Storm Franklin - Further weather disruption possible

[Trainfan344]

Bit of luck at Liverpool Street, while they were hearding people onto a slow train to Colchester, overheard a conversation saying there would be a fast train too. Currently on a 321 zooming along towards Ipswich. Not sure how I'll get home from there but progress is always good.

 

[Tomp94]

There is some good to come out of the BSPs ... my train was on diversion duties due to BML engineering works, got on a Victoria to Brighton service that arrived into Worthing running 35 minutes late.
it ran fast from Worthing to Brighton....took approx 12 minutes!
Maybe GTR could consider running Worthing to Brighton express services to their timetable

 

[Trainfan344]

I spoke way too soon. An hour and a half after leaving Liverpool Street and we're crawling along at 5mph between ingatestone and Chelmsford.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Attempted suicide incident near St Denys also caused disruption in the Southampton and Portsmouth area this early afternoon, so SWR had that on top of the weather trouble. Hoping the individual involved is being looked after.

GWR’s timetable today horrified me when I saw it, and indeed I am arriving home an hour late as a result, but it seems to have been a good idea as they’ve operated a fairly robust service compared to SWR, who tried the full timetable and incurred lots of delays.

 

[GB]

I spoke way too soon. An hour and a half after leaving Liverpool Street and we're crawling along at 5mph between ingatestone and Chelmsford.

5 mph ESR over Church Lane crossovers. Trains having to be stopped and cautioned.

 

[ashkeba]

Yes the unit working 1Y10 had to be rescued. Passengers detained earlier.

Why were they detained? Not another frustration attack on crew, I hope.

 

[robbeech]

Hoping the hope valley is running by the morning, the wife attempted to get to Liverpool today and got as far as Sheffield. There was no do not travel warning when she left (although I had warned her of potential disruption) but they subsequently made an announcement which I’m led to believe wipes their hands of all responsibility even if the journey had started before hand. There’s some very angry people at Sheffield, not because of the disruption but because of the communication and sheer arrogance of staff just saying ‘sort yourself out it’s not our problem’. Wouldn’t surprise me if a few don’t get punched in the teeth by all accounts, such a shame.

 

[Trainfan344]

5 mph ESR over Church Lane crossovers. Trains having to be stopped and cautioned.

We were travelling at 5mph from Ingatestone!

 

[800001]

Why were they detained? Not another frustration attack on crew, I hope.

Passengers detrained .

 

[dk1]

Why were they detained? Not another frustration attack on crew, I hope.

Just length of time they’d been trapped without power that’s all.

Just length of time they’d been trapped without power that’s all.

Hope it wasn’t just the lack of YouTube lol

 

[johnny_t]

I have a bit of a trip planned (and paid for) for today and tomorrow. Anyone looking at the Transport for Wales websites would think 'no chance', but does anyone know what the situation is on the ground ?

Today I'm planning to go from Selby to Leeds, Leeds to Chester, Chester to Blaenau Ffestiniog and then bus over to Porthmadog.

Tomorrow the plan is to go from Porthmadog to Birmingham New Street, and then back to York.


Is this doomed to failure, or just going to involve a bit of adventure along the way ?

So.....

I made it to Porthmadog.

I was actually nicely ahead of time by the time I got to Chester (Leeds-Chester Northern service was cancelled, so they let me get on TPE to Newton Le Willows and then I only had to wait a bit for the Chester train from there.

However, the first train out of Chester (1525) was cancelled, though they thought it might be reinstated. Got the 1629 though, of course, Llandudno Junction to Blaenau was also cancelled, so I carried on to Bangor and got the bus round to Porthmadog.

TFW were absolutely hopeless, both in terms of any help at Chester, and the complete absence of any train announcements or alternative arrangements for the Llandudno Junction to Blaenau section. If I hadn't found out for myself, no-one there would have told me. The guy on the barriers at Chester seemed to be working from NationalRail.com and was less good at using it than I am. He advised me to go to Shrewsbury and work back up the Cambrian Coast line, even though I knew full well it was closed.


Fingers crossed for the Cambrian Coast from Porthmadog to Machynlleth and onto Birmingham tomorrow. I know at least one train has been down it tonight, though I'm not sure what the section from Mach to Shrewsbury holds....

 

[joncombe]

Today's 09:00 departure from King's Cross, arrived at Edinburgh Waverley at 18:25.
This was 5 hours and 5 minutes late.
I was wondering if there was a known record for a late running in service train for whatever reason?

No. I managed 5 and a half hours on the ECML a few years back. I doubt it's the longest, either.

 

[Trainfan344]

Last East Suffolk line train cancelled now.

 

[dk1]

Last East Suffolk line train cancelled now.

Taxi!!

