Class 180s return to the Cotswolds

[whole diary]

[BBM]

The 0631 Reading-Paddington is an example of a 4-car Turbo formation and the 0620 Didcot Parkway-Paddington is 6-car. Incidentally, in the new timetable the 0609 Newbury-Paddington and the 0721 Paddingon-Oxford are now formed with a 180.

[Southern Stag]

Indeed. The 0901 Oxford-London Paddington as well.

[lordgoata]

Interesting, thanks guys - never seen a 4 car, think I might have seen a 6 once, but good to know it would be possible.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Oxford Mail:

Cotswold Line passengers hit out over poor train punctuality


A Class 180 Adelante train calls at Charlbury station
 
Poor punctuality affecting trains on the Cotswold Line through West Oxfordshire Oxford and London came in for criticism at the annual meeting of the route^s passenger group.

John Ellis, the chairman of the Cotswold Line Promotion Group, also criticised poor provision of information to passengers during disruption.

Addressing group members and Mark Hopwood, the managing director of train operator First Great Western, who was a guest speaker at the event held on Saturday at Moreton-in-Marsh, Mr Ellis said: ^Performance through the year has been mixed, to say the least. Both the weather and the improvement work at Reading at Easter have contributed to some bad days, or even series of days. However, in addition, there are still far too many infrastructure, fleet and train crew failures, which have brought delays and changed ^ ie poorer quality ^ rolling stock on to our line.^

Criticising ^inadequate customer information when delays, cancellations and changes in rolling stock occur^, he added: ^It is a subject that we continually bring to the attention of FGW^▸ (First Great Western), but the situation does not improve. It really does seem to us that the controllers in Swindon do not understand the special circumstances of our line when they are making decisions.^

He repeated the group^s longstanding call for a regular hourly off-peak service on the route, which serves Hanborough, Charlbury, the Wychwoods and Kingham, and improved journey times, noting that many journeys now took longer than in 2004.

Mr Hopwood said that delays to Cotswold Line services were often caused by problems between Oxford and London but that he expected to see ^a significant improvement in performance as we start to see the benefits of infrastructure improvements in the Reading area^.

He added that there had been a marked improvement in overall punctuality in the past month and that the reliability of the Class 180 Adelante trains reintroduced last year had improved rapidly thanks to a new maintenance regime introduced earlier this year, while timetable changes in September and December would also help.

Mr Hopwood added: ^I recognise the aspiration for an hourly off-peak service. We are already running a lot more trains than we are required to by our franchise agreement. I would need one extra train at the Worcester end of the line each morning to operate hourly through the day but it is very difficult to take a train away from the London end of the route, due to the demand there.^

[Network SouthEast]

Random question, but I take it that the 165/166's can only run as 2, 3 or 5 cars ? Many of these services would be ideal as 4 cars (3 really crammed, yet 5 end up with loads of empty seats).

As has been said elsewhere here, 4 car combinations can and do operate.

Turbos are permitted to run up to a maximum of four units in multiple. This means four 3-car units to make a 12 car train, four 2-car units to make an 8 car train or any other combination in between.

Part of the reason you may not see many 4-car combos is because there aren't actually that many 2-car Turbos on FGW^▸ (First Great Western) books. FGW has 20 2-car Turbos, the other 34 Turbos in FGW's fleet are 3-cars.

[IndustryInsider]

I've not been keeping any stats, but the Class 180s really seem to be performing well lately - can't remember the last time I say a Turbo replacing one of their diagrams.  The heat of the summer will be the next test for them, and they still get a disproportionate amount of attention from the 'travelling fitters', but so far the reliability modifications and general maintenance has settled down to a very good level from a worrying start.

[CLPGMS]

On Thursday 13th June, the 1206 WOF-PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) was a Class 165 3-car Turbo instead of a 180.  Also, I noted that the 1221 PAD to GMV was a 2-car Class 165 as far as Oxford, where passengers were transferring to a Class 180 further along platform 2.  I do not know the reason for these activities.

[Busboy W1]

180102 still out of service today with all other 180's performing faultlessly along The North Cotswolds with possibly the BEST Air Con system in the whole fleet! However if you don't like being in a fridge there are rumours on the horizon in FGW^▸ (First Great Western) Land of an Air Con modification program ready in the pipeline for the 180's !? 

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

Well they weren't performing faultlessly last night.  After a day in London Mrs GTBE + friend got themselves back for the 1718 Padd - Oxford for the journey home to Pangbourne: I'd said go for this or the 1918 as they are squeaky trains so have good air-con.  They got seats together and were all set for a pleasant journey home, but at train time or just after Driver failed the train as too many engines had conked out. 

So everyone piled on to the 1736, which is normally F&S anyway (and I think last night was almost cancelled itself because of signalling problems).  !736 was a 166: before departure (6 late) the Driver came through to unlock the windows because air con wasn't working...

So not a good journey home for TV commuters.  Glad I don't commute anymore.

[Busboy W1]

Well since this Category 3 heat wave has been issued 180104 has become the most unreliable this was the unit that failed at Paddington last night due to an Air Con failure in Coach C and engine related issues. And is currently sat in the Up Carriage sidings at OXF^» (Oxford - next trains) after failing at Evesham whilst working 1W29 11:20 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)- GMV this time with fire alarms sounding. Old habits die hard for the class.

 However FGW^▸ (First Great Western) used 1W33 13:21 PAD -MIM to extend to EVE and start 1P61 15:53 MIM -PAD at EVE to cover the failure !! The things you can do with double track !!

Oh and 1D53 17:18 PAD -OXF tonight is a 2 Car with Opening Windows.

[CLPGMS]

180104 came to grief again today on the 1206 WOF-PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains).  It arrived at Oxford at 1328 but could go no further.  When it reversed into the up sidings, it appeared to me that 3 of the 5 engines were just idling and not providing any power.  In addition to this, the public address system also failed at the same time, so passengers could only be advised of the cancellation by staff going through the train!

The unit was still in Oxford up sidings at 1700.

[stebbo]

Good news for a change. The 1553 from Paddington performed wonderfully today. Ahead of time at Oxford despite being held at Reading and bang on time at Kingham. And a really good fast run.

Pity about the 0718 from Kingham to London as a result of the signal failure at Slough. 30 minutes late at Paddington and passengers grumbling as if it's all FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s fault. I don't think people get the distinction between a TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) and Network Rail (but then why should they?)

[charles_uk]

Today's not a good day for the 180s. From JourneyCheck:

12:21 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 15:11
Will be formed of 2 coaches instead of 5.

and ditto following 1532 GMV:DID^» (Didcot Parkway - next trains) & 1715 DID:GMV

and the notorious

15:52 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill due 18:09
Will be formed of 3 coaches instead of 5.
This is due to a train fault.

and ditto 1849 WOF:PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)

at least the schools have broken up.

[CLPGMS]

Today's not a good day for the 180s.

Assuming that the 0921 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-WOF was a Class 180 today, this one encountered serious trouble at Twyford.  See

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/C20907/2014/12/17/advanced

Credit to FGW^▸ (First Great Western), however, who managed to rustle up a Turbo which ran ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) from Oxford to Worcester to form the 1206 return journey.

[IndustryInsider]

An additional HST^▸ (High Speed Train) trip is planned for the new timetable, as a result of the number of 180 diagrams reducing to three per day with one of the five set being transferred to Grand Central.

The 11:20 Paddington to Great Malvern and return 14:25 Great Malvern to Paddington are the trains in question.  Massive over provision of accommodation for most of the trip, though the extra seats will come in very handy on the return from Oxford where it leaves at 16:01.