WCML Closed between Preston and Lancaster

[Donny Dave]

Derailed train between Preston and Lancaster

Time Reported: 14:26
Route Affected: London Euston - Rugby - Crewe - Preston - Lancaster - Carlisle - Glasgow Central; also Manchester Airport - Manchester Piccadilly - Preston - Lancaster - Barrow-in-Furness/Windermere
TOC/s Affected: Northern Rail, Transpennine Express, Virgin Trains
Description: Train services are being disrupted following a train derailment and landslip between Preston and Lancaster. The line is currently closed. Road transport will operate between Preston and Lancaster until further notice. There is no estimate for a normal train service to resume
Easements: GNER are accepting Virgin Trains tickets until further notice

This is believed to be 175103 on the 1C62 1227 Manc'r Airport - Windermere TPX service. No further details as yet, although TransPennine are reporting all services between Preston and Lancaster have been replaced by buses.

EDIT - Just checked further, and it seems the North West in general is having a bad day..

Power Supply problems at Winsford
Landslip between Bentham and Clapham (North Yorkshire)
As well as the ongoing problems at Rugeley

 

[voyagerdude220]

Any S&C diversions? If so, details would be HIGHly appreciated, so i could catch them b4 it gets to dark north of Blackburn, or just watch them from home, seeing it might be too dark to see the Voyager nameplate

 

[AJP]

Do you actually like voyager s:?

 

[Guinness]

Do you actually like voyager s:?

Obviously he does...

I guess the heavy rain is to blame for the Landslip.

The Train Derailed and Passengers detrained with assistance of Emergency Services.

 

[voyagerdude220]

YES i do. They're great, unless a huge amount of people try to get on the same train.

 

[voyagerdude220]

It isn't like a Voyager was involved in the derailment anyway

 

[Guinness]

Winsford Power Failure
Problems with OHLE damage at Stone

Just to add for todays NW Problems.

 

[voyagerdude220]

I thought it was a bit obvious that a like Voyagers, by the fact i want info about diversions which would involve them. It would be hugely rare to see a 57+390, but they will be going over the S&C from January, till March.

 

[Donny Dave]

Latest from BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4408056.stm

 

[voyagerdude220]

Thanks, i noticed it as well on their website, I was seeing what the media makes of it. Ian

 

[Donny Dave]

Sky News http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-13458126,00.html

Surprisingly, the media are not make much about it so far.

 

[yorkie]

YES i do. They're great, unless a huge amount of people try to get on the same train.

Well in general people try to avoid them so fortunately it doesn't happen that often

Regarding the media, I really can't understand how they make such a huge deal out of some derailments, yet ignore others. (and buses crashing or on fire are total non-events). I guess they just think about how anti-rail they can make the story. As this was caused by flooding they may have decided not to bother.

So the WCML is disrputed due to vandalism at Rugeley, and are there problems at Winsford and Stone? hock:

They can divert via the S&C to avoid Lancaster-Preston but then they'll still have problems south of Manchester.

The Live Departure Boards do seem a bit confused, but it looks like trains are still getting through all disruptions except between Preston-Lancaster.

 

[voyagerdude220]

Well one thing's for sure- I will be seeing Voyagers over this weekend, going over the S&C. There's a limited service today, due to the additional engineering works north of Carlisle, meaning there's a through train north twice, and the same southbound.

At least it's not as crazy as the diversions from Dec 2004 to March 2005 on Saturdays- Only one train each way came, which were the 09:28 Glasgow to Penzance, and the 09:30 Penzance to Glasgow.

It seem's like VT simply started and terminated trains at Preston last night. e.g The 13:25 Plymouth to Glasgow Central, scheduled in Preston at 18:40, terminated, and returned to Plymouth, forming the 16:05 Glasgow Central to Plymouth from Preston, which is sheduled to leave Preston at 18:28. The Voyager left Preston for Plymouth at around 18:50.

 

[yorkie]

The sleeper to Fort William is over 2 hours late (click), presumably due to the WCML chaos.

 

[voyagerdude220]

I'm guessing it doesn't go through the S&C line, as I've not heard anything about sleepers going over the line.
Do you, or anyone else for that matter have details of additional freight workings for the Ribble Valley line area, whilst the WCML is shut

 

[AlexS]

Sleepers when there are issues on the WCML have a reasonable likelihood of diverting via the East Coast.

 

[yorkie]

3 hours 21 mins late at Crianlarich

The further delay would have been due to the long single line sections.

 

[voyagerdude220]

Well in general people try to avoid them so fortunately it doesn't happen that often

Just like I avoid 142/3s, unless it's on the Taunton to Bristol stopping service, where the next one is in at least another hour. when I join at an intermediate station? (But get on Voyagers/Super Voyagers when ever possible, even if it's just from Weston-Super-Mare, changing at Bristol Temple M, for my WCML Voyager!)

