All from
The Railway Magazine, October 2010, pp 87-88
One of the more unusual reasons for a service being delayed occurred on July 30 when the 16.30 London Euston-Glasgow was 20 min late leaving the capital after two athletes tried to find a way of conveying their pole vault equipment on the service. Health and Safety Regulations precluded it happening and they had to leave their poles behind. The late departure resulted in the service losing its booked path and arriving in Glasgow 66 min late.
One train set to leave Paddington on time was the 11.30 to Bristol. Shortly before departure, all the brakes were found to be locked on due to a passenger hanging his suit on the communications cord! FGW staff quickly rectified the problem and departure was only 10 min late.
While working the 14.46 Morecambe-Leeds on August 8, Class 144 No. 144005 hit a cow just after leaving Melling Tunnel. The collision resulted in the cow being wedged under the second vehicle causing damage to the motors. As the unit was unable to move, the 14.57 Leeds-Morecambe drew alongside and passengers transferred from the stricken train.
