Have you got Google Sheets (for Android) or Apple Numbers (iOS) installed? They'll read xlxs files and give a better experience than a pdf.
Not wanting to take this off topic, but out of interest what do the other 9 158s not booked for Cambrian do? I assume about 4 of them are booked for maintenance but do the other have diagrams or just used where needed - e.g some turn up on random journeys like Pembroke Dock, Maesteg and of course Manchester/Holyhead to South Wales.
Sometimes there are tweaks, major changes not so much. Of course it's much easier for TFW which is the only operator over much of its network to fine-tune things than it is on lines used by multiple TOCs so there could be some (minor) changes.
Following the change over to ETCS, they were necessarily spread out just enough that every depot that doesn't have Cambrian work got at least a little bit of work on them as a minimum. Obviously with the incoming stock that's not really an issue.
I wouldn't bet on that. They're not as bad as 158s but I remember a point last year when they were dropping like flies. Mothers having to strip babies to stop them overheating and at least one unit returned ECS from Manchester because the guard declared the heat levels unsafe. Loss of a/c is manageable where you've got the spare capacity to move the passengers into another vehicle, but with the rammed trains commonly experienced in North Wales & Borders you can't safely run the train.
Does this mean trouble ahead once the existing pay agreements expire if TfW haven't found a way of increasing revenue by then?
They're multi-year deals which does buy some time before such issues need to be discussed. One does wonder about the Valley Lines though, drivers there are now effectively paid twice what a Manchester Metrolink driver gets, even though they too will shortly be driving trams. Metrolink doesn't have conductors either. Given the increase in staffing required for doubling service frequencies, how sustainable will it be?
I remember before the Covid timetable there used to 3 diagrams outside of the Cambrian/Birmingham/Holyhead route that were based in the South. This included various runs in South Wales to Maesteg, Ebbw Vale, daytime Fishguard boat train plus the early evening Cardiff-Fishguard. I believe one stayed at Carmarthen overnight and one at Canton. One returned North in the evening. At weekends they did a few Manchester-Milfords. So almost every route they could work they were booked for. Now it just seems random ad hoc usage. Mainly covering for 197s where needed.
Well yes of course, if the A/C isn’t reliable enough on the 197’s then we’re really doomed.
I agree it is disappointing, but only because it was promised in the first place. If it wasn't promised, people wouldn't have got their hopes up (and then been disappointed following the change of plans). Given that the issues preventing it happening, bar the lack of units available, is all infrastructure related ie signalling constraints between Wrexham/Shrewsbury/Marches and the foot crossing related issues along the coast, it should never have been promised in the first place without being checked as possible! (Or at least committing funds to solve said problems)
When you say mid wales, is that heart of wales or Cambrian ? And why not catch the train from a local station ?
The post you quoted referred to driving "from Aberdyfi"
Sadly if you use the first service which originates at Barmouth you get a 20 minute wait at both Machynlleth and Shrewsbury, and the roundabout nature of the route means you reach Cardiff at 1153.
Over £80 - that’s without splitting the ticket - something that the TfW website won’t tell you = so don’t use them.
Pretty much all enthusiasts and forum members will of course already know that. Most of the general public in these areas won't. So they'll either get a rubbish overpriced split from trainline or buy their ticket from the machine and think that's just the price.
Well that true, however it's not unreasonable for people of Liverpool and North Wales to expect direct services as they always did in the past. If they go to Manchester they should be going to Liverpool, which is much closer.
Thank you for trying and the suggestion to use Google Sheets which has been successful.
Wow, imagine if I just used my own eyesThe post you quoted referred to driving "from Aberdyfi"
I believe there are 20 diagrams. One does 1W92, 1V97 and 1W98. If you follow the workings, I think one of the sets on 1I04 and 1I22 never goes on the Cambrian because it forms 1D21 at 1930. So far as I can tell, all the others go through Machynlleth at least once.
At least it was rare for 175s to play up. Occasionally the heating would stick on during a hot day (presumably a faulty sensor or something) but it was exceptional. Last year the 197s really did drop like flies. In theory they're supposed to manage six degrees below ambient (as 158s are supposed to) but they weren't even doing that.
If you'd asked Network Rail in 2018 about extra paths along the coast, what would their answer have been? It's possible that Network Rail have become more jittery over the last few years, particularly because there have been multiple fatalities there, so their answer might have been "yes" in the past but is now a "no".
Or offer rover tickets. An Explore Wales ticket is cheaper than a return from North Wales to Cardiff, so long as the passenger will be returning within 8 days. On top of which they've got two other days of effectively free travel on trains and buses. Likewise for some journeys a North Wales two zone rover is cheaper than a day return (for those who don't hold railcards), and again it'll save them their bus fares too.
1W92 is very much a random unit generator. Anything and everything seems to turn up on it.
Of the split sites, Trainline often comes in cheapest because it tends to have the lowest commission.
Cost primary factor, my car does 500 miles plus to a £50 tank, Ebbw Vale is 2 hours 15 mins one way and 200 mile return, A valley lines station return cancels out the cost of parking in Cardiff, reliability of the Cambrian second factor- long waits at Tallerdig if trains are late, reliability of connections at Shrewsbury on the Marches line - some Northbound are 6-8 minutes and frequently late and unreliable and if you miss the Cambrian connection you’re stuck for 2 hours- it’s very poor that connections aren’t guaranteed, it’s a real barrier.
If you ask the guard, they will ring control and the connection onto the Cambrian will usually be held for up to 10 minutes if there is a two hour gap. Anything longer than that causes numerous reactionary delays on the single line.
Thank you. For some reason I thought the diagram that starts with 1W92 had switched to the 197 now.
While that last sentence is obviously true, it's four decades since the partial closure of the Halton Curve meant that north Wales to Liverpool direct services were ended so "as they always did in the distant past" might be a better way of putting it!
What normal passenger is going to assume that you have to ask the guard to phone ahead to get them to hold a connection? I always assumed that at Shrewsbury and other interchange stations that they would have known the position of a late running train and would hold a connection knowing that people would be switching routes. Perhaps this explains why trains to west Wales have been despatched from Cardiff Central just as those from Manchester are arriving on an adjoining platform. Sounds like they just don’t care.
