few thought to sue if a kid did something dumb and got hurt.) I was fascinated and learned a lot by watching and from the workers who believed that kids should learn anything they wanted. I still remember how meticulous they were about point maintenance; all work was checked and double-checked before the line was pronounced clear. Now, though, they run everything with skeleton crews. Short-sighted and dangerous to say the least. PS- Nice outro music, John!
@kimhohlmayer70188 ай бұрын
❤️
@jed-henrywitkowski64708 ай бұрын
Don't worry pop's, some of us were raised right, it may have taken some of us a bit for the lessons to sink in, but those of us who don't do things like sue when we get the cosquenses of being dumb do exist.
@Beverstoncastle50687 ай бұрын
So, a team leader that I had actually witnessed the aftermath of the the incident in the video. The way that things are going now in the UK, he said that it's almost worse than when Potters Bar occurred
@fredjones5543 ай бұрын
Thanks for sharing
@aterxter34378 ай бұрын
Well, in France, we have had such a disastrous train crash : one "petit gris" electric self-propelled train, in direction to Paris Gare de Lyon, was halted at a station due to someone pulling the emergency brake, panicking when she realized that the train wasn't going to stop at her station. When trying to get into traffic, the train's brakes were locked. The drivers, already 20 min behind schedule, though it was due to an overpressure in the pressure brake line. He purged it, but forgot to reconnect it correctly, leaving the brakes permanently open. After climbing a ramp toward Paris Gare Lyon station, and realizing dreadfully that he hasn't any braking, he pulled the emergency signal for the train regulation. That caused the train to be drived towards it's first programed platform, which was changed as it was behind schedule. In the end, the brakeless train collided at high speed into an overcrowded other "petit gris", which was wating for departure authorisation. The platform became a hell of twisted steel and entangled passengers in wrecked train cars (it was a self-propelled system, the propulsion was made in the cars)
@richardmillhousenixon8 ай бұрын
I remember seeing a documentary on that incident. Huge amount of respect for the late conductor of the stationary train. He saw the oncoming train and instead of ditching to save his own life, he spent his last moments ordering passengers to evacuate, likely saving many of their lives
@liamcollinson56958 ай бұрын
She was a mother if I remember correctly I know she probably didn't mean harm but she basically killed people to make her journey a bit shorter
@zipsey8 ай бұрын
Great english!
@DaleDix8 ай бұрын
@@liamcollinson5695 not really. Everything after she did that caused them. She couldn't be expected to know that nobody knew how the train worked.
@lordcaptainvonthrust3rd8 ай бұрын
She was picking her kids up from school. When she was on the wrong train she didn't want to be late for her kids. And the rest is history @@liamcollinson5695
@wilting_alocasia8 ай бұрын
That first clip of the rain on the rails reminds me of how soothing it is to be on a long distance train journey when its raining. I love to read, have some coffee and just enjoy the rain spattered windows with the scenery flying by
@Jabarri748 ай бұрын
I recently visited my daughter read a half of a good book i picked up along the way and I loved it. So much less stressfull than driving
@AnIdiotAboard_8 ай бұрын
@@Jabarri74 not on a work day. I'll take an hour of road traffic than suffer thru the cattle car of he'll followed by the zoos of monstrosity and finally the taxis of death. Commuting for work is a miserable experience in any weather
@MAGGOT_VOMIT8 ай бұрын
Hope they were playing some 🎶Speed-Metal🎶 before the crash!! 🤣
@Jabarri748 ай бұрын
@@AnIdiotAboard_ I'm lucky enough to be able to cycle to work in 10 ninutes. I dont envy those working in cities and having to commute
@AnIdiotAboard_8 ай бұрын
@@Jabarri74 7 to 9000 miles every 6 weeks, and i wouldnt change it for anything.
@wilting_alocasia8 ай бұрын
Jago!? 😂 That confused me so much when Jago's voice suddenly appeared 😂
@Eddyspeeder8 ай бұрын
This! But it was quickly replaced with geeky excitedness over the cameo!
@mattscudder19758 ай бұрын
I came here to say the as basket and Eddy!
@wilting_alocasia8 ай бұрын
@@Eddyspeeder Same! XD
@roberthindle51466 ай бұрын
Jago gets everywhere
@TheFilthingtons12 күн бұрын
Jago for Mayor of London
@Miki90Mar8 ай бұрын
This definitely went off the rails quickly
@trainlover168 ай бұрын
🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
@bsadewitz8 ай бұрын
help
@SombraCheeks8 ай бұрын
they need to get back on track
@adrianfitzpatrick46388 ай бұрын
Boom boom!
@lukasvondaheim8 ай бұрын
Learning the cause was nuts!
