Great Western Coffee Shop

Similar level of service, but you have to say the station itself is a bit more swish !

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/4787477/The-17million-train-station-with-only-one-service-a-day.html

were not building anymore this didnt work noone used it... i bet you !!


grrrr they need to do a report into rolling stock allocation

i know that there are trains that are packed and trains that are empty and its iritating!

The service is actually just a half of the TransWilts service ... but it sounds like it may be better timed as a genuine commuter train.

I note that they hope the service will increase to hourly in April - sounds about right for a town of about 50,000. Before anyone says anthing about my method of evaluation, its VERY rough - but compares sensibly / confirms the cases that we're pushing for the TransWilts.

Questions

1. If their TOC can do it for Corby in April, why can't ours do it for Melksham ... and help Trowbridge and Westbury and Warminster and Salibury passenger who want to go to Chippenham and Swindon. 

2. Where does the line / service through Corby carry on to?

Beleive it is used for steel freight.

It runs onto Oakham on the Leicester to Peterborough line. Curiously, the section to be used for passengers is single, whereas the freight only section is double. (Though not quite freight only, the full service shows one Melton Mowbray to St Pancras via Corby.)

My only trip from Corby when it was last open was a NSE "Network Day" special from Corby to Oxford. It must have been around 1989, and not long before the Bletchley to Bicester route closed. So, one part of that journey has been resurrected, roll on the second section!

 

The station sure looks pretty swish. And hopefully in April (two months away, so hardly a ridiculous wait) the residents of Corby will be using the hourly service.

(http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/3600/images2148185.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

Peter Noone aka Herman of the Hermits

And there was me thinking he lived in the USA.

Come on, let the media get the anti-rail jungle drums out... I'm amazed I couldn't find a reference to FGW being threatened with losing their franchise though?  ;)

The First (a company who operate the failing TOC FGW) train departed Corby ... blah ... blah

Will get my coat ;)

I take the point about the media's stance on the railways -- I haven't seen any press reports congratulating FGW on the progress made recently in our area. But I'm sorry, I fail to see what isn't scandalous about a brand new station being built and no trains being available to operate from it for several months. Stations aren't like mushrooms, they don't appear unexpectedly overnight.

This is a symptom of the wider rolling stock shortage, which was forseeable, and avoidable. Lack of money is no excuse, train leasing is a highly profitable business and clearly many TOC's are desperate to find new stock to lease. The blame rests with the government who micromanage all aspects of the railways, like every other matter they are ignorant about. If it is not simply a result of typical ministerial incompetence, it must be something more sinister, such as serving the interests of the banks to use a shortage to maximise their profits by keeping leasing costs sky high. Or the government being anti-rail because they serve other vested interests.

However, I'm not an expert, so maybe someone better informed than me can explain why the lack of trains at this new station is perfectly understandable and acceptable.

Your summary seems to answer your final question? Basically the "rail experts" at DaFT think it is an acceptable situation and, therefore, you don't have to understand the reasons.

Basically Corby is a victim of the Beeching et al inspired rationalisations of the railways from 1960s and onwards through the 70s. In the 60s Corby was on the direct line from Kettering to Nottingham via Melton Mowbrey. We used to catch a late afternnon train from Derby to St Pancras which was routed via Nottingham and Corby. Nottingham to Melton Mowbrey was closed (a duplicate route?) and the bridge over the Trent used as road. As traffic to the steel works came from the North the line North of Corby was left double and the line South of Corby to Kettering singled.

Also as part of the rationalisation of teh MML the orginal 4 tracks from Bedford to Kettering (St Pancras - Kettering 72 miles was the longest stretch of 4 trck  in GB) through Wellingborough were rationalised to a mixture of 4/3/2 track sections thus reducing the capacity of the line. With MML full of trains going via Leicester it is difficult to fit trains to Corby onto the line  South of Kettering.

Added to DaFTs rolling stock policy, too little too late, even if you could find the paths there isn't the stock to run the service.

Thinking about it's similar to Melksham, useful section of line closed in the North side of the traingle at Bradford on Avon plus single tracking and lack of stock to run the service. The only difference is no TOC has succeeded in running 10 trains a day that used Melksham to get,  to Corby. Although now it looks as if Corby will get a fairly decent service.

Place your bets that in the next franchise round for the MML the Corby service will be drastically reduced and the stock redeployed for an enhanced Melksham service!
 



   

I reckon EMT have done well to stick out for the 222s. It is quite clear from the EMT franchise spec [available via DfT website] that DfT's original ideas for the route involved 158s running on the St Pancras - Corby service.

Of course, at the time the DfT wrote the spec they must have known every 158 was already allocated elsewhere...

Paul

And Network Rail is just in the process of putting back a third line on to the sole 4 mile section to be reduced to double track, between Harrowden and Kettering. Presumably the 5 tph that now run on the route make pathing of freight more difficult than the 2tph that ran when the line was rationalised in the mid eighties.

Not a bad effort  ;D

"The track is laid to the 4ft 8 1/2 inch gauge, also used by FGW, the failing..."

FGW had a really bad day yesterday with a lot of train failures. On a smaller note some station called Corby gets 1 train a day..

I believe the main building is the new standard modular (prefabricated) design, as used at Mitcham Eastfields and [that place in Essex that was rebuilt that I can't remember now].  I think they have a reasonably large selection of claddings for a standard framework, so they can ring the changes a bit.  

Unfortunately the plan to put one in at Effingham Junction fell at the first hurdle, local planners thought it too modern for the site, which is a bit sensitive IIRC.

Paul

Or because Alan Williams didn't like it. 

Can I just say, I really like the name "Effingham Junction"?

It just seems so English, somehow.

I always liked Toller cum Powerstock.

Sic transit gloria mundi  ;)

I think EMT have done well to secure the 222's aswell, better to wait and do the job properly rather than rush it just to get the service running for the sake of it and having trains cancelled etc from day one.