Engineers Will Be Engineers
Coming back from Ipswich last night, as the train sped through Stratford, I was reminded of a story from the time I worked for ICI at Welyn Garden City in the 1960s.
In those days staff travelled up to the major plant at Wilton on Teesside quite regularly. One of my tales is detailed here.
Usually, staff travelled from Stevenage, as the fast trains didn’t stop at Welwyn Garden City.
One day, the train staff announced on a trip down, that the train would not be stopping at Stevenage for some reason and passengers would have to alight at Kings Cross and get a train back.
There was quite an ICI contingent on the train, and one was a railway enthusiast, who knew the speeds and distances of the line.
He calculated that if the communication cord was pulled so many seconds after the train crossed the Digswell Viaduct, the train would coast safely into Welwyn Garden City station.
The plan worked perfectly and anybody who wanted to, disembarked safely at the station.
British Railways were not amused!
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The Anonymous Widower 
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