Okehampton to Paddington - Saturday, 18th March 2017

[whole diary]

[PhilWakely]

I think GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) needs to be congratulated as it appears that the 'other Green set' was pulled off its scheduled diagram and allocated to the return leg of The Royal Oke.

Well done to all concerned!

[grahame]

I think GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) needs to be congratulated as it appears that the 'other Green set' was pulled off its scheduled diagram and allocated to the return leg of The Royal Oke.

Well done to all concerned!

Carefully, now, up to Okehampton 

[JayMac]

A tad unfair methinks as neither was at fault for the wheel flat

If it was a WSP fault then that's down to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), no?

Whatever the cause of the problems my comment about not showing the organisers in a good light is reflected by press and media coverage. Most headlines are rather negative.

[LiskeardRich]

The wheel flat occurred in the rear powercar leaving Okehampton. Why they're reporting dawlish is anyone's bet.

[ChrisB]

Why would a flat caused by the state of Network Rail's rails be the fault of the train operator?

[John R]

A tad unfair methinks as neither was at fault for the wheel flat

If it was a WSP fault then that's down to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), no?

This sort of event (special trains, open days etc) is much less common than in the pre-privatised era, and I am glad that GWR make the effort to do them.  Social media comment that talks about "fault" when things don't run smoothly is hardly likely to encourage their management to continue with such events, which must create a lot of additional work for no reward.  So the adhesion was poor on the privately owned section of line this morning. Was that GWR's fault?  Maybe they should have undergone numerous additional checks prior to agreeing to run the service, and imposed conditions on the owner of the line as to the level of adhesion on the day, else there would be financial penalties, in which case I suspect the service would never have run.  Maybe that is a better outcome?

In this instance it looks as though control were pretty sharp at stopping the ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) Laira to Paignton at Newton Abbot, diverting it to run it to Exeter instead, and full credit to them for taking that decision to enable the charter to continue (albeit at the inconvenience of passengers from Paignton who found their train cancelled this morning).

[SandTEngineer]

The rails at Bow (or anywhere between Okehampton and Yeoford) are not the responsibility of NR^» (Network Rail - home page).

[Umberleigh]

It would appear that Devonlive.com doesn't employ people who can report coherently or with any regard for the facts. Whoever this Neil Shaw is he shouldn't have been let out with out a subeditor or 6 in tow. But I suppose we shouldnt expect anything too much from them as they set low standards and dont achive them Fact 1 Okehampton is Inland, Dawlish is on the Coast... there is no direct rail link Fact 2 the Train wasn't scrapped, it had a set swap, the leasing company wouldnt be pleased if a gas axe was taken to their asset for a wheel flat issue Fact 3 The train was taken to Exeter where the set off the Paignton-Paddington service was substituted and the train left Exeter 53 late with an expectation of making up 13 minutes over the journey to London Fact 4 The wheels werent worn away that suggests they disintegrated the train was running OK when I saw it pass Cowley in Exeter Slapdash and incoherent reporting is an affront to the journalists of the past...;.

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BayOracle  |  March 18 2017, 10:21AM
The train slipped down the rails as it left Dawlish. That doesn't make sense. Listen to the video commentary and it is clear that the train slipped down the rails as it left Okehampton -- which is what you would expect. This is only a very short article, surely somebody could have checked it for sense before it was posted?


Read more at http://www.devonlive.com/first-train-to-london-in-50-years-scrapped-after-engine-slips-down-bank/story-30212627-detail/story.html#hjWF6Z2hFzHb6UmU.99

Rubbish reporting for what seems to have been a great event, indeed why are we even looking at the negatives?

[Umberleigh]

I just want to add that the Crosscountry Voyagers that entered service in 2001 can't make it through Dawlish if its a bit windy

I'm really annoyed over the negative coverage of great initiative, it really does add fuel to the conspiracy fire when it comes to Network Rail and the Okehampton route

[JayMac]

My information about a Wheel Slip Protection fault comes from industry sources. However, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) are publicly saying it was poor railhead conditions.

Poor railhead conditions are what the WSP system is meant to ameliorate.

[LiskeardRich]

My information about a Wheel Slip Protection fault comes from industry sources. However, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) are publicly saying it was poor railhead conditions.

Poor railhead conditions are what the WSP system is meant to ameliorate.

The rear powercar suffered wheel flats due to poor rail conditions. It returned to Exeter at low speed, losing nearly an hour between okehampton and Exeter.

I wonder if the line still had remains of washing up liquid style substance that's used on it for skid practice, as of course it's a stretch of line GWR use for skid practice. Combined with leaf residue from the fact the line is considerably over grown, it's going to have poor adhesion.

The return working was 4 late arriving at okehampton, and I bet the driver was more cautious with braking!

[TaplowGreen]

I think GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) needs to be congratulated as it appears that the 'other Green set' was pulled off its scheduled diagram and allocated to the return leg of The Royal Oke.

Well done to all concerned!

I'm not sure that the hundreds of passengers whose service was cancelled as a result of their allocated train being "pulled off" would necessarily concur?

[grahame]

I think GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) needs to be congratulated as it appears that the 'other Green set' was pulled off its scheduled diagram and allocated to the return leg of The Royal Oke.

Well done to all concerned!

I'm not sure that the hundreds of passengers whose service was cancelled as a result of their allocated train being "pulled off" would necessarily concur?

I suspect the train that the other green set was due to run wasn't cancelled, but rather replaced by a blue train; Real Time Trains is showing a full set of actual departure times for yesterday.  And I can't imagine too many "normal" passengers would have even know about the change.

I would agree that the morning passengers due to use the commandeered 1A15 set (09:18 Paignton to Paddington via Bristol might have been none to chuffed at it's none running between Paignton and Bristol, where it started with (I presume) a set that was Saturday spare at St Phillip's Marsh.

[bobm]

Indeed the second green set (LA16) was pulled off a lunchtime arrival from the West Country and sent to Old Oak Common before returning for the early evening departure back to Okehampton.

Another set was brought from OOC^▸ (Old Oak Common (depot)) to take up the next working the West Country train would have done.  There was no cancellation.

Agreed the morning alterations would have inconvenienced some however.

[TaplowGreen]

Indeed the second green set (LA16) was pulled off a lunchtime arrival from the West Country and sent to Old Oak Common before returning for the early evening departure back to Okehampton.

Another set was brought from OOC^▸ (Old Oak Common (depot)) to take up the next working the West Country train would have done.  There was no cancellation.

Agreed the morning alterations would have inconvenienced some however.

OK fair enough......the service from Paignton  wasn't cancelled, it was just "non running" and subject to "alterations".....I'm sure that distinction was of great comfort to those left on the platforms!