@davidfarrow8758 ай бұрын
As a retired former driver I can confirm that we are completely in the hands of the track engineers for all things rail safety and that you cannot legislate for some idiot just plain getting it wrong. I was driving the first train to approach an small piece of track at Wembley Central that had been reported by an earlier driver. It had been inspected with a 20mph temp speed restriction imposed. The warning boards were placed and then along I come with a fully loaded 8-car class 350, approaching at 100mph downgrade on a wet rail. The warning board is supposed to be placed at a distance that will allow the train to be slowed from line speed using a normal Step 2 or 50% brake application. I saw the warning board, shut off power and applied 50% brake. I had a small amount of initial wheel pickup on the wet rail, then I went into the North Wembley neutral section - this is a small bit of dead overhead wire between two electrical sections. On a Class 350 this knocks out the electric dynamic braking for 16 seconds so you go to full tread braking. The whole unit, all 8 cars, picked up (the wheels locked and slid) so I had absolutely zero control over what was happening. I thus went through the 20mph TSR at around 65mph. I reported it to the signaller then filled in the necessary paperwork at the end of my shift. Unusually on this occasion I did get a report back from Network Rail. The person who had set the warning board was completely unaware of the effect of a neutral section on dynamic braking capability and also they had miscalculated the braking distance needed by applying the line speed of the slow line (75 through Wembley Central) to the fast line (100 through Wembley Central). This sort of incident is what we drivers called a code brown !
@mfbfreak7 ай бұрын
So the antilock brake system does not work on battery power? Interesting, i never thought about that. That must be frightening.
@davidfarrow8757 ай бұрын
@@mfbfreak The dynamic brake cuts out through a neutral section - dynamic brake is a very strong electric retarder effect from the traction motors as they feed power back into the overhead electric wires. On Class 350s it makes about 60% of the brake force and is responsible for the classic Desiro 'chirp' sound when it is braking. When that cuts out it goes to 100% disk brakes, so if the rail is slippery, and you suddenly have all your brake force through the wheels, off you go. The speedo drops to zero, the big yellow wheel-slip light comes on. It certainly focusses the mind, that's for sure !
@naz24686 ай бұрын
@@davidfarrow875 even more code brown when you happen upon a wrongly distanced 20mph TSR with 2000 ton and a class 66 doing vmax at 75mph haha
@lofthouse23Ай бұрын
I am glad you came out of that unscathed. I was having Hither Green flashbacks reading that. And yes, code brown is a great code!
@TrynityMirell8 ай бұрын
Finally. Multi-Track Drifting
@theZigCat8 ай бұрын
i came here for this! =)
@marcusyoutubegamineer8 ай бұрын
💀
@darksunrise9578 ай бұрын
Yeah, I was expecting to find this comment XD
@MonzennCarloMallari6 ай бұрын
And they said it was impossible!
@zJoriz8 ай бұрын
The bingo card also needs a "guilty parties walk free" item, even though it didn't apply this time ;)
@darksunrise9578 ай бұрын
Well, that would definitely be the "free space" square...
@marvindebot32648 ай бұрын
I feel sorry for both the reporting employee and the inspecting track worker, neither of whom can be blamed but must have felt the weight of the disaster on their shoulders.
@keithammleter38247 ай бұрын
The inspecting track worker should share some of the blame. One thing I learnt in investigating customer complaints (not in rail) passed to me via a system, is that there will be a fault, but not necessarily where I have been told. If everything looks ok, you need to look further, and not just dismiss it. When the guy found the supposed points ok, he should have asked himself how the message may be been corrupted - maybe its one of the other points? Especially he should have taken the report more seriously, since 100 MPH trains necessarily make faulty points very dangerous.
@ivertranes25163 ай бұрын
@@keithammleter3824 Agree 100%. When the points he was sent out to inspect were fine, he should have checked all the others at that location, just to be safe. Instead, he did the bare minimum, resulting in maximum confusion and delay.
@Zyphera2 ай бұрын
@@ivertranes2516 We don't know how much time he was allowed to spend on own accord from the people over him. Maybe he had to attend to other tasks directly afterwards.
@RT-qd8yl8 ай бұрын
Coming from a railroad family in the US, it's always interesting to see how things work/worked in the UK compared to over here. Thanks for your content John!
@andywomack34148 ай бұрын
At least the Brit term for "frog" more accurately describes function. I saw a car pick a switch. Train entering yard, same car, two tracks doesn't work.
@lofthouse238 ай бұрын
I would like to stress that UK's railways are very safe. Yes, we've had some.... blips over time where poor souls have lost their lives, but overalls our railways are safe. (Not to mention hardly any trains run at the moment....)
@DreadVos8 ай бұрын
Genuinely, I never actually cared about trains before finding your channel. I now have an incredible respect for all persons, technology, and the sheer quantity of regulations written in blood.
@tokencivilian85078 ай бұрын
What I like is that this vid highlights how the UK and US are two nations separated by a common language. "Points". Aka a "switch" in common vernacular to those of us on this side of the pond. Great vid PD.
@Soundbrigade8 ай бұрын
Not to mention ’railways’ and ‘railroads’.
@execthts7 ай бұрын
Someone here in the comments is calling them "turnouts"
@JimAllen-Persona3 ай бұрын
I was a bit confused by that as well. I was thinking.. is he talking about a part of a switch? Still a good video as always… and as a NYC commuter.. “rough ride” is par for the course. A few years ago, I was going through some switchwork that literally bounced me out of my seat (mind you, I’m 6’5” 375 lb (195 cm, 175 kilos)
@angelmessenger82408 ай бұрын
I really enjoy your breakdowns of these disasters. Not because I'm a ghoul but because I want to know why things happen. The fact that you do it in a logical and clear manner with no hysteria or loud music, is appreciated. Also you give your audience credit for intelligence which a lot of creators don't, they have to keep repeating themselves in case you don't get it the first time, which is infuriating when they can just replay the video. Thank you for all your efforts.
