It always runs via Yeovil on a Sunday night and runs round and reverses at Exeter to continue west. This is for engineering work.
I always assumed it was every Sunday but then as I don't work Sundays its hardly surprising I got that wrong!No it doesn’t. It occasionally runs via Yeovil when the main route via Taunton is blocked.
To add - the additional difficulty then is that the stock has been turned, which causes problems with short platforms in Cornwall. The Up train must be re-turned before returning (lol) to Cornwall on Monday night so performs some awkward manoeuvres around the triangle at Reading West and Tilehurst to get into Reading depot. There was a Q path in the timetable for running via Wycombe and Oxford but to my knowledge it’s never been utilised. The Down train is pre-turned around the Reading triangle on Sunday evening prior to going ECS to Padd for the down Sunday night.
Not from the area, but suspect staffing issues. Do GWR roster a dispatcher there on a Sunday?
I always assumed it was every Sunday but then as I don't work Sundays its hardly surprising I got that wrong!
Why does it miss out Hayle & Par towards London too? Always seemed a bit odd to me as calls at both in the other direction and it’s not short of time.
One major downside of not being allowed to carry commuters anymore being that the riviera now leaves plymouth 7 minutes after a stopper, so is signal checked right through Cornwall, even with relaxed driving. Unfortunately this no doubt makes sleep for passengers that bit more difficult.Those stops are historical on the Cornish bound service into Penzance as it used to form a Cornish commuter train. They just haven't been removed as yet. Other services now perform that task in Cornwall, which is just as well given the rules regarding slam door stock that came in this year that now mean the Night Riviera can no longer carry local passengers on the Plymouth to Penzance legs.
Or even easier just a bit of retiming of the sleeper , let it run 10 minutes later, and perhaps alter the XC behind it to run a few mins later as well. Job done. No cost, and a good nights sleep! Going to be particularly challenging for drivers on the 57 with leaf fall fast approaching and all those cautionary signals!Always surprises me they didn't find a workaround for that, such as locking the windows with a "break glass" and having the guard manually operate one door on the seated coaches. It's like they didn't want to find one.
No it doesn't! We have to wait for the 074x departure off PZ to leave and if running on time or early get held at Marazion for it to pass on the single line. To arrive early is now pretty much impossible mon thru Fri, no idea about Saturday mind.Mostly gets in early especially on a Saturday!
Sometimes you would be booked to wait to let eastbound trains pass in 3 possible locations (now only 2 since there's no single section on the Truro to Redruth leg now).
Wasn’t the single-line Burngullow to Probus, to the east of Truro, not between Truro and Redruth?
EDIT: You could also add the section of single-line between the middle of the Royal Albert Bridge and Saltash.
I didn't know the sleeper was no longer "allowed" to carry commuters into Cornwall. Is this because there's no longer any seated accommodation or just because there's a local train in front of it?One major downside of not being allowed to carry commuters anymore being that the riviera now leaves plymouth 7 minutes after a stopper, so is signal checked right through Cornwall, even with relaxed driving. Unfortunately this no doubt makes sleep for passengers that bit more difficult.
It's set down only after Newton Abbot.I didn't know the sleeper was no longer "allowed" to carry commuters into Cornwall. Is this because there's no longer any seated accommodation or just because there's a local train in front of it?
I didn't know the sleeper was no longer "allowed" to carry commuters into Cornwall. Is this because there's no longer any seated accommodation or just because there's a local train in front of it?
Totnes is another uni-directional stop too. The up stops there, the down doesn't.
Until the train infront gets cancelled and then they do allow passengers to join, observed just that yesterday when 0518 off plymouth was caped.It's set down only after Newton Abbot.
Thats more to do with how early the down call would be I think - 0410ish is a bit early to be alighting even from a sleeper train!
There is sometimes a XC Plymouth Manchester train on a Sunday PM not timetablled to stop at Taunton. I think this is the only one now (but stand to be corrected). I don't know why this train only runs on certain Sundays.Is this now the only timetabled passenger service to run non-stop through Taunton station itself (when it can go that way)? I know the Cornish Riviera and a few other services were non-stop Reading-Exeter/vice versa before the Dec 19 timetable change.