Are real time sites spoiling the mystery?

[Condor7]

I cannot make up my mind whether I like being able to see in real time what is happening on the railway or not.

There was always something of a thrill being at the side of a railway and not knowing what may come into view. The expectation of something unusual appearing.

Now I can check on my lap top or mobile and know what is about to appear whether it is running late or early.

I really cannot decide which I prefer.

 

[ukrob]

Just don't check?

 

[jon0844]

Just don't check?

That's probably a better suggestion than my one that was going to be 'take down the Internet'.

 

[Freightmaster]

This reminds me of something which I saw happen on more than one occasion
on Summer Saturdays back in the 1980s when loco bashing was a huge part
of the hobby.

Sometimes (but not always) one of the lads would manage to obtain
a TOPS list for the days workings before tickets were bought, and if
there were no 'big' locos allocated, or if they were working hundreds
of miles away, it would ruin their day before it had begun, and some
of them even used to turn round and go straight home!


A few years later (but still in pre Freightmaster days), I used to go out
videoing a lot, and the excitement of seeing headlights in the distance,
and not knowing if it was a unit, freight or the ubiquitous 87+Mk.3s(!)
was a large part of the appeal of a day out to me back then.

I know people trot out the old excuse that there is so little these days
to go out for that you need to have gen to make going out worthwhile
at all, but surely with TOPS lists, RTT and gen groups, spotting and
photographing is just like shooting fish in a barrel?

i.e. where's the challenge/skill in the hobby??

MARK

 

[Crossover]

Let's be honest, from reading something on the likes of RTT, you are rarely going to be able to deduce exactly what is going to turn up (e.g. with Northern round Yorkshire, it could turn up as any unit Neville Hill or such can chuck out...whjich can be a varied range!)

As suggested about, if you don't want to know, then don't check on such sites. However, they can be very useful to find out running information in a more detailed view than NRE, plus more

 

[Phil H]

For the likes of me, I like the realtime as I can go out at the right time and get the most hits per time slot or look at something different.
Freightmaster is good as it tells you what the pulling engine type iis better than RTT. RTT was good this week as I saw there was a West Coast railways train and I was expecting a 47 and a buffet car like last week and it was a really nice steam train like an evening star type with a huge amount of old coaches and a 47 on the back.

Off topic, how is the 47 at the back operated...is it just idling or controlled at the front or does a driver sit in there?. Like I wonder on an HST which unit is pushing or pulling more and how is that controlled.

 

[Crossover]

Off topic, how is the 47 at the back operated...is it just idling or controlled at the front or does a driver sit in there?. Like I wonder on an HST which unit is pushing or pulling more and how is that controlled.

Dragged dead I think. It is there as a backup to the kettle, I believe, and sometimes also to haul the returns rather than steam hauled two ways. The chances of the diesel giving any motive power while the steam loco is at the front hauling is pretty low

 

[TheEdge]

The rear 47 is there in case of a failure or to assist. I've known the support locos to travel either just ahead or just behind of the tours. Don't think that's as common an arrangement though.

 

[SprinterMan]

Deleted

 

[Harbon 1]

This reminds me of something which I saw happen on more than one occasion
on Summer Saturdays back in the 1980s when loco bashing was a huge part
of the hobby.

Sometimes (but not always) one of the lads would manage to obtain
a TOPS list for the days workings before tickets were bought, and if
there were no 'big' locos allocated, or if they were working hundreds
of miles away, it would ruin their day before it had begun, and some
of them even used to turn round and go straight home!


A few years later (but still in pre Freightmaster days), I used to go out
videoing a lot, and the excitement of seeing headlights in the distance,
and not knowing if it was a unit, freight or the ubiquitous 87+Mk.3s(!)
was a large part of the appeal of a day out to me back then.

I know people trot out the old excuse that there is so little these days
to go out for that you need to have gen to make going out worthwhile
at all, but surely with TOPS lists, RTT and gen groups, spotting and
photographing is just like shooting fish in a barrel?

i.e. where's the challenge/skill in the hobby??

MARK

I know what you mean, but with gen only being available on certain days, it does mean a few slip through the net. What I mean is that gen is only there when there are people to send it, and if the weather is misterable, its cold or a sunday, inboxes sit quiet, when theyre usually full, and some railtours don't get any reports at all.

