London Banter - Car 346A

Hi Clive

I suspect you are right and the Observer article may have been disinfo.
The Observer does a lot of that. It was a great ride though. What I
have learnt is that unless I get hold of genuine working timetables
deductions are unlikely to be reliable.

The Mirror is a bit dodgy also, but on boltholes:

Daily Mirror 11 July 2005
EXCLUSIVE: MY LEG.. WHERE'S MY LEG?
Joe, 19, tells of horror on bombed Tube
By Paul Gallagher

TEENAGER Joe Orr was travelling on the Piccadilly Line on a weekly
college visit when the second bomb ripped his train apart.

Joe, 19, a maintenance engineer from Enfield, Herts, had been sitting
halfway down the first carriage of the Tube as it pulled out of King's
Cross at 8.56am.

Moments later the bomb exploded claiming the lives of up to 41
commuters.

Here is his diary of that horrific day.

7.45am: Leave my house in Enfield at my usual time and drive to Arnos
Grove where I work with Tube Lines.

8.10am: Today is my weekly visit to Newham College in Stratford, East
London, where I'm studying for a diploma - so leave the car at work and
get on the Piccadilly Line to Holborn.

8.15am: Tube arrives. Arnos Grove is one of the first stops on the
Piccadilly so I always get a seat.

8.22am: End up waiting for several minutes at each Tube stop as there
has been a fire alert at Caledonian Road. Our train is packed because
of the delays holding people up.

8.50am: Finally get into King's Cross where the platform is heaving.
Only a few more people can fit into our carriage.

8.56am: Leave King's Cross. We never make it to the next stop.

About 10 seconds after leaving the station the bomb goes off at the end
of the carriage I'm in.

There's a very bright light to my left followed by a huge noise.

The next thing I remember is looking up. All the lights were off.
People were screaming.

I glanced down to see I was alive. Perhaps I was in shock.

I knew my earphones for my iPod had fallen out. When I actually
realised what had happened I didn't know what to do at first.

A panel from the carriage that had been blasted away hit me on the
head, cutting me. I can feel blood on my face.

8.58am: It takes a couple of minutes to realise the full impact of what
has happened. All the windows are blown out.

The panel was right on top me so I grab it and throw it out one of the
broken windows. Look to my right where most people are well enough to
stand up, dust themselves off and try to take in what's happened.

Turn my head and look to my left... there was hardly anyone there. The
bomb must have just wiped most of them out.

The carriage had been ripped apart. There was blood everywhere, and
limbs blown away from bodies.

Nobody travelling on that side of the carriage stood much of a chance
of getting out of there alive.

A few moments later I realised a bloke had fallen on me. I couldn't get
him off. He was out cold. Try to wake him up, gently slapping him to
rouse him, but he won't move.

9.00am: The emergency lights came on. Doing the job I do, I knew the
driver must have got out of the train and connected a cable to a power
supply along the tunnel.

I managed to get out from under the guy who had fallen on me and get to
the nearest double doors on my right. A lady was lying on the floor
close by not moving.

I heard voices saying she was dead. She looked like she was in her 20s.
People were screaming again, louder this time, saying again, "She's
dead, she's dead". Someone else screamed "My leg, where's my leg?"

It is just chaos. Everyone is really scared. I calm down and try to do
something. Start asking people to get out their phones so I could get
some light in the carriage and see what's happening. Pick the woman up
and push her into a seat on the carriage. Persuade a woman next to me
to talk to the bloodied woman to try to make sure she is okay.

9.05am: The driver sets an emergency ladder up which people use to
clamber out of the carriage and start walking towards Russell Square
tube stop - the next one along.

I'm still in the carriage. Turn round again now that we had some light.
I can't believe what I'm seeing. There's a man covered in blood and
soot lying on the floor.

He was looking down his body. I follow his gaze and see his leg is
blown off. Try to help him up on to a seat but he slips and falls,
screaming in agony. I can't take that sound any more. There is so much
screaming. I shout for people to calm down but it's too much. I get off
the train.

9.08am: Look up and see another lady being helped off the train through
a window. Her foot is missing. She looks back at me and simply says "My
foot's missing".

I reply "oh yeah" and walk off. It seemed a natural reaction at the
time. One woman has been blown through the glass panel you have either
side of the double doors on the Tube. She mumbles something and someone
comes to help her up.

There's thick smoke in the tunnel and the smell is horrendous, really
disgusting. I don't want to taste it or smell it, but you have to.

Walk to the driver's cabin and put the emergency phone to my ear but
there's nothing. I can't speak to anyone.

9.13am: Run down the tunnel at breakneck speed and find a bolt hole to
climb through to the eastbound tunnel. Connect the driver's emergency
phone to a cable in the wall.

Then all the lights in the tunnel suddenly come on. I hear the phone
connect when I try it again so think someone must have picked up the
other end. Shout "hello" but there's still no one there.

9.16am: Run back to the train to tell the driver I can't get anyone on
the phone so ask him what he wants me to do. I turn again, noticing the
guy with the missing leg has somehow managed to prop himself up, drag
himself along the carriage and clamber halfway down the ladder.

I grab him but can't support him. Sit him down again and start running
towards Russell Square down the left hand side of the track to try to
get help. I look at the 100metre measurements along the track to see
how far it is to Russell Square - about 380 metres.

9.19am: Get to Russell Square and ring my girlfriend Katie to let her
know I'm okay and tell her about the bomb. Just as I arrived the first
people from our Tube who had left the end of the train had got to the
station - they had gone down the right hand side.

9.23am: Want people to come back with me to help the people in my
carriage, but am told to get out of there and up to the ticket office
up the lifts at Russell Square.

[www.mirror.co.uk]

He says he got through one to the eastbound.

On 311. This is now officially a non-train and its driver Tom Nairn is
officially a non-person:

Not wishing to denigrate any of the actions of police on the day, not
ONE WORD has been said about the driver of Train 311, Tom Nairn. I
joined Tom's train at Kings Cross,travelling in the cab with him on my
way to work as a fellow driver, based at Acton Town. I took the first
couple of batches of walking wounded to Russell Square and was probably
the first member of staff to meet any collegue at the station. Tom
stayed behind in the first car, doing what we as drivers are paid to
do, looking after his train and his passengers on it. He helped some by
applying tourniques and reassurring others. He saw things that even
trained police officers found themselves unable to cope with, but most
importantly had to face it on his own before help arrived probably 40
minutes later, a scene of utter devastation in almost total darkness.
He has never been mentioned or praised, he has remained dignified and
quiet, and has never returned to drive a train. Recently he applied for
some compensation through his union. The response from the Met Police
was "We have no knowledge of this person having been involved in this
incident and therefore will not be processing his claim further."
Rather odd because Tom and I were interviewed by police for around
three hours after the incident. The press coverage of the other
'heroes' has left him feeling completely empty and devalued. Pity when
the the reaction of Police and certain members of station staff are
lauded he has been completely forgotten.

Ray Wright
Train Operator
Acton Town Depot
http://www.rachelnorthlondon.blogspot.com/

Scroll down to "Hero of the Year now an M.B.E" and look at the
comments. Be quick. Rachel is a whizz with the delete button.