Great Western Coffee Shop

The map at the top of the pages on this site, showing services cancelled / running short / skipping stops is currently out of date due to a failure in the feed that we use to generate it.  I suspect it's been overwhelmed by the volume of issues today.  I have temporarily changed the "current running" link to point to a text based service that does apepar to be functioning as I write, and I'll review the situation if our regular feed doesn't return overnight

Feed now appears correct.  Temporary glitch, I think.

Sorry about the "outage" on cancellations map from 02:52 to 06:10 this morning.   Our "back" server had overnight issues - running again now, and I am analysing what happened.

What's the problem now? Did you not apply for a token? (http://www.millan.net/minimations/smileys/evilgrin.gif) (http://www.millan.net)

The problem appears to be a disc that's 98% full on a shared server, which is failing to pick up the regular updates.  If I had time, I would switch this element onto one of our own systems ... now that it looks like it's a recurring issue.  Once I'm back at base (end of week), I may get this done, or I may decide that the experiement that I did 3 years ago in setting this up has already outlived its useful life and just put a link back in to the text system it takes the feed from.  The other alternative is to come up with a more robust system, but as we're a free site without resources I don't know how / who by for that.  Thoughts welcomed - but please don't suggest that I try to provide a 100% reliable system completely for free ... if you can provide a system yourself, please do so, and  please let me know and I'll replace the URL to my system with the one to yours  ;)

I for one do find it useful - quick visual on any problems before an intended journey - if it looks like my line is affected I can get more details if needed

The server that generates the image will now add a "flag" line if it suspects feed problems, and that flag line will be removed when it thinks things are cleared.

Bear in mind, please, that "thinking servers" are a bit of an untried concept ... so there may be some odd results.   Will take a further look when I get back.

I'm doing some playing around with this;  it's "tagged" a cancellation map, but with new feeds available I can start adding in planned engineering works:

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/witheng.jpg)

Would this sort of thing be a useful extra, or would it clutter?

Note - I have a feed that will tell me about things like Par -> Newquay and we can add that.  Interestingly, planned engineering to Falmouth has not (yet) shown up.   I also wonder about showing individual stations where trains aren't stopping at times due to engineering;  there's some stuff at Tilehurst or Pangborne this weekend, for example.

Useful

OK ... I noticed no thick lines across the map at all - and it's the middle of the day.  Turns out that our feed is working - simply that FGW are not reporting any issues.   Looks like good news all around!

FGW dont appear to have reported any Live Updates for a couple of days. Are they having a particularly good weekend, or is something amiss?

I had noticed that. I couldn't find any cancellations on the live departure boards. I did have a FGW text yesterday about a failed train affecting services between Exeter and Reading but I couldn't find any evidence of it.

Whenever I see a clear map, I check back to FGW site and indeed it has been clear.   I also over the weekend checked the JourneyPlanner and that had no reports either.   They never have reported absolutely everything, I don't think ... not delays, etc, so the failed train may simply have been running very late but still with its regular calling pattern.

No reports as I write, but then I wouldn't expect them at this hour.   I'll keep an eye open in the morning peak.

Still nothing..and we are now into morning peak territory.

I wonder if they have temporarily suspended Live Updates due to significant diagram re-working as part of the cascade of more Class 150 units into FGW?

The NRE Oxford live departures board has a warning

Service updates

    Trains between Reading and Oxford are being delayed by up to 30 minutes. More details available from the Service Disruption area of the National Rail Enquiries website.

... but there's nothing about this on the FGW website.

And the NRE Paddington arrivals board is reporting that the 06:07 Banbury - Paddington was cancelled after Oxford.

7 updates on an alternative feed, but First Great Western are reporting "no service updates" on their front page.  There isn't a note there to tell us that it's not being updated / provided at present, but (as I write) giving a misleading impression that everything is running, nothing is shortened, nor are there catering problems. 

I have added a not across the map on our site to indicate that we have a feed issue.  That's a temporary measure only - but for the moment I'm not sure how temporary / how, if and when we'll be able to bring a feed back through this site.

Readers may like to note that this map was instigated as a short term test a long time ago.  I expected to run it for just a handful of days, but in fact it's run for years - I'm actually amazed how long it's lasted and how well it's done.  There's an alternative listing - though not of graphic form - at http://www.journeycheck.com/firstgreatwestern/ .   

I have just called a colleague in control who confirmed they have been unable to update since Saturday..it's being worked on..so I guess just got to wait and see when the issue is fixed..

Many thanks for that Ollie, you may not realised just how much I appreciate that feedback;  I rather have my hands full this week ... http://www.wellho.net/pix/gz1.jpg ... and I' going to leave the feed labelled "as is" for a while rather than do what could turn out to be short-life work with a parallel fix.

Looks like it may be fixed ... I've removed the "banner" on the page and will keep an eye on it

Am I paranoid or have FGW lost their network updates facility again. Alternatively has everything been perfect for the last six hours?

Nope. Looks like the feed is down again....

Too late for me to tell if it's up or down (alternative feed reports no problems either as it's rather late).  I will keep my eyes on it but am currently away and only here patchily to do any technical stuff.

I have today Posted a Meessage on the Smoke and Mirrors Board on GWR Publicity Machine Topic thinking I had seen it on two boards.  The message is to say that a slight improvement has been noticed but only perhaps a couple of instances of short formed shewn and no catering failures shewn at all.    Aoilogies for posting on wrong thread.