@5roundsrapid2638 ай бұрын
It’s critical to learn from mistakes to keep things like this happening again.
@justeunfan33648 ай бұрын
This kinds of videos are really great to understand how and why security stuff works. I think its way better to here a story of what happen when it go wrong than trying to learn by heart that "this do that, this do this, but we have no idea why its doe this or whas designed that way."
@wilsjane8 ай бұрын
The good thing about the internet, is that if you loose the plot, you can wind back a couple of minutes.
@dfuher9688 ай бұрын
I know exactly what u mean! They do it in tv produced docs too, Seconds from Disaster being the worst, Ive ever experienced, with constant repeatitions of already incredibly dumbed down explanations, sensational music and their constant annoying tick-tock. This is SO much better than tv docs and the vast majority of sensation content here. John does a really bang up job!
@Gazarhya8 ай бұрын
Point maintenance has come on a long way since Potters bar, with Remote condition monitoring, tubular stretcher bar etc. I started on the railway a matter of months after this and rember the general state of points, it is far removed from that today. That said, it was a long road, as illustrated by Greyrigg in 2007 (I think?) which was a very similar accident.
@Moose63408 ай бұрын
You have an incredible knack for making a complicated technical explanation really simple. That's why you're closing in on one million subs...that and your great artwork and your droll humor!
@ArDeeMee8 ай бұрын
Oh gosh, he’s really getting close to 1m. Let’s gooo!
@abbiearcher47168 ай бұрын
Love how you point out where the place is with a severed hand.
@AnIdiotAboard_8 ай бұрын
Well the tickets cost a leg and a pound of flesh so why not.
@RT-qd8yl8 ай бұрын
@@AnIdiotAboard_ And you'll likely be unarmed
@Soundbrigade8 ай бұрын
Still in chock … 😱😱😱😱😱
@johngavin25708 ай бұрын
WOAH an announced advert break? NOBODY DOES THAT. Kudos. Idk why but that made my day.
@macstevins7 ай бұрын
theres also a cue mark on the top right corner to signal that theres an ad break is coming
@TheAechBomb3 ай бұрын
@@macstevinsI appreciate the audio warning because I just listen instead of watch much od the time
@truckerallikatuk8 ай бұрын
Nice job getting Lord Jago of Hazzard to read the report for you. A good video of a terrible incident.
@christinaknapp19808 ай бұрын
Your comment on "rough ride not being what we think it means" had me confused at first because my mind went to the US history route and thought it referred to the Rough Riders headed by President Teddy Roosevelt. Then, my brain caught up and realized, "oh, a euphemism".
@GNTel313Ай бұрын
Hi john. Thank you for a very precise video about this disaster at Potters Bar. I was the rail worker who reported the rough ride the night before. Having worked on the railway between 1998 & 2003 being based at Kings x and then at Finsbury Pk and living at Stevenage ive travelled at least 2 times every day over all those lines at Potters Bar. On that particular evening on 9th may 2002 my journey north was far more violent as we passed Potters Bar. I reported the rough ride to the ticket office staff when i got off at Stevenage but he didnt seem too bothered about my report. As soon as i got home i immediately called my supervisor at Finsbury Park and asked him to report it on my behalf. He called me straight back and told me to call Kings X signalbox directly as they needed to hear it from me. This i duly did. I remember saying to my wife after id made that call " if they dont go out abd check those points something bad will happen and people will die". Little did i know that my words would become true !!
@peperonikillerАй бұрын
Curious after the accident happened, were you interviewed a lot by the investigation teams? Are you even allowed to talk about it? We must know more!
@GNTel31328 күн бұрын
@peperonikiller yes, I can talk about it freely now. I was questioned quite intensely a few days after the crash by the British Transport police. They asked me quite in depth questions like how did I know the layout at the station ? , how could I be so precise about where I'd experienced my rough ride considering I was travelling late at night ?. This was all questioned again 8 years later when they finally agreed to hold an inquest to the disaster in 2010. As I was a key witness, I was called to attend, had my statement thoroughly examined and went over some very fine details. Some of the other accounts and reports were, to me, quite shocking. For example, I was travelling on a DOWN train that night, yet Railtrack sent out their P Way gang out to examine the UP line !!. Another shocking example was how my report of the rough ride was just jotted down on a scrap of paper at King's X box and got easily discarded !!. Even though I wasn't "directly" involved in the disaster, it affected me quite deeply, feeling like I never quite did enough and that those 7 victims were partly my responsibility even though I wasn't technically. Every year for nearly 20 years, on that date, I would pay a visit to the station memorial, tidy up the rubbish that would be lying around and leave 7 flowers in the garden and then another 7 tied to the railings where the carriage ended up across the platforms. Odd, I know because I'd never met these 7 victims but I felt so responsible for their demise even though I wasn't responsible .
@capt.bart.roberts49758 ай бұрын
I was at work the day this happened. I've always wondered how in hell the coach ended up jammed across two platforms. Now I know. I'm a first responder, trauma technician, I've a weird skillset.
