Impact of Covid19 restrictions on the Conwy Valley line

[Llandudno]

Perhaps it might be a better story for ITV news if they came to film the reopening of the line, intending to see a train but happened upon a Rail Replacement Bus instead.

Eight months and many £millions spent on reopening the line and rebuilding Dolgarrog station and on day one of the reinstatement of train services TfW can only muster a driver and guard for three round trips.

Now that would be a proper news story!

 

[Diplodicus]

Open!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Open!

When's the next storm forecast?

 

[Dr_Paul]

When's the next storm forecast?

Naughty! Mind you, at the risk of my being a bit cynical, with the record so far perhaps we should open a book on when the line will be washed out next and how long it will take and how much it will cost to put it right.

 

[al78]

When's the next storm forecast?

It's looking a bit wet up there on Wednesday.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Why do I think of Noah and the making of his ark every time I look in on this thread....

 

[swissrailpassion]

With Conwy in lockdown from Thursday passenger numbers will be hit.

 

[Bletchleyite]

With Conwy in lockdown from Thursday passenger numbers will be hit.

And just as I was considering going for a ride (albeit it would have involved driving to Llandudno so as to avoid too much mask wearing).

The line is jinxed, I tell you.

 

[Y Ddraig Coch]

With Conwy in lockdown from Thursday passenger numbers will be hit.

But Blaenau Ffestiniog is in Gwynedd not Conwy. Gwynedd is not part of the lockdown and as such passengers may travel through Conwy , Denbighshire and Flintshire to get to Gwynedd. So as long as passengers are not from a county in lockdown with travel restrictions they are allowed to go to Blaenau but not stop anywhere short of it putting them into Conwy.

 

[Bletchleyite]

But Blaenau Ffestiniog is in Gwynedd not Conwy. Gwynedd is not part of the lockdown and as such passengers may travel through Conwy , Denbighshire and Flintshire to get to Gwynedd. So as long as passengers are not from a county in lockdown with travel restrictions they are allowed to go to Blaenau but not stop anywhere short of it putting them into Conwy.

Betws is in Conwy, though, and so is the main tourist destination - and now effectively closed again. I can't see Gwynedd lasting long, as everyone who would have gone to the bits of the National Park in Conwy will crowd out Snowdon (Gwynedd) even more now.

 

[Llandudno]

Probably gives TfW another excuse to not operate trains on the branch and hire in Llew Jones’ coaches!

 

[PHILIPE]

Trains not now calling at Dolgarrog due to being unable to accommodate 2 doors at the platform for social distance. TFW have a list of several such stations

 

[Bletchleyite]

Trains not now calling at Dolgarrog due to being unable to accommodate 2 doors at the platform for social distance. TFW have a list of several such stations

You couldn't make it up, could you?

 

[Pacef8]

Trains not now calling at Dolgarrog due to being unable to accommodate 2 doors at the platform for social distance. TFW have a list of several such stations

You mean they did not build the platform long enough to accommodate the whole length of the train.

 

[Llandudno]

Unbelievable.

Why not allocate a single Class 153 unit to the service, Conwy is in lockdown from 6pm tomorrow, so capacity is hardly likely to be an issue.

No such short platform issues of course with the Rail Replacement Bus that’s scheduled to operate four journeys on the line tomorrow!

 

[Bletchleyite]

You mean they did not build the platform long enough to accommodate the whole length of the train.

I think really with the usage levels they were lucky they built anything. I believe it's just a short platform for local door use.

 

[Llandudno]

This would have been a far more newsworthy story for BBC/ITV than the celebration of trains of returning to the Conwy Valley!

 

[Parham Wood]

Unbelievable.

Why not allocate a single Class 153 unit to the service, Conwy is in lockdown from 6pm tomorrow, so capacity is hardly likely to be an issue.

No such short platform issues of course with the Rail Replacement Bus that’s scheduled to operate four journeys on the line tomorrow!

It implies the platform is not long enough to accommodate one coach i.e. two doors one at each end so a 153 would not fit either unless it has a door in the middle. I assume one door is for the conductor and one for passengers.

 

[Rhys4567]

I boarded at Dolgarrog on Monday. It was a 2 car class 150 train. All 4 doors were at platform level. I boarded at the front-most passenger doors of the front carriage and the conductor operated the doors from the rear-most door of the rear carriage. Not sure why trains cannot call here tbh - surely 4 doors is more than enough for social distancing.

