When is a short-formation not a short-formation

[whole diary]

[charles_uk]

A little postscript to this.

My main gripes were that there seems to be no way of finding out about planned stock substitutions (which are not, apparently, short-formations even if the published timetable says the service will be an IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train)/HST^▸ (High Speed Train) whereas it will actually be a Turbo), and that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) offers and allocates seat reservations on these services even though they won't be honoured.

As a point of principle, since both my morning and evening trains were affected by such stock changes, I decided to make seat reservations and subsequently put in a claim for compensation for the days when seats weren't available. I was pleasantly surprised that this claim was accepted without quibble and, on Saturday, I received a very generous cheque.

Given I did this to make a point and that I choose to stand anyway, I will be giving this money to charity.

[charles_uk]

I will be giving this money to charity.

Donation made - GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) are working with Action for Children "to support the mental health of the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)’s most disadvantaged children" so that seemed the appropriate charity to receive my compensation money.

https://www.gwr.com/about-us/supporting-our-community/charity-support

https://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/

[YouKnowNothing]

looks like there are a lot of formation changes today. 63 currently showing on journey checker.

[TaplowGreen]

75 now...……….….minus this one! 


17:12 London Paddington to Reading due 18:08


Facilities on the 17:12 London Paddington to Reading due 18:08.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
This train will now be formed of the usual number of coaches.

[Timmer]

75 now...……….….minus this one! 

Mostly 'West' local fleet trains in need of some TLC^▸ (three letter code ). Lets hope they can get more out tomorrow as I have a feeling the 'Weymouths' and local services in Devon and Cornwall will be rather busy.

[grahame]

75 now...……….….minus this one! 

Mostly 'West' local fleet trains in need of some TLC^▸ (three letter code ). Lets hope they can get more out tomorrow as I have a feeling the 'Weymouths' and local services in Devon and Cornwall will be rather busy.

If they don't need as many HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) as on Mondays to Fridays, perhaps they could send one to Weymouth    and relieve pressure elsewhere?

[PhilWakely]

Lots of short formations recently. Is this the aftermath of more GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) trains being placed elsewhere on the NR^» (Network Rail - home page) network. Surely not all out for maintenance?

Mostly 'West' local fleet trains in need of some TLC^▸ (three letter code ).

With 7 of GWR's 12 153s all disappearing elsewhere this weekend, life could get very interesting!

[grahame]

Lots of short formations recently. Is this the aftermath of more GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) trains being placed elsewhere on the NR^» (Network Rail - home page) network. Surely not all out for maintenance?

Mostly 'West' local fleet trains in need of some TLC^▸ (three letter code ).

With 7 of GWR's 12 153s all disappearing elsewhere this weekend, life could get very interesting!

I understand that there will be 2 diagrams for 2 car 165s from Bristol as from Monday, so there is incoming 'new' stock.  If those 2 car 165s displace 3 car 166s of diagrams that don't need 3 cars ...

Of course, you can't drop 1 carriage off the back of a 3 car 166 like you can off a 150 + 153 combo, so there's another constraint added to the puzzle.

[phile]

Lots of short formations recently. Is this the aftermath of more GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) trains being placed elsewhere on the NR^» (Network Rail - home page) network. Surely not all out for maintenance?

Mostly 'West' local fleet trains in need of some TLC^▸ (three letter code ).

With 7 of GWR's 12 153s all disappearing elsewhere this weekend, life could get very interesting!

6 disappearing, 2 to Northern and 4 to EMT^» (East Midlands Trains - about).    3 have already gone from an original allocation of 14 leaving 5 still with GWR for now

[Timmer]

Isn’t it amazing or more like sad that in 2018 TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) are playing musical trains, part of which involves handful of 30 year old single carriage trains just to give a bit of extra capacity rather than build enough new trains to replace all 30+ year old local train rolling stock. It won’t go on forever.

[IndustryInsider]

Well, nationwide at least, there are a huge number of new trains being built, and a large number of trains that are far from the end of their lives being faced with the threat of the cutters torch in a couple of years time.  The nature of the industry means it’ll never be perfect.

[phile]

Lots of short formations recently. Is this the aftermath of more GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) trains being placed elsewhere on the NR^» (Network Rail - home page) network. Surely not all out for maintenance?

Mostly 'West' local fleet trains in need of some TLC^▸ (three letter code ).

With 7 of GWR's 12 153s all disappearing elsewhere this weekend, life could get very interesting!

6 disappearing this weekend, 2 to Northern and 4 to EMT^» (East Midlands Trains - about).   Up until and since the 3 went to Northern a few weeks ago, there were 11 remaining.   5 still remaining until next year when they go Wales and Borders, 1 each for the GWR Group going on a journey

[YouKnowNothing]

Does anyone have a programme for the cascade and a list showing the fleet availability?

[bobm]

Lots of short formations recently. Is this the aftermath of more GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) trains being placed elsewhere on the NR^» (Network Rail - home page) network. Surely not all out for maintenance?

Mostly 'West' local fleet trains in need of some TLC^▸ (three letter code ).

With 7 of GWR's 12 153s all disappearing elsewhere this weekend, life could get very interesting!

6 disappearing this weekend, 2 to Northern and 4 to EMT^» (East Midlands Trains - about).   Up until and since the 3 went to Northern a few weeks ago, there were 11 remaining.   5 still remaining until next year when they go Wales and Borders, 1 each for the GWR Group going on a journey

I must admit I have a soft spot for the 153s - as I did for the class 121 Bubble cars.   I have travelled on all 14 153s allocated to GWR (153305, 153318, 153325, 153329, 153333, 153361, 153368-153370, 153372-153373, 153377, 153380, 153382) largely because of their appearance on the TransWilts line but also when used to strengthen services in the South West.  Even went to Portbury Dock on one (153380)!