The "Cancellation Map" has been displayed on this site for nearly 5 years. That's a remarkable lifespan for a little script that I wrote between Christmas and New year 2006, when service records were truly awful, as First Great Western struggled to run a recast timetable with a fleet that had been drastically reduced as a result of their franchise bid and the stated stock requirements therein.

Changes to the data feed within the last couple of days, which I'm fairly sure are permanent changes, mean that I need to rethink how this facility is provided (and indeed if it's still needed, whether it's still practical to provide it, if it could be provided better, etc). That may take a couple of days, and even after that couple of days I may only have an indication of possible solutions / outcomes rather than a returned live feed.   I'll update this thread further by 9 a.m. Monday at the latest.

Some data has been restored onto the map - you can see the end points of services for which issues are currently reported, with the end points joined in blue.  If your line's effected, you can use journeycheck at http://www.journeycheck.com/firstgreatwestern/ for details. You will also see thin grey lines to give you some indication of current engineering works.

I'm going to leave the map running in this mode on the live site for a few days;  it's in a test mode, and I'm gathering background data so that any extra information offered via a new feed can be checked against a basket of incidents.  Of course, if FGW have an excellent week and nothing goes wrong, my test data will be limited and it may take longer to do the necessary testing - and of course I hope that happens  ;)

With the forecast for the week ahead not looking too good, particularly at the end of the week, I suspect there may be some disruption to services to give you some test data.

We'll see ... I'm just back to add a demo example to show what the diagram looks like at present with a disruption shown (I am always an optimist, Timmer, and hope it's clear more often that not!)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/feedtest.jpg)

Well done for getting that back again so quickly.

I've always found it very useful - one look at this and you can see if it's worth looking at the details on the FGW site.

I've had a further chance to update the diagram ... I thinks it's still "can do better" but I have cancellations shown in red again, sort workings and missing stop trains in blue, and lines thickened to represent the number of trains involved on any particular route.  I've also added a positive (green!) piece of text to confirm that our feed's reporting that everything in FGW land is hunky dory.  Let's hope we see that a lot  ;D

A heartfelt vote of thanks from me, too, grahame - for the reason posted above!  Chris  ;) :D ;D

Hmmm ... the devil's in the detail.    Sorry about the spurious lines a short while ago ... St James' Park was temporarily relocated into the Irish Sea due to the different treatment of apostrophes under the new and old feeds  :-\

Please let me know if you spot any other stations that have been relocated somewhere off Rosslare ...

I'm noting a red (for cancelled) line where we should be showing a blue (changed) on one service this morning, and another service showing the opposite way.   I have had very occasional reports like this in the past and am aware it happens once a month or so. It's on my list of "to fix" but can't be a priority and it's hard to reproduce as data changes.

I can cast a fresh pair of eyes over the code if you would like me too. :)

Spurious lines this evening are Ledury, which has been relocate to the Irish Sea somewhere off Dublin.  I'll fax when I'm not moving - don'l like editing files on the server from a moving train in case the connection drops.

Its not just me wandering when FGW started operating to Ireland then!

I do like the idea of Ledbury re-locating to somewhere near Dublin!

Yeah .. but we haven't done a poll to see if that's a majority view, so we really ought put it back where it ought to be  :P

I have just relocated trains terminating at "Ledbury" so that they show halfway between Malvern and Hereford.  Safe to do now that I'm off the train and in Cambridge ...

Another couple of incidents this morning ... and I *think* I have it fixed.  Route cause turned out to be when there are both formation changes which do not involve changes in stopping pattern such as:


and cancellations such as


at the same time.   The display error was purely the colour ... lines were in right places.  As a (temporary? test) measure, we now have cancellations in red (as before), trains that are declared as amended like the one above in light blue, and other amendments in a darker blue. This subtle difference will help me spot recurrences of the circumstance and let me check further.

The map is showing what I call short term cancellations and changes - changes (as I understand it) notified within the last day or so.  As certain service changes were made early in the weekend, they are no longer short term and are NOT being shown.

Specifically:
a) London to West Country services are running in two sections - London to Taunton / Tiverton and Exeter to Penzance
b) The line from Exeter to Barnstaple is completely closed, with all trains cancelled
However - our map gives no indication of these problems.  Sorry. We can only rely on our data feed ... and the map may (in the present and unusual (?) circumstances paint a better picture than it should.

As soon as I wrote that, some of the Barnstaple cancellations came up ... THANK YOU whoever  ;)

And I have added a note about the London - Exeter service being split.  I'll keep an eye on that and if the feed starts to include the changes (and not just the changes to the changes!) I'll clear the message.   Sticky-plaster solution, I hope it's clear!

This is something that has caught me out. If the planned timetable is to be changed - as it has to in the current weather - this should be published on the FGW website and then the Journeycheck page used to show last minute changes to that.

With the last closure at Cowley Bridge it was hard to tell what was happening at times because the new train plan was not published and Journeycheck didn't show deviations from the normal service.

I know journey planner gets updated but that isn't always the best way of relaying the information.

There obviously is an electronic copy of the planned service as a sample copy was posted on here before. That just needs tidying up to make it more customer friendly and then put on the FGW website.

The JourneyCheck pages (http://www.journeycheck.com/firstgreatwestern/ (http://www.journeycheck.com/firstgreatwestern/)) are listing the Exeter Central-Barnstaple trains that are cancelled today - the Exmouth-Barnstaple ones (ie most of them!) that have also been cancelled aren't being shown though ::)

There's no obviously logical reason for this - after all, they are showing all the Newquay and Looe trains, which is why the red blobs in West Cornwall are bigger that the North Devon ones.