@thing_under_the_stairs8 ай бұрын
Weird skill set maybe, but a good one to have! I mean, my grandfather was a firefighter, mechanic, and tailor, and I've done everything from sailing on cargo freighters on the Great Lakes to working as an art therapist in a trauma and crisis intervention program, with a stint as a pro-Dominatrix in there somewhere, so I think weird skillsets are what make for interesting people!
@erikaswanson70728 ай бұрын
@@thing_under_the_stairsWell,with a stint as a pro Dominatrix, you may be used to talk of such things as rough rides and chains..
@kaitlyn__L7 ай бұрын
@@thing_under_the_stairsfor a second I thought you said your grandfather was a dominatrix, and I was wondering why he was dominating clients as a woman! Thankfully I re-read your comment and realised my mistake, so I didn’t foolishly ask you why your grandfather was a dominatrix. Thank god. Anyway, better now tell you what I almost foolishly asked :)
@thing_under_the_stairs7 ай бұрын
@@kaitlyn__L That's hilarious! Gramps would have had a good laugh over that. Thanks for the chuckle!
@gryff84008 ай бұрын
Love the advert flags in the top right corner. Only people who remember old telly will know what they are - the signal for a loo break and to put the kettle on 👍🤗
@RT-qd8yl8 ай бұрын
I've always wondered what that was for. Do ads show up for people when those bars come on then? I use Brave so it's been quite a while since I've seen a youtube ad.
@gryff84008 ай бұрын
They came up on itv to signal the programme would be halted for adverts. From memory on at 1 minute for 5-10 seconds. Off until ten seconds before adverts when the bars appear until...2 seconds before adverts. Used to cue the tape machines. This is from memory - for sure there are more accurate explanations available 👍 Very similar to the cigarette burns on old films to allow the reels to be synced and changed by the projectionist.
@rixxroxxk16208 ай бұрын
From the US here! Had no clue what they meant! Thank you!
@Soundbrigade8 ай бұрын
Kettle?! What kettle …. Oh, got it. This is a British youtuber 😉. (Watching every single British criminal series on the telly, I realize that Lipton must make bigger revenues than Prozac ….)
@AaronOfMpls8 ай бұрын
Jay Foreman uses those too for his in-video sponsor ads -- though he uses animated flags (flashing between black-and-white and white-and-black) that look like they were clipped directly from old standard-def TV.
@matthewjolly91618 ай бұрын
I feel like I have a healthy, working knowledge of the railways solely from Plainly Difficult
@henrybennet56678 ай бұрын
The pronunciation on ‘Hertfordshire’ actually killed me 😭
@DiseaseShaker8 ай бұрын
You can always rely on KZbinrs to mispronounce names, including place names they should have heard at least once on TV or radio!
@petehiggins337 ай бұрын
I found it quite hurtful.
@freemysoul1237 ай бұрын
That Hurtfordshire'd my brain.
@lasennui7 ай бұрын
Across the pond. How is it supposed to be pronounced? Hartfordshur? Hetfurtshire?
@petehiggins337 ай бұрын
@@lasennui Yes, Hart-ford-sheer, or Hart-ford-shire or more usually Hart-ford-sher and always with the emphasis on the Hart.
@cd0u50c98 ай бұрын
Say hello to Mr. Hazzard - his voice is instantly recognisable! Great presentation as always, these videos are so well done and the balance of analysis to mood of delivery is spot on.
@grapeshot8 ай бұрын
If I remember correctly two of the victims were from Taiwan. And one of the victim's mothers was very upset with the UK government and their lack of clarity when it came to this terrible incident.
@FannyLerouxTime8 ай бұрын
Aww it was so nice hearing Jago in the video! His channel is honestly really interesting, I can't recommend people following him enough!
@TeverellАй бұрын
I knew I recognised the voice. For some reason I thought it was Fascinating Horror, but yes.... That's Jago!! Thank you!!
@markgr1nyer8 ай бұрын
The first rail disaster I remember watching on 24hrs news. I also remember watching a documentary where one of the passengers in the last vehicle was a fighter pilot, and he had a good memory of what happened has the vehicle rotated, but it was black and white as his brain discarded colour so his brain could take it all in I smiled when Jago's voice sounded for someone authoritarian lol
@alisonwilson97498 ай бұрын
That's really interesting about the B&W thing. I'd love a reference (my job is about colour).
@markgr1nyer8 ай бұрын
@alisonwilson9749 unfortunately it was about 15 years ago i saw it, i just remember it as being fascinating how training in hugh pressure situations can do that when most peoples brains would not be able to remember what was happening due to the intensity of the situation
@hectorpascal6 ай бұрын
As a once regular user of Potters Bar station before the accident, the thing that REALLY used to worry me was the flapping of the cantilevered concrete canopy, when a fast upline express roared through the platforms!
@bsadewitz8 ай бұрын
Ah yes, there's that avante-garde electronic railroad music that has come to characterize Saturday morning. "Balls"!
@awkward__lizard8 ай бұрын
Thank you for making the videos detailed enough for folks who know nothing about railway maintenance or terminology easily understandable and detailed enough that the science about what happened is clear and you give the victims respect.
