MAY 2024 GLENFIELD GAZETTE ONLINE

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26 MAY 2024 GLENFIELD GAZETTE SINCE THE BIRTH of the railway there have been places where people and /or vehicles have needed to cross the railway line to access the other side of the line. Over the years like other parts of the system railway crossings have evolved. There are different types of crossings. The basic is a pedestrian where there is a hand gate on each side of the line. If there is a good view of approaching trains people hoping to cross can look and listen to see if it is safe to cross. If there is restricted view or crossing will take time e.g. with a wheelchair. There is a phone to the Signalman who will tell when it is safe to cross. I had an occasion where a lady wanted to cross with a horse. Having got off the horse she rang the signal box from observing the Signalling Panel I saw that a High Speed Train was approaching the crossing. As I answered the call I heard the noise of the train passing this shocked the poor horse. “Stand Still!” the woman screamed down the phone. “I AM standing still!” I replied. “I was talking to the horse idiot!” she replied. Lost for words I told her she was now safe to cross and to let me know when she was clear- which she did and the Midland Main Line was back to normal again. Next there are the crossings that allow vehicles to cross it is the same as before with larger gates either side of the line. With extra time needed to cross it is necessary to ring the Signalman. Some of these crossings are on farmer’s land and often there is a need to cross the line to get from one field to another. They can also be for access to a site on a line that does not have a lot of railway traffic. I had a farmer ring one day to cross. However I knew there was a train in the area so I asked if he had seen a train go by. He said he had, so I told him if he had seen a train pass, he was safe to cross. After I had finished the call the train showed as being closer than I had realised. Thank goodness the train passed ok. The farmer called safe on the other side not happy at the near miss. I said “What did I ask you?” “If a train had passed,” he said “And one hadn’t had it!” I was not happy! “It had” he replied “When ?” I asked He said that one had gone by when he was in the lower field. When I asked how long ago he said some time ago! I told him had not meant that - I had meant within 60 seconds! I learnt a lesson that day never to RAILWAY LEVEL CROSSINGS rely on what is said, as both parties may not be on the same sheet! Sometimes in the school holidays the farmer’s children will be with their Dad and might ring to cross over. So it is not strange to hear a child’s voice. This day I get this call. “Can we cross the line?” I ask what with and I get the answer 500 sheep! I think this is not real, however I go along with it asking how long they want to cross - and are the sheep in a lorry? He answers “No - they are walking them across!” Now I know it is not real. However as there are no trains I tell them to let me know when they are clear, not expecting to hear again. I do however get a call to say they are clear. Still not believing it, I say I cannot hear the sheep so his mate on the other phone starts making bleeping noises and the pretending to be the sheep dog. I say very good now p... off. Which they did! Where the railway crosses a road in the past there was a crossing keeper who was there to open the gates for traffic or, on a road with a lot of traffic, they might have gates open for vehicles and only closed for trains to pass. Sometimes these were controlled from a Signal Box where the rail traffic was considerable. I worked a Signal box that had a level crossing with the old wooden gates. There were times when sometimes I stopped the wrong traffic. A car came racing down the road at excessive speed as I was closing the gates. I stopped closing the gates as it did not look like it was going to stop. I called after him for being so silly. I had finished closing the gates and clearing the signals when a car came racing down the wrong side of road with lights flashing and screeched to a halt and a Policeman got from the car and threw his cap on the road in anger! As soon as the train had gone I opened the gates and at a more sedate speed the police car moved off down the road. Another occasion was a more happier one. It was a great day for the wedding at the top of the road. After the wedding a car stops at the crossing and a well dressed man comes to the door. He wants me to close the gates to stop his mates following them to the honeymoon hotel. So this I do and stop the car with the so called mates in it. An aftermath to this is a year later the same man, his wife and their new baby come over the crossing tooting at me and giving me a wave. It goes to show closing the gates really does work wonders! Over the years Barriers have replaced the old wooden gates. On the lesser roads half-barrier crossings have been installed and if motorists obey the lights are safe. There has been known for motorists to beat the lights and go over the wrong side to get through before the train goes by. However there is only 27 seconds from the yellow light followed by the red flashing lights before the train passes at speed. There is a lay by before the crossing for large or slow vehicles to stop and ring the Signalman. Once the line is clear the Signalman will keep signals at red till the crossing is reported clear. These Barriers are fail safe so if anything fails the barriers will go down and lights flash. This is annoying for the Signalman as he gets many calls from traffic held at the crossing. All that he can tell them is help is on the way and to either wait or find an alternative way. It is illegal to pass a red light! I had one occasion when a big lorry stopped at a failed crossing ringing to say he cannot get his lorry past the barriers. I told him he was not allowed to go by the red lights anyway, he replies that the cars in front of him had gone, bypassing the barriers. Well I thought that will stop them now he was there. A little while later I get a call from a motorist asking if it is safe for him to cross. I tell him no - that is why that lorry is there. To my amazement he says the lorry has gone by reversing back down the railway line to get across and it was a good job no train came! Sometimes if there is work to be done on the barriers - or on the track - which will affect the operation of the crossing, they have to be on local control at site. I have been stationed at one of these crossings over a long weekend of engineering work. It was late evening and dark so I had two red lights on the approach to crossing in the middle of each line in case a train came before I got the barriers down. I was sitting in the cabin provided and I went to check the lights they had disappeared! While I was looking for the lights, thinking may be kids had moved them, a man walking his dog came over the crossing. I asked him if he had seen any children nearby. When he asked why I told him and he said he had moved the lamps to behind my cabin because if a train had come it would have had to stop! I told him that was what the lamps were for! He was sorry he did not know! I thought after he had gone when he moved the lamps he was actually trespassing. Today most railway crossings on major roads have barriers covering the whole road and are either worked from the nearby Signal Box or by CCTV maybe from a Control Centre which can be many miles away. Ted Cook DID YOU KNOW ... that back issues of the Glenfield Gazette are available on the website to read in page-flip form? Visit www.glenfieldgazette. com and clickon the ‘Magazine’ tab. The other day a woman described me as a bit of a looker. Well, voyeur was the actual word that she used.