FGW had basically uploaded an emergency timetable today and yesterday, so that what you search for in National Rail Enquiries and the like is what is running. That meant no through London-Penzance services were shown, instead London-Tiverton Parkway and Exeter-Penzance services were shown. It's probably easier for passengers than what Cross Country had done. They are just showing their normal timetable, with shorter notice alterations added on the day. It makes it much harder for passengers to plan their journeys. Of course the landslip at Teignmouth today through that out the water somewhat.

Now that the dust has settled (or rather that the "waters have subsided"), I've been giving a bit of thought to what our little map does, what it should do, and what it could do.

Conclusion (1) ... at times of prolonged, mass disruption it's not at all obvious what the "baseline" that we're comparing services against should be;  we're never going to have something that's totally natural and obvious both to regular travellers who would typically know what's been going on, and occasional visitors.

Conclusion (2) ... we should probably leave "as is" to mirror JourneyCheck (any awkward choices they make ... they're making for use too)

Corollory ... at exceptional times, we can add an extra blanket messages over the map.  We're done this several times in the last fortnight, indicating (a) the split of London to West services and (b) the lack on any trains in 25th and 26th.

The Cancellation map seems to have a very odd blue line at the moment. Or is there really an amended Paddington Dublin Service?

I know I am opening an old thread, but it is exactly the same subject. Mods feel free to move

Looks as if they've laid an 'extra Cardigan' on, as its so cold crossing the Bay !! ::)

No - it's an old subject, so right to re-open.   Our system hasn't heard of "Ash" before and believes that Cardigan Bay is a good point to put out the fire ..

... and I have now told our system roughly where it should be.

It may feature for a while too this afternoon... the problem is a lack of a toilet on a unit doing the Reading/Ash shuttle but the set cannot be swapped off with one from the depot because of the engineering work at Reading today. (However at least the blue line will be in the right place now!)

A place I know only from above. Ledbury was one of the turning points for my first ever solo cross-country flight. Ledbury was chosen by my instructor because of the layout of the roads and railway, which makes it a very easy place to identify positively. So I went from Filton to Abergavenny, then to Ledbury, then back down the Wye, doing a lap of honour over the hotel where my wife and her sister were having tea, before a flawless landing at Filton despite having the sun in my eyes. I have also landed once at Ledbury airfield, the only time I have ever been warned not to continue my approach if I see a bus or lorry coming, or the ferry from Dublin for that matter.

Today's turn to be dumped in the Irish Sea ... Reading West.   Now returned to the Reading area.

Some would say the best location for it .................. mind others see it more cort de voir  ;) ;D

I came across a new one on Sunday ... there were buses leaving the station forecourt at Swindon for "Reading and Reading Only" ... and the pedant in me wondered about this other Reading station I hadn't heard of.  "General", yes.  "West", yes.  But "Only" ...

It's on the cort de voir

 ;D ;D ;D

Merci beaucoup, Didier Drogba!

Or South?

And today it's Okehampton!


(http://www.wellho.net:/pix/omove.jpg)

OK ... fixed

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/oback.jpg)

Digby & Sowton has also been re-located from the Irish Sea ...

Member '6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01' will no doubt be relieved to see that ...  ;)

... now living in Gillingham (Dorset).

The map i struggling this morning - or rather the data feed behind it.   Seems like there are a few problems on the lines (such as flood water and the effect of winds) that are generating a lotta lotta traffic.  Rather than just present a blank map as if everything's OK, I've tweaked the software to tell you that the feed's not coming through properly.

Note that maps are cached in your browser, and a SHIFT-Reload may well bring through an updated map rather quicker than simply waiting for a page that reloads it for you.

31 showing cancelled (in the next 2 hours) and 48 service amendments (in the next 2hours), can hardly see the map through thick red and blue lines!

Now 44 and 50 respectively!  :o ::)

... and now 77 and 43 respectively!  :o :o :o

Despite the storms and flooding hitting the real world network the resilience and reliability of the cancellation map in these apocalyptic conditions has been excellent  :o  ;D

And at times some very pretty images  ;D

Did you speak too soon Electric train, or is this a graphical representation of a south coast tidal surge?

(http://i598.photobucket.com/albums/tt68/bignosemac/tg1_zps9bb69cfb.jpg)

 ;D

To my knowledge there have been four failures so far this winter. 

One (as reported by BNM) is that strange graphic above; glitches like that happen (and are corrected automatically in 5 minutes) a handful of times every year; I think I know what the problem is, but it would be nontrivial to fix and virtually impossible to test as it results from a three way race condition between users that can't be easily reproduced. Message - celebrate the 99.9962% of the time it's working right  ;)

The other three are occasions where an FGW train schedule was modified to terminate a train at a station they don't normally turn at - Dawlish Warren being the most recent.  These errors result in a line being drawn on the map to an obviously erroneous location somewhere off Rosslare, and are fixed when I notice the problem or someone tells me - usually within an hour or so.   I COULD modify the software to silently omit these lines, but I've chosen to let them happen as it brings the problem to attention very quickly and lets us sort the issue out - usually no more than a couple of minutes of work.

I have the luxury with issues like these that (a) I can sit in a quiet corner and fix them without having to go on site  in the nasty weather and (b) 99.99% is good enough in terms of reliability as there's no health and safety issue that puts lives at risk if we get it wrong 0.01% of the time.  I'm so glad that I don't have to go out into the cold and fix to a 100% level like the rail industry folks do, and for which we don't thank them enough.

Hear, hear!

