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6024 Cathedrals Express to Bristol, 12th Feb

Discussion in 'What's Going On' started by Steamage, Feb 12, 2012.

  1. hatherton hall

    hatherton hall Well-Known Member

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    I hope to get out to Twyford to see the King. Seems like it was still around 70 late at Bradford On Avon and looking at the schedule there is an 8 minute stop at Trowbridge (pathing I guess), a 25 minute stop for water at Theale and 3 minutes at Reading to allow passengers off the train. This adds up to 36 minutes. Assuming the train will get a clear road at Trowbridge and the watering takes 15 minutes, if Reading can get people off in 2 minutes all of this could reduce the arrears by 19 minutes plus the crew picking up say 10 minutes enroute that means 24 minutes knocked off the schedule and I reckon those coming over to Twyford should therefore be prepared to see her through the station at around 8.15pm. Optimistic? We shall see.
     
  2. DUKE71000

    DUKE71000 Member

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    Through Kintbury at 20.00
     
  3. No.7

    No.7 Well-Known Member

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  4. james1983

    james1983 Member

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    Through taplow at 22:07 smoking nicely!
     
  5. royals pete

    royals pete Member

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    Yeah, looked good at Reading, left at 21.48; very very late !! Seems massive problems at Newbury with points failure ( yes, more ) Then, watered at Theale and HSTs passing. Only the two main platforms in use at Reading.. continual usage. The train seemed really full though, and hope all the delays didn't harm too much. And I hope the Reading-Paddington passenger got on ok !!!"
     
  6. buseng

    buseng Part of the furniture

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    As Notwork Rail make such a fuss when steam locos cause a problem on the network, aka ECML in September, what happens when it is the other way round? West Coast & FGW should throw the book at them after today's shindig with their rubbish equipment. As for Reading Station, say no more. It's a complete joke at the moment.
     
  7. 5944

    5944 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Latest update on Steam Dreams Twitter feed at 22.50 says they're currently being delayed at Slough to a fatality. Sounds like a nightmare day out and all due to outside influences.
     
  8. royals pete

    royals pete Member

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    Yeah agree all round. Have to say its interesting watching ALL services being fed into platforms 7 & 8. don't know which way the trains are leaving !!
    Anyway, it was worth the wait....recorded amateurishly. 6024 King Edward 1 at Reading 12Feb2012 001.MOV - YouTube
     
  9. royals pete

    royals pete Member

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    And finally, I was hoping for the sound of her leaving Reading, but with the HST jusy yards away, and a Southern Electric werrring away the other side.....well tricky. Add to that the chap who wanted to be the star ! 6024 King Henry 1 at Reading 12Feb2012 004.MOV - YouTube

    Hope they've arrived back at Paddington by now.
     
  10. david1984

    david1984 Resident of Nat Pres

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    For once I agree with you, if were going down the finger pointing route then it can't be a one way street and others have to take the flack when the fault is theres.
     
  11. 5944

    5944 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Arrived Paddington shortly after 23.30 it seems, over 3 hours late.
     
  12. BR 73082

    BR 73082 Member

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    Received a text saying the train arrived in Paddington about 5 mins ago.
     
  13. KristianGWR

    KristianGWR Member

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  14. buseng

    buseng Part of the furniture

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    Over 3 hours late, so how much are NW going to get fined then? And that is only one train. How many service trains were affected I wonder? As mentioned, these things cut both ways. Feel sorry for the passengers, the support crew who still have to dispose of the loco, train staff etc. Especially those who have to get up for work tomorrow & may of missed connections home. God help Reading Station if only 2 through platforms are open tomorrow & during the week.
     
  15. RalphW

    RalphW Nat Pres stalwart Staff Member Administrator Friend

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    Whose fault is it if the delays were due once again to cable theft or other vandalism? Was anyone told what exactly caused the delay or is it just being assumed it was NR's fault.
    I'm not trying to defend NR, just looking at it from another point of view.
     
  16. royals pete

    royals pete Member

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    Well, we know signalling caused the outward problems although whether vandalism involved, are we ever told. And certainly the Newbury problems for the return trip were points failure with all trains through Reading about 25-30 mins late. I know that because standing on Reading station on a Sunday evening listening to the continuous announcements and apologies made it clear to all. What causes these problems is another matter and i just don't know who gets to hear the real reasons. As said in previous post, the problems of two Saturdays ago causing hours and hours of delays was it seems down to equipment failure just west of Reading but I haven't yet seen a real reason down in print. Unfortunately it is FGW who get the brunt of the blame especially on our local radios ....unfair on them. As to 2 platforms at Reading, they must have the relief platforms back in use today surely, because they just couldn't cope with the 2 mainlines only.
     
