Northern's Problems in the North West

[Bletchleyite]

How intensely depressing it is that, thanks to DfT's contemptous attitude towards any form of investment on non-London routes, we find ourselves in 2018 discussing the relative merits of using an overcrowded 185 or a 6 car 142 set on the busiest non-London commuter flow.

That aside, an uncrowded 185 has the merit of not being like being strapped into a badly-built diesel-powered MRI scanner for 35 miles.

An *uncrowded* 185 is very pleasant indeed, easily the nicest DMU on the rails in the UK at present, though I'd imagine the FLIRTs may be nicer once they arrive. The only thing that would be nicer would be a diesel Class 444 (144? ).

I'm not sure when I last experienced that, though.

 

[mpthomson]

Given the seeming lack of any sign of 769s actually happening, unless they convert some of the CAF EMU order to DMU (or get a 3 car 230 and forget through running entirely) that might well be very sensible. (It would be very sensible anyway).

Actually, I still see a strong case for "tramifying" it with a long term view to extending to Bowness and/or even Ambleside.

There's no way it can be extended to Ambleside, there isn't anywhere to physically put it.

 

[Bletchleyite]

There's no way it can be extended to Ambleside, there isn't anywhere to physically put it.

Down the road.

 

[Moonshot]

Getting back to the topic of this thread, clearly the emergency action taken has had the desired effect and the service is a lot more reliable now. So onwards and upwards we go, and we all look forward to the day when the wires are finally live through the Bolton corridor.

 

[LAX54]

So the electrics are not ready, so Northern are carrying on with the old stock, but how come the Drivers do not know how to drive them, or the routes ?

 

[superkev]

In case it's not been mentioned before on here a train reliability stats site pisted on the Blackpool electrification thread.
see http://trains.im/ppm
Nice to see Northerns stats are much improved now drivers are working overtime again.
K

 

[Starmill]

Nice to see Northerns stats are much improved now drivers are working overtime again.

Yes - although it is worth bearing in mind that fewer services are running due to the emergency timetable and Liverpool Lime Street closure.

 

[Bertie the bus]

Nice to see Northerns stats are much improved now drivers are working overtime again.
K

Indeed. I don't think there has been a single delayed train to Windermere all week.

 

[northernchris]

Yes - although it is worth bearing in mind that fewer services are running due to the emergency timetable and Liverpool Lime Street closure.

But still at a similar level to what was run pre the timetable change

 

[LAX54]

http://www.itv.com/news/granada/sto...aos-amid-timetable-changes-and-cancellations/

TV report from the other day on ITV

 

[mpthomson]

Down the road.

Entirely impractical, there isn't room for it. I grew up round there. That road is the major artery for the central Lakes and has significant amounts of commercial traffic delivering all the way up to Keswick. The traffic on that road is already very bad, and a tram isn't even nearly going to take enough traffic off the road to offset the massive congestion that the system would cause. Much of the traffic is going a lot further than Ambleside.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Down the road.

A pity that William Wordsworth is not still here to make a response to your suggestion.

"I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills
When all at once I saw a crowd
A host of tram disruption thrills
Beside the lake, beneath the trees
Blocking roads with utmost ease"

With apologies to a great poet,

 

[B&I]

In case it's not been mentioned before on here a train reliability stats site pisted on the Blackpool electrification thread.
see http://trains.im/ppm
Nice to see Northerns stats are much improved now drivers are working overtime again.
K

Imagine what you could do if Northern employed an adequate number of drivers, and didn't have to rely on RDW !

 

[B&I]

Down the road.

Adapt the steamers into tram ferries ?

 

[HSTEd]

You could probably find a route from Windermere to Ambleside that doesnt have to go down the road.

But that would conflict with the National Park Authorities desire to maintain the entire Lake District in some sort of stasis where everything is like it was in the late 19th Century, if they dont' want to allow power boating anywhere in the district they are never going to agree to a tramway.

 

[Hellfire]

You could probably find a route from Windermere to Ambleside that doesnt have to go down the road.

But that would conflict with the National Park Authorities desire to maintain the entire Lake District in some sort of stasis where everything is like it was in the late 19th Century, if they dont' want to allow power boating anywhere in the district they are never going to agree to a tramway.

They had trams in the late 19th century so that shouldn't be an issue

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

They had trams in the late 19th century so that shouldn't be an issue

Whereabouts did trams run in the area of the Lake District under discussion in the late 19th century?

 

[Hellfire]

Whereabouts did trams run in the area of the Lake District under discussion in the late 19th century?

I didn't say they ran in the Lake District. You said the authorities wanted to keep things as they were in the late 19th century and I just pointed out that trams were around in the late 19th century.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I didn't say they ran in the Lake District. You said the authorities wanted to keep things as they were in the late 19th century and I just pointed out that trams were around in the late 19th century.

Are you confusing me with HSTEd, as it was he who made the posting to which you allude. All I asked was the area in which they ran.

 

[Hellfire]

Are you confusing me with HSTEd, as it was he who made the posting to which you allude. All I asked was the area in which they ran.

I seem to be. My brain was still in the late 19th century

 

[IanXC]

Given that this thread is now persistently going off topic, and that there are a number of threads covering issues contained within it, we have decided it is now time to close it.

Please use one of the myriad of existing threads to discuss specific issues, or in the unlikely event one does not yet exist, create a specific new thread.

Thanks