Great Western Coffee Shop

They disappeared from the platforms at Maidenhead fairly recently I think.. I do hope they are going to be replaced? Does anyone know?

I guess it could be a good trick so that no one knows whether the trains leave late or in fact early.. ;D ;)

Have Maidenhead's dot matrix displays not got a clock on them?

We have been informed that all the station clock are being removed so that the new cis screens can be installed!!

As most of the turbo's do not have clocks in them anymore us at the sharp end are have no means to get an accurate time fix as the watches supplied are not the most accurate.

No.. So no idea of the real (railway) time at Maidenhead at the moment.. As we went thru Slough earlier I noticed their information screens on the platforms do have the time on so I am hoping Maidenhead will get that..

Mind you I'd have thought installing that before removing the clock would have made more sense..but that's just me  :)

Hmm.  Where did you get this rather quaint notion that logic features anywhere on the railways, Jo?  :o

Very good point! I forgot that for a moment there  ;D

How odd. The old, red NSE "flap" clocks have been out of use at Didcot for a long time (they may have been physically removed by now) but there are digital clocks on the CIS. The new Oxford system certainly has a clock as an intergral part of the information screen as well, so I'm amazed there's nothing at Maidenhead!

We still have the old information boards.. I did have a quick look this morning but they definitely didn't have the time on  :(

According to the notice that went up this week the old Thames and Wessex CIS is being replaced between now and the end of the year.

All the new platform information displays will be similar to the one in place at slough/oxford with the clock under the running info.

The notice also stated that they will have a dimming feature so that they are not too bright at night!!

All the planning and sighting has been completed and instillation is to start soon.

If I find myself at a station with no clock (and there are now many in the Thames Valley), would it be in order if I pressed the button on the white communication "circle" and asked those nice people in Swindon for a timecheck?

We are not allowed to use common sense anymore what we did have has been cut back to save money  ;D

Seriously, when it comes to locating equipment yes you can put it somewhere but for ever that somewhere will never be the best place so it is often better to strip out existing equipment to make space.  The old NSE clocks were installed in the mid / late 80's I would think the parts are like hens teeth.

They're probably installing the new PIS at the site of the old clock. Hence the clock has to be ripped up first.

CT did this at Worcester and Kidderminster (and elsewhere probs).

So meanwhile we have no idea if the train has left on time or late or early?  ::)

FGW are currently in breach of the Chris Green/Peter Hall Report on Better Rail Stations,  (http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/passenger/stations/betterrailstations/pdf/report.pdf) which states on page 24 that for small staffed stations that "Clock [should be provided  .. for]  Each platform with scheduled service (discretionary if built into CIS)".

Are there too many FGW functionaires on this blog?  All this rubbish that the old NSE clocks (which performed OK and gave the time OK) had to be taken down before new CIS displays are put up?

It's not necessarily rubbish, is it? Logic would dictate that the NSE clocks were probably put where they were for a reason, and it's self-evident that you can't install a new piece of kit in the same place without removing the old one first. Of course ideally the replacement would happen rapidly and the station wouldn't be left "clockless" for any length of time.

And I'm not really sure how you can be "in breach" of a report - there's no obligation on anyone to abide by what Chris Green and Stan Hall said in the report, regardless of how sensible it may be.

I'm not necessarily trying to excuse the situation, which isn't a good one. It just strikes me that your post is somewhat unreasonable.

Supposedly the clocks have been sent away to for repair, according to an email reply from FGW Customer Relations. Whether this is correct or not I wouldn't like to comment, but it would seem a bit foolish if the new CIS displays are to be installed by the end of the year, especially as they were working fairly well before they were taken down.

If they have gone for repair, perhaps they should have done them one at a time??

A very warm welcome to the forum Alex81! ;D

Dunno about the clocks, sorry. ;)

Thanks for that information, alex81 - and welcome to the Coffee Shop forum!

Chris.  :)

They've also disappeared from Taplow. We were told it was awaitng fitting of new CIS, presumambly with clock.

