Podcast: Signals to Danger - Railway disasters in the UK

[ffesti]

Hi Dan, I’ve been listening since episode 1 and I think it’s an excellent podcast. I stumbled upon it completely by chance and was glad to find something with a professional railway focus, presenting facts in a clear and concise way.
Just listened to your Cowden episode and there were a few times where the incidental music was very loud compared to your voice before and after it. Around 22 minutes, the music almost drowned out the end of your sentence and at 37:39 I found the music quite jarring in terms of volume.
Otherwise, it was another great episode and, as usual, I look forward to listening to the next episode. Keep up the excellent work!

 

[plymothian]

A few episodes were put on youtube a little while back and I will get round to putting more on there, they just had a *very* limited number of views.

The trouble with Youtube, is that you are a very new content creator and not even on their radar yet. You are going to have to get aquainted with the algorithm to grow; there's a lot of tips and tricks around, but it'll take time and effort.
However, hopefully, one day you'll eventually appear on the suggested list, find people's interest is piqued and you viewership will explode.

 

[tpfx89]

I think the sound is something I'm improving as I go, this has all been a learning curve for me.
In the Cowden episode I made a change with how I used the music, instead of having a very low volume constant backing track which I faded up at times, I decided to use it as solely as punctuation and selectively placed it to separate out the episode.

Admittedly I don't get the levels right all the time so that kind of feedback is great. I reckon by episode 20 I'll have the formula down!

 

[ffesti]

I think the sound is something I'm improving as I go, this has all been a learning curve for me.
In the Cowden episode I made a change with how I used the music, instead of having a very low volume constant backing track which I faded up at times, I decided to use it as solely as punctuation and selectively placed it to separate out the episode.

Admittedly I don't get the levels right all the time so that kind of feedback is great. I reckon by episode 20 I'll have the formula down!

Audio can be incredibly difficult (and massively time consuming!) to get ‘just right’, especially as it can sound completely different depending on the system you’re listening to it on. I don’t think it helps that I generally listen to your podcast in the car, which is not the most forgiving system for a voice over the top of music, especially if that music has any appreciable bass in it.
I’m really enjoying hearing the little improvements with every episode. I hope you continue to enjoy producing them and as soon as I’m in a financial position to do so, I’ll definitely be considering supporting your Patreon.

 

[tpfx89]

Audio can be incredibly difficult (and massively time consuming!) to get ‘just right’, especially as it can sound completely different depending on the system you’re listening to it on. I don’t think it helps that I generally listen to your podcast in the car, which is not the most forgiving system for a voice over the top of music, especially if that music has any appreciable bass in it.
I’m really enjoying hearing the little improvements with every episode. I hope you continue to enjoy producing them and as soon as I’m in a financial position to do so, I’ll definitely be considering supporting your Patreon.

Well thank you very much in that case!

It didn't help that I changed from a program I was used to and moved over to one that will be better in the long run, but has a learning curve attached to it!

 

[samzeman]

I'm entirely new to rail stuff overall but I was turned onto StD from a reddit thread (the Great Heck crash is popular there recently for some reason) and I have to say, it's very compelling listening. I have no complaints about audio or anything. I just thought I'd come by and show my appreciation though. I usually listen to comedy podcasts so it's a really nice change of pace lol. But as these random months-long obsessions often do for me, it's driving me to learn a lot more about rail, which I previously kind of entirely took for granted (although I have always thought trains are incredibly cool machines and most Americans are missing out, and mistaken in their beliefs about trains besides....)

BUT ANYWAY: this podcast is really good. Huge fan

 

[tpfx89]

I'm entirely new to rail stuff overall but I was turned onto StD from a reddit thread (the Great Heck crash is popular there recently for some reason) and I have to say, it's very compelling listening. I have no complaints about audio or anything. I just thought I'd come by and show my appreciation though. I usually listen to comedy podcasts so it's a really nice change of pace lol. But as these random months-long obsessions often do for me, it's driving me to learn a lot more about rail, which I previously kind of entirely took for granted (although I have always thought trains are incredibly cool machines and most Americans are missing out, and mistaken in their beliefs about trains besides....)