I would like to add that when I joined 220 008 at Weston-Super-Mare earlier this year, on the 06:40 Plymouth to Newcastle, it wasn't overcrowded, even though it was a 4-car Voyager, in the rush hour (But it was nearly full).

I disagree with you though about your comment Yorkie, because I know for a fact that I wasn't the only person who got of the 143 at WSM, and joined the Voyager, just to go to Bristol, and I personally think that it's just Pro-HST etc / anti-Voyager people who do that.





BIG UP THE VOYAGERS & SUPER VOYAGERS
BIG DOWN THE 142/3/S

[/quote]

 

[yorkie]

I disagree with you though about your comment Yorkie, because I know for a fact that I wasn't the only person who got of the 143 at WSM, and joined the Voyager, just to go to Bristol, and I personally think that it's just Pro-HST etc / anti-Voyager people who do that.

In general most 'normals' passengers will get the first/quickest train for their journey, regardless of the type of train.

But there are some exceptions.

However it's not just "pro HST" people who are "anti Voyager", I know many people who dislike Voyagers - not from an enthusiast perspective - but due to the interiors (hard seats, lack of leg room etc). I know some tall people who will go out of their way to get HSTs rather than any other type of train because otherwise they will get a bad back (In fact they would be fine in a Voyager 'Priority seat' but these can be very difficult to obtain on busy services!).

I know someone who has to commute to work on a Voyager (there is no avoiding it) and even though it's a short journey, it adds up to 3 hours per week, and he now refuses to travel long distances on Voyagers as he finds the seats uncomfortable.

Also some people will go for GNER for the restaurant and catering service (GNER have a much wider selection of food in their buffet cars than Voyagers have in their shops).

On the other side of the coin some people may opt for Voyagers for the power sockets (I find them useful) however on the ECML this isn't an issue as GNER has them too

 

[voyagerdude220]

Well what your saying is that most tall people avoid Voyagers, because of a lack of leg room. I am very nearly 6 foot (and still growing by the day) , and the last time i was in standard class on a Voyager, I had enough leg room, but i must add that the blue/purple seats on Voyagers have more leg room, than the red ones.

Me? I travel 1st class most of the time, not because there's anything wrong with standard class on Voyagers, but because I get very good deals compared to the normal price in 1st class.

 

[yorkie]

Well what your saying is that most tall people avoid Voyagers, because of a lack of leg room. I am very nearly 6 foot (and still growing by the day) , and the last time i was in standard class on a Voyager, I had enough leg room, but i must add that the blue/purple seats on Voyagers have more leg room, than the red ones.

Me? I travel 1st class most of the time, not because there's anything wrong with standard class on Voyagers, but because I get very good deals compared to the normal price in 1st class.

Well, at nearly 6ft and in First Class you'll be alright! But someone who is 6ft+ in standard class won't be quite so comfortable.

In my experience 1st class is not very well patronised, due to the high prices and lack of much special. I find standard class on an HST to be more comfortable than First Class on a Voyager, personally.

 

[Guinness]

On a 2 Hour Journey on GNER on a HST, I found that the legroom was pretty much the same as Voyagers and that the window spacing was the same too. Sitting there I thought why do people make a fuss about HSTs? True it is nice to ride one now and again but the constant complaint of "Vermin Vomits are complete rubbish - Get a HST" just didn't make sense to me. I'll get what ever train is most convenient for me HST or Voyager. True if I had a spare 30 minutes or so I'd wait for a HST or LHCS than the Voyager, but I'm changing my travel plans to ride on some other train.

I've spoken to a couple Passengers in waiting rooms at Derby and Macclesfield and one lady that comes to mind said "This is the 2nd time I've been on train. They made a nice change to the car..[Blah Blah Blah]... that Virgin Voyager was quite pleasant to travel upon". Whether it was a HST, Voyager or Turbostar, as long as it gets people out of cars and into Trains I don't care what traction it is.

 

[voyagerdude220]

Well, I've only been on a GNER service once (an HST) , and I thought it was good. I didn't notice anything special about the legroom though, but I was in first class at the time.

If I had a choice, with an option being get on an HST, I would do, but not If I'm going to get into my destination far later than planned.

When The GNER HST got into a station north of Perth , I went through to the very rear of the train, right next to 43111 at the rear. The driver must have fully opened the HST set's throttle, as the noise was great! It was especially good, because the station had a roof above the train, so the noise "rebounded".

I do like HSTs, but I still think that the older stock (especially loco-hauled MK2s) , needed replacing with Voyagers.

The Restaurant was superb, because the food was very good, but the only bad point is the price.

Back onto the subject of the WCML, The Nationalrail website seems to have cleared the derailement off the "Service Bulletins" section, but it isn't still on the cleared part. Has this been fixed up, ready for a normal weekday service, tomorrow morning?