@thomascook5788 ай бұрын
I think, this was the last straw with the privatised Railtrack and were liquidated and became network rail. Sadly if NR get away with the cuts they want to do in maintenance, this may become an all too real occurrence again on UK railways
@phils46348 ай бұрын
With the many, essentially financial, crises that the UK is currently experiencing, along with frank reluctance to spend on anything other than "glamour" projects such as the now much - curtailed HS2, yes, this will PROBABLY become a more commonplace occurrence.
@adder35978 ай бұрын
@@phils4634Yes and no on HS2, we absolutely need something like it to help take the strain off the WCML, and it's only been as expensive as it has because we have had to build the logistics chains and train skilled workers to build it (same reason Crossrail was so expensive). The point about blatant underfunding or lack of funding is very fair though.
@corrinarobinson70788 ай бұрын
Trainly Difficult? amiright?...
@HaesslichG8 ай бұрын
14:03 - the sabotage was done by the maintaining company, via neglect.
@truthylucy70688 ай бұрын
"It's not what your dirty mind is thinking!" A rough ride! Lol! 😂😂😂😂
@SanchoPanza-m8m8 ай бұрын
I was mildly insulted by that dig. I interpreted the statement literally as was intended. The author apparently has a low opinion of his audience.
@framekixrr8 ай бұрын
@@SanchoPanza-m8mIt’s a joke you melon
@Dunny2618 ай бұрын
Having youtube premium, and not getting an Ad when i see the cue dot has been frustrating. Its the one time im looking forward to getting an Ad, and i dont get the pleasure 🤣 its like blue balls
@quoniam4268 ай бұрын
A similar accident happened at Bretigny station in France in July 2013. A badly maintained bracket near a point went lose and derailed an intercity train on two different tracks, the coach that streched on the platform killed seven people. The amount of wounded inside the train was about the same as the Potter Bar disaster. I'd say, same speed, same cause, same effect basically. When It occured I remembered reading years earlier about the Potterbar disaster and I told myself: "Here we go, the French railways, so renown for their reliability are now at the dismal level of the British Railways..."
@nellinightshade33582 ай бұрын
Your explanations are pure gold, short, to the point and understandable.
@aaronzimny82018 ай бұрын
Surveyors in the U.S. still use chains as a measure of distance as well. All of our sectionalized land was originally surveyed with chains (Gunter's chains) equaling 66 feet. 10 square chains is an acre.
@markr.devereux33858 ай бұрын
Are you speaking of rods ? I remember a conversion chart in Jr high-school.
@aaronzimny82018 ай бұрын
@@markr.devereux3385 rods (also sometimes called a pike) are 16.5 feet. There are 4 rods per chain.
@knottyal24288 ай бұрын
10 chains to one furlong. Equals 220 yards. 8 furlongs to one mile. Equals 1760 yards. One chain is the length of a cricket pitch.
@aaronzimny82018 ай бұрын
@@markr.devereux3385yes, it's part of the same system. There are 4 rods per chain.
@markr.devereux33857 ай бұрын
@@knottyal2428 4 rods = 1 chain. ...1 rod is 1/320 mile exactly. I guess they are related and derived from imperial measurements.
@SandTurtle8 ай бұрын
god i cant imagine sitting at a train station, not paying attention to the train, when all of a sudden it detaches and flips heading straight towards me. what a horrible way to die
@GonzalezSix678 ай бұрын
I just want to say thank you for constantly providing great quality videos! I greatly appreciate all the effort you put into creating these videos!
@randomguy-tg7ok8 ай бұрын
Interesting to note how well the system responded to the actual accident - it was detected as soon as it happened by multiple systems, and all trains in the area were immediately told to stop. So at least most of the system was working as it should have done.
@nikoskonstantinou36818 ай бұрын
In about a month, it will be the 1 year ""anniversary"" of Greece's major railroad accident (Two trains got into the same track and collided on maximum speed). It would be cool if you were able to make a detailed video related to this accident at some point.
@Mgameing1238 ай бұрын
It would not be a good idea to do a recent rail accident because you need wait alot of years until the case is fully closed.
@neiloflongbeck57058 ай бұрын
For those who don't know it, Hert in Hertfordshire is pronounced as Hart not Hurt.
@zetectic79688 ай бұрын
He did it in another recent video about Berkshire
@RT-qd8yl8 ай бұрын
They should spell it with an a then
@neiloflongbeck57058 ай бұрын
@@RT-qd8yl why? We love heating non-native English speakers or Americans stuff it up.
@RT-qd8yl8 ай бұрын
@@neiloflongbeck5705 I mean if you want to spell it differently than you want it pronounced, you can't really raise a fuss if people don't abide. If there's 8 billion people in the world that say it one way and 27 who say it the other way, well there you go... 😁
@Zeo--8 ай бұрын
Engrish.
@admiral_franz_von_hipper54368 ай бұрын
Best thing to wake up to on a Saturday morning, another disaster video.
@bsadewitz8 ай бұрын
Balls!