 

[infobleep]

Attempted suicide incident near St Denys also disrupted in the Southampton and Portsmouth area this early afternoon, so SWR had that on top of the weather trouble. Hoping the individual involved is being looked after.

GWR’s timetable today horrified me when I saw it, and indeed I am arriving home an hour late as a result, but it seems to have been a good idea as they’ve operated a fairly robust service compared to SWR, who tried the full timetable and incurred lots of delays.

Their policy seems to have been telling everyone in the morning nothing is running whilst running a full base timetable.

SWR did eventually remove the do not travel advice though, whilst Great Western Railway hasn't.

Which strategy was better I can't tell. One had greater discretion but allowed a normal timetable to try and assume and the other meant that was never possible.

I was half expecting Great Western Railway to run a train from Redhill after 19:58 and the online info just to be updated but no they didn't. That's very early. Although mostly I travel on the North Downs Line before 8 pm, I do sometimes find it useful to travel after 8 pm.

Don't know what passengers arriving back at Gatwick Airport did. No one was asking on Twitter, so maybe they found them an alternative at the station.

The severe weather is over so they could perhaps have put them in taxis.

No. I managed 5 and a half hours on the ECML a few years back. I doubt it's the longest, either.

There was I believe some longer journeys in WWII but that's going off topic so ill leave it there.

 

[Philip]

Hoping the hope valley is running by the morning, the wife attempted to get to Liverpool today and got as far as Sheffield. There was no do not travel warning when she left (although I had warned her of potential disruption) but they subsequently made an announcement which I’m led to believe wipes their hands of all responsibility even if the journey had started before hand. There’s some very angry people at Sheffield, not because of the disruption but because of the communication and sheer arrogance of staff just saying ‘sort yourself out it’s not our problem’. Wouldn’t surprise me if a few don’t get punched in the teeth by all accounts, such a shame.

It isn't the problem of the staff; people were advised beforehand to only travel if necessary and to expect disruption because of the weather, there is a degree of responsibility for the passenger. Staff do their best to help but sometimes there is nothing they can do and they know as much information as the passenger does.

 

[Trainfan344]

Taxi!!

Could use a bit more organising at Ipswich, two staff members not coordinating!

 

[dk1]

Could use a bit more organising at Ipswich, two staff members not coordinating!

I bet the traincrew where happy. Straight home down the main line.

Actually it wasn’t planned to run anyway. The emergency timetable shows the 21:17 as the last service.

 

[davews]

I see that Hampton Court station is closed due to damage at the station, anybody more information?
Yesterday Reading bound trains were waiting at a red signal at Martins Heron for ten minutes or so, presumably having to be talked through because of the wrecked signalling box at Bracknell. They all seem to be going straight through this morning so presumably fixed that overnight.

 

[johnny_t]

So.....

I made it to Porthmadog.

I was actually nicely ahead of time by the time I got to Chester (Leeds-Chester Northern service was cancelled, so they let me get on TPE to Newton Le Willows and then I only had to wait a bit for the Chester train from there.

However, the first train out of Chester (1525) was cancelled, though they thought it might be reinstated. Got the 1629 though, of course, Llandudno Junction to Blaenau was also cancelled, so I carried on to Bangor and got the bus round to Porthmadog.

TFW were absolutely hopeless, both in terms of any help at Chester, and the complete absence of any train announcements or alternative arrangements for the Llandudno Junction to Blaenau section. If I hadn't found out for myself, no-one there would have told me. The guy on the barriers at Chester seemed to be working from NationalRail.com and was less good at using it than I am. He advised me to go to Shrewsbury and work back up the Cambrian Coast line, even though I knew full well it was closed.


Fingers crossed for the Cambrian Coast from Porthmadog to Machynlleth and onto Birmingham tomorrow. I know at least one train has been down it tonight, though I'm not sure what the section from Mach to Shrewsbury holds....

Looks like the Cambrian Coast line is still out of action today, unfortunately. Hopefully there will be someone at Porthmadog station with some suggestions on how to travel.

 

[sonic2009]

So.....

I made it to Porthmadog.

I was actually nicely ahead of time by the time I got to Chester (Leeds-Chester Northern service was cancelled, so they let me get on TPE to Newton Le Willows and then I only had to wait a bit for the Chester train from there.

However, the first train out of Chester (1525) was cancelled, though they thought it might be reinstated. Got the 1629 though, of course, Llandudno Junction to Blaenau was also cancelled, so I carried on to Bangor and got the bus round to Porthmadog.

TFW were absolutely hopeless, both in terms of any help at Chester, and the complete absence of any train announcements or alternative arrangements for the Llandudno Junction to Blaenau section. If I hadn't found out for myself, no-one there would have told me. The guy on the barriers at Chester seemed to be working from NationalRail.com and was less good at using it than I am. He advised me to go to Shrewsbury and work back up the Cambrian Coast line, even though I knew full well it was closed.


