Not much in it, plus I have a few friends in London to tend to add an hour on to the time to cross it and grab at pint in Kings Cross.
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GWR Class 800
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Not much in it, plus I have a few friends in London to tend to add an hour on to the time to cross it and grab at pint in Kings Cross.
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43096
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Crawling out of platforms with an HST in notch 2 until well clear of the platform or hitting the ramp at 10mph when braking is just rank bad driving (or poor standards from above). It eats capacity by massively extending platform re-occupation time and is something that has been policy (at least at certain depots such as Bristol) on Great Western for years.
irish_rail
Established Member
I crawl out of Paddington in notch 2 purely to allow a little more time for the train in front to get the hell out of my way to then allow some decent acceleration later on and hopefully a none stop run to reading. The xx03 departures do seem to have drawn the short straw as inevitably the xx00 catches up the xx50 when it calls at slough hence my reasoning for hanging back. But I agree slow approach speeds INTO platforms is pretty unforgivable.....
Yes, I wouldn't disagree with that regarding HST's, as their initial acceleration is comparatively poor - I was referring to sensible Class 800 driving styles as this is the 800 thread. The HST policy (company wide) was changed to Notch 4 until clear of the station soon after the MTU engines were installed, so over ten years ago now, though some, generally 'older hands' still stuck to the old instruction. Mind you, if you know you're going to catch up with something then there's no point hammering it.
Over cautious braking is also regrettable though I can't blame drivers too much as there is so much pressure not to have a TPWS activation or overrun that it seems some have been conditioned to become too cautious IMHO.
Railperf
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3 minute headways are so tight that it really requires the train ahead to depart on time at least - and then keep well out of the way. But yes the Slough stoppers on the main line are still timed for 90mph turbos in some cases . The xx;00 is scheduled to be only 2.5 mins behind at Twyford, which is close enough to suggest he will be seeing yellows! And once he starts slowing down - - then the xx:03 on his tail will also start seeing yellows - which causes a kind of wave effect in train terms. The only trains leaving Paddington that don't have this issue are the xx;50/52 and xx:20/22 Worcester/Oxford/Herefords which stop at Slough. They depart Paddington 5 mins after the Swansea - so theoretically should have a clear road!
Looks like some minor timetable tweaking could have been done here to improve things. Re-time the xx;50/52 Slough stopper to xx;48 or xx;49 to allow it to stay further ahead of the xx;00 And use 800's -not turbos!! Does the departure time have something to do with the pathing of trains into Paddington?
irish_rail
Established Member
Yes no idea why they are so stubborn on the paths between reading and London so much could be done to give decent paths. Having travelled intercity lines through the UK quite a bit lately, it is only the western where almost all services seem to be poorly parthed into London. Wcml , ecml etc seem to get a generally clear run in / out.
Let's hope the December timetable change sees some improvements.....
cactustwirly
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They're better than the MML, at least they have priority over commuter services....
Railperf
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Yes..lets hope indeed. Another factor that doesn't help is the Heathrow Express service using 100mph trains. It didn't matter in the past, because their better acceleration than HST's meant they skipped off into the distance and were onto the branch before the HST's were back on their tail. The 800's arguably accelerate equally as good if not better. Let's hope the use of 387's and an upgrade of the overhead line equipment brings allows an increase to 110mph. But i maintain the HeX should have had 125mph units. The amount of times i have come back from Bristol or the West Country only to trundle behind a HeX unit from Airport Jn in is appalling!!
Railperf
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The problem is there is little capacity to switch Thameslink trains out of the way for late-running EMT services. I was on a Thameslink unit recently that had a late running EMT train coming in behind - but we were kept on the Up fast, to the the frustration the driver and passengers of that 222 - as we stopped Luton Airport Parkway, Harpenden and St Albans, before a fast dash to West Hampstead. I was following the progress of both trains live on RTT and astonished we were not moved across onto the slow lines until Kentish Town!!
Well you can only go Up Fast to Up slow at West Hampstead South or Carlton Road; West Hampstead box would never regulate an up Thameslink Fast to the Up Slow at Radlett because it would then end up behind a stopper and be a guaranteed 10 mins+ late, with predictable consequences once it gets to the Brighton Main Line.
What is perhaps unusual is that you were already on the Up Fast at Luton, and then called at the airport and Harpenden and St Albans. The standard off peak pattern is for up trains to cross slow to fast at Harpenden, whilst in the peak some run up fast line all the way from Bedford South Jn (there’s one or two that cross at Leagrave), but IIRC these all skip at least one of the airport and Harpenden.
PHILIPE
Veteran Member
Can we start discussing 800s again please
Fair point.
I used a pair the other day, Reading to London, and they were on diesel. Is this still a regular thing?
Unfortunately so it would seem. Last week, according to a control update, there was only one unit with a ‘diesel only’ restriction on it. The list over the last couple of days is into double figures!
Mitchell Hurd
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I don't know which GWR service from London to the North Cotswolds got terminated at Reading not long ago but the reason was no toilets working. Not a great reason but very understandable - toilet unreliability must have happened too often, assuming it was an 800 that this happened.
Why is it such new trains aren't reliable at working toilets at the moment? We seem to go from timetable problems to catering reliability and now to problems with the toilets on the 800's!