@darksu69478 ай бұрын
@@bsadewitzBig sweaty monkey ones
@UK.RoadsCyclingandTransport6 ай бұрын
having Jago in your video was the cherry and icing on the cake of this quite detailed video
@oweynew7 ай бұрын
As someone who lives in potters bar this really helped me to understand how it happened
@liberteus8 ай бұрын
For anyone wondering, the into jingle comes from Scheherazade from Rimsky-Korsakov (if i remember correctly)
@danielvanced55268 ай бұрын
Personally I think the latest rules to report rough riding to Control/TOC rather than signaller is going to make these sorts of maintenance issues worse again. Tracks are currently in a terrible state in places, and some trouble areas pop up on a yearly basis.
@ianfromnyc8 ай бұрын
I just checked the latest module TW1 section 5.3 and it still says to report rough rides to the signaller. The instruction to report to your TOC only applies where you have previously reported a rough ride you think it may be deteriorating on a subsequent journey. I agree with you that it isn't ideal, but it's not true to say that you are no longer expected to report a rough ride to the signaller.
@danielvanced55268 ай бұрын
@@ianfromnycit says nothing about previously reporting it. It only mentions a deterioration from that previously experienced. That was added purely to reduce delays and reduce the need for track inspections. The entire railway is deteriorating at this point. We have one section of track that has to be fixed yearly because it slips towards an embankment making it feel like you're about to end up on the motorway below.
@ianfromnyc8 ай бұрын
@@danielvanced5526 It's implied. The rule is clear that the driver must report suspected track defects to the signaller. So either the driver is encountering the suspected defect for the first time in which case they are to report it to the signaller, or they are encountering it a subsequent time in which case they need only report it to the TOC because they will have already reported it to the signaller previously. Also, I would point out that although it says you "do not need to tell the signaller about" a rough ride that has deteriorated on a subsequent journey, it doesn't say that you can't, only that you must report it to the TOC. In other words, there's nothing that says you can't report it to *both* the signaller and the TOC, which personally I often do if I think my reports are being overlooked by one party or the other. I also copy in my ASLEF H&S rep for good measure.
@sarahwiththetrains8 ай бұрын
Brilliant video! I was 10 at the time of the crash and remember the news reporting vividly. It's really great to hear everything broken so simply. Such a tragedy.
@RyuKaiser928 ай бұрын
I've always grown up with the rail company's being privatised, the fact that jarvis was a private company maintaining critical infrastructure with obvious failings makes me question privatising the railway in the first place. People always seem to crap on network rail but i can at least have some what comfort knowing they are looking after the tracks effectively and performing maintenance when it is absolutely necessary, even if i have to take a dreaded bus replacement service. Renationalise the network, bring down ticket prices.
@thing_under_the_stairs8 ай бұрын
In my experience, privitasation usually brings a steep drop in quality along with a sharp rise in prices. It's certainly been the case in my province's electrical operations, and the attempts to bring in more private healthcare options are sadly doing the same to our health system too.
@alisonwilson97498 ай бұрын
Stanley Hall's later books on railway accidents go into the effects of privatisation. As time went on, he worked out that most of the big accidents since privatisation were due to privatisation one way or another, and mostly to the way privatisation was done- too fast, for political reasons, and without listening to the industry itself. He wasn't against it in principle, at first, but in practice, he came to be unhappy with it, because it was done so badly. His last book on it was 'Beyond Hidden Dangers'. I recommend it, and his earlier books.
@Idler_JP8 ай бұрын
@@alisonwilson9749 Ah yes, it wasn't the privatisation that was bad, but just the way it was implemented. Just like communism!
@thing_under_the_stairs8 ай бұрын
@@alisonwilson9749 The trouble is that I've never seen a case where privitasation has been done well in practice, because in private business the be-all, end-all goal is to make money rather than to do a good job at whatever it is you're doing. And when applied to necessary infrastructure or healthcare, that can only lead to worse outcomes for the people who need it.
@SirSamTheTank3 ай бұрын
"When you think of railways, the first thing that usually pops into mind is; trains, understandable" Oh thank god, I was worried for a second.
@GooseWaffe3 ай бұрын
Plainly Hazardous! Jago difficult! Love a great crossover, you two are the calm voices of youtube
@ve2vfd8 ай бұрын
Crazy accident, but not surprising with the culture of lowest bidder subcontracting. Also nice to hear a Jago Hazard cameo, when the video started I remarked this would be in his wheelhouse.
@jwarmstrong8 ай бұрын
China does the same subcontracting but 2 or 3 levels of bribes are included
@mh15937 ай бұрын
Love the disaster bingo card . Thanks for the background on this event.
@travelingjere8 ай бұрын
I did not expect the severed hand😂
@Saismee8 ай бұрын
hertfordshire is actually pronounced like "heart" and not "hurt." aside from that, great video. i think "Overly Confident Official" should be blotted too because of jarvis blaming terrorism
@Mumbles2746 ай бұрын
Love the random clip of the RH&DR!!
@barttheanorak6 ай бұрын
I was working in the Sainsbury’s just outside the station. We became a hospital very very quickly and the regional manager came in to thank us for our hard work at the end of the day. But we were all pretty traumatised and my job was under threat anyway so I just asked them to bring my redundancy forward which they did.
