Class 387 coming to Thames Valley - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

Thanks for your observations, IndustryInsider. 

Press coverage of this particular service improvement was probably muted, due to other events in the news, in Manchester and at London Bridge, for example - and in the lead up to the general election.  And it was / is half term week.

We'll perhaps see how things really develop from next week onwards. 

[IndustryInsider]

Another disappointing morning of delays and cancellations on arrivals at Paddington and the other GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) routes, though rather surprisingly the Maidenhead/Slough electrics managed to avoid getting caught up, with everything arriving (as an 8-car) within PPM^‡(resolve) charter except 2S80, 09:09 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-SLO which arrived 6 minutes late.

[Oxonhutch]

A quick question for II re Maidenhead signalling with the new layout for 387s et al. if I may?

On the Down Main there are now four diverging routes available from signal 569 (in addition to the Down Main itself): platforms 2 through 5 – Platform 2 being the new addition.  How is this route signalled?

[IndustryInsider]

The route to platform 2 is signalled from 569 signal with an 'X' in a theatre box and no junction indicator.  As it's for reversing movements only I guess they wanted to make it distinctive.  Platforms 3,4 and 5 are indicated by the more standard Junction indicators 4,5 and 6.

[Oxonhutch]

Thanks II.  That explains the theatre box I saw passing slowly through - and looking back - on the Up Main this morning.

[W5tRailfinder]

Another quick question for II regarding signalling at Maidenhead.

Is signal 575 at west end of platform 2 a fixed red?

If it is I'll report it to Open Train Times as such.

I'll also report dodgy signal-berth 1616 and a few incorrect route settings on the same map as well. 

[IndustryInsider]

Yes it is.  So is 564 on the down main in the up direction to the east of Maidenhead.

[SandTEngineer]

The route to platform 2 is signalled from 569 signal with an 'X' in a theatre box and no junction indicator.  As it's for reversing movements only I guess they wanted to make it distinctive.  Platforms 3,4 and 5 are indicated by the more standard Junction indicators 4,5 and 6.

Just to add to this information posted by II.  An 'X' indication usually applies to a limit of shunt or nominally wrong direction movement exit signal.

[IndustryInsider]

Another disappointing morning of delays and cancellations on arrivals at Paddington and the other GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) routes, though rather surprisingly the Maidenhead/Slough electrics managed to avoid getting caught up, with everything arriving (as an 8-car) within PPM^‡(resolve) charter except 2S80, 09:09 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-SLO which arrived 6 minutes late.

All 'on time' tonight as well, thought he 16:42 and 18:42 PAD-MAI^▸ (Maidenhead station) were both cancelled due to a driver shortage - both trains being on the same diagram.

[IndustryInsider]

All Slough/Maidenhead 387s reached their destination within the PPM^‡(resolve) this morning, indeed all were either early or on time apart from the 09:09 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-SLO which arrived three minutes late.

It was an exceptional morning peak all round with many of the sectors reaching the magical 100% PPM.

[TaplowGreen]

Another disappointing morning of delays and cancellations on arrivals at Paddington and the other GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) routes, though rather surprisingly the Maidenhead/Slough electrics managed to avoid getting caught up, with everything arriving (as an 8-car) within PPM^‡(resolve) charter except 2S80, 09:09 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-SLO which arrived 6 minutes late.

All 'on time' tonight as well, thought he 16:42 and 18:42 PAD-MAI^▸ (Maidenhead station) were both cancelled due to a driver shortage - both trains being on the same diagram.

......so all "on time"......apart from the ones which were cancelled! 😂.......driver shortage seems to be a growing issue at the moment and not just at the weekend when we're used to it.

[IndustryInsider]

Yes, that's right TG.  And driver shortages are a growing problem currently, though 387 training is currently going at quite a pace there are way too many trains being cancelled company wide for my liking.

[IndustryInsider]

The route to platform 2 is signalled from 569 signal with an 'X' in a theatre box and no junction indicator.  As it's for reversing movements only I guess they wanted to make it distinctive.  Platforms 3,4 and 5 are indicated by the more standard Junction indicators 4,5 and 6.

Just to add to this information posted by II.  An 'X' indication usually applies to a limit of shunt or nominally wrong direction movement exit signal.

And I suppose I should've used the correct terminology of Standard Route Indicator instead of the rather old fashioned theatre box! 

[SandTEngineer]

The route to platform 2 is signalled from 569 signal with an 'X' in a theatre box and no junction indicator.  As it's for reversing movements only I guess they wanted to make it distinctive.  Platforms 3,4 and 5 are indicated by the more standard Junction indicators 4,5 and 6.

Just to add to this information posted by II.  An 'X' indication usually applies to a limit of shunt or nominally wrong direction movement exit signal.

And I suppose I should've used the correct terminology of Standard Route Indicator instead of the rather old fashioned theatre box! 

....CfN is going to hate me, but two more abbreviations to add to the Acronyms and other Abbreviations page :

MARI^▸ (Miniature Alphanumeric Route Indicator) = Miniature Alphanumeric Route Indicator

SARI = Standard Alphanumeric Route Indicator

A MARI is usually associated with a shunting signal or with subsidiary aspects (e.g. Calling On) on a main running signal

A SARI is usually associated with a main running aspect on a main signal

Like all things on the MDTR, caution is required as there is always the odd exception to the golden rule.....

[IndustryInsider]

With regards to the signal we were discussing, there's a MARI^▸ (Miniature Alphanumeric Route Indicator) on the signal adjacent to that one with it's SARI.