Fingers crossed for the Cambrian Coast from Porthmadog to Machynlleth and onto Birmingham tomorrow. I know at least one train has been down it tonight, though I'm not sure what the section from Mach to Shrewsbury holds....

Looking at realtimetrains, nothing seems to be running along the Cambrian Coast this morning, nothing appears on TFW journey check, but there does appear to be flooding at Shrewsbury.

 

[Techniquest]

I haven't followed this thread with as much passion as the previous storm thread, I must confess, but I just wanted to add that we got off very lightly here in Hereford. A fair bit of heavy rain got endured, luckily for me not on my walks to/from work, and the wind while strong when it decided to gust was not too bad by the time I left work Strong enough to be noticed, of course.

Later into the afternoon, after dealing with some card fraud (entirely different topic, might make a thread about this BirdApp in General Discussion later), the wind had died down enough to go cycling! The gusts got down to 'only' 29mph which weren't much fun, of course, but the sunshine and beautiful scenery made up for that. I was just glad to get the chance to go out pedalling again, some much needed mental therapy.

Hopefully you all had decent fortune with it all in the end, and that you're all safe and sound I heard trees are down on the Cardiff to Manchester line which must be causing chaos, and I'm feeling suddenly very pleased that I went out on the railway last Tuesday after all. It could well be a while until I get to do so again after all!

It is still forecast to get pretty breezy I see this week, so keep safe out there everyone

 

[_SHR_]

Looks like the Cambrian Coast line is still out of action today, unfortunately. Hopefully there will be someone at Porthmadog station with some suggestions on how to travel.

The attached images are what the line looked like between Welshpool and Newtown yesterday evening.

Shrewsbury is currently inaccessible by buses due to flooding in the town.

 

[Class800]

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Shrewsbury - Aberystwyth

Lines are closed between Shrewsbury and Aberystwyth. There will be no rail replacement road transport owing to severe flooding of roads between Shrewsbury and Aberystwyth.

 

[Caaardiff]

Services from Shrewsbury - Cardiff and Birmingham are unable to run. Looks like river levels at the bridge exit on the South side of the station are rising too high.

 

[woolos]

Looking at realtimetrains, nothing seems to be running along the Cambrian Coast this morning, nothing appears on TFW journey check, but there does appear to be flooding at Shrewsbury.

Cat

Looks like the Cambrian Coast line is still out of action today, unfortunately. Hopefully there will be someone at Porthmadog station with some suggestions on how to travel.

Best plan is to use the bus .as there is no staff at porthmadog

 

[robbeech]

It isn't the problem of the staff; people were advised beforehand to only travel if necessary and to expect disruption because of the weather, there is a degree of responsibility for the passenger. Staff do their best to help but sometimes there is nothing they can do and they know as much information as the passenger does.

Couldn’t agree more, sometimes they know less information than passengers as passengers may see an update on the toc website or social media feeds before the staff get to hear about it, proving once again communication is very poor and staff on the ground have to deal with it. My point was that unfortunately some staff behave in an inappropriate way and are NOT helpful and this does nothing to help the already dreadful reputation of the railway. I have seen some disgusting videos from Sheffield yesterday which show staff screaming and swearing at people just asking a question. Nobody should expect the railway to have all the answers, nobody should expect them to be able to pull busses out of a hat, no staff should have to put up with angry passengers, but similarly no passengers should expect to be verbally abused for asking a question.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The attached images are what the line looked like between Welshpool and Newtown yesterday evening.

Shrewsbury is currently inaccessible by buses due to flooding in the town.View attachment 110586View attachment 110587

Ouch. How's the Conwy Valley doing? Time for the bi-annual rebuild?

 

[175001]

Ouch. How's the Conwy Valley doing? Time for the bi-annual rebuild?

Nope
Open

 

[paul1609]

A very full front four coaches for Chicgesrer and Portsmouth was thrown out at Barnham due to a tree on the line at Chichester. This happens at Barnham a lot but normally due to train crew shortage etc. To those who don't know Barnham is basically in the middle of nowhere. No buses were provided and I know passengers can reclaim costs but taxis are dear especially if you are hard up. A number of trains behind were likewise terminated or drumroll sent into Bognor

Barnham is a small village that grew up around the railway junction yes, but there's a Tesco Express with Atm, Co-op just up the road, various take away food outlets, pub and taxi office so it's hardly Berney Arms. If there's no trains further along the coast you get the first train to Bognor cross the road outside to bus stop J where in normal times there's a 700 bus to Chi every 15 mins with every second one going forward to Pompey.