Part of WCML to be closed Acton Grange Junction engineering work

[realaledrinker]

Well the Mid Cheshire line seems to be well stocked with double 150s at the moment (where are these spare sets appearing from??) but without any concomitant increase in patronage, at least on the peak hour trains in/out of Chester. Maybe more traffic the other way I guess?

 

[Greybeard33]

I do wonder whether the situation could be improved with better signalling or a dedicated signaller to the area. I have seen trains held at Red aspects a lot, and often on approach to Oxford Road where a spare platform was available. There is a real reluctance to run traffic to platform 3, and it seems so much time could be saved if it was properly set up to thread services through at a faster rate.

The real bottleneck in the corridor is the two platforms at Piccadilly, not the four platforms at Oxford Road. Shuffling platforms at Oxford Road would not get eastbound trains through Piccadilly P13 any quicker. But use of Oxford Road P3 for eastbound services could cause dangerous crowding at busy times, on the P2/P3 island and on the footbridge. The flow of arriving passengers from P3 would conflict with departing passengers heading for P2.

Westbound services are sometimes switched to P3 when a train is delayed in P2.

 

[pdeaves]

On this Network Rail press release (https://www.networkrailmediacentre....ure-of-major-junction-on-west-coast-main-line) about the Acton Grange work, there is a short video. In the first couple of seconds, a five-car train rushes 'down' the screen (southbound?). Its shape and colour is unlike anything I recognise; is anyone able to identify it please? (class, not individual vehicle numbers!). It looks to me like a stretched five-car 230 in a mix of Southern and ATW colours...

 

[LOL The Irony]

On this Network Rail press release (https://www.networkrailmediacentre....ure-of-major-junction-on-west-coast-main-line) about the Acton Grange work, there is a short video. In the first couple of seconds, a five-car train rushes 'down' the screen (southbound?). Its shape and colour is unlike anything I recognise; is anyone able to identify it please? (class, not individual vehicle numbers!). It looks to me like a stretched five-car 230 in a mix of Southern and ATW colours...

It's one of the TfW Mark 3 sets.

 

[FrodshamJnct]

It's one of the TfW Mark 3 sets.

Yep it’s the Mark 3 Manchester set with 67014 on the back.

 

[pdeaves]

Yep it’s the Mark 3 Manchester set with 67014 on the back.

Thanks (and to LOL The Irony). Only now you said can I see a sloping front!

 

[Y Ddraig Coch]

Part of the work they are doing at the Sutton tunnel as part of the Acton Grange works.

 

[geoffk]

Three days this week the DBS Mossend - Daventry intermodal, diverted via Chat Moss, has had a class 66 instead of the usual pair of 90s. Is there a problem with power supply? I read that 3 x class 325 units cannot run this way under their own power.

 

[AK1982]

The real bottleneck in the corridor is the two platforms at Piccadilly, not the four platforms at Oxford Road. Shuffling platforms at Oxford Road would not get eastbound trains through Piccadilly P13 any quicker. But use of Oxford Road P3 for eastbound services could cause dangerous crowding at busy times, on the P2/P3 island and on the footbridge. The flow of arriving passengers from P3 would conflict with departing passengers heading for P2.

Westbound services are sometimes switched to P3 when a train is delayed in P2.

Having been at oxford road tonight waiting for a westbound service to Liverpool can only say it was chaos.

Trains changing platforms at short notice from 5 to 1, virgin London services getting held at red signals in the station and lots of people with no idea what platform to go to.

Appreciate problems elsewhere today won’t have helped but not good at all.

 

[Freightmaster]

Three days this week the DBS Mossend - Daventry intermodal, diverted via Chat Moss, has had a class 66 instead of the usual pair of 90s. Is there a problem with power supply? I read that 3 x class 325 units cannot run this way under their own power.

The former is due to the latter!!

(i.e. the 90s which would/should have been used on 4M25 have been borrowed to work the mail trains)



MARK

 

[Mogster]

Well the Mid Cheshire line seems to be well stocked with double 150s at the moment

From the Southport and Manchester Liverpool services if the recent shortforming is anything to go by...

 

[alangla]

This no doubt added to the fun - http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/P58639/2019/07/25/advanced 9 minutes on P14.

