Go-Op developments...

[Suraggu]

Many people thought Grand Central was never going to get off the blocks... But they did... Eventually.

I remember one of the Go-Op ideas of 31's & Mk.2's aka the ex Wessex Trains set but in all honesty if they can run a service, make money and provide a good service then I welcome them.

Also a Bristol -Oxford service could happen within the next franchise by the way...

 

[Carlisle]

Are they serious, or is this a spoof? Going with their website, I don't think FGW or Crosscountry need to be worrying too soon. I am going to apply to run a once daily return from Glasgow QS to Mallaig using split box steam heat 37 012 'Loch Rannoch', Ethel 1 and a rake of mk 1 composites all in BR blue. Not much of a business case but you would find me at work 20 hours a day!

Sounds like it will join the ever increasing train order list in the sky along with Alliance and DB channel tunnel stock ,wonder which if any will eventually materialise

 

[fgwrich]

Many people thought Grand Central was never going to get off the blocks... But they did... Eventually.

I remember one of the Go-Op ideas of 31's & Mk.2's aka the ex Wessex Trains set but in all honesty if they can run a service, make money and provide a good service then I welcome them.

Also a Bristol -Oxford service could happen within the next franchise by the way...

Then there other option was LHCS with stock from Riviera and the locos in the form of... Class 50s. Did they want to run a reliable service?

Then again I don't think much has formed of their light rail proposals after the prototype PPM rather died a death on the trials of the Ropley / Medstead & Four Marks to Alton service on the Mid Hants.

 

[JaJaWa]

Then there other option was LHCS with stock from Riviera and the locos in the form of... Class 50s. Did they want to run a reliable service?

Then again I don't think much has formed of their light rail proposals after the prototype PPM rather died a death on the trials of the Ropley / Medstead & Four Marks to Alton service on the Mid Hants.

What happened to the PPM? I'd heard they didn't have the correct license to be running a passenger service or something rather than an actual issue with the unit.

 

[WatcherZero]

Ive heard two things about the prototype trials, firstly mechanical unreliability (one trial after it was delivered it failed to start/damaged in transit and trial had to be cancelled and the other it was unreliable), secondly the engine was underpowered for these other routes.

It only had a 1.8l LPG engine from a Ford Transit. I think they were replacing it with a 3l diesel engine for further trialing. The LPG use also was flagged as a negative by potential operators.

 

[quarella]

Also a Bristol -Oxford service could happen within the next franchise by the way...

There was a Bristol - Oxford service in the mid to late '90s. FGW using 165s. Can't remember what stopped it. May have been the increase to half hourly Bristol TM/Cardiff Ctl - Paddington services.

A couple of the directors have relevant rail experience,

From my reading it appears only one has had a railway career while others spent a short period at entry level before getting a proper job.

 

[fgwrich]

There was a Bristol - Oxford service in the mid to late '90s. FGW using 165s. Can't remember what stopped it. May have been the increase to half hourly Bristol TM/Cardiff Ctl - Paddington services.


From my reading it appears only one has had a railway career while others spent a short period at entry level before getting a proper job.

I think that service was dropped by the SRA at the time of the Thames Trains franchise becoming First Great Western Link.

Ive heard two things about the prototype trials, firstly mechanical unreliability (one trial after it was delivered it failed to start/damaged in transit and trial had to be cancelled and the other it was unreliable), secondly the engine was underpowered for these other routes.

It only had a 1.8l LPG engine from a Ford Transit. I think they were replacing it with a 3l diesel engine for further trialing. The LPG use also was flagged as a negative by potential operators.

It certainly had a mechanical issue that stopped on I think it's first trial, something like the brakes becoming stuck on on the bank and having to be towed back to Medstead. Not helped by the rather miniscule LPG powered engine either. Acording to this thread earlier, it seemed they even had an idea to swap the PPM for 141s at some point as well!

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=60853

 

[BestWestern]

Absolute bunch of dreamers, albeit persistant ones!

Their best bet is to put their efforts into lobbying existing Tocs, rather than living in a dream world. They may get some buses running, at a massive financial loss, but they will never be running any trains. And as for light rail....!!!

 

[LowLevel]

There was a Bristol - Oxford service in the mid to late '90s. FGW using 165s. Can't remember what stopped it. May have been the increase to half hourly Bristol TM/Cardiff Ctl - Paddington services.


