Great Western Coffee Shop

There has been some work going on at Sandhurst station for the last couple of weeks. They have cleared a couple of areas of vegetation on the north side of the line. One is in Scotland Hill near the junction with Yorktown Road, where they have placed some storage containers. The other is off Yorktown Road next to the phone mast below platform 1. This morning I noticed there were some temporary barriers at the Guildford ends of the platforms with short sections of temporary fencing extending along the edge of the ballast.

On the one.network road traffic website there is an entry for temporary traffic lights either side of the bridge with the description: "Delivery and material distribution from the highway level to the elevated platforms at Sandhurst Station".

Is this possible preparation for the the introduction of class 769, or just some general maintenance?

At first sight, extending the platforms at Sandhust for 769s looks the most likely reason. After all, 769s have four coaches while 165/6s only three at most. Sandhurst and Gomshall are the only stations shown in maps with only three-car capability, so that's all that's needed. QED.

But hold on a minute ... the "rules" (TPR) lists Gomshall's platforms as 91 m long already, more than enough, and Sandhurst as 78 m. The full length (between couplings, I expect) of a 319/769 is 79.5 m, and even the drivers' doors are not right at the end. But then you need to allow a bit of leeway for stopping accuracy, so yes a few metres are needed. You could argue they'll only be for staff use, given where the passenger doors are. And we are only talking about a few metres - it's not as if NR ever build anything with a bit extra for the future, is it?

I don't think we have any kind of list of little enhancements like this any more. The label "enhancements" is now reserved for big things funded outside NR's budget, and anything smaller has to come out of the renewals budget, presumably. Over-renewals?

Not  a unique issue

From The BBC (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-50557197)


A 2 car 150 could stop at the old Melksham platform if the deriver got it exactly right (a 165 could have done so too) but than goodness it was extended. Very tight without exact computer control and awkward for staff access.  Makes sense to add a few yards at Sandhurst (according to the figures on paper).

When I was at Sandhurst station yesterday (16/12/19) there were not a great deal of obvious signs of progress. I looks like, because the site is right on the edge of the embankment, it's not possible to use a mechanical digger, so all the digging has to be done by hand. The first phase looked like they were relaying electrical cables in fairly deep trenches.

Yesterday they were working on some wooden casings, which I assume were moulds so they could pour concrete foundations. I also noticed at the bottom of the embankment there was a pile of heavy steel piping which looked similar to those used to support the existing platform sections.

(https://www.railforums.co.uk/media/img_20191216_093657.3607/full)

After a long walk two or three years ago I had a 15-minute wait for a train home from Sandhurst station. The tip-up seats in the platform shelter were almost impossible to sit on - very uncomfortable. When I got home I did a bit of Googling and got the impression that such seats were designed that way to deter extended use by non-passengers hanging out on the station.

Marlburian

They have now confirmed they are extending the platforms for new trains...

(https://www.railforums.co.uk/media/img_20191219_093019.3613/full)

That is "new" as in its loosest sense of the word, given I think the "new" trains are in fact older?

I wonder if they will be extending the platforms at other stations along the route or do the "new" trains have selective door opening?

Most other platforms are just about long enough I believe.

A comment I saw on RailUK forums said that the east bound platform at Betchworth is also being extended.

This evening's 19-26 ex-Guildford stopper was formed of 6 cars (presumably to get stock caught up in the disruption earlier in the day back to the right place), all available to the travelling public. At Guildford the dot matrix signage advised passengers for Ash to travel in the front 4 coaches. There were no on-board announcements (or at least none audible in the front 3 coaches)

I hope that there were no passengers for Sandhurst in the rear 3 coaches who either had an unwanted journey to Wokingham, or perhaps a nasty tumble down the embankment when they got off the train.......

That does sound odd - Ash isn't even one of the shorter platforms. Only North Camp is long enough, and Ash is second at 101 m - the rest are shorter. Which almost sounds as if the rear unit wasn't going to open at all at those, so Ash was the only one where choice of coach (as opposed to unit) would matter. But that would call for some kind of announcement, surely...