@paul69258 ай бұрын
Looks like someone lent you a hand with that map! 😂
@funkyfinnegan8 ай бұрын
lol, I stopped and rewound.
@paul69258 ай бұрын
😂😂😂@@funkyfinnegan
@nigelkthomas95013 ай бұрын
This accident sent a chill down my spine as I’d passed through Potters Bar only 2-3 hours before it happened. I was heading south on the GNER Harrogate-Kings Cross service with my mother. We were going to Croydon for my cousin’s (my mother’s nephew’s) wedding. This is the nearest I’ve ever come to being involved in anything BIG on the railway.
@quietdignityandgrace8 ай бұрын
Imperial-Metric??? Finally our two cultures can communicate properly. I see great things for the US / UK relation moving forward. Brilliant. Just don't tell Canada, k?
@youmukonpaku31688 ай бұрын
Too late. You've admitted you don't use moose per fortnight and now the Mounties are on their way. Pour Francais, dit
@cmjones016 ай бұрын
As a regular user of the WAGN services into King's Cross, I was impressed to see how well the Class 365's body withstood being slammed sideways into a station at the best part of 100mph. If it hadn't been so strong, the death and injury toll could have been so much worse. Those who designed and built that train did a good job.
@williamcorcoran88428 ай бұрын
Let’s get this good man to 1 million subs! It’s a plainly difficult thing to do, so spread the word!
@simongleaden28645 ай бұрын
I like the geeky stuff about railway tracks, points and signals etc. John has a gift for making technical matters understandable and interesting.
@mattscudder19758 ай бұрын
Nice cameo Jago! Would love to see more of this.
@sapphireseptember8 ай бұрын
Wondered if this was going to be about Hatfield or Potter's Bar. Hatfield was another train disaster that stayed with me. Reading about it as an adult made me so angry! Four people died and it cost the UK millions of £s because the company in charge of the rails didn't replace a bit of track that they knew was damaged!
@sapphireseptember8 ай бұрын
Ah, Railtrack, we meet again! They were at fault in the Hatfield disaster as well. How no one got charged for their incompetence is beyond me. Jago! Good evening, my fine fellow! RIP to the people who died that day. ❤️ Not something you expect to happen when just going about your business.
@cw46088 ай бұрын
LOL, I passed the ‘dirty mind’ test. I love your illustrations/animations.
@PlainlyDifficult8 ай бұрын
Glad you like them!
@carpemkarzi8 ай бұрын
FYI I love the bingo card. Also hello from an oddly warm part of Calgary Alberta
@stanislavkostarnov21578 ай бұрын
interesting factoid, this is actually not the first accident caused by this set of points (though that time it was on the upward track)... during the Blitz, a sleep-deprived train driver was taking a small mixed-manifest & passenger train (the train was a special, carrying goods and a shift of workers for one of the military supply warehouses in Woodgreen)... usually, the regular route would always get the fast-track for that part, but that day, they were supposed to go into the station to pick up an anti-aircraft squadron... something, the driver forgot to tell the engineer about, and himself, lost mile-post awareness (resulting in hitting the points with too much speed and going off track, killing the engineer, and scalding people in the signal-box at whose base the boiler lost it's containment)
@thejudgmentalcat8 ай бұрын
"Looks shyte mate" such an understatement 😳
@lachlanlandreth90698 ай бұрын
Great to hear Jago in this video! Always a high quality Mr Difficult!
@erikthenorviking82516 ай бұрын
It's akin to hearing James Robertson Justice aka Sir Lancelot Spratt in a serious medical programme.
@twocvbloke8 ай бұрын
Having experienced many a "rough ride" on Class 142 Pacers to and from Colne in Lancashire (where I used to live), with them bouncing about like they're about to leap off the tracks and fall over, the thought of them doing so and both them and us passengers ending up in a mangled mess often sat on my mind as I sat there watching the rubbery joints between the two halves stretch and strain with the two carriages twerking away, quite scary to experience really, thank goodness they retired the things, though, even modern trains are susceptible to rail faults, but, there was always that "what if?" in the back of my mind as it was being jostled about like jelly on a plate...
@jacobfreeman54448 ай бұрын
I like how you unabashedly admit these episodes are you just geeking out
@hyperturbotechnomike8 ай бұрын
I have studied english in the UK midlands for a year and the whole railway network can be summarised as a "rough ride". As a German-Lithuanian, i always thought the rail network of my two countries were the worst. With constant delays and cancellations in germany and outdated, very shaky and loud soviet trains in Lithuania (many of them are replaced by now, thankfully). In the UK there are both problems. Shaky slow trains, delays and as an addition, a lot of curves. My wife was with me and studying and her younger sister was visiting us. They are siberians from the upper Baikal lake area and is used to shaky roads and wobbly rust boats, but the younger sister almost had to throw up in the train. In contrast, the best rail experience, i've ever made were in east asian countries. Reliable, comfortable and no delays.
@SanchoPanza-m8m8 ай бұрын
The UK has railroad infrastructure dating back 200 years. Your country tried to take over the world in a bout of fascist insanity and genocide and was bombed into oblivion in WWII. Your infrastructure is newer than theirs, but I wouldn't be eager to thumb my nose if I were you.
