Class 180s return to the Cotswolds

[whole diary]

[IanL]

Had a replacement bus service from Charlbury this morning, 0940 cancelled due to train failure, 1008 cancelled due to track circuit failure (agrees with previous post). I havent actually managed to catch a 180 since they "replaced" the turbos! They keep getting cancelled or swapped for 165/166's

[Btline]

I need to travel to London in the next couple of weeks. I will definitely be using Chiltern or Virgin as it appears that I still cannot rely on FGW^▸ (First Great Western) from Worcester. It's just not worth the risk. And with Chiltern/Virgin I won't have to wait an hour for the next train if it's cancelled.

Come on FGW, what was that redoubling for. I'd be interested to see some stats for performance comparing pre/post redoubling.

[IndustryInsider]

Both yesterday and today the 15:51 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-WOS^» (Worcester Shrub Hill - next trains) HST^▸ (High Speed Train) has been an Adelante 

[charles_uk]

Both yesterday and today the 15:51 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-WOS^» (Worcester Shrub Hill - next trains) HST^▸ (High Speed Train) has been an Adelante 

According to Ollie from @FGW^▸ (First Great Western) on Twitter the "reason for today is to provide additional capacity on S.Wales route due to games at Cardiff".

It's just frustrating that this service does seem to be an easy picking every time FGW needs an HST elsewhere, especially when FGW boasted that the 180s were being re-introduced to increase capacity on the Cotswold Line. But there you go... ho hum.

[Southern Stag]

Turbo substitutions on the 1551 and 1750 had been getting much more common before the 180s were reintroduced, a 180 is better than a 3-car turbo.

[IndustryInsider]

a 180 is better than a 3-car turbo.

Maybe, but then again maybe not...

And actually, I didn't find today's Turbo experience any worse than the 180s on the last three Fridays; Turbos do seem to be able to cope with over-crowding better than the Adelantes. That's not to say it wasn't horrid and the sooner we get our Friday HST^▸ (High Speed Train) back the better.

My own point of view is that the best option is a 5-car Turbo as far as Oxford and a 3-car Turbo from there onwards.  Though no solution comes near to the rostered HST.

[grahame]

... though it's showing up as 'amended' on the current train running map, with the change of formation on the Cardiff - Portsmouth showing as cancelled:

Yeah - there's a known and (very) occasional issue where the wrong train gets coloured red.  I've taken the opportunity to capture my feed data in the last couple of minutes, so I've now got a case study to look into.  The routes will always be right, the numbers always correct - just the wrong train(s) coloured red. I *can* see the cause, which is the first step to finding the solution!

Glad we've managed to isolate a real example of the oddity!

Fixed (but still watching / testing) - see http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=6062.30

Turns out that replacement of a five car train by a three car one helps create the specific set of conditions under which the feed colouring failed!

[Worcester_Passenger]

Fixed (but still watching / testing) - see http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=6062.30

Turns out that replacement of a five car train by a three car one helps create the specific set of conditions under which the feed colouring failed!

Sounds as if it wasn't an easy one to trace!

[Buckham]

Anyone know if the 9.54 Great Malvern to PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) is an Adelante yet? Based on previous posts it doesn't look like it.  Taking the family to the Olympics and would prefer a 180 to a 166.

[IndustryInsider]

Anyone know if the 9.54 Great Malvern to PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) is an Adelante yet? Based on previous posts it doesn't look like it.  Taking the family to the Olympics and would prefer a 180 to a 166.

It has been a 180 once or twice, but there are currently a maximum of only three of the eventual four daily diagrams in use and the diagram with that train and the 14:21 PAD-WOF and return are the ones that are usually still covered by a Turbo.

[Buckham]

Thanks for the clarification II. It was indeed a turbo and was rammed full by Charlbury and got worse from Oxford onwards. This was a service that definitely should have had an extra 3 cars added at Oxford. Disappointing that  FGW^▸ (First Great Western) seem to have made no effort on the Cotswold line to cater for the additional traffic during the Olympics.

[IndustryInsider]

Indeed, the previous 08:26 WOF-PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) is terribly overcrowded as well (be it a Turbo or a 180) - there are many overcrowded trains though and I guess only a finite number of carriages that can be provided!  Still, we're nearly through the main Olympic rush and have come through it pretty well all things considered!

[IndustryInsider]

All the 180s appear to have been kept in bed again today. 

Also, I haven't yet seen the evening 'Halts' train keep to time since it went over to a Class 180.  Even when it departs on time (which, in itself, is unusual given the tight station working at Oxford at that time of the evening) it seems to lose at least 5 minutes between Wolvercote and Ascott mostly as a result of the less efficient despatch at stations.  It does have several minutes layover at Evesham (and again in the Worcester area), so is often back on time by then, but needs to be retimed from Hanborough onwards (perhaps a minute extra added to each station stop as far as Shipton?) to avoid annoying passengers on a daily basis.

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

Its probably unloading the bikes takes the extra time on the Adelante stopper - walking along the platform to the cycle storage bay. I haven't used this train since it became an Adelante with smaller official cycle storage compared with more bikes that were usually seen in the vestibules of the 2-cat Turbo. Can anyone update on what the situation is like now with the Adelante?

[IanL]

I used the evening stopping service for the first time in a couple of weeks last night, my first Adelante trip since they were reintroduced. A number of issues
came to light, the previous train (HST^▸ (High Speed Train) terminating at Oxford) took nearly 10min to empty and clear for departure to the sidings, for most of this the 180 was sitting outside Oxford waiting for access to platform 2. I have seen this many times when the stopping service was a turbo so a dispatch issue at Oxford. No information was available as to which was around the train was, where to load cycles or which end for short platforms.

Despite being at Oxford on time, the CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) was unable to get the correct 'next train' information on the screen (it was showing the following Virgin trains service to Manchester) and the 180 was 5min late leaving Oxford, it then crawled onto the relief line where it stopped to allow the following Manchester service to pass.

The train was dirty, rubbish on seats, coach B power sockets didnt work (tried 5 different ones) and one of the carriages had an engine that kept pulsing (ramping up revs and back down) even when sitting idle at a station (other 4 were just idling).

Most stops were announced by the TM^‡(resolve) including which doors would open, but not all,  leading to some confusion amongst visitors having to rush the length of the train.