 

[geoffk]

The former is due to the latter!!

(i.e. the 90s which would/should have been used on 4M25 have been borrowed to work the mail trains)



MARK

Ah right, I see now.

 

[Greybeard33]

Well the Mid Cheshire line seems to be well stocked with double 150s at the moment (where are these spare sets appearing from??) but without any concomitant increase in patronage, at least on the peak hour trains in/out of Chester. Maybe more traffic the other way I guess?

Hmm. The double 150 that should have formed the 1841 Piccadilly to Chester this evening ended up working the delayed 1834 to Rose Hill Marple instead. The Chester service having been cancelled "due to a shortage of train drivers". (I would guess that heat exhaustion may have been a factor. The cab of a 150 would not have been a pleasant place to work in the heatwave.)

A large crowd of would be Chester passengers were left sweltering at Piccadilly and were advised to travel via Crewe instead (if they could manage to get on to a packed Pendolino).

 

[Greybeard33]

Lots more cancellations on the Mid Cheshire line today after the 1002 Chester to Piccadilly 0731 Liverpool to Drax biomass train broke down between Mobberley and Ashley and eventually expired at Altrincham, 64L Northenden Junction, 68L, blocking the line for several hours.

Northern is not providing a very effective replacement for the TfW Chester - Manchester service!

 

[mpb56125]

It was a freight that failed front of the 1002

Mark
https://www.mark5812.smugmug.com

 

[Greybeard33]

It was a freight that failed front of the 1002

Mark
https://www.mark5812.smugmug.com

Thanks. Previous post now corrected.

 

[geoffk]

Am I allowed to use the diverted Virgin trains to go from Stockport to Wigan and vv? I know they are not picking up at Piccadilly northbound or setting down southbound.

 

[Peter0124]

Am I allowed to use the diverted Virgin trains to go from Stockport to Wigan and vv? I know they are not picking up at Piccadilly northbound or setting down southbound.

Would anything even happen if I were to alight at MAN coming from GLC on one of the diverted services

 

[I13]

Am I allowed to use the diverted Virgin trains to go from Stockport to Wigan and vv? I know they are not picking up at Piccadilly northbound or setting down southbound.

Yes you can

 

[geoffk]

Yes you can

OK thanks. there may be Virgin staff at Picc preventing folks for Glasgow getting on!

 

[59CosG95]

No idea what OLE works are going on - NR have mentioned that some work will be undertaken. Renewal of the Mk3a headspans, perhaps?

 

[realaledrinker]

Well the Mid Cheshire line seems to be well stocked with double 150s at the moment (where are these spare sets appearing from??) but without any concomitant increase in patronage, at least on the peak hour trains in/out of Chester. Maybe more traffic the other way I guess?

The use of double 150s and variants thereof seems a complete waste of time. Any increased patronage as a result of Action Bridge closure (is there any??) is not going to test a single unit especially given lack of school kids at peak times. We additionally have the pantomime of the guard(s) running up and down platforms manually releasing doors on the many stations that cannot accommodate a 4-car train. Result - delays.

 

[jfollows]

Well, thank goodness that's over. My London-Wilmslow-Manchester service was totally messed up for the duration. I can see why they did what they did, but the paths through Manchester are totally unrealistic. Up trains arrived at Eccles on time, to be 15+ minutes late leaving Manchester, and with 8+ minutes of recovery/pathing time included in the schedule. The two occasions I thought to catch the xx.55 from Manchester (which normally starts from Manchester but instead started from Glasgow for the past two weeks), I instead caught the "following" xx.15 Manchester-London from the main station at Piccadilly, then waited on the platform at Stockport for the "following" train (the one which should have been 20 minutes earlier), and didn't even think about trying to find a seat for the Stockport-Wilmslow leg because the diverted trains seemed to be very busy.

Of course, had I a good reason for travelling to Glasgow during the period I might have been happy.

But I hope that Acton Grange Junction is in fine fettle for many years now.

I also hope that, although I can see the logic, I hope this sort of diversion of London-Glasgow services isn't done again. Not that there's an easy alternative solution. Reversing at Liverpool Lime Street might have worked better, though.