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SWML flooding

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elementalpat

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I thought the rainstorms were over!

Was it mother nature or some kind of burst pipe that caused all these issues today?
 
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Robinson

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Don't know what it's been like between Brockenhurst and Bournemouth but if Southampton was anything to go by I wouldn't be surprised (we've had a fair bit of rain today)...
 

David

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Some extreme rain today in the South West. The BBC reported earlier that there had been over an inch of rain in just under 30 minutes in places down there.
 

lj9090

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Line between Sway and New Milton flooded in the usual place; it was also shut Saturday morning. Plenty of very heavy rain in Brockenhurst during the day, so not too surprising it flooded again really.. the roads out of Brockenhurst to New Milton didn't hold up too well either.

AFAIK the first service was a 158 forming a 19:31 from Bournemouth to Brockenhurst after one line had opened but without power. I was stranded in New Milton at this point so jumped on planning to stay on and come back down the line once as it was turned around at Brockenhurst. However at 20.30 both lines were open and a 10 car 444 from Waterloo ran fast down to Bournemouth, the 158 waiting to form a stopping service behind it.
A bit of an improvement from the earlier tweets from NRE of no service for the rest of the day!

Bournemouth was an interesting scene of chaos, a whole load of passengers were waiting in the subway ramp on platform 3, being blocked from entering the platform. The service I came in on was supposed to head down to Weymouth, but it got rescheduled to run back to Southampton instead, with another service was setting off to Weymouth from the little used platform 4. Didn't really feel like hanging around to find out what was going on, but I'd imagine they'd blocked the passengers off on the ramp to stop anyone getting the wrong train!

The Lymington branch was also shut, not sure if this was flooded aswell or if the 158 was borrowed for the shuttle service.
 

BestWestern

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The Lymmie 158 was indeed used for the Brock - BMH shuttle. Absolute chaos at Brock, SWT had enormous trouble sourcing replacement vehicles and eventually mustered a coach from somewhere and a pair of very old Darts from Eastleigh opearator Xelabus. These dissapeared off to Bournemouth leaving a sizeable queue still waiting, and an hour or so later nothing much else had occured save for a 22 seat airport taxi. Hence the decision I presume to press the 158 into use after the up line was declared safe for diesel traction. The unit ran wrong line with pilotman and terminated in the bay at BMH, with pax conveyed onwards towards Weymouth by Desiro.

Incidentally, it led to a rare selection of traction ay BMH, with the 158 in the bay and a pair of 455s stabled in the siding at the down end.
 

lj9090

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I didn't even bother going to Brock at 5pm, got the offer of a lift to New Milton and jumped at it figuring I could cycle on from there if really needed.

What time did the 158 run down? Spend a while refreshing the LDB feeds trying to see if anything was running atall as busses and bikes don't mix too well. It running up from BMH at 19:31 was the first thing I spotted. Did wonder how it got down there though..
 

DaveHarries

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Line between Sway and New Milton flooded in the usual place; it was also shut Saturday morning. Plenty of very heavy rain in Brockenhurst during the day, so not too surprising it flooded again really.. the roads out of Brockenhurst to New Milton didn't hold up too well either.
Where is the usual place? Not being from Hampshire - and therefore unfamiliar with the line - I have no idea.

AFAIK the first service was a 158 forming a 19:31 from Bournemouth to Brockenhurst after one line had opened but without power. I was stranded in New Milton at this point so jumped on planning to stay on and come back down the line once as it was turned around at Brockenhurst. However at 20.30 both lines were open and a 10 car 444 from Waterloo ran fast down to Bournemouth, the 158 waiting to form a stopping service behind it.
Certainly an improvement. Are all lines heading west from Bournemouth bi-directional for a distance though? I managed to photograph 2x Class 444s (444038 & 444031) along with 5706 (older rolling stock: unsure if a DMU or an EMU) at Bournemouth: 444038 was blocking the Platform 4 line though when I got that photo (4:30pm).

Bournemouth was an interesting scene of chaos, a whole load of passengers were waiting in the subway ramp on platform 3, being blocked from entering the platform. The service I came in on was supposed to head down to Weymouth, but it got rescheduled to run back to Southampton instead, with another service was setting off to Weymouth from the little used platform 4. Didn't really feel like hanging around to find out what was going on, but I'd imagine they'd blocked the passengers off on the ramp to stop anyone getting the wrong train!
Bournemouth certainly was chaos: I was also there trying to get a train to Southampton Central so that I could get a train up to Bristol TM as I live in Bristol. I conceived the idea of getting the 1624 to Weymouth which would have got to Weymouth at 1715 if on schedule: I could then have got an X53 to Exeter (dep. Weymouth KS 1745) and thence a train to Bristol. A train did depart P3 heading west at 1624 but I don't know if it was in service or not as I heard nothing on the PA system: the screen mentioned two 1624 departures to Weymouth of which only 1 was cancelled. Either way I din't buy the ticket anyway. Eventually, having been at Bournemouth Station since 2:35pm I gave up at 5:00pm and managed to share a taxi to Southampton Central for which my contribution was £15. (£60 between 4 people).

