Class 387 coming to Thames Valley - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[Adelante_CCT]

I can report that the rear 4 carriages are utterly deserted. Maybe 5 passengers per carriage. The front 8 are full and standing -

So passengers would rather stand in coaches 1-8 for 20-30 minutes, instead of having a seat in coach 9 or 10 and walking through a minute before their destination? 

Apparently so.

Certainly you'd have thought coaches 9 and 10 would be not too much of an inconvenience for the reward of a seat.  As others have said I expect it will sink in to the regulars soon enough.  Glad to hear the announcements were much better tonight though, and funnily enough dwell times at Maidenhead and Twyford were much better. 

Was pottering around London town today and decided to catch the 17:49 back to Tilehurst. As it happens I was sat in the rear of coach 8 and was able to see how the situation developed with regards to the rear 4 coaches.

I counted 80 people coming from the rear 4 coaches to use the rear set of doors on coach 8 at Maidenhead. This led to a 3 minute dwell time though luckily we had arrived 2 minutes early. A station staff member also boarded to ensure everyone had gotten off before the train departed.

It would seem Twyford pax had a little more sense* and used the time in between Maidenhead and Twyford to move forward, most of which continued to the front of coach 8 or further forward. I counted 50 people who did this with a further 10 passing from coach 9 into coach 8 on arrival at Twyford.

A further 15 people passed through between Twyford and Reading, those heading to Tilehurst and beyond, with a small handful that transferred from the rear to the front by way of platform at Reading.


*Admittedly all it takes is a handful of people to stand by the rear doorway of coach 8 to stop any others from being able to proceed further

[bobm]

Saw this explanation on Twitter this week for why some 12 car formations are being run as 8.

Not sure I follow it....

[TaplowGreen]

Another example of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) raising expectations then failing to keep their promises.

This particular service (0733) is consistently horrendously overcrowded and GWR have been waving the 12 car train in everyone's faces for some time by way of mitigation - it was supposed to start some time ago but I am not sure if as yet it ever has.

Generally speaking GWR seem to fail to understand the quite simple concept when they brag about all the extra capacity from Maidenhead that if you start trains from Didcot that previously started from Maidenhead or Reading, they are likely to be full long before they arrive.

Yet another own goal.

[bobm]

My point was - where is this loop which prevents the service from running?

[SandTEngineer]

Hi Bob, I think its the loop at Didcot where the 3P08 empty stock from Reading TC^‡(resolve) Depot reverses before forming the 1P08 0652 (0733 Maidenhead) service.  I've had a quick look on RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) but can't see any obvious conflict there at that particular time.

[stuving]

I have another theory. In the WTT^▸ (Working Time-Table) shown in RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) for last week, 1P08 was assembled in Didcot P4 from two ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) workings from Reading Depot - suggesting there's nowhere there that can assemble a 12-car EMU^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit). It ran to Paddington P9, arriving in P9 at 7:55, and then ran ECS to West Ealing Loop where it was to sit from 8:11 to 18:18. It then returned to Paddington, to form 1R05 18:42 to Reading. Reality didn't quite match that, but in different ways each day.

There is a freight movement, 6M70 "Brentford Town Days Gbrf to Neasden Engineers Sdg Gbrf", due through West Ealing Loop at 13:45-14:07. On Thursday it was cancelled, and the train ran (length unknown). On Friday it ran, and the train went into the loop and then vanished; the evening working was cancelled for staffing reasons (allegedly).

[Adelante_CCT]

I don't see how that West Ealing Loop could be the problem, it wouldn't matter if it was a single engine or an 18 car train, it would still be in the way of that freight train passing through?

In the WTT^▸ (Working Time-Table) shown in RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) for last week, 1P08 was assembled in Didcot P4 from two ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) workings from Reading Depot - suggesting there's nowhere there that can assemble a 12-car EMU^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit)

Each 1P08 working is formed from one 3P08 working. Are you reading the Didcot entry twice by any chance, firstly as it passes through Didcot (06:31) and then as it arrives at Didcot (06:44)?

[stuving]

There are two West Ealing Sidings, accessed off the loop, each capable of holding two 8-car 387s. That's what they were built for: "West Ealing Sidings (WES) is being redeveloped to house Great Western Railway’s (GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)) rolling stock during inter-peak hours between the West and Paddington station. The sidings shall provide a stabling facility for GWR’s existing Diesel trains and the newly introduced Electric trains."