Yes, I'd also like to add my thanks here to grahame, for his work 'behind the scenes' in maintaining the cancellation map on this forum.  :D

I also echo his 'thank you' to all of the railway staff who are out there in all weathers working to restore our train services in the Great Western area.

Glitchy feed this morning - it looks like our upstream data supplier is moving servers / changing IP addresses as so we're seeing some "no data feed" messages.   I'm keeping an eye on this and expect it to right itself in due course, but cached DNS information may last for a number of hours or even a day in these circumstances.

Might explain why some trains vanished from the "Ticket finder" today.Thankfully, Mrs FT,N! trusted my reading of items such as FGW's twitter feed, Real Time Trains, and some chicken entrails, and caught her train without incident.

Sorry about the brief glitch this morning ... line to Fastnet again.  System didn't know where Nailsea & Backwell was  ;D

Hmm. That was an interesting one. :o :D

I received a text alert from First Great Western at 08:45 this morning, telling me,

And just added Patchway ...

Morchard Road - that great transport hub - needs adding to the map. Or have services overshot the buffers at Barnstaple and set out across the Irish Sea?

Passed it last Saturday, and it was still in situ, betwixt Crediton and Barnstaple.

Not sure what's going on today. Some sort of emergency engineering works between Didcot Parkway and Oxford?  ::)

Some lovely map art attached!

There are currently 24 service alterations, and someone is trying use every page of the excuse book! Earlier emergency engineering, obstruction on the line, problem under investigation, problem with an earlier service, safety checks having been made earlier  - all these get a look-in.

... and the most impressive is being reported on JourneyCheck as

    19:43 London Paddington to Oxford due 21:31
    This train will be delayed at Didcot Parkway and is expected to be 60 minutes late.
    This train will call additionally at Didcot Parkway.
    This is due to earlier emergency engineering works.
    Last Updated :23/11/2014 10:49

Note the time against 'last updated'.

Is Peter Capaldi at the controls?

There seems to be a lot of 'emergency' engineering works between Didcot and Oxford. Didn't this happen last weekend? Urgent as in the line will close after a certain time.  ::) ???

Consequences?

The gate from the Llama farm at Arthur's Crossing got damaged, and caused a problem under investigation.  When it became clear something was amiss, some safety check needed to made, and indeed there proved to be an obstruction of the line (a.k.a. a Llama) which had to be shoo-ed back into the field, and emergency engineering works (tieing the cate closed with a piece of twine) were needed. This all held up the train to Little Malvern , which in turn delayed the return service (because of the problem with an earlier service.)

Who would want to be a Llama Farmer?

As the Fat Controler is so fond of saying Llama 'You have caused confusion and delay !'
Honestly you could not make it up  Or could you?.
          WP.

Cuidado!! Llamas!! (Look out, there are llamas).

The Llama is a quadruped  ( it is bigger than a frog )

La llama, que se llama "Llama", est^ en llamas.

Yes, 'llama' in Spanish is a homograph with three different meanings.

Well spotted - a famous sketch. (http://youtu.be/FbwkkXGmFrI)

I have just hauled in St Andrews Road from the Fastnet Rock (home on my map of all unknown stations) to a location somewhere between Severn Beach and Avonmouth!

... is probably all you need to know about St Andrews Road.


I write as a fervent supporter of the Severn Beach Line, by the way.  :P

St Andrew's Road is getting at least one more semi-regular passenger. Me.

Re-routeing of a local bus to serve that area means I have increased options for starting/ending rail journeys. Walk or bus to Shirehampton, bus to Avonmouth, or bus to St Andrew's Road.

And if Henbury re-opens I'll have another option.  :D 

Surely you mean "when"?

I start to see how you might change your id when the Filton bank work is complete

And a couple of slightly larger stations -
Heathrow Terminal 4
Heathrow Terminal 5

Which have appeared on our feed for the first time.   Does this mean Heathrow is becoming more a part of the main network  and that you can now buy tickets to any UK station there?   ;)

Somewhere else has headed off to the Fastnet Rock this morning.

Is it Heathrow 1-2-3?

Nope - 'twas Gomshall

... and terminating a train at Dorking West now!

A nice red cross. No doubt meaning 'avoid like the plague'.  ;D

I'd just seen that. Signalling issues between Paddington and Hayes. Due to engineering works trains were shuttling between the two and going no further.

There's certainly no shuttle for the rest of the day and it looks as though there hasn't been one for most / all of today due to signalling problems at Southall.
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=15578.msg174342#msg174342

There's also problems at Banbury according to FGWs front page.

I can't work out if this is shown on the cancellation map though.

Clicking on the map then gives text, all of the cancellations it's showing is Paddington to Hayes Harlington or reverse.

One of the Princes Risbourough delays was shown briefly earlier ... but mostly the diagram shows stopping pattern changes rather than delays.  It's a thin layer on a feed - wasn't intended to last more than days and it's lasted years and years.

Due to a change in our data feed, information is at present not being provided.

No e.t.a. to fix - just be aware that I'm aware!

Oh fun ... quite a bit of work for me to fix that, including installing some extra software on the server!

OK ... there's something back - haven't (yet?) split amends from cancels, but at least gives a quick idea.   May be buggy - I am watching it ...

Very many thanks for your 'behind the scenes' work on producing that upgrade, grahame!  ;)

And I have just pulled Radley in from somewhere near the Fastnet Rock to somewhere between Didcot and Oxford.  Certainly a new place for a service to start ... I wonder how many more possibles are still missing ...

I maybe imagining it, but did cancellations used to be a different colour line? Now all the same colour, blue.
Would be better if cancellations were a different colour.