Why is it such new trains aren't reliable at working toilets at the moment? We seem to go from timetable problems to catering reliability and now to problems with the toilets on the 800's!
samuelmorris
Established Member
Toilets didn't need to be emptied on the HSTs, they emptied themselves onto the tracks. Now if the toilets aren't emptied often enough, they'll be out of service.
Mitchell Hurd
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Typical example of 21st Century vehicles - as nice as the IET's are.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
It's not a problem if the TOCs plan properly to ensure they are emptied!
samuelmorris
Established Member
Isn't it Agility that are in charge of that?
fgwrich
Established Member
Speaking of toilets, I've had to make use of a good number of sets over the past week for work. Of these (about 6), 4 had no water et all in the toilets and a lot of noticeable litter - has Hitachi reduced it's servicing remits of the 80X fleet of late?
While passing through Reading this morning on the way to the office, I noticed a pair of 800s (027/029) working a service to Penzance - was that due to units out of place or is there a booked 800 turn down there now?
While passing through Reading this morning on the way to the office, I noticed a pair of 800s (027/029) working a service to Penzance - was that due to units out of place or is there a booked 800 turn down there now?
They seem to have worked 1203 London Paddington to Penzance and 1742 return. This was due to stock displacement after the events in Devon today (0541 Penzance to Paddington terminated at Exeter St Davids).
Booked 10-802.
800s will only usually work into Cornwall on an out and back trip from Paddington due to the restrictions on stabling locations in the train availability and reliability agreement.
Pete_uk
Established Member
A 5 car 800 worked Cardiff to Taunton yesterday
PHILIPE
Veteran Member
Posted here together with explanations:-
/www.railforums.co.uk/threads/gwr-to-operate-short-hstgti-sets.145727/page-43
Regarding IET toilets, there seems to be two separate faults which happen far too often and, with a simple reset, can be solved:
1) On the Univeral Access Toilets, the door closing mechanism isn't robust enough. If the train is on a adverse cant then the toilet door won't quite shut automatically, the system detects an error and the toilet puts itself 'out of service'. Sometimes that will rectify itself when the train is level again, and if not it can be rectified by staff using a 'T' Key to reset the door. A 'T' Key reset will also usually reset a door that's stuck partly open with an 'out of service message', usually caused by someone manually opening it after the fault above has occurred.
Here is a short video demonstrating what I mean regarding the cant issue, and how passengers can reset it themselves. Note that it will likely fail again whenever on a severe enough cant.
2) Toilet detects a 'pressure drop' and goes out of service. This can happen on both the Universal Access Toilets and Space Saver Toilets. This needs to be reset by staff using the toilet control panel 'reset' or 'v' buttons, but again that will often reset the system and it will work fine again. Many staff have not been told how to do this properly.
Fortunately, both faults should be able to be resolved by software or mechanical adjustments. The number of times a toilet tank is either full of waste or empty or water (even if it looks like it is) is actually quite low - though it does happen.
1) On the Univeral Access Toilets, the door closing mechanism isn't robust enough. If the train is on a adverse cant then the toilet door won't quite shut automatically, the system detects an error and the toilet puts itself 'out of service'. Sometimes that will rectify itself when the train is level again, and if not it can be rectified by staff using a 'T' Key to reset the door. A 'T' Key reset will also usually reset a door that's stuck partly open with an 'out of service message', usually caused by someone manually opening it after the fault above has occurred.
Here is a short video demonstrating what I mean regarding the cant issue, and how passengers can reset it themselves. Note that it will likely fail again whenever on a severe enough cant.
2) Toilet detects a 'pressure drop' and goes out of service. This can happen on both the Universal Access Toilets and Space Saver Toilets. This needs to be reset by staff using the toilet control panel 'reset' or 'v' buttons, but again that will often reset the system and it will work fine again. Many staff have not been told how to do this properly.
Fortunately, both faults should be able to be resolved by software or mechanical adjustments. The number of times a toilet tank is either full of waste or empty or water (even if it looks like it is) is actually quite low - though it does happen.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
This all just strikes me as very poor design - the software should surely attempt an automatic reset before it assumes things are wrong. In the cant case, it would make sense to attempt a reset, say, every 5 minutes, perhaps 5 times, before assuming the door is actually broken.
coppercapped
Established Member
In this case it has nothing to do with the TOC. It is Agility Trains' responsibility to properly prepare the trains for use.
43096
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It is to do with the TOC - they are the ones who have the effects on their customers. Up to them to put pressure on the supplier and to use whatever contractual mechanisms that may be available to achieve that. GWR cannot abdicate responsibility and say “not our fault g’uv”.
Travelled from Bristol Parkway to Reading and back today and it seemed like a lot of the 80x were on diesel when they ought to have been on AC.
Both the outward and return journeys were on diesel, as were about 2/3rds of the 80x I saw passing through Reading whilst waiting for a connection.
Could there be some maintenance shenanigans going on?
Both the outward and return journeys were on diesel, as were about 2/3rds of the 80x I saw passing through Reading whilst waiting for a connection.
Could there be some maintenance shenanigans going on?
Just saw this pass the Dawlish Beach web cam (https://www.dawlishbeach.com/cameras/free-cameras/the-blenheim-cam/) and wondered if the silver stripe below the windows is just on this unit or whether it is a modification to be rolled out across the fleet.
Kite159
Veteran Member
That looks to be 800306 which is just on that unit. List of the names of the GWR railway employees who died during the 1st world war
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Thanks.
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