The Chris Green digital clocks were one of his best ideas when he was running Network Southeast. Uniform time all over the whole network, they've performed well considering tehy are probably 30 years old and mechcanical.

Our old ones used to sometimes show extra bars on the numbers but you could usually figure out what the correct tiem was.

We'll miss them. Especialy as I don't wear a watch it was useful to look out at Ealing and see how late we were.

This reply from FGW Customer Relations is probably rubbish too (sorry to keep using the "r......h" word).  As has been mentione earlier, these are 30 year old mechanical clocks and there is no logic in repairing them ahead of a new CIS.  And many of those removed were working OK. At most station there are many canopy-supporting girders over the platforms, and I can't believe that the particular girders the NSE clock were hanging off were the only one suitable for the new CIS displays.

FGW Customer Relations do themselves no credit by inventing replies that are not based on the true facts.
 

I don't remember seeing clocks inside the trains. Where were they?

I'm not an expert on turbos, so I can't answer your question, lhrdave - but I can offer you a warm welcome to the Coffee Shop forum!

CfN.  :)

I would assume somewhere on the driver's desk, since I don't think there have ever been clocks in the passenger saloon.

I've found a photo of a Chiltern 165 cab interior, I don't know how different it is to FGW ones but it clearly shows a digital clock above the windscreen:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rpmarks/3246204296/

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/rpmarks/2853351812/in/set-72157610575304303/  (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rpmarks/2853351812/in/set-72157610575304303/)

As you see in the above photo the clock is found on the lower left of the speedometer.

As they can't get parts for them anymore when they breakdown then they are just blanked off.

I also find it unlikey that they would take them from all the stations at once just to get them repaired, either - they have also vanished from Goring & Steatley!

Personally speaking, considering there hasn't been a non-HST service (that I get) on time to or from Goring & Streatley and Maidenhead since the schools went back, I think its just so we can't complain as we don't have an "official" (aka wrong) clock to compare to :-D

Welcome to the forum lordgoata  ;D

I did also email FGW to ask where the clocks had gone..I've managed to lose the reply (excess use of delete button  ;D) but they did tell me the truth that they've been removed to make room for the new CIS systems.. They didn't tell me how long that would be thougg..

It did make me chuckle though when they said that "most people these days have watches or mobile phones" to help them tell the time I guess..

Oh well I've started setting my mobile phone (I don't have a watch) to Railway time at Paddington to make sure I don't miss a train inadvertently..

Oh Jo don't forget Paddington is a Network Rail station so might be different to FGW time ;)  ;D

You are joking? please tell me you are? If not.. how on earth are we to know when are trains are going to leave?  :o ::)

Aha I did intend for it to be a joke :)

Hmm.  There is an element of truth, in that there are two versions of 'times' on the railway, though: the public timetable and the working timetable?  ::)

Phew.. I am so gullible.. no really..
 ;D ;)

Hi All,

Talking of Station Clocks dont think they could lose this one , bonus point for correct station

[img][[img=http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/9292/pic0011w.th.jpg] (http://img827.imageshack.us/i/pic0011w.jpg/)
/img]

Well ... the next image on the ImageShack series is this one ...

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/7227/88818941.jpg

... so I guess your clock must be at the next station on that line - St Andrews Road??  ;D ;D

Berlin? 

No to St Andrews Road

and no to Berlin

Sofia Gare Centrale?

Er... did you just look at the full size image and read the massive sign?

That's what I did! ;) ;D

... cough, splutter!  :-[ :P ::)

Hi All

Yes Sofia Central railway station cant get into photo-editing also seen at SCR

[img=http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/5599/pic0015e.th.jpg]http:// (http://img842.imageshack.us/i/pic0015e.jpg/)
()
Done the following journey through Iskar Gorge http://www.balkanology.com/overview/article_scenicrailways.html  and when I saw clock remember disscusion about clocks and the clock was massive.

Great rail trip

Basset