Thameslink terminating at St Pancras

[Ladder23]

I noticed thameslink are running trains from Luton terminaring at st Pancras international today 22/04/19. I’ve not noticed this before,

Is this because of any shortages with East Midlands trains?

 

[yorkie]

I noticed thameslink are running trains from Luton terminaring at st Pancras international today 22/04/19. I’ve not noticed this before,

Is this because of any shortages with East Midlands trains?

From NRE:

From Good Friday until Easter Monday, services will be amended due to engineering work in the London St Pancras International area:

• On Good Friday and Easter Saturday, trains will not call at Kentish Town. Buses will run between West Hampstead Thameslink and London St Pancras International, calling at Kentish Town.
• On Good Friday, Easter Saturday and Easter Monday, there will be no direct service through London; trains will run between Bedford and London St Pancras International (upper level). You will be able to change at London St Pancras International for services towards London Blackfriars, Sutton, Brighton and Rainham.
• Until 08:50 on Easter Sunday, buses will replace trains between Mill Hill Broadway and London St Pancras International.
• All day on Easter Sunday, no trains will run between London St Pancras International and London Bridge / Wimbledon.

 

[bionic]

Happens during disruption too. Although many drivers don't sign the high level station. Its the same with Victoria with trains coming up from Kent. Not all the drivers sign it, although with those it's often a Southeastern driver on it so no problems with route knowledge.

 

[AM9]

Slightly OT but the working timetable allows 8 minutes for the normal Brighton to Bedford service (9T44) from platform B (low level at St Pancras) to arrival at West Hampstead Thameslink. It departs at 17:51 and arrives at 17:59. On saturday I travelled on the equivalent service, the 17:54 from St Pancras (high Level) (9M44) which flew past Kentish Town to stop at WHP just 5:30 later. Of course it didn't have the Dock and Carlton Road junctions to negotiate, but it was a good demonstration of how the class700s can get away fast, and that was when it was almost crush loaded.

 

[westcoaster]

I noticed thameslink are running trains from Luton terminaring at st Pancras international today 22/04/19. I’ve not noticed this before,

Is this because of any shortages with East Midlands trains?

The line is closed between Kentish town and low level St pancras for track renewals.

 

[AM9]

The line is closed between Kentish town and low level St pancras for track renewals.

When passing Kentish Town I noticed a pair of class 73s at the mouth of the tunnel to Upper Holloway, various collections of engineering wagons and the Maps on OTT were showing '-T3-' at various places on the slows. I know it must be something to do with the possession, can anybody here explain what '-T3-' means please?

 

[43074]

When passing Kentish Town I noticed a pair of class 73s at the mouth of the tunnel to Upper Holloway, various collections of engineering wagons and the Maps on OTT were showing '-T3-' at various places on the slows. I know it must be something to do with the possession, can anybody here explain what '-T3-' means please?

T3 refers to the rule book module (here) which describes the rules for possessions involving running lines during engineering works, it just indicates to the signaller that a particular section of line is blocked. They are usually shown at the limits of the possession.

 

[AM9]

T3 refers to the rule book module (here) which describes the rules for possessions involving running lines during engineering works, it just indicates to the signaller that a particular section of line is blocked. They are usually shown at the limits of the possession.

Thanks for the link. That was very interesting.

 

[ah-media]

Slightly OT but the working timetable allows 8 minutes for the normal Brighton to Bedford service (9T44) from platform B (low level at St Pancras) to arrival at West Hampstead Thameslink. It departs at 17:51 and arrives at 17:59. On saturday I travelled on the equivalent service, the 17:54 from St Pancras (high Level) (9M44) which flew past Kentish Town to stop at WHP just 5:30 later. Of course it didn't have the Dock and Carlton Road junctions to negotiate, but it was a good demonstration of how the class700s can get away fast, and that was when it was almost crush loaded.

I'd be very careful if I were you … saying nice things about the Cl700s can get you lynched … or worse on here ….

 

[AM9]

I enjoy reading the whinges that some posters seem to be addicted to.
They are designed for a very specific purpose and to do it for the next 30 years. Most of the time, they perform exactly as needed. A few moan about a lack of soggy seats - others prefer the firm ones that we have, but most users seem to appreciate that they move lots of people safely and quickly. They will probably outlive me in their current roles.

