Falmouth Branch Line - stations, facilities, services and improvements - ongoing discussion, merged posts

[whole diary]

[LiskeardRich]

did they not plan ahead for the red arrows, everyone in Falmouth knew there were going to be up to 10000 extra people in falmouth for the display, the roads were mental so train was only option, also at that time of the evening surely they could of changed stock around so more carriages were available for the line?
i drove into Falmouth last night, and for anyone who knows falmouth it took me 90 mins to drive from the docks viewing area on castle drive, to the roundabout by mcdonalds and sainsburys, a distance of less than 3 miles!

[inspector_blakey]

did they not plan ahead for the red arrows

Almost certainly, but I'm guessing that on a weekday there's only so much spare stock available to strengthen services like that.

[RailCornwall]

.... and they had contractors painting the hand rail at Falmouth Town during all this kerfuffle too. If I was running the operation I'd have ensured that the units were coupled and run continuously until 2330 ex Falmouth last night and additionally on Friday for the Fireworks.

[caliwag]

Contractors painting the handrail? unbelievable. What planet are these guys on? No chance of stock strengthening if they cannot even sort out basic maintenance works...Jeez.

You would have thought it would be a fantastic exercise in PR^▸ (Public Relations), for all concerned, to have arranged (there was plenty of notice) a 67 and rake of four, or whatever...just for the event. Everyone would have gone home thinking "well at least the trains worked"...just like the old days when BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) swung into action...viz the popes visit in '82..I cannot imagine what the railways would do now.

Suspect the Maritime line, and other branches, are a complete irritant (a scunner we call it in Scotland!)

Bah...don't all reply at once!

[old original]

Contact FGW^▸ (First Great Western) in Swindon to tell them somethings going on in Cornwall and I suspect the response is.."where's that?"

[inspector_blakey]

Contractors painting the handrail?

Agreed, that does sound pretty daft.

You would have thought it would be a fantastic exercise in PR^▸ (Public Relations), for all concerned, to have arranged (there was plenty of notice) a 67 and rake of four

I suspect that may be a non-starter due to infrastructure issues. First off I'm 90% sure there's no run-round facility at Falmouth, so you're talking top-and-tailed 67s for a start. I'm not sure either whether the track on the Falmouth line is up to 67s, which have a viciously high axle-loading and consequent low route availability. Don't know what platform lengths are like along the Maritime Line but there may be further problems there. And that's before you've even considered the cost of the operation you're proposing which, sadly, given the way the rail industry is currently structured, is probably prohibitive. Combine that with the very low fares charges on many of the Cornish branches and the result may well be that there is no business case for that kind of operation, despite the increased number of customers on the day.

viz the popes visit in '82..I cannot imagine what the railways would do now.

You'll find out next month!

[caliwag]

Yeah...fair point re run-rounds though I thought they F Docks had that facility. In terms of loading they have had steam and diesel turns down the branch recently, so I must be up to muster for locos.
My grouse is that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) didn't seem to acknowledge that the Falmouth event was an issue...there's nowhere to park in Falmouth so surely the railways should swing into action!!! FFS^▸ (for goodness' sake (a more polite definition))

[devon_metro]

Agreed, they could havE used one of the many spare units that linger around Cornwall every day........

[chrisoates]

Agreed, they could havE used one of the many spare units that linger around Cornwall every day........

Don't think there are many - St Ives is 2 x 150 for the summer and has had a 153 tacked on the back.
In winter I see odd units at laid up at Plymouth, Par, Truro - not now though.
In answer to others Falmouth is 30 Mph for non DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) and doesn't have run around.
Tonight even more problems with signalling.

Something like 7 million was spent on upgrading Falmouth to dual working and it's just not reliable.

 

[LiskeardRich]

i always thought there is run round at Falmouth Docks in the sidings on the docks side of the platform, looking at google maps sidings are visible although google maps images are so old they dont show the passing loop at penryn, but show the old motor auctions, which have been gone 3 years at least so sidings could be long gone, although looks majorly overgrown so would almost be a non starter for usage, surely the 153 operating the route could of swapped diagrams for the day with a 150 somewhere? not sure what the comparable capacitys are, on the basis that the event was in the evening as well, would there not be units stabled somewhere not in use at that time of day. the event was around 7pm
with regards to platform length, from memory a 150 takes up no more than half of any of the platforms, barring possibly perranwell, as all platforms are long on route, although i think the passing loop at penryn may be restrictive to length

does st ives really need that much capacity more than Falmouth did on this one off event? would  at ives coped with losing 1 of its 150s for the evening?

[caliwag]

Quail indicates a run round on the freight branch just at the platform throat, if you can call a single line platform a throat!

It was there last month...a bit weedy, but there. Did the recent loco hauled excursions use that for loco release or were they top and tailed?

[FarWestJohn]

The 153 units seem to becoming very unreliable. Not only was there a failure on Wednesday but also yesterday afternoon, Thursday. A unit failed at Penryn and was rescued and hauled back to Truro. A unit then formed a very late 1651 towards Falmouth.The 1624 to Penzance was also about 25 minutes late which did not help.

On Wednesday morning Radio Cornwall was asking everyone going to Falmouth week to use public transport where possible train, bus or park and ride Then in the same report saying the train had been replaced by a bus service.

Anyone know the main reason for these failures?

All the sidings track work at Falmouth docks has been cleared of undergrowth and many sleepers are marked for replacement. The rail heads also have markings saying 'grind' in many places. There must be some future use planned for this work to be required?

[devon_metro]

Agreed, they could havE used one of the many spare units that linger around Cornwall every day........

Don't think there are many - St Ives is 2 x 150 for the summer and has had a 153 tacked on the back.
In winter I see odd units at laid up at Plymouth, Par, Truro - not now though.
In answer to others Falmouth is 30 Mph for non DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) and doesn't have run around.
Tonight even more problems with signalling.

Something like 7 million was spent on upgrading Falmouth to dual working and it's just not reliable.

 

You missed the irony in my post 

[Timmer]

You missed the irony in my post 

I didn't and knew exactly where you were coming from...there are no spare units hanging around here or anywhere else in the country.

[vacman]

Chirs is quite right about there being a 30MPH speed limit on the branch for non-DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) trains, last year they coupled both units together for this event during the evening, bloody useless!