RTC Portsmouth Flyer - 13/06/26

I usually go up the Spinnaker Tower when I'm in Portsmouth, and watch the comings and goings in the harbour, see what navy ships are in etc. You can get good photos from up there.

 

Clearly, one visits the home of the greatest team the world has ever seen...
https://www.portsmouthfc.co.uk/fratton-park/stadium-tours
(Longest holders of the FA Cup...[1])

[1] don't ask when...

 

Yes I can understand that being the case in some circumstances, but this weekend sees a major timetable recast owing to engineering, with many trains from London diverted over the Chertsey route. As that includes the steam special, I would have thought that it would have to be integral to the overall service timing changes, and therefore not done as an afterthought.

 

The timetable looks odd (don't ever recall Portsmouth to Woking trains, and in a given hour there are points where you get two down trains between up trains. There also don't appear to be any fast trains passing through). I wonder if there are issues somewhere.

 

As I mentioned on the RTC thread the confirmed timings are on the RTC website they just have not been loaded onto the system yet it appears. Those travelling have their joining and arrival times, so I guess job done!

 

If you look at RTT for today looks like everything stops at Haselmere where the water stop is.
MTDR I guess.

 

NR saying no trains between Surbiton and New Malden. Everything seems to be going via Feltham. Fitting a special in will be a challenge.

 

Yes, passengers have the timings they need, but that doesn't mean it hasn't been a challenge to fit the special in, given the abnormal service situation. In fact, given that the timings are significantly different from the provisional ones, it may be that it has been tricky. It wasn't/isn't a problem at all (not even "tiresome") to await RTT details, and I only asked out of curiosity (as I said in my first post) about the very variable lead time the process produces, and certainly not from any sense of entitlement to be given line-siding timings.

 

From my experience most timings (these days even the regulars like a CME sometimes ) are different to the provisional ones.
Cambridge Dictionary defines provisional as:
"for the present time but likely to change:"

I stewarded a Central Wales where the prov time was 07:15 from Slough and the actual around 05:20 from memory.

 

Ouch!

 

Just came here to say the same, thanks to those who helped out.

Interesting that they don't have times for every station (unless they are using the little-known Godalming avoiding loop...).

Mike

 

A couple of slightly interesting features of the run are; a call at Barnes "for staffing reasons", and the fact that it reverses at Fareham signal E281 - there can't be many trains in the UK (albeit a tour) that are scheduled to reverse while not at a station and while carrying passengers. On the return, it and a service train, also from Portsmouth, are both scheduled to leave Woking at 2015 in parallel. The steam is shown as using p2 so it will have to cross to the slow once its 'companion' from p1 has cleared and follow it round to Chertsey.

 

Have not a lot of the York tours reverse at Gascoigne Wood on the way back south? Plus of course most DCE's & Swanage Belle's used to reverse in Southampton UDGL.

 

Check later today/tomorrow and the path will activate and all the other stations will appear.

 

I disagree with your last sentence Al. I think those not travelling but support the loco hauling the train (example - as I do as an MNLPS member for 35028), are entitled to know the times etc. As do shareholders where the loco is provided by a company or similar.

Bryan

 

Possibly Bryan, but not sure it is down to a third party system to be responsible for providing the data.

 

The signal is E821 at Fareham North Jn , the signal controlling the exit from the the Botley single line.
( E281 is the ground signal from down siding 1 to platform 3.) It also avoid blocking the station junction for the reversal at subsidiary signal E592 and saves issuing special working instructions for a passenger train starting back from a subsidiary signal.

The Up Portsmouth train (2P66) starting from platform 1 at Woking accelerates better than 35028, the timings of the special have been written to cross Up Fast to Up Byfleet curve behind 2P66 with a suitable junction margin at Byfleet Jn.

Does that make sense? Sorry quickly typed from train planning thoughts.

Someone else was querying why not all stations were shown. Real Time Trains takes data from the Network Rail feed and splices in locations which are not in the original schedule with estimated times.

Cheers, Neil

 

Absolutely. I assumed '28 would cross at Byfleet, with the 450s/444s having got well ahead by then. I have often wondered why the intermediate timing points on RTT are not spliced in when the schedule first appears, given that they are estimates anyway. Fingers crossed for a good set of runs tomorrow - the weather is certainly looking benign.