From my reading it appears only one has had a railway career while others spent a short period at entry level before getting a proper job.

At one point it was contracted out to Central Trains using 158s I believe - pre 170 days certainly.

 

[route:oxford]

There was a Bristol - Oxford service in the mid to late '90s. FGW using 165s. Can't remember what stopped it. May have been the increase to half hourly Bristol TM/Cardiff Ctl - Paddington services.

It was often packed solid - not ideal on a 2+3 165 without air conditioning.

Also not the ideal unit to try and diagram between 125mph stock.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

It's completely unrelated to THE Co-op. That's why it had to be renamed Go-Op in the first place...

That's either poor research or dishonesty.

It was originally called Go-Co as an abbreviation of Go Co-op, but "Go-Compare" threatened legal action...

http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/9547703.print/

To quote their most recent newsletter:-

The news came that the Co-op Bank was in serious trouble and could not be counted on to be a supportive partner any more. Once again, our plans were thwarted.

 

[Nic nic]

It was often packed solid - not ideal on a 2+3 165 without air conditioning.

Also not the ideal unit to try and diagram between 125mph stock.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


That's either poor research or dishonesty.

It was originally called Go-Co as an abbreviation of Go Co-op, but "Go-Compare" threatened legal action...

http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/9547703.print/

To quote their most recent newsletter:-

thank you I was going to point that out but couldn't be bothered with the guy that posted that!

 

[swt_passenger]

That's either poor research or dishonesty.

The former I'm afraid. The post was 'off the top of my head' based on a wrongly remembered belief that they were not part of the familiar national Co-op set up that keeps making the financial headlines.

Happy to be corrected.

However I still don't think any train service is imminent.

 

[Rhydgaled]

The former I'm afraid. The post was 'off the top of my head' based on a wrongly remembered belief that they were not part of the familiar national Co-op set up that keeps making the financial headlines.

I too was remembering incorrectly that it wasn't the CO-OP group who forced the change of name, but I still don't think GO-OP is part of the CO-OP group as such. The branding of "the co-operative" bank, food, travel etc. is quite consistant and GO-OP's is nothing like it

 

[JaJaWa]

I too was remembering incorrectly that it wasn't the CO-OP group who forced the change of name, but I still don't think GO-OP is part of the CO-OP group as such. The branding of "the co-operative" bank, food, travel etc. is quite consistant and GO-OP's is nothing like it

They are a "co-operative" but not part of "The Co-Operative".

 

[Rhydgaled]

They are a "co-operative" but not part of "The Co-Operative".

That's what I thought, thanks for confirming.

 

[superalbs]

Their website shows them to still be going at it as of May 2016! I sure hope they manage, not like there would be any shortage of paths on the southern half at least!

 

[Harbornite]

Their website shows them to still be going at it as of May 2016! I sure hope they manage, not like there would be any shortage of paths on the southern half at least!

They are still optimistic! Trying to find paths north of Oxford would be fun, especially between Leamington and Birmingham with its mixture of freight and passenger services from XC, CR and LM. I also doubt that there's much capacity in Moor st, they could either fund the reopening of platform 5 or use Snow Hill instead.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

That article was only posted yesterday, looks like the plans are back in action!

That did surprise me tbh!

 

[fgwrich]

Although from their annual statement (for the year ending Dec 2015):

http://www.go-op.coop/workspace/uploads/files/go-op_2015_annual_report.pdf

Ouch. I really don't think there is a demand for a Taunton to Swindon service anyway - Clearly very little purpose for passengers to do an end to end journey as there will always be the fast and better equipped GW services - Or a change at Bristol Temple Meads or Parkway. Apart from All Stops, and increasing the number of Trans-Wilts services on the Westbury-Melksham-Chippenham-Swindon leg, what else is there that isn't already provided by GW?

And I cant see Taunton or Westbury to Nuneaton or Moor Street being a viable service either - lack of paths north of Didcot, plenty of XC services (Half Hourly from Oxford to New Street already) and if you want to go to any of the stops north of Leamington to Birmingham it's an easy change at Leamington.

So, we've had Class 50s, HSTs, Chinese DMUs, Pacers and D Trains all proposed from GO-CO with nothing actually happening - Do we really think it's ever going to realistically happen? It's all sounding a little like the City Fox stuff some of you may have read in the bus side, a lot of talk and fancy promotional stuff with ideas, but little to nothing happening in reality.

