Storms Eunice, Franklin, Gladys from 18/2/2022

[whole diary]

[rogerw]

I hope that you are all safe back there. It is sunny and tranquil here in Nice. Back in England next Wednesday evening.

[TaplowGreen]

Chiltern have thrown in the towel................there's going to be an awful lot of people stuck in London (and elsewhere)


!!! Attention to all our customers !!!

Under no circumstances travel to one of our stations. All of our services have been cancelled for the remainder of the day.

Please stay home and stay safe.

DO NOT TRAVEL is in place and we are not able to provide any service.

[rogerpatenall]

Well, WogerW. If you find yourself puzzling why your last post hasn't got any 'likes', give me a call and I may have a suggestion!

I am due to travel from Caen to Portsmouth, Saturday overnight, so hopefully all will have passed by then. Pretty blowy on the Cotentin at the moment, and all trains suspended between Caen and Cherbourg.

[didcotdean]

Chiltern put out an unequivocal "Do Not Travel" warning for today yesterday evening, so the risk was clear.

Something that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) didn't do explicitly with a far more nuanced "customers may wish to alter their plans".

[ChrisB]

Roof blown off a Network Rail building at Banbury.

Ironically, that's the local Network Rail depot - her captured by someone from the Chiltern ICC^▸ (Integrated Control Centre) opposite

[didcotdean]

Video of it happening here: https://twitter.com/networkrail/status/1494697757684215812

[ChrisB]

Video of it happening here: https://twitter.com/networkrail/status/1494697757684215812

Yep - that's what I was trying to post! My local depot....

[ChrisB]

Dear Chris
 
Conditions have worsened and we have suspended all rail services.
 
Customers should not therefore set out to travel and we have updated our advice through media interviews and on social media such as @gwrhelp
 
Our teams are working hard to look after customers who have already started their journeys, and once it is safe, they will be clearing debris from lines so that we can try and restart services. 
 
Services are likely to remain suspended or disrupted for the rest of the day, and this will knock on into services tomorrow.
 
We will update you again when we know more, but for now, anything you can do to spread the message not to travel, perhaps by sharing our twitter message, would be very helpful.
 
Best wishes
 
Jane and Toby
 
Jane Jones 
Head of Public Affairs 
Great Western Railway 
 
Toby Elliott
Head of Communications
Network Rail Western

[grahame]

A further update from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)

Services remain suspended and are unlikely to re-open this evening. This will disrupt services tomorrow, especially in the early morning, and in some places, services may not restart until midday.
 
This is to allow for daylight checks of all our lines and to make sure all debris has been removed.
 
We will have updated information on our website, but before setting out tomorrow we are advising customers to check their journey using www.journeycheck.com/GreatWesternRailway
 
Tickets for travel on Saturday can now also be used on Sunday or Monday, and we will refund any tickets where customers cannot travel.
 
We would like to say thank you for all the kind messages of support. Staff have been working hard throughout the day to make sure we keep customers safe, and are now doing all they can to help get customers who had started their journey to get home, or into alternative overnight accommodation.
 
We hope that by Sunday services will be fully restored, but please do double check before you set out if you are travelling.

[old original]

Devon & Cornwall closed until midday Saturday....

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/290342.aspx

....
Travel on Saturday

Network Rail are working to clear and check thousands of miles of track before reopening lines, and with both trains and crew displaced by the storm, train services will continue to be disrupted during Saturday 19 February.

Lines into Devon and Cornwall will remain closed until at least midday on Saturday 19 February and customers are advised not to travel. 

Early morning services elsewhere are likely to be disrupted, and customers should check their journey before leaving home.

[JayMac]

My power came back on around 1730. Out for about 7 hours. Thankfully the freezer contents are okay. I had several cool blocks in the freezer that kept the temperature down. And equally thankfully I had yet to do a weekly shop so the fridge was bare.

[JayMac]

I tip my hat to the commercial jet pilots making landings today in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom). There's some great videos on YouTube and social media, particularly from Heathrow. Pilots certainly earning their money today.

[bobm]

Looking at the various live signalling maps there are a fair few empty stock trains moving about. Probably a mixture of route proving and trying to get stock back in the right place as much as possible.

[TaplowGreen]

I tip my hat to the commercial jet pilots making landings today in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom). There's some great videos on YouTube and social media, particularly from Heathrow. Pilots certainly earning their money today.

Minor claim to fame.....wasn't today, but the Captain of this plane is my cousin, he decided to go around again and  took over control from the pilot.

https://youtu.be/Z7JKt0jwuXc

[Robin Summerhill]

Looking at the various live signalling maps there are a fair few empty stock trains moving about. Probably a mixture of route proving and trying to get stock back in the right place as much as possible.

Looking at RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) there was an ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) CPM^» (Chippenham - next trains) to BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) at 1747. It looks like the 1132 BRI PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) got that far and was then cancelled, and the set stayed there for 5 hours before going home