The current timetable sends four trains there each morning, so even if one of those could be persuaded to go back out in service (e.g. to Reading) it wouldn't make space for a 12-car one. Hence that goes to the loop, not one of the sidings. Mind you, it does seem a bit optimistic to think you can have exclusive use all day of a loop that's partly there for goods trains to duck into.

As to my not so relevant comments about Didcot, I'm sure you're right - I don't now see what I did, either for P4 or the same thing for P3, so I must have misread it. And even if RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) did show two trains in for only one out, it does that quite often without it meaning a lot. So I guess we should assume that Reading Depot can pass each morining's Chinese puzzle exam even with a 12-car train or two to assemble.

[grahame]

Mind you, it does seem a bit optimistic to think you can have exclusive use all day of a loop that's partly there for goods trains to duck into.

Out of context / learning example - perhaps this is why the idea of a simple platform extension out to the track that's away from the platform at Westbury and calling it "Platform 0" seems to get little traction.   Mind you - the description of any platform extension as "simple" seems way off target when you look at the major works at Trowbridge, at Dilton Marsh and at Freshford ...

[Adelante_CCT]

I see what is being said about the West Ealing loop now.

Yes it does seem optimistic to use a loop all day for storing, having said that it seems a waste to have a loop line allocated to only have one freight train for a 20 minute stint all day

[johoare]

The Air con seems to be off more than on on the 387s currently. The carriages are usually about 25 degrees.. In fact someone was taken ill on my train at Southall this morning and I'm sure it's no coincidence that the air con came on (and stayed on for the rest of the journey) at that point.. Any idea why this is? Saving electricity to power the trains to the detriment of the passenger's comfort?

[lordgoata]

I purposely wait for the 0644 at Goring now (ignoring the 0628 turbo), just to get a 387 because of the air-con - its definitely been working in the ones I have been getting, both in and out of Maidenhead. Last night someone was wrapped up as it was apparently freezing (personally I thought it was spot on!).

That said, I would welcome 25C, it's 28.7C in my "air conditioned" office ( and no, my office is not a Turbo  )....

On the subject of 12-car units - I only found out about the 0652 being 12-car as it was in Goring Gap News this month, I had assumed 12-cars would not run to Didcot, seeing as they are only bothering to extend platforms on the intermediate stations to cope with 8-cars.

But given they can, why do they insist on splitting the 1809 (if I recall) from Maidenhead, when it gets to Reading? It takes them anything from 10 to 20 minutes to split them every time I have used it - it would be so much easier to run to Didcot as-is. Do they really need that many carriages to run back to Paddington at that time of the day (which I assume is why they split), given in that 20 minute wait last night, there were a handful of 387's running back that way anyway??

[johoare]

I must be getting on the wrong trains then   

You win.. My "Air conditioned" office is currently 28.5 (hence me carrying a thermometer with me at all times)

[lordgoata]

It could just be a case of being in the wrong area - couple of weeks ago one of the 387's was routed into platform 1 at Maidenhead, as there was already a late running Reading stopper in Platform 3. Due to the late announcement and utter chaos of everyone moving from platform 3 to 1 (and having to use the barrier until staff got the message!) as the passengers from the train were trying to get down the stairs, I had to dive in the doors near the middle, and walk down to the front carriage.

There were noticeable spots of very chilled air, and other spots of warm air as I walked through (even within the same carriage). I rarely do that, so not sure if that is normal or just happened to be that particular service, but might be worth taking a wander to see if there is anywhere cooler.

[Adelante_CCT]

That said, I would welcome 25C

So would I, 42.9 and 42.8 have been reached in the past two days. So much so our fire alarm went off Monday as the heat detectors in the pitch of the roof were activated. These have now been changed for higher temperature ones so fingers crossed it won't happen again. (Although being forced to evacuate outside was at least refreshing for a moment)


I should point out I work in a factory, not in a nice 'air conditioned office' nor on a stuffy turbo 

, why do they insist on splitting the 1809 (if I recall) from Maidenhead, when it gets to Reading? It takes them anything from 10 to 20 minutes to split them every time I have used it - it would be so much easier to run to Didcot as-is. Do they really need that many carriages to run back to Paddington at that time of the day (which I assume is why they split),

Both the rear 4 carriages on the 17:48 and 18:19 from Paddington (18:09/18:39 off Maidenhead) go straight to Reading Depot and not back to Paddington