The skill will be there until a flightradar24 type site comes out showing where every train is, headcode, and loco number as well as the timings

The best realtime occasion I had was last monday, I saw some gen saying the cardiff - cheddaston scrap was running, so the next day, in ICT, 4th and 5th period, I had it on the screen next to my evaluations, refreshing it and watching it get later and later. If I had gone on gen alone, I would have been stood out for an hour fourty five, with realtimetrains, I got to my filming location with 5 minutes to spare, then i was straight back home. Perfect

 

[jnjkerbin]

I quite like realtime sites personally, and there are still surprises around. For example, I went out today to see what was times for a 75mph diesel loco trailing 455 tonnes, expecting some sort of test train, but was rather surprised to see a pair of 67s top and tailing some Pullman carriages; not what I was expecting at all. It's great to be able to know that that much awaited train is on the way! A few years ago I had a 10 minute walk to a station to wait about an hour for a late running steam train. Today I could have found it, viewed realtime date, left later and still caught it.

Anyway, that's what I think!

 

[43074]

It is useful to have the Real Time information there, but it still requires a bit of skill, particularly with regards to trains that run as required.
You can also plan precisely between what times you want be at a location to see the maximum number of trains.
You cannot always rely on real time sites though - I was at Nuneaton about a month ago and a 67 hauling 3 royal coaches came through the station. Having checked RTT the night before, there was no indication of such a train running and I still haven't found out what it was doing.
It's useful to have the sites there - If you don't want to know what's running, don't check.

 

[Crossover]

You cannot always rely on real time sites though - I was at Nuneaton about a month ago and a 67 hauling 3 royal coaches came through the station. Having checked RTT the night before, there was no indication of such a train running and I still haven't found out what it was doing.

If it actually was the Royal Train, it appears in as few places as possible, to the point that only signallers and other staff it will affect will know about it, aside from which it runs fairly secretly

 

[heart-of-wessex]

It's useful to have the sites there - If you don't want to know what's running, don't check.

That's exactly what I do, even then you still *could* hit a brick wall, for instance:

For railtours, I tend not to check the 'other forum' a few days before a tour runs otherwise I know what's on it and I prefer not to. On arrival at Bristol Parkway awaiting the booked Class 66, a group very close was talking rather loudly about what 66 is allocated, half tempting to chuck them off the platform!

Not that it mattered, as it turned out we all had a surprise when a loud roar was heard in the Filton area. We all thought it was some random plane, but in fact it was 37611 and 37601 thundering up Filton Bank vice Class 66!

This was in 2011 on PF's 'Ousing Dove' tour where the 37's were booked on from Crewe, but 66024 came on there and the 37's did what would have been the 66 leg.


I've had it before on a charter though where someone on the table across from me was quoting what 60 would be on Bristol - Cleethorpes tour as 60074 from Toton, which turned out to be the case, so no surprise there at all

 

[TheJRB]

In some situations I've been in before and after realtime info being available, I can definitely say I prefer the latter.

For instance I go to a bridge when I know something interesting is running on the Marshlink line. Before all the realtime info was available I had to hope that it was running to the booked time. If it wasn't you'd just wasted a fair amount of time on an often cold unwelcoming bridge with nowhere to sit down and wait. These days I can check to see if something's early, late or cancelled before I even step outside the front door!

To some degree I do think some of the mystery has been removed though. Many of my afternoons have been spent down at Ashford station and having to keep an eye out for a yellow or green on the fast line signals was, in a small way, part of the fun. Even then though, somebody (be it staff, informed enthusiast or both) on the station would often tell us if something was running or not.

Let's be honest, from reading something on the likes of RTT, you are rarely going to be able to deduce exactly what is going to turn up (e.g. with Northern round Yorkshire, it could turn up as any unit Neville Hill or such can chuck out...whjich can be a varied range!)

Even somewhere like down here in Kent where diagrams can be quite easily acquired, it's still not always accurate on the day. On Saturday I travelled on a train to Victoria via Maidstone East which is booked to be a 375 yet a 465/9 turned up from Ashford depot. The same thing happened on the return from Victoria (it was a different train too!).