About 95% of the time cancellations were read and changes were blue (and at one time formation changes were a lighter blue). However, getting up from 95% to 99.9% proved illusive, and it was felt better to supply a little less but accurate information rather than more information but sometimes wrong.

What's happening in Cornwall at the moment? Are there a lot of short workings or cancellations?

The Sterth to Stives line has a single 153 on it rather than a 2 car, and as it runs every half hour each way it's giving us a blue-out.

For January (but NOT beyond and into half term) a single carriage on some of the Cornish branches will in all honesty cope with traffic offered;   I'm not sure what was running there this time last year, but I have noted that our cancellation map is sensitive to 2 car trains becoming 1 - even where one car was the norm as recently as this time last month.

Ah, I was intrigued by that large blue blob as well, and the thick line between Cardiff and Portsmouth. I checked that on NR and GWR's websites and all was shown as running normally, so I assume those are also reduced formation trains rather than cancellations?

Big blue-outs again in Cornwall today - no cancellations; they indicate 1 car rather than 2 on the St Ives and Newquay branches


If you click on the "Train Running" link blow the map, you'll get a new tab with full details from Journey Check which shows the details, even if other sources don't

I would be surprised if the use of a 153 on these lines today (or indeed this week) is going to cause severe overcrowding.   We remain in a tight stock flux situation, with a trickle of 150/1s and HSTs out of the franchise, with more turbos than usual undergoing service and mods to make them suitable for use in The West, with IETs trickling in, and with 2+4 castles somewhat later than had been planned.

I took a look yesterday at colour coding the map (as we used to do), but the current data feed format means that would require significant time / work on my past;  too much else going on I'm afraid to do something that would be nice but isn't vital, and a great danger of ending up with something broken.   If it ain't bust, don't fix it - HOWEVER our data feed is an old technology one, and one of these years the disruption map may break.

More cancellation maps than usual needing repair?  ;)

Noting that our cancellation map at the head of these pages thinks that Oxford Down Carriage Sdg is somewhere near Fastnet rock.

I'm seeing this as a data feed error (I don't recall a passenger station at "Oxford Down Carriage Sdg") and I will leave the data in error until the problem goes away after the train has run (or not run).   Should this be a repeated glitch that spoils the map again at a later date, I will look at adding a fix.

I was on that train and I don't think it went to the Down Carriage Sidings because it appears to have returned to London as 1Z41 from Platform 3 (it arrived in platform 4) 8 minutes later. I am assuming it can head back towards London without having entered the sidings.

Didcot West End as well

Oh gawd - have they added a whole new layer of places onto the systems.

"Didcot West End" strikes me a confusing - I can just imagine someone looking to travel to "Didcot West End" to eat a meal in a fancy restaurant before going on to the theatre!

A fancy restaurant?  Not in Didcot.   ;D

Didcot West End is a legacy of the old Didcot West End Box:  https://www.s-r-s.org.uk/html/gwa/S166.htm

Maybe no fancy (or nice) resturants in Didcot but we do have a theatre (https://www.cornerstone-arts.org/ (https://www.cornerstone-arts.org/)), so we are not complete heathens.  :) :)

I believe that Didcot West End (and that map seems to confirm it) is the line(s?) adjacent to the multiple storey monstrosity (car park) that is currently being built on the Foxall Road car park site.

Yes that's correct - it's basically the location where trains reverse on either the Goods Loop or Relief Line at that location, behind SB924 or SB926 signals.

Sadly I have been as a passenger.

Not sure if I have mentioned this before, but about 15 years ago I was headed to somewhere on the Cotswolds line, and was sat in the front of a two part turbo. No signage or announcements were made at or before Oxford, and as we departed we were routed into the sidings, thought it a bit strange but just assumed we were being held because of a delay of an eastbound costwold service.

A moment later the driver walked through and asked why we were still on board and that the rear x coaches were headed towards Worcester and we should have been notified at Oxford. The driver radioed through and a few minutes later we were routed back across the main lines and into the bay platform at Oxford so we could be dropped off.

It was a while for the next Cotswold service so jumped on a southbound XC and went to Gatwick for the day instead

I think this has arisen because these are "shadow services" and were entered as if ECS - ending in the sidings (today's was STP, tomorrow it's VAR and (Q)). A passenger service wouldn't do that, it would terminate in a platform and a separate ECS move would then take it out - that way the sidings never appear as if stations. These services then appear in the list of service changes in a clumsy attempt to correct the first problem.

I suspect it ran as scheduled, just a few minutes late, i.e. into P4 at Oxford then to the down-side sidings, so as to cross to the up side, then via the Up Main (through) line and on to Didcot, where it reentered passenger service. I don't think there are ever any reports for RTT to use from the sidings, so in this case absence of evidence isn't evidence at all.

Looks like I should add "Didcot West End" to my map.   To the west of Didcot, right??

To the west of Didcot Parkway by about a couple of hundred meters.

Not right, it's to the left of Didcot  ;)

Didcot itself might lack a West End, but it does have a Broadway. Actually named after the one in New York as well. Supposedly to become the heart of the 'cultural spine'  of the Garden Town too, whatever that means.

Sadly, "Broadway" in Didcot is probably one of the shabbiest streets in south east England outside Greater London, even though it's now just a few paces away from the recent Orchard Centre which has at least brought a  selection of national chain stores to Didcot.

Thatcham Broadway is not exactly glamorous either...

Well, give them my regards.  :P

Pewsey has been moved from the Fastnet Rock (according to our cancellation map) to somewhere between Westbury and Bedwyn!

