GWR Class 387 Cardiff Special Events

[Towers]

Hi all,


Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere recently, but can anyone clarify if GWR have so far managed to use their 387s for any Cardiff ‘specials’, for events etc, or have they been limited to just the current regular service trains?

 

[Kite159]

Certainly last year from memory they were used as crowd busters between Cardiff & Newport for post event specials.

 

[jw]

Certainly last year from memory they were used as crowd busters between Cardiff & Newport for post event specials.

What train lengths did GWR use?

 

[JN114]

What train lengths did GWR use?

8 car on all Welsh 387 services - service trains or event specials.

12s still cannot serve certain platforms at Newport; and with the other demands the additional events traffic puts on signallers etc; it’s deemed an unnecessary risk to have 12 cars running around that are restricted as to what platforms they can use.

Their use on Cardiff - Newports frees up DMU capacity for TfW to strengthen their own services; not wasting 6-8 sprinters as capacity busters between Cardiff and Newport.

It’s probably been done at least half a dozen times between their permission being granted for services to Cardiff and present day.

 

[Signal_Box]

All special events since the juice was out on, well after covid have used 387s.

In general service they used L & B headcodes into and out of Cardiff with Q headcodes to crossover so we know not to route them down the non OLE line E.

When GWR sub 387s vice IETs they don’t used the Q headcode for turning back, that’s down to us to use our own reminder method not to route them onto non OLE lines.

 

[anthony263]

Has allowed TFW to run additional services such as a Pencoed to Cardiff Central service because majority of Maesteg services were full arriving into Bridgend.

 

[Signal_Box]

It’s about turning them back, and do they have the sets and crews ? I’m event days there will always be places with trains arriving F&S with people being left behind.

 

[ollie_hunt1660]

8 car on all Welsh 387 services - service trains or event specials.

12s still cannot serve certain platforms at Newport; and with the other demands the additional events traffic puts on signallers etc; it’s deemed an unnecessary risk to have 12 cars running around that are restricted as to what platforms they can use.

Their use on Cardiff - Newports frees up DMU capacity for TfW to strengthen their own services; not wasting 6-8 sprinters as capacity busters between Cardiff and Newport.

It’s probably been done at least half a dozen times between their permission being granted for services to Cardiff and present day.

Are some of the platforms too shot at Newport or is there another issue?

 

[JN114]

Are some of the platforms too shot at Newport or is there another issue?

Platform 2 curvature at Cardiff end of platform is too great for that part of platform to be usable as a platform for 387s - stepping distance from platform to door is too big; so they stop at the bottom of the stairs, which limits to either front 8 or 9 coaches I forget which. Platform 4 also has some marginal stepping distances towards ends limiting number of coaches but I can’t recall value. Platform 1 is also marginal for 12 car on length.

Installation of platform beacons to give a higher level of detail to the SDO system and allow per-platform / per-direction release patterns has been costed as relatively inexpensive and yet still refused by DfT.

As such a compromise SDO value that works for all platforms/directions has to be settled on, which is 8 cars all platforms. 387s can’t do anything cleverer than front X coaches, so running anything longer than 8 is pointless as the doors on 3rd unit will never be offered for release at Newport.

 

[Signal_Box]

Are some of the platforms too shot at Newport or is there another issue?

As above post, has explained it much better than I,

 

[Towers]

Thanks for the confirmation all!