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17
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Journey by Journey / Shorter journeys in Devon / Re: Okehampton
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on: October 13, 2021, 21:29:08
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I suspect that they’re not guage-checked
Indeed. But HST▸ 's are gauge cleared so a 2 + 4 might be a sensible idea if another 4 coach train cannot be confirmed. OkeRAil CIC▸ hired one to got to Paddington. |
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18
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Journey by Journey / Cross Country services / Re: Cross Country - provisional timetable for 2022
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on: September 20, 2021, 22:31:38
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Cross Country - 2022 - from Railwaydata - "Please note: This timetable is a very early edition and should be treated as such. Some trains for this period are missing and there will be changes before the timetable goes live. Next update expected on 26/09/2021." I would summarise the service as A core hourly route, Newcastle to Plymouth via Leeds. At the north end, about half of the trains start back at Edinburgh and one starts back at Glasgow and one at Aberdeen. At the south end, one extends to Penzance. No servives to Paignton, Bath Spa or Cardiff via Bristol, and none calling at Weston-super-mare any longer. At least one short run only as far south as Bristol. Only one of these services calls at Gloucester. Being pedantic, there is not a core hourly service between Newcastle and Plymouth. There are 4 trains missing from such a pattern. Indeed the 07.25 is a double set, 11.27 is a double set (from Plymouth) but I believe the 09.25 is a single set. No 08.27 or 10.27. The 09.25 is always busy, especially from Exeter. A bijou service perhaps There appears to be the same gaps as now from Plymouth. No trains at 08.27, 10.27, 13.27, 17.27 A second core hourly route, Manchester to Reading, about alternate trains extended to Southampton. No extensions to Bournemouth of Guildford at all. Hourly Nottingham to Cardiff, with a second train Nottingham to Birmingham Two trains a day from Newcastle to Birmingham via Doncaster, one extended to Banbury. |
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19
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All across the Great Western territory / Buses and other ways to travel / Re: Stagecoach buses - Plymouth
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on: September 08, 2021, 23:38:48
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In my area of Plymouth, Citybus serves us. It isnt that good actually. Certainly could not rely on into work. Cancellations shown at last minute and I have heard from the local Forum for my area that a wait of 90 minutes has occurred a few times. There should be 2 an hour on 40/41 and a 42A once an hour. The latter is genuinely more reliable but not always. What the cause of this is I dont know, but bus drivers get paid awfully for their shifts.
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20
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Journey by Journey / Plymouth and Cornwall / Re: Boardmasters etc
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on: August 23, 2021, 23:44:01
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I think it’s across the board* with Devon and Cornwall having some of the highest covid rates in the UK▸ . Can’t think why  *No pun intended  Grockles and emmets? More people in confined area or at a festival and bound to happen. Even if double vaccinated one can still carry as much contagion of the Delta variant as anyone else |
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22
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All across the Great Western territory / Across the West / Re: Seat reservations - what could possibly go wrong?
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on: July 31, 2021, 22:10:17
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Melksham to Evesham on Thursday. Advance tickets both way, so reserved seats. How did the reservation system work? I was booked on seven main network trains.
1. Local train without reservations
2. System turned off
3. All Green showing
4. Switch on but my seat showing "available"
5. Paper tags (but my seat taken by a shopping bag!)
6. Correct
7. I had no reservation - used an IET▸ only because local train cancelled
I did note that reservations seemed to be clumped - especially on train no. 5 (Worcesterhire Parkway to Cheltenham Spa) - all towards one end of the carriage I was in. I do wonder if this is the best in terms of helping us social distance as much as possible.
Perfect storm of system failures and things going wrong, or something carefully set up by GWR▸ and XC▸ for me, knowing the trains I was on and wanting to help me make an interesting post?
