Great Western Coffee Shop

And it's only 7.20am in the morning. Looks like Monday 27th of December again with cancellations and short working due to lack of train crew. Lets hope things improve later.

From FGW Updates Page http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/LiveUpdateList.aspx

06:00 Plymouth to London Waterloo due 10:44
This train will be terminated at Basingstoke.It will no longer call at: London Waterloo.This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.
Last Updated: 01/01/2011 07:03

06:40 Bristol Temple Meads to London Waterloo due 09:44
This train will be terminated at Basingstoke.It will no longer call at: London Waterloo.This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.
Last Updated: 01/01/2011 07:03

08:15 London Paddington to Swansea due 12:46
This train will be terminated at Swindon.It will no longer call at: Bristol Parkway, Newport South Wales, Cardiff Central, Bridgend, Port Talbot Parkway, Neath and Swansea.This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.
Last Updated: 01/01/2011 07:04

08:39 Weston-Super-Mare to Cardiff Central due 10:18
This train has been cancelled.This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.
Last Updated: 01/01/2011 07:05

08:45 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads due 11:43
This train will be started from Oxford.It will no longer call at: London Paddington.This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.
Last Updated: 01/01/2011 07:01

09:00 Cheltenham Spa to Didcot Parkway due 10:26
This train will be started from Swindon.It will no longer call at: Cheltenham Spa, Gloucester, Stonehouse, Stroud and Kemble.This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.
Last Updated: 01/01/2011 07:03

09:05 Westbury to Swindon due 09:49
This train has been cancelled.This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.
Last Updated: 01/01/2011 07:05

09:30 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington due 12:37
This train will be started from Oxford.It will no longer call at: Bristol Temple Meads, Bath Spa, Chippenham and Swindon.This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.
Last Updated: 01/01/2011 07:02

10:33 London Waterloo to Penzance due 17:09
This train will be started from Basingstoke.It will no longer call at: London Waterloo.This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.
Last Updated: 01/01/2011 07:03

10:57 Cardiff Central to Taunton due 12:57
This train has been cancelled.This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.
Last Updated: 01/01/2011 07:05

An earlier broken down train between High Wycombe and Oxford hasn't helped things with many services now starting/terminating at Oxford:

16:30 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington due 19:37
This train has been terminated at Oxford.It will no longer call at: London Paddington.This is due to a train fault.

17:15 London Paddington to Swansea due 21:44
This train will be started from Oxford.It will no longer call at: London Paddington.This is due to an earlier broken down train.

17:45 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads due 20:43
This train has been cancelled.This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.

18:45 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads due 21:47
This train will be started from Oxford.It will no longer call at: London Paddington.This is due to an earlier broken down train.

20:15 London Paddington to Swansea due 00:44
This train will be started from Oxford.It will no longer call at: London Paddington.This is due to an earlier train fault.

20:15 London Paddington to Swansea due 00:44
This train has [now] been cancelled.
This is due to train crew having been unavailable earlier.

21:15 London Paddington to Swansea due 01:36 This train will be started from Oxford.
It will no longer call at: London Paddington.
This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.

22:15 London Paddington to Oxford due 00:07
This train has been cancelled.
This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.

The 20:45 left pad 45 late.

Shortage of pilotmen for the Chiltern lines.

Was going to ask if the reason for the number of trains terminating at Oxford/Basingstoke was due to pilotmen not being available. Couple of questions. Is this down to other TOCs who provide pilotmen such as SWT/Chiltern letting FGW down? Or is it DBS who provide the pilotmen?

When West of England services have started/terminated at Basingstoke, then obviously it's fairly easy to transfer to SWT train services to/from Waterloo so though a bit inconvenient to passengers having to change trains, not the end of the world.

But what happened to passengers when trains started/terminated at Oxford when the only direct trains were the trains that got canned? Did FGW provide road transport for the part of the journey that didnt run or were passengers sent up to Banbury to pick up a Chiltern service to London?

Freightliner have been providing the pilotmen from what I read earlier, and at least on the southern route when I used it, this was all the way from and back to Westbury. 

In the case of the 'via Basingstoke' divert though, the journey planners have been recommending changing to/from SWT anyway, for the faster run to/from Waterloo. It is really only those with Advance tickets who need to stay on the HST.

Paul

It seems I was very lucky yesterday then.  I was on the 0700 Plymouth to Waterloo and 1933 Waterloo to Plymouth.  Both trains no more than 5 minutes late at destination.

I quite enjoyed the run at 90mph on jointed track between Salisbury and Basingstoke :D

"Faster run" is a tactful understatement. Some of the diverted services were being allowed 100 minutes from Basingstoke to Waterloo. SWT manage it in 45-52 minutes, including other stops.

Seems generous in the light of other comments about how Oxford - Paddington was tightly timed.

All FGW services went the long way round via Staines hence the much longer journey times. Clearance issues on the mainline after Woking I believe.

Indeed. The stretch from Virginia Water to West Byfleet via Chertsey was painfully slow when I travelled over it on Weds. I spoke with a Freightliner pilotman, riding the cushions, who said the HSTs were limited to 20mph on this stretch.

The HSTs were also limited to just 10mph through Twickenham and some other SWT stations. Something to do with bogies I was told. Possibly that Long/Short Swing Link thing that I don't quite understand!

I was told Long Swing Link were not allowed into Waterloo due to the 3rd rail, so all sets had to be SSL.

Presumably the step boards or ladders etc. were close to fouling lineside infrastructure, as unlike other 23m units (eg. 444s), the doors and step boards are at the very edge of the coaches.

Correct. And from what I understand the markings on the ends of the coach don't marry up with whats underneath in some cases...

Well that would explain the slow times.

But why do the other half of the timings take 61 minutes (or 54 on Tur/Wed/Thu)?

I had the pleasure of going around via Hounslow on the 0550 ex Plymouth, so that was nice, no clearance issues appeared on that loop, we were zooming along at line speed along the Hounslow loop, as they had held a 455 on the triangle at Feltham Junction(?) to allow us to go in front, we was upto 7 minutes early at some point, only to be sat outside Waterloo awaiting a platform, arriving a minute early!

Was also told that LSL wernt allowed into WAT

Long Swing Link bogies are banned from third-rail electrified areas, full stop, as they can foul the live rail.

As suggested above, the speed limits would be for clearance past platforms etc. SWT's class 450 and 455 trains have 20-metre coaches, so don't stick out at the ends on curves so much, whereas a 23-metre Mk3 probably only just squeezes through places like the Chertsey line platforms at Virginia Water, which are on a tight curve.

The online sectional appendix makes a distinction between Mk3 coaching stock, and HST sets.  The former have significantly less restrictions than the latter, which implies, (and this has been discussed in another forum), that the restrictive equipment is on the power cars - and it is thought to be the access ladders, which are outboard of their bogies.

Here's the link:

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/baseline%20capability/gauge%20capability,%20route%20availability/wessex%20route/table%20d3_gauge%20capability_coaching%20stock_wessex%20route.pdf

...the top of page 4 covering Clapham Jn to Reading is a good example.  You'll also see that certain routes are shown as OK for Mk3s but not HSTs, and so must have been cleared since the document was produced, as we know from previous discussions here.

Paul

Probably is the steps on power car bogies, but even so, i wouldn't want to take a chance on stepboards clouting some of those platforms either, given the LSWR's penchant for sharp curves on its suburban network, including at stations, which I don't imagine would be allowed to built in such places these days.