 

[D7666]

If you study the public timetable very carefully, you will find first thing on Sundays mornings at start of service there are a couple of booked workings into St.Pancras "high level". These have always been in the timetable. Same when 319s ruled, there were always early Sundays mornings into STP high level. Of course, as any Sunday morning train, these can sometimes be altered by engineering works, can be buses, or as trains diverted into the low level on some dates, but nonetheless high level is booked. IIMU it is exactly for the reason of retaining route knowledge of Bedford etc TL north depots irrespective of whether the tunnel route is blocked or not.

--
Nick

 

[ChiefPlanner]

I enjoy reading the whinges that some posters seem to be addicted to.
They are designed for a very specific purpose and to do it for the next 30 years. Most of the time, they perform exactly as needed. A few moan about a lack of soggy seats - others prefer the firm ones that we have, but most users seem to appreciate that they move lots of people safely and quickly. They will probably outlive me in their current roles.

Agreed , good workhorses , air con / warm in winter - good step plates for alighting / passenger information screens , pretty quiet in running (well they have to be when all you can hear is the wind outside at speed) - just need a tweak or improvement on the standard class seating. (at least , unlike the 319's - hard worked as they were , you do not get loose seat bases , and spring showing seats, let alone the slam of the hopper vents as the aerodynamics of a passing train at speed banged them shut !)

 

[Bald Rick]

The StP high level terminators early Sundays are because the core is closed every Saturday night/ Sunday morning (about 7 1/2hrs) for maintenance.

 

[Bald Rick]

Agreed , good workhorses , air con / warm in winter - good step plates for alighting / passenger information screens , pretty quiet in running (well they have to be when all you can hear is the wind outside at speed) - just need a tweak or improvement on the standard class seating. (at least , unlike the 319's - hard worked as they were , you do not get loose seat bases , and spring showing seats, let alone the slam of the hopper vents as the aerodynamics of a passing train at speed banged them shut !)

Agreed. Light years better than their predecessors. Far more reliable as well; the weather is just irrelevant to them.

 

[AM9]

Agreed. Light years better than their predecessors. Far more reliable as well; the weather is just irrelevant to them.

Went from SAC to Greenwich today then back from London Bridge to SAC. The service seems to be running quite smoothly now. Interlacing of Peterborough, Cambridge and slows with Bedford seems to work a lot better now. Just a 1 minute wait to follow a Sutton slow to SAC slow into the core at Blackfriars. Only complaint is the Mill Hill bumps on the fasts, - they really do seem to be quite bad now.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Went from SAC to Greenwich today then back from London Bridge to SAC. The service seems to be running quite smoothly now. Interlacing of Peterborough, Cambridge and slows with Bedford seems to work a lot better now. Just a 1 minute wait to follow a Sutton slow to SAC slow into the core at Blackfriars. Only complaint is the Mill Hill bumps on the fasts, - they really do seem to be quite bad now.

SAC to Greenwich in an hour or less , with no hassle is quite impressive. Very useful and something that ought to be marketed.

 

[Bald Rick]

Went from SAC to Greenwich today then back from London Bridge to SAC. The service seems to be running quite smoothly now. Interlacing of Peterborough, Cambridge and slows with Bedford seems to work a lot better now. Just a 1 minute wait to follow a Sutton slow to SAC slow into the core at Blackfriars. Only complaint is the Mill Hill bumps on the fasts, - they really do seem to be quite bad now.

I’ve not noticed track condition at Mill Hill recently. The ground conditions are pretty benign at present - not too wet or dry. I will set my backside sensitivity to maximum next week.

 

[AM9]

I’ve not noticed track condition at Mill Hill recently. The ground conditions are pretty benign at present - not too wet or dry. I will set my backside sensitivity to maximum next week.

We went into London on the slows so the bumps weren't so noticeable (at 70-80mph) anyway. The journey out to SAC on the fasts mostly at line speed was in 700109, so not one of the later deliveries, (it was the first class700 that went north of the Thames in passenger service ISTR), but I hope that the suspension/dampers aren't deteriorating that quick anyway.