30th April 2019 - Salisbury to Exeter Rail User Group - talk, Sidmouth

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Bruce Duncan, Chair of SERUG, will be talking at Sidmouth Library on Tuesday 30th April. Start: 14:30, free admission.

[Lee]

If you do go, why not ask Bruce about this:

https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/how-west-country-could-double-512790

1. Repurposing existing trains on other routes

The London to Exeter Route is not totally electrified - meaning that the new Aventra trains which SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) has ordered for its London services will not be suitable.

RailFuture believes that more carriages can be made available for services in this area as the Great Western route (services to London Paddington operated by GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)) is electrified.

Part of the route has already been electrified, including the stretch between Swindon and Chippenham, allowing GWR's new trains to run on them from later this year.

Bruce Duncan, chairman of RailFuture's Wessex branch, said: "We believe that this change, coupled with a proposal to permit splitting and joining at Yeovil Junction, would permit most services to be formed of at least 6 cars between Yeovil Junction and London Waterloo."

[grahame]

If you do go, why not ask Bruce about this:

https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/how-west-country-could-double-512790

Looks a "bit" (British understatement) mixed up to me.   I think something has got very distorted indeed in translation , and / or the people quoted are misinformed themselves.

Highly unlikely to be able to go personally.

[Lee]

That's a fair point - Taking a "Live" report on its own has not generally been what members on here would advocate 

Here is the actual proposal from the SERUG website itself.

4.5   Rolling Stock

a.   Short Term

The short-term solution to overcrowding is to provide longer trains. Many services west of Salisbury are formed of 3 cars only. We accept that at present the use of class 158/9’s is driven by the needs of peak hour flows to and from Waterloo, particularly east of Salisbury. The opportunity to cascade additional class 158 units to the Exeter line, which could be made available as a result of Great Western electrification, should be taken. In addition, steps should be taken to recover the existing 158/159 units which are used on other parts of the network, or sub leased to other operators. We believe that this change, coupled with a proposal to permit splitting and joining at Yeovil Junction (see above) would permit most services to be formed of at least 6 cars between Yeovil Junction and London Waterloo.

[paul7575]

They’ve recovered the 158 from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), and the unit used until December last on the Lymington shuttle, and are about to cease using DMUs^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) on Hampshire locals (apart from the Romseys for obvious reasons). 

AIUI^▸ ('as I understand it') the 158 that went to EMT^» (East Midlands Trains - about) has been permanently lost to SWR^» (South Western Railway - about).   

I don’t believe the GW^» (Great Western - used as an abbreviation for the area / lines under the Great Western franchise, as opposed to FGW which includes "First", the company operating them too. For tickets - about) electrification was ever expected to release 158s from that TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) - even if they could be used for short workings by GWR at the Exeter end of the route.

Paul

[grahame]

I don’t believe the GW^» (Great Western - used as an abbreviation for the area / lines under the Great Western franchise, as opposed to FGW which includes "First", the company operating them too. For tickets - about) electrification was ever expected to release 158s from that TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) - even if they could be used for short workings by GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) at the Exeter end of the route.

I agree, Paul. There has been a struggle (as it is) to find enough stock to run local and regional GWR trains in the SouthWest - with the loss already of the 150/1 and 153 units to other franchises, and the departure of all the class 143 units in the next 9 months.   There is logic in making fleets more common, but I would personally feel more positive about an idea that suggests loosing the 'best' dmus we have for many routes if they were being replaced by something as appropriate and new; as it is, we're already hand-me-down peninsular, even though elsewhere in GB^▸ (Great Britain) there are lots of new regional / local trains coming on tap.

Silly question ... HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) are going off lease and being stored at Long Marston - would short formed HSTs being a solution for SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) (Exeter line) services, bearing in mind (a) they already work around Exeter St David's and (b) they are 100+ mph units - could fit in well with Waterloo pathing where class 450 electric units are running at that speed from Basingstoke.

[PhilWakely]

Silly question ... HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) are going off lease and being stored at Long Marston - would short formed HSTs being a solution for SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) (Exeter line) services, bearing in mind (a) they already work around Exeter St David's and (b) they are 100+ mph units - could fit in well with Waterloo pathing where class 450 electric units are running at that speed from Basingstoke.

A comment many have been making. Sadly, even the GTi version of the HST does not have the acceleration necessary over the hilly ex-LSWR^▸ (London South Western Railway) route to maintain the current 159 schedules, given the number of stops required. Also, if the GTi version were to be introduced, this would soon lead to severe overcrowding.
 

[rogerw]

As I am in east Devon that day for a morning training session I might pop along to this meeting.  Anyone else thinking of going?