Having lived with a railway man for 17yrs I am not at all surprised that this has happened. The stories I could tell you!

Like emergency crews setting out from Cardiff for Shrewsbury and ending up in Birmingham?

Like drivers wanting people to jump in front of the train so that they could have 6wks off on full pay?

Like econimising on parafin (in the days of real lamps) and the lamps not glowing brightly enough for the drivers to see what the signals said at night.

Like working in signal boxes below 60 degrees in the winter and not allowed to bring in a heater. Taking out the pot bellied stoves and replacing them with feeble electric wall heaters.

Changing the seating to hard wooden chairs so that the signal man didn't doze off.

Changing the shifts from 3x8hrs to 2x12hrs.

No radios in the boxes and they're not that keen about them reading books either.

Yes the working conditions may have been changed within the last 10 years, but you can't change the men that have been there longer and are stuck in their ways.

You find a Permanant Way Ganger and ask him what he thinks of his job.

S