Always find it amazing that after all this time we are still finding stations that have never appeared on the map before.

We have another,,,, would it be Weston Milton?

It probably was ... I have added Weston Milton to the terminations our maps know about.

There seems to be some problems with the JourneyCheck feeds at present - they're sometimes correct and at other times saying there are on cancellations or changes when we know that there are.   It look to me as if there's a problem with one of a series of parallel back-office servers feeding out zeros rather than real data.

An unfortunate consequence, as well as Journey Check failures, is that out map at the top left is sometimes saying "n o problems" when it should be reporting issues.   As far as I can tell, the problem does NOT effect the feed that I'm using for "next departure" links at the top of these pages.

Additional service - 22:08 Parson Street to Bristol Temple Meads.   Map didn't know where Parson Street was and guessed it was somewhere near the Fastnet Rock.  I have told out server otherwise, however ...


That problem still persists and I'm pretty sure it's at "their" end ... as I have tried multiple locations and multiple methods to get the data, including manual browsing, and they all exhibit the issue.

Certainly get that issue as well!

Langley and Iver added to our train start and end locations for the cancellation map at the top of these pages - sorry about the misleading lines to the Fastnet Rock a few minutes ago!

And this morning we have a train failing to start at Cam & Dursley ... also added to the map!

Cam & Dursley only required because of the Gloucester closure this week

Indeed. But also because even having made changes to the timetables to cope with engineering works, further changes are being made on the morning to cope with other problems too!

Mortimer added to map!

Has someone drawn a nit comb on the map?

It's the effect of crude offsetting where multiple services on a flow are to mapped; it effects service between points that are diagonally offset from each other (SW, NW, SE, NE) rather than between points above / below or left / right of each other (N, S, E, W).

Of course, silly me.  ;D

It's getting bigger!

I will tell our "applet" where WOP is ... in. few minutes ... currently showing at Fastnet Rock - sorry.

EDIT TO ADD ... fixed:

For newcomers to this thread and our map, it shows trains that are cancelled, running short, or have formation of other changes as currently notified on Journey Check. The "Train Running" link shown just below the map on our pages will take you to journey check so that you can "knife and fork" through data for your area.

For simplicity, the lines shown on the map are drawn as the crow flies for the entire journey - so very much diagrammatic!  Lines thickened where multiple services concerned. It's a great way to spot quickly if there are issues in or near your area - looking at the example above, Devon and Cornwall clean except for one Plymouth / London service.  Couple of modified services to  / from Cardiff - Westbury and London.  Few problems on the North Cotswold by the look of it, and something going on with Reading / Didcot / Oxford / Banbury.   No "blue-out" catastrophes.

Readers please bear in mind that a "service change" can be anything from a delay of a few minutes to a cancellation and (for those who have been around for many years) that the reason it can look far worse than it used to is that this modern electronic age brings news from far places to our eyes where 20 years ago we wouldn't  have known, living in Wiltshire, that there was a problem at Paignton ...

As we've read on this thread, it can also be notoriously incorrect at times as well as changes are not always updated as the day goes on (or has that problem been addressed perhaps?).

Fastnet Rock strikes agains - sorry folks.  From JourneyCheck


And "Reading Bus" Station isn't in my database!

Edit to add ... and fixed manually.  I put it halfway between Reading West and the main Reading station.  A darned sight more accurate than off the Irish Coast!

I have added colour coding to our delay map at the top of every page - as follows:

Red - Service Cancelled throughout
Magenta - Service missing some stations
Dark Blue - Service Delayed

Green - Additional service or calls
Orange - Formation Change
Brown - Toilet issues

Where multiple issues apply to a train, the most serious matter (highest up the list above) will be used.  If there is no keyword in the report, you'll get:

Light Blue - Something else

I have also added counts onto the map ... cancelled, short and delayed.  There's a limit to how much data I can put there; already concerned at too many colours getting confused with each other.  A key might be useful, but again short on space.  Follow the "Train Running" link below the map for the full journey check data we're using.

An illustration of why trains might show up in the wrong colour ... I am keeping my eyes open for reports such as this one and looking to fine tune the reports without creating new oddities.


The drawing of the lines is pretty good and the colours helpful.  You'll need to drill down if there are red / magenta / green services shown in your area to get a full flavour.  You can (educated guess) be pretty sure that blue (delay), orange (formation change) and brown (trouble with toilets) are running ...

And edit to add - from a report I have just seen:
Toilet facilities are available as normal. Disabled toilet facilities are available as normal.
... sorry, that will be reported as "issue with toilets"

Still tuning the map ... the word "other" pops up if the software can't recognise the reason for a report ... I have seen a couple of "will now run as scheduled" reports, and this - err - gem which is there as I write:

What does it make of this nonsense!


 ;D

It doesn't even attempt to make head, tail, or anything between of single station reports.

I'll use the stairs then...

One I saw on journeycheck read the lifts are being serviced at Bath Spa and passengers are requested to use the footbridge.

During the Beast from the East, Journeycheck advised passengers at (specifically for some reason) Pinhoe, Whimple and Feniton to take care when using the footbridge becausae of icy conditions underfoot.

Needless to say Yeoford is not on the database.

It is now  :D

I fear members may be getting slightly frustrated with me making ongoing dynamic changes to the display - a few more changes made in the last few minutes; I have removed zero reports.   That means that is there are no cancellations, you will no longer see "Cancelled 0" in the top left, etc.