Isnt social distancing finished now? |
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26
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All across the Great Western territory / Across the West / Re: Problems with IET trains from April 2021
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on: May 12, 2021, 23:08:52
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What are the plans for the 5 HST▸ coaches ? make an additional 5+2 set, or perhaps add one vehicle to each castle set to make 2+4 sets into 2+5.
Unlikely to be a mixed set - can you have both slam door and electric doors in the same train? Logic might be another 4+2 set with a spare carriage?? I presume that there is a rule against mixed slam doors and power doors within the same train, WHILST TIMES ARE NORMAL. In the present circumstances an exception could reasonably be made. Option one. Put the single additional slam door vehicle at one end of the train. Lock the external slam doors and put up signs that read "this door not in use" Passengers to move along the train to use this extra seating. If any platform can only take 4 cars, make certain that the slam door vehicle is the one not platformed. Option 1 is not allowed by the rules. End doors have to act as emergency escape. Cannot do if Locked out of use |
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27
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Journey by Journey / London to the West / Re: Dawlish Sea Wall
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on: February 15, 2021, 22:58:21
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And neither steam locomotives nor the atmospheric railway had computers that under adverse conditions tend to stop everything and may not even allow re-starting.
A significant number of IET▸ failures have been "computer says no" rather than a physical component breaking, catching fire or dropping of.
I used to live in a block of flats in Plymouth City centre. Also in the block were a Mr and Mrs Downton. They had lived there since the blocks had been built in 1953. He was a fireman and later drive for the Southern Region based at Friary initially. He recounted a story to me, about a time during the exchange WR/ SR‡ workings that going along the Wall, a large wave crashed down on their locomotive extinguishing the fire and drenching them! I have no reason to disbelieve him and never asked if it were possible. We had been talking about the voyagers dislike of salt water, that the IETs seem to have as well. Seems that the problems have always been there, just in different guises |
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28
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Journey by Journey / Shorter journeys in Devon / Re: Okehampton
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on: January 22, 2021, 23:26:32
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I heard on a Facebook group that platform 1 stub is to be reconnected (by the old goods shed) to allow Heritage services towards Meldon and platform 2 track to be taken up. Platform 3 is the side with the main buildings, not Platform 1. See:- ((link))As an aside, the track in Platform 2 was extended a few years ago and maybe it is just this extension that does not meet standards. Just a thought
Edit - I have replaced a very long URL which was causing display issues for this post with the word "link" which will click you through to the same place anyway - GrahamE . It points to a picture in a Railfuture article ((here)) - and I have mirrored the picture ((here)) |
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29
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Sideshoots - associated subjects / Campaigns for new and improved services / Re: Okehampton-Tavistock. Discussion on reopening and potential use as a diversionary route
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on: December 10, 2020, 19:41:00
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I like the way this has been presented - doubled throughout and electrified to boot! Better to start big and get bargained down, ... Almost ... Double-track railway from Exeter to Okehampton/Meldon, single track (extent to be confirmed in SOBC) through parts of Dartmoor to limit environmental impact; double track from Tavistock to Plymouth. Sample timetable is showing a 19 minute journey from Okehampton to Tavistock, with 13 minutes at one and and 9 minutes at the other to avoid any waiting around for a train that's a few minutes late coming off that section. Not clear about local traffic Okehampton to Sampford Courtney / Yeoford / Crediton / Newton St Cyres flows (though I imagine that a couple of those journeys would be as rare as Barry Docks to Barry Links), nor Barnstaple to Plymouth journeys that look like they need to double back at Exeter during the daytime cycle? I am pleased to see this proposal which is similar to what I did for Destination Okehampton and Peninsula Rail Group (PRG) around 5 years ago. Mine had slightly less double track but was workable. I may be wrong too, please correct me if I am, but there appears to be a stopper train at Tavistock between xx52 and xx32. Or to put it another way for 40 minutes. It can shunt after the through departs at 28, but this unit is effectively blocking the route to other services such as freight for forty minutes. This must surely be an error in the sample timetable |
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