 

[Parallel]

Some interesting proposals!

A Taunton (or Exeter) - Newbury (or Reading) all stations service would probably be more useful as getting between some of those stations is a nightmare (you often have to go back on yourself), and would encourage growth in passenger numbers for local journeys along the line leading to possible openings/reopenings of stations such as Somerton, Lavington or a Devizes Parkway.

Of course, that would be on GWR's patch however.

I actually think Birmingham Moor Street - Weymouth would be more beneficial than something like Taunton - Nuneaton just because Weymouth/Yeovil/Westbury etc would get better rail links, even if you wouldn't get many people doing the end-to-end journey. As others have said, pathing in some places may be an issue!

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Does anyone have any further information? Apparently they will be starting operations in December, but I'm taking that with a pinch of salt.

 

[Darandio]

Good luck on finding information, their website encourages you to link to both Twitter and Facebook, neither have been updated since 2012.

They have posted more recent news on the website though, in July they submitted the track access application and promise to provide updates.

Zero chance of a December start though, if ever.

We are very happy to report that finally – on 17th July – we submitted our Track Access Application to the office of Rail and Road.We will post regular updates on progress as and when we hear from the Regulator.

The GO-OP AGM was held on 6th July in Taunton Somerset. Despite a somewhat low attendance - perhaps Taunton is just too far south &/or west for most of our members? - we were able to approve the election of two new Directors: Jo Burroughs, representing Midcounties Co-operative and Gareth Webster, representing The Co-operative Group. We were also able to approve Board motions to apply the exemption from the obligation to appoint a qualified auditor; to allow the social audit panel to be chaired by a member of the co-operative and to accrue interest on members share capital for the year at the rate of 3.5%. We were delighted to welcome Martyn McCarthy, a potential new Board member, representing Central England Co-operative.

Members present enjoyed a presentation from Brian Titley of Co-operative Assistance Network in which he spoke about the work of Co-operatives South West (C-SW). C-SW exists to promote the common interests of co-operative and mutual organisations of all kinds and to promote the development of co-operative and mutual forms of business throughout the South West Region of the UK. There are over 600 co-operatives and mutuals in the south west, with a combined turnover of some £3.35 billion.

http://www.go-op.coop/info/go-op-news-update-27th-july-2017/

 

[Adlington]

in July they submitted the track access application and promise to provide updates.

No trace of the said application on the ORR site.

 

[gazthomas]

Taunton to Swindon by Vivarail D-Train. Now that would be something to behold!

 

[TheWalrus]

Here we go again, not this one again, another crazy proposal! Although Taunton to Swindon could be useful to me!

 

[Harbornite]

Does anyone have any further information? Apparently they will be starting operations in December, but I'm taking that with a pinch of salt.

Have you tried their website?

I don't know where you got December from as the latest news on their site says that

We are very happy to report that finally – on 17th July – we submitted our Track Access Application to the office of Rail and Road.We will post regular updates on progress as and when we hear from the Regulator.

 

[BestWestern]

A "somewhat low attendance" at the 'AGM'. There's a shock!

 

[NorthernSpirit]

I've mentioned this before in a thread and even I'm not holding my breath over a December start. I'll need to see it to believe it.

 

[sjoh]

I would have thought their application would be judged to be primarily abstractive? The Swindon-Oxford flow perhaps excepted. In principle, I very much like the idea of a railway co-op, but I don't really see where there's a gap in the market for much more open access.

 

[Darandio]

Have you tried:

A) the existing thread on this topic?

B) Their website?

I don't know where you got December from as the latest news on their site says that

Have you actually read the website yourself, despite telling the OP they should so so?

December is stated on the main 'train' page, ahead of any news. http://www.go-op.coop/train/

 

[ag51ruk]

While I wish them luck, I'd suggest that until you see a track access application on the ORR website that any suggestions of future services on their website are simply a wish list.

A quick look back at their internet history shows an interesting set of aspirations that remain unfulfilled - for example, in August 2012 they were talking about:

Mainline Rail - on our flagship Westbury to Birmingham Moor Street service, provisionally due to start in spring 2014, we have managed to develop a plan for a clockface timetable using brand new rolling stock.

Ultra light rail - we are researching options to trial a service at locations including Ludgershall, Radstock, Swindon and Yeovil.

Bus routes - we have a shortlist of routes and hope to be making announcements soon; a key issue is how we can ensure that buses link up with our other services.