As I write, the map shows
Cancelled: 2
Short Run: 2
Added:2
with - in all cases - the reporting text shown in the same colour as the lines on the map in that category
and it is NOT showing
Delayed: 0
Reformed: 0
Loo Issues: 0
Other: 0
("Other" tends to pop up for things like "Will now run as scheduled" ... I'm taking a look each time I see it)

There may be fewer vectors on the map that the total of the counts, because a train might be (for example) both missing out some stops (hence "Short Run") and making additional calls (hence "Added"). In such cases, the vector on the map will show the "most disruptive" colour.

Should every one of the reports be 0, you will see a report across the top of the map:
"No reported service changes at present"

"Nice" example this morning showing many of the colours;  new system running well.

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/issues_20201002.jpg)

Missing colours from this example - brown for loo issues, grey for "other" - typically re-instated trains now running as normal.

Note ... a difficult morning
- points failure at Westbury
- tree on the line between Exeter and Yeovil Junction
- line closed for engineering works between Taunton and Exeter
- weather limiting speeds in The West

I agree it is a very useful guide.

Oh and quite a number of the issues apply to me - on my way to Penzance!  Currently sitting at Honiton waiting for the single line.

Was it my imagination or was the sea on the cancellation map blue earlier today?

You may have seen something like this:

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/geox.jpg)

I briefly changed the map underlay to see what it would look like.   The old map is ... yeah ... old and there are new things we can do.

My brief test reminded me that the locations shown on the current map are not quite to scale.   So that meant that Paddington moved to somewhere in the East End, Cardiff to Portsmouth trains turned into Flatholm to Hayling Island services, and that short runs such as Slough to Windsor would shrink into invisibility at the scale we use.   I am not totally turned off the idea of moving towards geographic coverage (thoughts from others are welcome) but it needs a bit more thought and probably an exercise of revising all potential train termini.

Yes I picked that up when I zoomed in.  Certainly a thought for the future.

It reminded me of the first time I ever saw a colour television.  Went to a friend's house and saw Michael Fish doing the weather forecast the with sea blue and the land green.  Amazing what you take for granted now.

I spent most of yesterday updating key elements my old "wellho.net" work site on the new server - there's lots of software there written in the days of PHP 4 and MySQL 3.23 - already updated to PHP 5 but now a further leap to PHP7.   And I am taking the opportunity not just to convert but also to take advantage of developments where it's easy to do.   That means that the cancellation map that I generate on that site has had substantial changes under the bonnet though only a couple of those changes will effect what's displayed.

Discrepancies between the Dft and JourneyCheck naming of Statiions (Is it St.Ives or St Ives, Exeter St.David's or Exeter St Davids) will lead to the occasional wild vector over the next few days - which I will jump in and fix.   Bringing these wild vectors back in area, they will no longer take passengers to the Fastnet Rock, but rather to The Scillies!

Just a question about terminology.   The 08:00 from Paddington to Plymouth is shown as a short run.  It has been diverted via Hullavington because of a broken rail at North Somerset Junction and so missing Chippenham and Bath Spa.  To my mind that is an alteration rather than a short run.   A short run to me would be if the service was stopping short - ie Exeter St Davids.  Or am I trying to over complicate the simple message we are trying to convey?

Definition: I have used the term "short run" for trains which are running, but not serving all the stations they were timetables to call at. If you're able to come up with a better headline word for that, it could be easily enough changed. Was "Alteration" your proposal?

It would be possible (give me a few hours on a day of plenty of sample train changes) I suspect to pick out just those that include "started from" or "terminated at" in their descriptions, labelling them as "short run"s and taking the remaining trains within the current group as "skipping stops".   Also a need to be aware of trains that fall into both new groups ... the Plymouth to Paddington train that gets diverted away from Pewsey and Newbury due to yet another freight train failure ... ends up being diverted along the single line via Melksham (why, or why, is that still single?) then terminated at Reading because of the congestion delays it suffered.

Inputs welcome ... at present, a short run from Brighton to Hove (missing out all stations to Great Malvern) shows up with just the same strength of message as a short run from Weymouth to Worcerster Shrub Hill that fails to finish the trip to Worcester Foregate Street.

Yes - perhaps Alteration might be a better heading.

As I say we could get into the trap of over complicating what is a useful quick visual guide.

To repeat your phrase Graham, what do others think?

As a label, one I've heard that might cover all those is "part route".

Best so far ... since "alteration" could as a description could have suggested it included trains making EXTRA stops - for which we have a separate colour and label.

The map has been showing place names for a few days where the number of services reported has been less than 10.  I have amended that to showing place names if the number of place names for end points to be reported is less that 10. 

Today, there are 10 reformed trains between Reading and Basingstoke and under the first test algorithm, that meant all place names were left off to avoid clutter.   But there are now 7 place names being reported, even though there are some 15 trains being reported.   The fun of looking for the best compromise in algorithms ...

I am aware that at times, place names will run into each other even with just small numbers being reported.  The algorithm I've used is a fairly basic one, with the place name defaulting to being slightly above and to the right of the place,  with an exception that it's shifted to the left if the place name would otherwise have run off the right of the map.

For a short test - name switched from being in grey to being in black.   Thoughts / comments??

I think we all know the problems with algorithms!

Like the black font.

Is it possible to make the map clickable such that a larger image comes up?   On a phone you can zoom in but the facility would be useful on a PC.

Clicking on the map now brings it up larger in a new window ... a temporary measure as I have other plans now that it is geographic based under the hood.  Font stays black. unless others shout louder in the opposite direction!

This morning - a cancellation from St Budeaux Ferry Road, and that wasn't in the old basic map ...