@hyperturbotechnomike8 ай бұрын
@@SanchoPanza-m8m "bombed into oblivion" is a bit exaggerated. Perhaps Dresden and Berlin were bombed into oblivion, but the rest not so much. I live down in the south, where most remained intact.
@silphonym8 ай бұрын
@@SanchoPanza-m8mthat is bullshit. Most of the German railway lines weren't destroyed during WW2, and there were analog signals from the 19th century in use even until a few years ago, if not up to this day. Maybe it helped at some points, that there was a need to rebuild after the war, but the overall system is still an amalgamation of lines built during the last 200 years and not something built from the ground up in the last 80.
@hyperturbotechnomike8 ай бұрын
@@silphonym I believe the main historic difference is that Germany always had a mostly unified rail network owned by the state, while in the UK it was always a bunch of different companies and regions, which all had their own standards.
@silphonym8 ай бұрын
@@hyperturbotechnomike that's also not the case. The German rail network began before Germany was unified in 1871 and I don't think it was centralised at that point, but I'm not sure about that. You are correct though, in that it was often state owned from the beginning, but that didn't mean it was unified or followed a cohesive plan for all of Germany.
@lewisdsd7 ай бұрын
I love you Jago !! Great to see you here !
@drockjr8 ай бұрын
I just subscribe for the final 30 second outtro learning about Johns local weather in gloomy london
@mikemasters12087 ай бұрын
Check rails are fitted opposite the crossing / casting unit itself. They keep the wheels ‘checked’ and ensure each wheel set remains on the right side of the crossing nose when traversing the change of section. What you pointed to in the video was a wing rail.. an integral part of a typical crossing assembly
@brianedwards71428 ай бұрын
Damn you! I've had Scheherazade stuck in my head for a week. I thought I would fix it by listening to all 50 minutes of it it in it's entirety... TWICE but it's stuck there, playing in my head even as I type this. J'ACCUSE!
@nattybking7 ай бұрын
I always enjoy your documentaries, my husband thinks I am a bit strange lol, but I just find the process of establishing what went wrong fascinating. Thank you for another brilliant video.
@prjndigo8 ай бұрын
Chains are still used because of the rail segment length. 66' is a useful length of 20.12195 meters
@daveash95728 ай бұрын
Remember when Fonzie turned up in laverne and shirley? Its always fun when another youtuber pops up in someone else's vid! Nice to see you here Jago!
@beliasphyre34978 ай бұрын
This one is gonna be off the rails.
@BiohaZd58 ай бұрын
Loving your animations. They keep getting better and better.
@SarahWalker-f6y8 ай бұрын
I recently read this accident report, as you hadn’t covered the Herts train crashes in the early 2000’s. Now waiting for you to cover Hatfield. Less tragic but, shockingly, Jarvis were the less incompetent subbie and Hatfield was what put Railtrack in the coffin. You did an excellent job of explaining the points. Even as a qualified mechanical engineer with some of the technical details.
@stevencooke64517 ай бұрын
John, your delivery has gotten even better. The snark level is nice and high, as it should be. When safety and profit are pulling on each other we know which one tends to win out. I'm looking at you, Boeing.
@eliscanfield39138 ай бұрын
"Rough ride" in regards to trains was exactly what I thought, lol. My mind isn't usually dirty
@darksu69478 ай бұрын
Mine is worse than a sewer. I need help! 😂
@banepigeon6 ай бұрын
AD BREAKS! OMG, THE SIMPLE FACT HE TELLS US, THIS GETS MY SUBSCRIPTION…
@zetectic79688 ай бұрын
Where the Fu@k is Hurtfordshire?
@33andy33gmail8 ай бұрын
I picked up on that too. As you say, Hertfordshire is pronounced "Heartfordshire" not "Hurtfortshire"
@johntaylorson77698 ай бұрын
Thanks for all the great videos (and weather reports)!
@PlainlyDifficult8 ай бұрын
Thank you
@AnIdiotAboard_8 ай бұрын
You got brass balls covering this one. Usually videos on the subject get crucified, so lets see how you do....
@KaaimanProductions8 ай бұрын
Something very similar happened in the Netherlands in 2014. A intercity service that (luckily) just left a station, derailed in Hilversum in basically the same way. If it were a little further up the line then it would’ve gone way worse. Since a train was coming on the track where the derailed train partially entered. And cuz it would’ve been traveling at 140 kmph
@KriegZombie8 ай бұрын
Multi-track drifting!!!
@RT-qd8yl8 ай бұрын
Formula RR
@Floofie_boi8 ай бұрын
*Deja Vu intensifies*
@jeffreymorris17522 ай бұрын
A "rough ride" usually involves one participant asking another if they'd like to have a drink. Once that's done they retire to a broom closet where the grimprt fronups repeatedly and a wild snipurd becomes jooneald and plapnored. Sometimes the door of the broom closet may rattle a bit.
@Deepthought-428 ай бұрын
The price of privatisation…….😡 RIP those who died and sympathy to their families.
@nathangillmore50648 ай бұрын
A fantastic breakdown, as always, John! That graphic of Rrailtrack with the wide eyes and the gun coming out from the side lol...
@machendave8 ай бұрын
The worst reporting is word of mouth through several different people.