Rail safety should be all important on our network (From Warrington Guardian)

Rail safety should be all important on our network

IN THE opening scene of that great movie 'Oh, Mr Porter' starring comedian Will Hay, he is shown as a 'Wheeltapper', a man whose job it was on the railway to tap the wheels of the train to see if they were sound.

When Will was asked why he was tapping the wheels, he replied that: "er - well, if the wheel goes 'clang' you know that the train is there!" When asked by a dignitary: "but what if it doesn't go 'clang'?" He replied: "Well, then you know that the train has gone."

From the BBC's 'Whistle blower' TV series on the safety of the track on our rail network, (November 4, 2004) where BBC reporters went 'undercover' with rail maintenance gangs, one might ask: "Is many a true word spoken in jest? Is this film all that far from the truth?"

One can't afford to be careless with railway lines. Surely, they should be checked and triple-checked. Maybe they were in the old days? What say your readers?

Tony Walker

Address supplied