BUT ANYWAY: this podcast is really good. Huge fan

Cheers for the feedback, always appreciated! Probably the Reddit thread I plugged it on! r/catastrophicfailures by any chance?

 

[Cowley]

I’ve always felt (rightly or wrongly here Dan) that if I’m taking in a free podcast then it’s fine for you to have a bit of free promotion because you’re entertaining and informing us in your own time which you don’t have to do.

I notice that you’re now on Spotify which is a really easy platform to listen to when you’re working (I spend most of my work day listening to podcasts), will that help you with getting to a wider audience?

 

[samzeman]

Cheers for the feedback, always appreciated! Probably the Reddit thread I plugged it on! r/catastrophicfailures by any chance?

Yes indeed! Pretty good subreddit, as they go.

 

[tpfx89]

I’ve always felt (rightly or wrongly here Dan) that if I’m taking in a free podcast then it’s fine for you to have a bit of free promotion because you’re entertaining and informing us in your own time which you don’t have to do.

I notice that you’re now on Spotify which is a really easy platform to listen to when you’re working (I spend most of my work day listening to podcasts), will that help you with getting to a wider audience?

Being on the major platforms helps a little, but you don't get any growth specifically through them till your numbers hit high enough for them to drop into recommended or charts. I'm certainly not there yet I'm afraid!

As it stands it's definitely growing episode on episode, the last two have seen just shy of 300 downloads in the first 7 days. Which is more the 3 times what Potters Bar got first week! Most of this (I think) is organic growth from places like this thread, facebook, twitter and linkedin, both my posts and others, which is why I appreciate it so much.

In a plus side the intro to the next episode is a lot shorter!

 

[Cowley]

I don’t mind the intro, but I did wonder how you might tackle the names of people that lost their lives in some of the bigger disasters? You wouldn’t be able to read out all the names of the people that died at Clapham for instance I assume? Although it is really good that you talk about the victims the way you do as it makes you think about who they were and helps you to put yourself in the position of being in the situation.

 

[tpfx89]

Dependant on the accident, it's not always that easy to find the names. It's more something I seem to find from contemporary news articles.

I don't believe I'd be able to list the victims of Harrow and Wealdstone, quintinshill etc, but for something on Southalls scale? I think I'd record it, try to do them the justice. If it doesn't work in the edit then I'll maybe need to review.

 

[Cowley]

Dependant on the accident, it's not always that easy to find the names. It's more something I seem to find from contemporary news articles.

I don't believe I'd be able to list the victims of Harrow and Wealdstone, quintinshill etc, but for something on Southalls scale? I think I'd record it, try to do them the justice. If it doesn't work in the edit then I'll maybe need to review.

Yes that make sense. Really looking forward to the next one Dan.

 

[bspahh]

Being on the major platforms helps a little, but you don't get any growth specifically through them till your numbers hit high enough for them to drop into recommended or charts. I'm certainly not there yet I'm afraid!

At iTunes https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/signals-to-danger-railway-disasters-in-the-uk/id1528838959 Signals to Danger now has 13 ratings, and its 4th in the list of podcasts if I do a search for "railway". Its 58th in this chart of trending Apple Great Britain Documentary Podcasts

Apple Podcasts : Great Britain : Documentary Podcast Charts - Top Podcasts

View 100 top podcasts from Apple Podcasts : Great Britain : Documentary and view historical chart positions. Updated daily.

chartable.com

 

[tpfx89]

Evening all,

Episode 9 is up and running, the Castlecary collision of 1937 for your listening pleasure!

Hello all,

Just to plug another railway "start up" I've just done a bit of a collaboration with a new online rail "magazine", allthingstrains.com.

There's a link to the article below but it's worth a look in any case, they're not posting very often, yet, but the content is of a high quality (the other articles I mean, not blowing my own trumpet!).

