Posted on 07/25/2011 7:49:37 AM PDT by SanFranDan
As this high-speed commuter train hurtles along the tracks, the driver appears more interested in reading his paper than taking the controls.
This astonishing photo of the First Great Western train driver seems to have caught him with his eyes on a newspaper, rather than focusing on the controls and track signals.
The high-speed train which had departed from Plymouth at 5.53am on July 4, was snapped by Jim Hales, 64, who said that he was 'stunned' by what he had apparently seen.
Now the driver, who was responsible for hundreds of passengers on the journey, has been suspended while First Great Western conduct an investigation.
'It looks so dangerous,' Mr Hale told the Daily Mirror. 'He was apparently responsible for driving a train full of people.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
"His union says there were no problems as he was reading the Guardian (Left wing paper)."
He was just on vacation and was traveling to his destination via rail is all.
No problem here, move along now.
Surely they weed out applicants that can read.
He must have just been looking at the funnies.
Hurtling along at high speed, Jimmy noticed something that had, a nanosecond before, what appeared to be the driver of a commuter train reading a paper.
Jimmy pulled over, got his NIKON out of the glove compartment, adjusted the f-stop and caught the seemingly perfectly focussed shot of the deranged criminal driver.
What a terrific citizen.
(Prolly pissed off because he was stunned on seeing the driver shaggin' his wife.)
Excuse me, Jimmy, but did you notice the two long, brown, straight, thingies in your picture? The ones with the perpendicular planks between them? They're called "tracks" and they're what trains ride on. To keep them from making a wrong turn, going off route, stuff like that.
Therefor, the engineer doesn't "drive" a train, he simply starts it and stops it.
Nah, Jimmy just likes taking "snaps" of trains emerging from tunnels...
He doesn't do anything with them, when he's home alone...
Snaps for Jimmy!
/s
Pity the poor union engineer. He had to leave the station at 5:53am. Probably no time for breakfast. So naturally he would settle down to a cup of coffee and his morning paper when he finally got the chance.
I recall England had red light cameras until they caught pictures of Members of Parliament driving around with "women other than their wives." And then those cameras came down.
Reading the paper, huh? Maybe his cellphone needed recharging...
No problem. He’ll be reinstated when they realize he was only reading the instruction manual on how to operate the train.
Old manual Nikon F has adjustable f-stop, nowadays but recent Canon SLR >4800 you can take pictures at available light with one candle. Digi camera with adjustable F-stop are very very expensive.
Therefor, the engineer doesn’t “drive” a train, he simply starts it and stops it.
Not really. He has to watch for rail speed signals, open switches and objects on the track; Deer, cars, trucks and stopped trains ahead.
Maybe he did the same thing I did: buy a digital camera body that would accept my old lenses. Saved a few bucks that way. I still adjust f stops for depth of focus, or to make up for a faster shutter speed.
Jimmy is probably a train spotter. Retired bloke, a train lover, who just sits on overcrosses taking pics of trains.
England is full of plane spotters as well...so watch out!
I had to throw away my dada's old Nikon F2AS Ai and Canon F-1 (classic) FD lenses because they can't don't fit to new SLRs. Canon EOS T2! gets all the way the 12,800 ISO I can take photos with barely no light at f2 1/30 or I'd modify my old digi cam to shoot infrared...
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