  17. razrobinson

    razrobinson New Member

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    I had the misfortune to be on this tour.
    Disgraceful - the stock was cold throughout the day - staff were boarding the train at Slough on the outbound with huge bags of blankets. Several of the internal doors did not shut properly - and our coach never had any heat the whole day!

    As for the delays - hey these things happen - but for a train to arrive past midnight - when due to arrive at 20:30 is a joke. Once we got a clear road from Slough we were crawling through greens - and stopped for 5-10 minutes right in the station throat. These caused many people to miss last tubes home!

    The onboard staff were awful at relaying the information - and at the end disappeared - can't say that I blame them!

    I hate to be the one answering the phones this morning at the tour operator!

    This tour will have done untold damage to the industry - the normals on this service certainly will not be booking again!
     
  18. royals pete

    royals pete Member

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    Really disappointed to hear that, but can well understand. And after such a spirited start to the day ! We all want the tours to go well, and even while I was standing on Reading station, the thoughts went through my mind ' hope its not the engine causing delays' . But when she was in Reading station, she looked in great form. Assume the late departure from Bristol was cos of the late arrival ??. As for waiting to get into Paddington, who does actually try to keep things moving especially when the Slough problems were by then known as it was all over the FGW site and NR...
     
  19. Alberta 45562

    Alberta 45562 Part of the furniture

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    Well the coaches,we know we can blame for that one.......

    The signalling problems all down to bad luck I suppose.

    The main problem we had was that we had to keep stopping for blow ups as the loco was running on some absolutely god awful coal (from where I don't know,presume it loaded up at Barton Hill?),we even ended up having one at the platform end at Paddington! Well done to Pete Roberts and Chris Birmingham and all the support crew for getting us back at all,seemed like poor old 6024 had nothing left to give,wouldn't want to be the person who has to clear that smokebox out.

    My only criticsm to SD is the poor communication,some of the problem is probably because most of the tannoys work but it wouldv'e been nice to have been told what was happening,poor Les ended up taking all the stick,as usual.


    I can understand people's annoyances but it must be understood that it wasn't Steam Dreams fault in most parts.

    The coal wasn't their fault
    The signalling wasn't their fault
    The bloke at Slough wanting to jump off the bridge,again,wasn't their fault
    The fact that WCRC can't get a decent set of coaches together,after a full winter to do maintainance is absolutely disgusting,IMO its really a disgrace,why can't these coaches get fixed once and for all,one of the TSO's has had no lights for a long while and the fact that blankets were issued points to the fact that SD knew what to expect!


    All in all it will be the staff in the Steam Dreams office that get the stick but it shouldn't be them that gets it,nothing was their fault,their only fault was the lack of communication,but I suppose that can be pointed towards WCRC in some ways too.

    The other thing with WCRC,why do coaches continue to run with wires between them to keep the heat/lights going,is there absolutely no way to get these coaches fixed?! Funny how it is only WCRC that get this problem on the same scale! We were in the rear coach on the return which had the novel idea of running wires along the inside of the light casing!

    Went on a Riviera operated train on Saturday,all coaches set out ECS from EH with heat and lights. One coach for some reason had heaters that didn't want to work (they had managed to fail over night). At Cranmore it was wired up to the next coach and we continued,I can say,almost for definite that this coach will be fixed by an EH fitter and next time it is out the heaters will work again by themselves.

    Been on many a WCRC train over the years and can safely say I have had some awful and quite frankly scary experiences,its about time the bloody coaches were sorted out once and for all before something serious happens.



    Luckily my car was parked at Paddington last night so managed to get away by 00:30,was home and in bed at my home near Wakefield by 03:20 so not bad really...... (A1 is really quiet at night...... ;) )


    Thanks to SD for what was still an enjoyable trip in parts,sadly ruined by problems not caused by themselves.
     
  20. buseng

    buseng Part of the furniture

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    Can't understand why there was no heating? I think that particular rake is steam heated & from the videos I have seen it looks as if the steam heating was connected to the loco. If it was an equipment failure (Mk 2's/Met-Cam Pullmans/pressure ventilated?), then it is down to West Coast to maintain their stock. As mentioned elsewhere, when the new SD fare structure kicks in, a lot of people will stop using them anyway. As for the signalling/points failures, no one has mentioned cable theft, just points/signalling failures. Saying that, if the cables were buried/enclosed instead of just being laid on the ground, then the problem would not arise. This is not excusing the thieves though.

    Edit, just read 45562's post. This is the first time that any mention has been made of any loco problem, all other reports seem to indicate that it was running well.
     

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