Talking Trains: accidents and preventing them with Daniel Fox

Following the re-opening of the line through Carmont after the tragic Stonehaven derailment of August 2020, we talked with Daniel Fox of podcast and website ‘Signals to Danger’. Rail professional Daniel studies and writes on rail accidents and their prevention. ATT: Daniel, you’re a railway...

allthingstrains.com

 

[malc-c]

OK I don't think I will ever pass "constructive" criticism on Dans work again.

During a few PMs with Dan he suggested I give producing a podcast a go for myself. However as a person who suffers from low self confidence and with a mental health condition, the thought of simply recording myself made me nervous even though I had purchased a mixer and microphone years back for video work. The thought of putting that recording in the public domain, just made me very anxious indeed. However, in order to try and overcome these fears I sat down, scripted and recorded a 20 min podcast (not railway related) over the course of a few weeks. Having attempted this for myself I realise just how much effort Dan puts into to his productions, and what's involved in trying to get that polished production finished, and I don't have any deadlines to meet.

I'm not entirely happy with my final production, but there is only so many times you can go back and re-record a long take just because you fluffed a word... Whilst I may never upload it to a hosting site and make it public, it's certainly been a steep learning curve and has allowed me to appreciate the effort and energy put into these productions and how thick skinned Dan must be to take criticism of his hard work. For me I'm too thin skinned

Dan, looking forward to your next episode of signals to danger. If you need an ideas for future episodes there have been two crashes at Welwyn Garden City, one in 1957 and the more serious one in 1935 which resulted in 14 fatalities and 85 injuries. Both instances, like in your last episode were rear end collisions.

 

[tpfx89]

You never know who might be interested if you start putting stuff out there, look at all of you listening to me bang on every couple of weeks!

Creative and constructive criticism is always appreciated, I'm far from am expert yet!

And also, episode 10 is now live!

Covering the derailment at Shipton-on-Cherwell on Christmas Eve 1874, it's about as close to a Christmas special as my kind of podcast can have so I hope you enjoy!

 

[martin2345uk]

You never know who might be interested if you start putting stuff out there, look at all of you listening to me bang on every couple of weeks!

Creative and constructive criticism is always appreciated, I'm far from am expert yet!

And also, episode 10 is now live!

Covering the derailment at Shipton-on-Cherwell on Christmas Eve 1874, it's about as close to a Christmas special as my kind of podcast can have so I hope you enjoy!

That's today's commute sorted, thanks!!

 

[malc-c]

That's today's commute sorted, thanks!!

I had a chuckle to myself when I read that... Someone sitting on a train listening to podcasts about train disasters, and all I saw was the scene in Airplane where they were on the plane and the inflight movie were all clips of plane crashes

 

[Bletchleyite]

I had a chuckle to myself when I read that... Someone sitting on a train listening to podcasts about train disasters, and all I saw was the scene in Airplane where they were on the plane and the inflight movie were all clips of plane crashes

I've watched Titanic on a ferry, and both Dante's Peak and one of the Superman films on a plane (both of these include plane crash or near plane crash scenes)

 

[bearhugger]

I just want to add how much I am enjoying the podcast. For some reason on the Cowden episode, I found i was quite moved towards the end by the part about the 2 unknown victims who were believed to be children.
To touch on sound quality, I am slightly hard of hearing particularly in the higher range frequencies so foe example most people will sound bassier or i struggle to hear someone speaking to me so I compensate by lip reading a bit. I listen on my Google Pixel phone via an app called Podkicker Pro. Now the real difference, to me, are which headphones I use. one pair of in the ear headphones is decidedly average, the other pair is much better. My pair of over the ear heaphones ( i suppose the more traditional type) are much more better. I listen to a few podcasts regularly and also Audible audiobooks.
Another thing I want to mention is the frequency of release - it's about right for me. I think trying to do too much too quick would mean @tpfx89 ends up hating the process of producing podcasts.