For reference, the shortest platforms on the whole line are:

Sandhurst:   both 78
Blackwater:  both 84
Chilworth:    both 85
Reigate:      down 85 (down is away from Charing Cross, of course)

By standard reckoning, anything over 85 m is enough for an 80 m train. Those lengths are from The Rules, and are for Sussex and Wessex are rounded down from those in the sectional appendices - sometimes very oddly. Chilworths's, for example, are listed as 85.95 before rounding!

You can’t run 6-cars in service on the North Downs Line, unless running non-stop, the rear set must have been locked out of use.

Having re-read that, I take it the only message was on the station matrix displays - and they run off SWT software, even if Network Rail now manage the station. So it may well be that the only standard message available to say "travel in the front unit" is worded as "front four coaches". Or else the CIS driver didn't know how long a 165 is ...

Was there any other evidence for the second unit being unlocked? It could have been lit up and locked.

I did not actually check to see if they were in use. I always go for the front of the train, to aid my dash for the onward Goring/Didcot train (see post about badly matched timetables, passim), so cannot confirm. However there was no announcement about the rear three coaches being locked out of use at Guildford, whereas there definitely was the dot-matrix message referred to above.

The locking out of use of empty stock on trains otherwise in use can be galling. Under the timetable just finished this month, the 19-20 Reading to Oxford consisted of two turbos, the rear one locked out of use. On quite a few occasions I traveled on this service after the cancellation of the previous (usually busy) 8 coach Didcot stopper, when the front set was a 2 car Turbo with a locked 3 car set behind. I counted over 200 passengers getting in on one occasion. When I queried why the rear set was locked out of use I was told it was because it stopped at Appleford. Surely to goodness it would have been better just to ensure someone announced in the rear set at Didcot that passengers for Appleford should move to the front 2 or 3 coaches?   

That would seem sensible but it takes several minutes for the driver to check and then lock out the empty train at the back which causes delays unless it’s factored into the timetable.  Unlike some more modern trains you have to physically lock each door.

I checked this out knowing I almost certainly could find this timetable at the bottom of my briefcase - this service (which was a Culham not an Appleford stopper, I see) had a 2 minute stop at Didcot, whereas the previous two had 8 and 6 minute stops.

But then we're only passengers, and our reasonable needs do seem to get in the way of running the trains  ::)

How much would it cost to upgrade Turbos for this feature? 

No sign of any construction activity at Sandhurst station today, but bases for the extensions to both platforms are in place.

(https://pbase.com/reticulatus/image/170262750/medium.jpg) (https://pbase.com/reticulatus/image/170262750)

(https://pbase.com/reticulatus/image/170262751/medium.jpg) (https://pbase.com/reticulatus/image/170262751)

More progress:

(https://pbase.com/reticulatus/image/170289637/medium.jpg) (https://pbase.com/reticulatus/image/170289637)

(https://pbase.com/reticulatus/image/170289641/medium.jpg) (https://pbase.com/reticulatus/image/170289641)

(https://pbase.com/reticulatus/image/170289642/medium.jpg) (https://pbase.com/reticulatus/image/170289642)

Metal gates and steps for trackside access have now been added to the platform extensions:

(https://pbase.com/reticulatus/image/170316708/medium.jpg) (https://pbase.com/reticulatus/image/170316708)

(https://pbase.com/reticulatus/image/170316709/medium.jpg) (https://pbase.com/reticulatus/image/170316709)

The extension to platform 1 has had lighting added and the fence painted.
(https://pbase.com/reticulatus/image/170389594/medium.jpg) (https://pbase.com/reticulatus/image/170389594)

The extension to platform 2 has had lighting added.
(https://pbase.com/reticulatus/image/170389595/medium.jpg) (https://pbase.com/reticulatus/image/170389595)

Click on the images to see larger versions.

I was back at Sandhurst station today for the first time in several weeks. The temporary barriers have all been removed and you can walk on the new platform extensions.

All it needs now is for some longer trains to roll into town  :)