Rolling stock announcement regarding TPE (updated)

[mikestone1952]

The 14.29 is shown in the TPE Q&A as not having a Barrow portion, so they presumably just haven't deleted the reference.

 

[Starmill]

Not long to go now anyway before the madness begins!

 

[Greenback]

I've moved a couple of recent posts that seem to concern the Cumbrian Coast into this thread

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=110539

 

[railhead56]

Anyone know if this Transpennine ECS move is a 170 moving south on May 18th from Crofton Depot to Brush at Lbo?
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/N01394/2015/05/18/advanced

 

[Crossforth]

Not sure whether it has been put on this thread before or not but I can confirm that 170301, 02 and 04 are travelling to Loughbrough this morning. 170306, 07 and 08 have all been allocated jobs for today so that leaves 03, 05 and 09 without an allocation. I don't know which are off to Chiltern and which are on maintenance.

 

[londonmidland]

Here's a shot I got at Derby earlier today (not the best picture, apologies)

 

[Starmill]

Are the northern 156s working Manchester Airport - Blackpool North yet?

 

[Starmill]

To answer my own question from a while back, the once proud franchise brought low has now started issuing fake reservation coupons!



And plainly goodbye First Class = no Advance First revenue. Hope they factored that into their calculations!

 

[darloscott]

Are the northern 156s working Manchester Airport - Blackpool North yet?

Yes they are, 90% of which are 4 car workings

 

[mikestone1952]

Is that by sight - two of the three afternoon ECS working off York depot to strengthen North TP services are shown "cancelled due to contractual exclusions" in RTT

 

[Starmill]

Yes they are, 90% of which are 4 car workings

ah so day 1 and they can't even get it right! 185 replaced by 156 - all-round disaster.

 

[Bletchleyite]

To answer my own question from a while back, the once proud franchise

I must admit to bursting out laughing at any idea of TPE having ever been proud. It's a disgrace at the best of times in just about every way other than the units themselves. I now plan my journeys to Ulverston (family there) to ensure I use Northern services instead.

 

[Iskra]

I must admit to bursting out laughing at any idea of TPE having ever been proud. It's a disgrace at the best of times in just about every way other than the units themselves. I now plan my journeys to Ulverston (family there) to ensure I use Northern services instead.

You have it good up there (apart from never enough capacity, particularly South of Lancaster). On the core, there isn't enough capacity and they are always late with a few cancellations thrown in for added chaos.

They are an absolute joke of a franchise.

 

[darloscott]

ah so day 1 and they can't even get it right! 185 replaced by 156 - all-round disaster.

1201 Lancaster - Barrow
1310 Barrow - Lancaster
1336 Blackpool North - Preston (joins another at Preston)
Are all booked 2-car 156 workings for TPE, they're mainly around the lunchtime unit swap between TPE and Northern

 

[FordFocus]

Any idea how long the former TPE units are staying at Brush for?

 

[janb]

1201 Lancaster - Barrow
1310 Barrow - Lancaster
1336 Blackpool North - Preston (joins another at Preston)
Are all booked 2-car 156 workings for TPE, they're mainly around the lunchtime unit swap between TPE and Northern

At present at least,
0831 Manchester Oxford Road to Barrow is 4 car until Preston. 2 cars continue to Barrow. This then forms the 1113 Barrow to Blackpool North.
The other 2 car 156 works empty stock Preston to Lancaster and then does,
1201 Lancaster - Barrow
1310 Barrow - Lancaster
for TPE
then becomes Northern unit back and forth between Lancaster and Barrow

 

[ianhr]

You have it good up there (apart from never enough capacity, particularly South of Lancaster). On the core, there isn't enough capacity and they are always late with a few cancellations thrown in for added chaos.

They are an absolute joke of a franchise.

Agreed, I would vote TPE the worst TOC in the UK. I have been boycotting them for some while now for Leeds-Manchester journeys, preferring to take ~30 mins longer using Northern, saving a fortune in fares and getting a seat.

 

[158722]

170305 & 309 moved to Loughborough today, so 301, 302, 304, 305, 309 to Chiltern.

 

[Starmill]

I must admit to bursting out laughing at any idea of TPE having ever been proud. It's a disgrace at the best of times in just about every way other than the units themselves. I now plan my journeys to Ulverston (family there) to ensure I use Northern services instead.

When the new trains arrived they were seen as the magic bullet - they had something to be proud of then. They were modern, accessible and comfortable, they all had 3 coaches whereas they replaced some that had 2, they could do great things in a timetable and there were enough of them.