 

[bje3400]

I just want to add how much I am enjoying the podcast. For some reason on the Cowden episode, I found i was quite moved towards the end by the part about the 2 unknown victims who were believed to be children.
To touch on sound quality, I am slightly hard of hearing particularly in the higher range frequencies so foe example most people will sound bassier or i struggle to hear someone speaking to me so I compensate by lip reading a bit. I listen on my Google Pixel phone via an app called Podkicker Pro. Now the real difference, to me, are which headphones I use. one pair of in the ear headphones is decidedly average, the other pair is much better. My pair of over the ear heaphones ( i suppose the more traditional type) are much more better. I listen to a few podcasts regularly and also Audible audiobooks.
Another thing I want to mention is the frequency of release - it's about right for me. I think trying to do too much too quick would mean @tpfx89 ends up hating the process of producing podcasts.

Not to shoehorn myself into this one, but just checking you weren't referring to my episode on Charfield on my own podcast when you mentioned the two unknown children?

I only ask in case the heads up regarding sound quality and release frequency was intended for me

 

[bearhugger]

Not to shoehorn myself into this one, but just checking you weren't referring to my episode on Charfield on my own podcast when you mentioned the two unknown children?

I only ask in case the heads up regarding sound quality and release frequency was intended for me

Ah, I may be mistaken in which podcast i was referring to in regards to the two unknown children. Sorry about that - i did listen to both podcasts quite close together on the same day when i had some spare time. . I was quite moved by that bit, having a very young grandson. The point about sound quality i was trying to make (perhaps badly) was sometimes it depends which particular set of headphones i use. I really enjoy both podcasts and the enthusiam and love of the railways comes through from both.

 

[bje3400]

Ah, I may be mistaken in which podcast i was referring to in regards to the two unknown children. Sorry about that - i did listen to both podcasts quite close together on the same day when i had some spare time. . I was quite moved by that bit, having a very young grandson. The point about sound quality i was trying to make (perhaps badly) was sometimes it depends which particular set of headphones i use. I really enjoy both podcasts and the enthusiam and love of the railways comes through from both.

Not a problem in the least, just glad to hear you're enjoying it so much even though Charfield was a bit sobering! I've actually been invited back to Charfield by the local community to visit the memorial again, an invite I intend to take up as soon as I can.

The feedback is much appreciated, I'm always happy to receive it and here's hoping you'll continue to enjoy the show

 

[martin2345uk]

I had a chuckle to myself when I read that... Someone sitting on a train listening to podcasts about train disasters, and all I saw was the scene in Airplane where they were on the plane and the inflight movie were all clips of plane crashes

Ha, it's worse than that really, I drive to work, but I am a train driver, so I like to listen to tales of rail disasters just before I drive a train

 

[malc-c]

Ha, it's worse than that really, I drive to work, but I am a train driver, so I like to listen to tales of rail disasters just before I drive a train

 

[Cowley]

You never know who might be interested if you start putting stuff out there, look at all of you listening to me bang on every couple of weeks!

Creative and constructive criticism is always appreciated, I'm far from am expert yet!

And also, episode 10 is now live!

Covering the derailment at Shipton-on-Cherwell on Christmas Eve 1874, it's about as close to a Christmas special as my kind of podcast can have so I hope you enjoy!

Just listened to it Dan and it was very good. I was listening on my headphones at work and the sound seemed to briefly dip out at one point somewhere around a third of the way in. I’m not sure if it was at my end and I didn’t have time to pause it and listen again and I was wondering if anyone else had noticed?

 

[Dai Corner]

I've watched Titanic on a ferry, and both Dante's Peak and one of the Superman films on a plane (both of these include plane crash or near plane crash scenes)

My mother was somewhat nonplussed when 11 year old me bought 'Red for Danger' to read on my first long train journey.

(It's about railway accidents, based on RAIB reports, like tpxf89's podcasts)

 

[bje3400]

Ha, it's worse than that really, I drive to work, but I am a train driver, so I like to listen to tales of rail disasters just before I drive a train

Haha same here, still doesn't put me off driving them!

 

[Crawley Ben]

These podcasts are very enjoyable & informative. Keep up the good work

Cheers (& merry Christmas to all)

Ben