Paddington 24/7, channel 5, 21:00 tonight

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Subject says it all 

Paddington 24/7, channel 5, 21:00 tonight

Tonight being 9th April 2018

[TaplowGreen]

Watched last week's edition, it doesn't portray GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) very favourably. I'll catch up on last night's sometime this week no doubt!

[lordgoata]

I've really enjoyed them so far.

It IS interesting to see how they handle things when it falls apart, and to a point I can have more sympathy*, but equally I hope they also take on board the feedback that is aired in the show - last night was a prime example, things fell apart, they started trying to "fix" the timetable and as a result the local stoppers were running fast and, in this instance, West Drayton was not being served, which according to one lady happens every time.

I know the same happens with Tilehurst-Cholsey stops when they are trying to make up time and run non-stop from Reading to Didcot, and it annoys the hell out of me as well. Their responsibility should be getting delayed customers to their destinations, not trying to get the time table back into shape (which they will claim is for the good of the customer, but we all know in reality it is to avoid paying out compensation for the rest of the day/night!).


* and I refer to unforeseen issues, not lack of planning due to staff, repairs, and all the usual issues.

[NickB]

Watched last week's edition, it doesn't portray GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) very favourably. I'll catch up on last night's sometime this week no doubt!

A phrase about polishing/covering in glitter springs to mind...

[broadgage]

One bit that I did not understand in last nights programme was the failed EMU^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit) being eventually rescued by another similar unit.
It was stated that after coupling together the dead unit and the assisting unit, that everyone had to walk through the gangway from the dead unit into the assisting one.
Why ? What prohibited the passengers from remaining in the failed unit until it arrived at Paddington ?
If the limitation was a short platform at Paddington, then delay could have been reduced by having passengers walk through whilst the train was en-route.

It looked poor planning to let passengers at Paddington board the unit that was to assist, and then have to kick them all off.

[Phantom]

One thing I find odd, is that the program is called "Paddington 24/7" but so much of the show is about other parts of the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) network. I wonder why the name wasn't chosen to reflect this?

Haven't seen last nights episode yet, but the first two episodes were obviously filmed quite recently - do the film makers need "something to happen" to fill future episodes? or I wonder if they have enough material already?

The cameras have been around Temple Meads for weeks, so should have plenty of footage?

Maybe the way forward is like other "reality shows" in that events are "staged"

[didcotdean]

I think they have front-end loaded this series to have recent and more high profile events up first. Seems to be working from an audience perspective as it has an audience of about 1.5M.

[Fourbee]

In the last episode one of the station managers had an enamel poppy on just above his name tag, but as he is ex-forces maybe it's a permanent fixture, who knows.

Edit: (so that part may have been around November)

[ray951]

Maybe all the issues with the availability of trains and drivers for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) isn't down to incompetence or bad planing but are being 'staged' so that there is enough material for this TV series. Obviously the lack of any apology for these issues from GWR is because they didn't want to spoil the plot before each episode has aired. 
It all makes sense now.

[IndustryInsider]

One bit that I did not understand in last nights programme was the failed EMU^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit) being eventually rescued by another similar unit.
It was stated that after coupling together the dead unit and the assisting unit, that everyone had to walk through the gangway from the dead unit into the assisting one.
Why ? What prohibited the passengers from remaining in the failed unit until it arrived at Paddington ?
If the limitation was a short platform at Paddington, then delay could have been reduced by having passengers walk through whilst the train was en-route.

It looked poor planning to let passengers at Paddington board the unit that was to assist, and then have to kick them all off.

Do you know what caused the unit to need to be rescued?  There’s several scenarios where passengers would not be able to travel in a train that can’t continue in service on its own.  They include no interior lights (at night), defective doors, broken windows or equipment being isolated due to a fault such as the fire alarm system, the interlock system, broken windows etc.

Having corridor connections makes the transfer of passengers an awful lot easier if the failed train isn’t at a station.

[Thatcham Crossing]

The organisation around that rescue did seem a little chaotic to say the least - "you're joking me" being overheard in the control room when someone happened to mention that the "rescue" train was already full and standing with passengers!

Was good to see some coverage (from the cab) of the recent PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-RDG^‡(resolve) record attempt. Considering that linespeeds for the first 3-4 miles out of PAD are a lot slower than when the record was set, they got pretty close.
At one point the driver mentioned that he had to "coast" (and lost 6mph as a result) near Maidenhead - anyone know the reason for that?

[stuving]

At one point the driver mentioned that he had to "coast" (and lost 6mph as a result) near Maidenhead - anyone know the reason for that?

Section break, presumably?

[eightf48544]

He said it was a neutral section, but I thought there weren't any neutral sections West of Hayes maybe Electric Train can help.

[stuving]

He said it was a neutral section, but I thought there weren't any neutral sections West of Hayes maybe Electric Train can help.

Maidenhead has an MPATS^▸ (Mid Point Auto Transformer Site - electrification), so it has to function as a section break. It doesn't matter if the power is being passed through the MPATS, connecting the wires on both sides together, neutral section is still there.

[DidcotPunter]

He said it was a neutral section, but I thought there weren't any neutral sections West of Hayes maybe Electric Train can help.

Maidenhead has an MPATS^▸ (Mid Point Auto Transformer Site - electrification), so it has to function as a section break. It doesn't matter if the power is being passed through the MPATS, connecting the wires on both sides together, neutral section is still there.

I sat under the pantograph of a 387 on 1P20, the 7:30am 'commuterbuster' from Didcot to Padd some weeks ago and can vouch that the only neutral section between Didcot and Padd is at the Maidenhead MPATS, just west of the station. You don't miss the VCBs^▸ (Vacuum Circuit Breaker - electrification) opening and closing on the 387s, there's quite a bang!