I have switched (perhaps a bit premature) to the new code I have been writing / testing ...
* Click on the map and you should get a bigger version on a new page
* Click on THAT BIGGER MAP and you should get individual station details near to where you clicked
* Nearest station details gives you a summary of station facilities, links to current departure boards for that station and links to maps of the station area.

Below the larger map you'll find all sorts of controls you can play with - so if you want to even highlight all stations with ATMs you can do so.  You can also choose to display heritage lines and potential (re)opening campaigns on the map, and then click on them for links to lead you to more data too.  The idea of putting a map of those together came from "Reopen" (http://reopen.org.uk) where the author is working to an alphabetic listing - I thought a map would be a good idea and suggested it ... sounded from the response like it was not on his agenda.

Please let me know of any campaigns or heritage line in our area I have missed, or extra sites or threads I should refer to. 

I have chosen initially to draw the line and show only those heritage lines where the prime reason for the visit is the ride, and only those campaigns / new lines and services where a new station, new route, or massive service increase is the objective; extra platform aspirations (Chippenham, Westbury, Salisbury) are for the moment below the radar.

Should any member have the time and inclination to provide a major extra data set extension ;D I would be delighted to give you format details and be very thankful.  Rest of Wales, and of England, might be useful.

Interesting ... does not show on map as back from Liskeard, but an unusual style of text for our reverse engineering.  Is there usually a service calling at Menheniot that late of a Sunday evening?

Terminal 5 needs to be added to the map. At the moment it assumes everyone going to T5 also has a train flight to somewhere WSW of Lands End cancelled as well!

Thanks .... yeah ... I have spotted that.   Fastnet and Scilly far less common than they were on the old system, but harder to fix on the new.  Noted - please live with it today - sorry.

That is fine just thought I would log.  No hurry.

Is Okehampton on the map?

Looking at today's map, I am guessing that Okehampton is still missing?

Yes, and on my "to fix" list - rather than awaiting the next data revision from my sources, perhaps I should manually work out and add the data - may not be today as I have a huge list of "small" things like a failed gas supply, visa issues and more. 

And I have taken the opportunity to update my library of sample feeds to include a set where there are Okehampton problems so I can test a fix even on a day it's running right!

http://new.passenger.chat/map/current.php?settings=AAAACAAAAA

Massive cancellations to/from the Scillies for the last few days.
Mind you, with the amount of rain we've had, it's amazing they haven't sunk with the weight of falling water....

Yeah ... I have just "doctored" Okehampton so that it's now pretending it's Crediton rather than St Mary's, as an interim measure.   ....

And I have now looked up the OS reference and Latitude and longitude for Okehampton itself and put them in.   Maybe the town centre not the station, but that'll do pending the next repaint / refresh job of the nationwide data.

Seems we are not alone.

(http://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/wthmap.jpg)

At least GWR don't serve Bridlington.

Well it was the 70th anniversary of the Great North Sea storm which ended with over 300 people being drowned along the east coast. So maybe Bridlington being cut adrift in the sea isn't that surprising.

Issue noted with trains to the Scillies this morning.    I have limited access today and just need to make a note of the clues to fix over the weekend (by which time the immediate display issue will have passed with the running of the trains anyway.

For the moment - please note that Heathrow Terminal 5 has NOT been relocated to St Mary's on an island west of Penzance!

I'm aware that Heathrow Terminal 5 is relocate to St Mary's ...

I knew the old eurotunnel TBMs would come in useful. Avoids chucking up on the Scillionian

Time was when the Scillonian sailed regardless of weather.
Occasionally spending the night anchored off in the bay!
Something happened (slightly before 'elf n safety) and if the forecast wasn't good, she didn't sail.
Went on her as a relief sometimes. Was fortunate not to suffer mal-de-mer at any point, and there were a few good rough ones.

As to what happened, the story I heard was that after one particular epic 12 hour crossing in terrible weather, the combined tourist associations of everywhere bandied together and told them:

"You can't be doing this any more. Cease with the heroic approach, yes, you're getting people to where they want to be but after they leave, they never return to Scilly."

Mark

They do now have the option of two flight companies (unless the weather is bad, when passengers are all transferred to the Scillonian!).

It also sailed all year 'round except for a couple of weeks in November for it's annual service. Even in January it  was two or three times a week......  uumm bag please

Yep - but haven't they replaced the vessel with a stabilised version?

Not yet - the Scillonian 3, in service from 1977, is still serving the route. Appledore must have done a good job when it built her.

(Edit) Concerning stabilisers, she has them. It might be that they increase her draught, as I seem to recall she deploys them when the water is a certain depth. She usually runs into St Marys via the channel between the mainland and St Agnes, which is deep, but at certain states of the wind and tide can safely use the shallow channel north of the mainland, which saves time, and in come the stabilisers for that.

Mark

But Scillonian III is stablised. However, that can only reduce roll, rather than eliminate it, and as her roll does start off as "way too much" it's not going to end up as "not much".

Another incident this morning with the Scilly Isles which seemed to be the temporary home of Heathrow Terminal 5

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/hr5_o.jpg) relocated to (http://www.wellho.net/pix/hr5_n.jpg)

All caused by a spurious space in a data file ... and what looks like three Heathrow Express trains out of service!

It is amazing how after all these years we still find the odd station not on the database.

Today it appears to be Kintbury.   The rail replacement buses tonight and tomorrow are not able to call there due to flooding in Station Road.

Ah yes - in fact "Reading Bus". which isn't a station at all!. Patched.