Chippenham and Didcot are favourites for a fast approach , personally I don't hav3 enough IET Experience yet to risk really fast stops but I'm sure there are drivers attempting 70mph stops with them...I've heard, probably from you (+ @Mintona), that you can easily hit places like Didcot and Swansea at 70mph (especially on the IET's), and stop perfectly?!
Electrostar drivers seem much more confident with power and brake than 700's and the new 345's.
And of course I meant Swindon!
I've heard, probably from you (+ @Mintona), that you can easily hit places like Didcot and Swansea at 70mph (especially on the IET's), and stop perfectly?!
That looks a good time on RTT, - best we recorded so far was a 21:01. So you would have been very close to that. Wish I had been aboard to record it. Would have been a lively run. You were fortunate not to hit traffic at Westerleigh or in Parkway. Last time I had a late running service, we had an XC service allowed in front and was occupying the platform - killed any hopes of a fast run!Most definitely not Swansea!
I’ve not hit Didcot or Swindon at 70. I’m sure it can be done but I quite like my licence. 40-50 is easily doable though. Chippenham you can have quite a fast approach too, and Reading but only if the signal on the end of the platform is off which is very rare.
As drivers get more experienced I’m sure those numbers will go up.
I did make up quite a bit of time on 1U28 (1912 London - Bristol) last night, definitely my best Swindon - Bristol Parkway time to date: http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/C58021/2019/03/26/advanced
That’s an absolutely beautiful run, 95 through Reading (if you get a clear run through, that is!)
The 30 minute schedule includes around 7 minutes of recovery and pathing time to allow the Glasgow to Plymouth service in front to clear the platform at xx:32. The net timing is 23 mins for an HST - but the fastest HST run on record is 21 mins 20. So an IET with a clear run should in theory be able to achieve sub 21 min.That’s an absolutely beautiful run, 95 through Reading (if you get a clear run through, that is!)
21 minutes versus 30 minutes for SWI-BPW is pretty good going, to say the least!
Very true, is the routing controlled by ARS there? Being so late you missed 1V66 ahead of you, but were not too late to beat 1V67. Any later and that would probably have been routed ahead of you at Westerleigh to maintain its schedule.
Yes, it is a shame you weren't manually routed in to 2, but signallers probably don't worry about the extra 15 to 20 secs. Maybe it is too slow a procedure to override. That's why i believe the approaches should be at least 50 to 70mph turnouts instead of 40mph or lower. But then you end up with approach control and flashing yellows which causes a slowdown way before the junction anyway!
Could you have out 1B81 into 1 instead?
1B81 goes to Swansea so by putting 1U28 into 1 gives both services clear signals out of the station. If both services had swapped platforms (1U28 into 2 and 1B81 into 1) then they would have to cross over after the station which could mean one service has to wait for another to clear the line.
The 1B81 going through to Swansea - the 1U28 to Temple Meads - logical to have the latter into 1 to avoid a possible conflict and have a route called out. Signallers are well aware of possible conflicts due to dwell times not always working to plan.
Yes, that makes perfect sense. As a matter of interest, was the route through platform 1 cleared or does that rely on Train Ready To Start plunger being activated?
A 150 could do it in 30 minutes. 21:20 on an HST is impressive.
I timed the 21m 01s run Railperf refers to, which had a smart stop in P1 at Parkway. Agree it costs 10-15 sec compared with P2, although a smart stop in P1 will be quicker than a slow stop in P2. Distance is a tad less too.
I suspect ATP would have something to say about such an approach first - like a brake demand!
Very true, what sort of approach speeds would ATP allow in this case..through the double yellows, and then the single yellow?
