An odd one to be on "Journey Check"

[whole diary]

[Witham Bobby]

 

08:44 Oxford Down Carriage Sdg to London Paddington due 10:10
08:44 Oxford Down Carriage Sdg to London Paddington due 10:10 will be started from Didcot Parkway.
It will no longer call at Oxford Down Carriage Sdg.
This is due to a problem currently under investigation.
Last Updated:18/06/2018 05:24

Lots of "problem currently under investigation" excuses today on the Cotswold and Hereford route.  Does this mean they simply don't want to tell the public what's going on, or that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) don't have a clue, either?

[grahame]

Lots of "problem currently under investigation" excuses today on the Cotswold and Hereford route.  Does this mean they simply don't want to tell the public what's going on, or that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) don't have a clue, either?

First indication of a problem on a signal panel - something odd.  Could be a signalling fault. Could be a track fault. Could be an unusual but correctly indicated situation that's just starting to be indicated.   Natural and correct action from signallers - "don't send anything that way until we know" and on a tight suburban setup that's cancellations and short runs even before the reason is know. "Something's not as it should be" is all they know.

Fast forward an hour or so ... the situation will be better known, but so much time and effort will have been put into getting the thing sorted, and to indicating which trains are running fully / short / cancelled that updating the "we don't know why" has slipped down the list of things to do.   After all, what matters to people all the more is what is not running, rather than 100% accuracy and currentness of the reasons for the change.

[didcotdean]

08:44 Oxford Down Carriage Sdg to London Paddington due 10:10
08:44 Oxford Down Carriage Sdg to London Paddington due 10:10 will be started from Didcot Parkway.
It will no longer call at Oxford Down Carriage Sdg.
This is due to a problem currently under investigation.
Last Updated:18/06/2018 05:24

RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) suggests that 1Z41 was in the WTT^▸ (Working Time-Table) as starting at Oxford Down Carriage Sidings and not calling at Oxford Station but running ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) to Didcot, waiting there for 18 minutes on platform 5 before continuing back to London. As has been seen elsewhere it seems to have run from Oxford Station having not reached the Sidings, whether or not it ran from there in passenger use.