"Robin May" wrote in message
...

My girlfriend was on a Piccadilly train today. It stopped at Russell
Square because the train in front was smoking. At first it was thought
that it would be a small delay but eventually the London Fire Brigade
had to be called in. She says she could smell the smoke in the tunnel
at Russell Square. Any connection between the two events?

There seems to have been a spate of 'warm' trains recently. Late on
Wednesday night I was heading north up the Bakerloo line in a car in which
there were three engineers in hi-vi vests, with flashlamps, who had all of
the seats cushions off at one end of the car and were periodically
inspecting the bogie below. When braking for stations there was an excessive
grinding noise from one wheelset and a strong smell of burning. I was quite
surprised that they kept the vehicle open to passengers at that time of the
night, especially as they were surrounded by standing passengers whilst they
were working. I suspect that that would not have been the case if the
incident had occurred on a mainline train, where the HSE regulations are
observed and implemented more rigorously.