GLENFIELD GAZETTE MAY 2024 Every year, I announce that I’m going to take up jogging, but then I don’t. It’s a running joke. Apparently, it’s rude to poke someone in the forehead and say “Skip Intro” when they start talking to you. I can cut a piece of wood in half just by looking at it. I saw it with my own eyes. Yesterday, I accidentally sent a naked picture of myself to everyone in my address book. Not only was it embarrassing but it cost a fortune in stamps. I went on a once-in-alifetime holiday. Never again. I like to shower like Frank Sinatra did, and so I face the vinyl curtain. Did you hear they arrested the devil? They got him on possession. BBC removes Laura Kuenssberg episode from iPlayer following complaint by Toby Young THE BBC has removed a recent episode of Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg from iPlayer following Toby Young’s complaint to the BBC about Chris Packham’s false and defamatory claim that the Daily Sceptic is “put together by a bunch of professionals with close affiliations to the fossil fuel industry”. It has also deleted the tweet posted by BBC Politics containing a clip in which he said this, which was re-tweeted by Kuenssberg. In a statement, the BBC said: “We received complaints from people unhappy Laura didn’t challenge a comment made by panel member Chris Packham regarding the Daily Sceptic. “During a discussion with the panel about various issues including climate change, broadcaster and conservationist Chris Packham claimed that the Daily Sceptic, whose editorin-chief is Toby Young, is ‘basically put together by a bunch of professionals with close affiliations to the fossil fuel industry’. “We acknowledge we would ideally have asked him to present his evidence on this, but in a fast-moving live programme it’s not always possible to pick up on every point made by our guests. “We’ve removed any posts on X with this part of the discussion.” The BBC has also removed the programme from iPlayer. Packham had been discussing climate change and arguing that recent floods in Dubai, plus high temperatures in the global south and wildfires, were a result of carbon emissions. Writing about the discussion in the Spectator, Toby Young said: “And to think the BBC launched a multi-million-pound department last year [BBC Verify] to ‘address the growing threat of disinformation’.” AI cameras coming to a store near you Morrisons installs AI cameras to boost availability and staff efficiency 27 AS REPORTED IN RETAIL GAZETTE, Morrisons is set to install thousands of AI-powered cameras across its UK stores by the end of the year, after trials found they boosted availability and increased staff efficiency. The grocer has become the first UK retailer to integrate US technology, teaming up with Seattlebased AI company Focal Systems. Chief executive Rami Baitiéh has focused on improving patchy availability as a key priority for his turnaround at the retailer, with the cameras able to provide real-time on-shelf data and automatically direct staff to where stocks are running low, The Grocer reports. The title understands Morrisons has seen significant rises in availability scores in stores where the technology has been tested, suggesting that it could free up staff to prioritise customer service, which is another crucial focus for Baitiéh. Last month the supermarket reported its strongest like-for-like sales growth in three years during its trading update for the first quarter. It saw like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, soar 4.6% from a 0.1% rise the year before. Total sales excluding fuel were up by 3.9% to £3.9bn. Useful Computer Tip How to copy anything that’s on your pc computer screen DID YOU KNOW that you can create an image of anything that appears on your computer screen by pressing the SHIFT key, the WINDOWS key and the S key at the same time? The screen will go a bit dim. Then if you drag the cursor (whilst pressing the mouse button) you can copy any or all of the screen to the Clipboard, and then paste it into a program or document of your choice. Give it a try. DO YOU have any useful computer tips that you’d like to share with readers of Glenfield Gazette? If so,please email details to info@ glenfieldgazette.com and we’ll include a mention in a future issue. Thanks! I’m not saying I’m unlucky but when I went to DFS to buy a sofa, the sale had finished.
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MAY 2024 GLENFIELD GAZETTE ONLINE

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