 

[Sheridan]

Betws is in Conwy, though, and so is the main tourist destination - and now effectively closed again. I can't see Gwynedd lasting long, as everyone who would have gone to the bits of the National Park in Conwy will crowd out Snowdon (Gwynedd) even more now.

I realise you’re (half-)joking but tourism up yr Wyddfa won’t have too much of an effect on Gwynedd as there won’t be many locals heading up the mountain, and when all these people get infected and go home, the cases will be listed in their home county, presumably?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

It's looking a bit wet up there on Wednesday.

Saturday 3rd October has a very slow moving weather feature affecting much of Wales, including the Conwy Valley, with long sustained periods of rainfall. I wonder what the total precipitation will be over the 24 hour period forecast?

 

[Bletchleyite]

I realise you’re (half-)joking but tourism up yr Wyddfa won’t have too much of an effect on Gwynedd as there won’t be many locals heading up the mountain, and when all these people get infected and go home, the cases will be listed in their home county, presumably?

No, I think I didn't make my point too well. I reckon Gwynedd will end up in "local lockdown" soon enough, for the same reasons the other counties did. And Wales likes to get its back up about Snowdon being busy, so another reason for doing that or for closing the mountain as they did once before.

Can't imagine it being busy today, though, the weather is a bit more Welsh.

 

[PHILIPE]

I boarded at Dolgarrog on Monday. It was a 2 car class 150 train. All 4 doors were at platform level. I boarded at the front-most passenger doors of the front carriage and the conductor operated the doors from the rear-most door of the rear carriage. Not sure why trains cannot call here tbh - surely 4 doors is more than enough for social distancing.

TFW are not running anything with less than 2 Cars at the moment to compensate for COVID loss of seats and all doors must be accommodated at the platform. There would, I assume, be a passenger door in use in each carriage and a separate door for the conductor. Although a 150 has worked the service this week it is booked for a 153 so that is why the restriction has been introduced as 2 x 153s would be 3 metres over length. This is my understanding of the position so may not be correct..

 

[Bletchleyite]

TFW are not running anything with less than 2 Cars at the moment to compensate for COVID loss of seats and all doors must be accommodated at the platform. There would, I assume, be a passenger door in use in each carriage and a separate door for the conductor. Although a 150 has worked the service this week it is booked for a 153 so that is why the restriction has been introduced as 2 x 153s would be 3 metres over length. This is my understanding of the position so may not be correct..

Crikey, if you're going to bother rebuilding that station (I remain surprised it wasn't just closed, given how basically nobody used it) why not make it 48m long, particularly given that 48m-long 197s are going to work it in due course?

That or cheap out properly and make it only about 5-10m long and always worked single-door, like Beauly or something.

This seems Marston Vale levels of short-sightedness. (The MV has platforms and signal positioning issues that means a maximum of 40m of train operating it, which is the whole reason the 230s even exist there).

 

[PHILIPE]

This has appeared on TFW Journey Check:-

www.railforums.co.uk/threads/impact-of-covid19-restrictions-on-the-conwy-valley;-

 

[HSTEd]

It implies the platform is not long enough to accommodate one coach i.e. two doors one at each end so a 153 would not fit either unless it has a door in the middle. I assume one door is for the conductor and one for passengers.

Couldn't they use a two coach unit and use the inner pair of doors?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Couldn't they use a two coach unit and use the inner pair of doors?

153s don't have SDO so no.

 

[PHILIPE]

This has appeared on TFW Journey Check:-

Alterations to services at Dolgarrog

Due to a short-notice change to the timetable at Dolgarrog:
Impact
Train services running through this station may be running non stop between North Llanrwst and Tal-Y-Cafn. Dolgarrog will not be served. Disruption is expected until 08:15 08/10.
Customer Advice
Trains will not stop at Dolgarrog. Road transport is in place to convey passengers to/from this station

This date and time, I think is cosmetic as it is a suitable time to document for Timetable purposes which is what is happening now. I notice on RTT that the location has been deleted from the train schedules from that date.

 

[HSTEd]

153s don't have SDO so no.

Can't they isolate the door opening circuits on the remaining doors?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Can't they isolate the door opening circuits on the remaining doors?

This is getting a bit complex and heavy for a station that basically nobody uses.