Had they not suffered the very silly decision to stick the Scotland services in their franchise, many of their problems might not have been.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

1201 Lancaster - Barrow
1310 Barrow - Lancaster
1336 Blackpool North - Preston (joins another at Preston)
Are all booked 2-car 156 workings for TPE, they're mainly around the lunchtime unit swap between TPE and Northern

At present at least,
0831 Manchester Oxford Road to Barrow is 4 car until Preston. 2 cars continue to Barrow. This then forms the 1113 Barrow to Blackpool North.
The other 2 car 156 works empty stock Preston to Lancaster and then does,
1201 Lancaster - Barrow
1310 Barrow - Lancaster
for TPE
then becomes Northern unit back and forth between Lancaster and Barrow

Not quite so bad then - I suspect those services won't suffer the 1/3 loss of capacity too much. Doesn't mean its OK we're going backwards in time here with them losing accessible loos, PIS, air conditioning, sockets etc.

 

[sprinterguy]

Not quite so bad then - I suspect those services won't suffer the 1/3 loss of capacity too much. Doesn't mean its OK we're going backwards in time here with them losing accessible loos, PIS, air conditioning, sockets etc.

A third in terms of standing capacity perhaps, but much less in terms of seated capacity: A class 185 has 169 fixed seats (plus 12 tip-up), while a 156 has 146 or 152 seats.

Note also that the toilet on a 156 unit is disabled accessible, just not to 2020 accessibility standards.

 

[Bletchleyite]

When the new trains arrived they were seen as the magic bullet - they had something to be proud of then. They were modern, accessible and comfortable, they all had 3 coaches whereas they replaced some that had 2, they could do great things in a timetable and there were enough of them.

Had they not suffered the very silly decision to stick the Scotland services in their franchise, many of their problems might not have been.

I think not quite - they were still heading for overcrowding given that (for good reason given the upgrade in comfort and accessibility) these new 3-car units had barely more seats than the old 2-car ones. If they'd left the North West Express routes with Northern then I think things *would* have been fine. That said, from my experience there is still an institutional arrogance from the top to the bottom that doesn't seem to appear with any other TOC, not even First ones.

 

[alexl92]

From the FTPE Wikipedia article:

Transport for Greater Manchester stated in 2007 that projected passenger numbers would probably mean that 100–125 mph (161–201 km/h) 8-car units would be needed by 2014.

Maybe it's fair to say that 6 car trains would be adequate on most services rather than 8... but with this kind of prediction available, why did nobody plan ahead?

 

[387star]

They wanted extra coaches on the 185s but new emission legislation stoppedmthat

 

[Bletchleyite]

They wanted extra coaches on the 185s but new emission legislation stoppedmthat

It didn't. The Government's concerns over funding stopped it. They could have been unpowered coaches, for instance.

 

[transmanche]

To answer my own question from a while back, the once proud franchise brought low has now started issuing fake reservation coupons!

View attachment 22243

If by 'fake' reservation coupons you mean a reservation on a specific service but without a specific seat, then ATW and Chiltern (at least) have been doing this for ages on Advance tickets.

 

[po8crg]

Northern will give you a fake reservation, at least on Leeds-Carlisle.

 

[Starmill]

If by 'fake' reservation coupons you mean a reservation on a specific service but without a specific seat, then ATW and Chiltern (at least) have been doing this for ages on Advance tickets.

And Northern, and South West Trains, and Southern and London Midland and Abellio Greater Anglia...

Yes, it's been going on for a long time. I refer to them as 'fake' on the basis that it's called a seat reservation, despite not reserving you a seat.

ATW are singularly annoying that they can reserve you a seat, but if you book anywhere other than one of their ticket offices, they don't like you doing so.

 

[driver9000]

And Northern, and South West Trains, and Southern and London Midland and Abellio Greater Anglia...

Yes, it's been going on for a long time. I refer to them as 'fake' on the basis that it's called a seat reservation, despite not reserving you a seat.

ATW are singularly annoying that they can reserve you a seat, but if you book anywhere other than one of their ticket offices, they don't like you doing so.

It clearly states that you have a space not a seat.

 

[Camden]

It clearly states that you have a space not a seat.

Does it clearly state on the ticket how big this space is and where this space is to be located? Or is it just all of the singular space on the train which has been reserved for this passenger?

I'd like to know, as I'd hate to think I was standing in space which has been reserved for another passenger.

 

[po8crg]

If I buy a cinema ticket, it reserves a place in a particular showing, but not a particular seat. If I buy a ticket on EasyJet or RyanAir, then I've got a seat on a particular flight, but I don't have a particular one reserved for me.