Absolute chaos at Brock, SWT had enormous trouble sourcing replacement vehicles and eventually mustered a coach from somewhere and a pair of very old Darts from Eastleigh opearator Xelabus. These dissapeared off to Bournemouth leaving a sizeable queue still waiting, and an hour or so later nothing much else had occured save for a 22 seat airport taxi.
I passed a few Xelabus vehicles as I was in the taxi to Southampton. Saw at least one Dart and a double-decker as well: don't remember what else.

Incidentally, it led to a rare selection of traction ay BMH, with the 158 in the bay and a pair of 455s stabled in the siding at the down end.
As I said earlier I saw 2x Class 444s at Bournemouth parked up at the west end of the station with a train numbered simply 5706. Was that the Class 455? If not what class was '5706'? Never seen a 455 so I don't know.

Although I find it odd that SWT couldn't have got some coaches from a local firm in Bournemouth (I would be surprised if there wasn't at least one coach firm in Bournemouth), SWT were put in a difficult position rather quickly. I had dropped a car to an address in Ringwood and the sky proceeded to open up with rain, hail, thunder and lightning as I arrived at the address at around 12:50pm. The storm was still going, albeit much more heavily, when I left the customer's address around 50 minutes later. She gave me a lift into the town centre from where I didn't have to wait at all for a Bournemouth-bound X3. So those problems at Sway kicked off very quickly indeed as things had come to a stand at Bournemouth station by the time I got there - fortunately in the sunshine as the storm didn't get into Bournemouth - at 2:35pm.

Dave
 
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Lrd

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5706 is indeed a Class 455, they are used up in London on the 'inner-suburban' runs and come down to Bournemouth for various maintenance jobs.
 

embers25

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Where is the usual place? Not being from Hampshire - and therefore unfamiliar with the line - I have no idea.


Certainly an improvement. Are all lines heading west from Bournemouth bi-directional for a distance though? I managed to photograph 2x Class 444s (444038 & 444031) along with 5706 (older rolling stock: unsure if a DMU or an EMU) at Bournemouth: 444038 was blocking the Platform 4 line though when I got that photo (4:30pm).


Bournemouth certainly was chaos: I was also there trying to get a train to Southampton Central so that I could get a train up to Bristol TM as I live in Bristol. I conceived the idea of getting the 1624 to Weymouth which would have got to Weymouth at 1715 if on schedule: I could then have got an X53 to Exeter (dep. Weymouth KS 1745) and thence a train to Bristol. A train did depart P3 heading west at 1624 but I don't know if it was in service or not as I heard nothing on the PA system: the screen mentioned two 1624 departures to Weymouth of which only 1 was cancelled. Either way I din't buy the ticket anyway. Eventually, having been at Bournemouth Station since 2:35pm I gave up at 5:00pm and managed to share a taxi to Southampton Central for which my contribution was £15. (£60 between 4 people).
Dave

Another option is the half hourly W&D X3 to Salisbury and train on from there which is normally a quicker way of reaching Salisbury than the train anyway (although not always in evening peak)
 

Schnellzug

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Although I find it odd that SWT couldn't have got some coaches from a local firm in Bournemouth (I would be surprised if there wasn't at least one coach firm in Bournemouth),

From Poole or Bournemouth, Damory, Excelsior, Sea View, Dolphin Coaches, Cavendish, to name but a few off the top of my head... Of course, they'd all have been busy with School work as well, mind, but even so, I expect they'd have been willing to make an effort with a nice job like this being offered.
 

fairysdad

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London, Surrey... bit of a blur round here...
I'm both glad and annoyed that I've returned home from uni before this happened! Glad because I really hate thunder storms, yet annoyed as it would have been interesting to see what was going on railway-wise - may have (probably unwisely; good thing I'm not there!) popped into Bournemouth with camera in tow...

From Poole or Bournemouth, Damory, Excelsior, Sea View, Dolphin Coaches, Cavendish, to name but a few off the top of my head... Of course, they'd all have been busy with School work as well, mind, but even so, I expect they'd have been willing to make an effort with a nice job like this being offered.
Mildly OT; years back (at least 10), I remember during another bout of flooding, the contracted school coach having a bit of an identity crisis... it was a Hookways coach, being driven by a Turners Tours driver (the correct company for the run), with a BR symbol in the front window on one A4 sheet of paper and 'Wessex Trains Rail Replacement' on another A4 piece of paper...
 

lj9090

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Where is the usual place? Not being from Hampshire - and therefore unfamiliar with the line - I have no idea.

Somewhere in this section : http://goo.gl/maps/e2vW. IIRC some work was done several years ago as it used to happen far more often.

Spotted a 455 in the down sidings in BMH this morning at 07:55, and 1W94 was headed by a 450 rather than two 444s as per usual. Other than that seems back to normal.
 

Schnellzug

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Somewhere in this section : http://goo.gl/maps/e2vW. IIRC some work was done several years ago as it used to happen far more often.
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I remember one time (During the war...) I was on a 442 that stopped round about there because they turned the power off due to flooding, and after a few hours the old 73 came up from Bournemouth to drag it back.

... then it stopped at Hinton Admiral because water got into the traction motors, and a 47 was eventually fetched from Bournemouth (off of a cancelled CrossCountry) to drag the whole lot back. :lol: :roll:
 
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