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[whole diary]

[Btline]

Yes, if we end up with 4 car DMUs^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit), it would be better for 12/8 cars to go London to Oxford, and then 4 cars onto Great Malvern - with as many platform extensions as possible.

If it were not for Chiltern Evergreen 3, I would suggest that the back portion of the train went to Bicester...

How about Banbury, to give Cherwell Valley passengers back their fast trains? Then the Oxford slows can terminate at Oxford, and the mental damage inflicted on Turbo passengers can be reduced....

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

the stupid thing about most new modern dmus/emus is that there is no coridor at the front which means in order to extend them you have to run doubles and which means an extra guard/tm if only 1 guard is onboard on of these there is potential loss of revenue.... i realise on high speed trains this coridoor is not practical i think this just proves there is a need to standardise rollingstock, after all look at the hst's i know its not the best choice due to acceleration but if overcrowding became that much of an issue there are spare mk3's and mk 2's which they can add no problem, you cant do that with a voyager...

[Btline]

172s have a connexion, so no problem.

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

172s have a connexion, so no problem.

think it depends on the variant (like the 150's) but as you can see on your own display pic,some do not

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

anyway i spent some time doing you a model of the rolling stock that you could get, im sure you will be gratefull as some places dont get any trains... 

[willc]

How about Banbury, to give Cherwell Valley passengers back their fast trains?

Because there's no demand/point. Oxford and Banbury are already linked by two XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) fasts an hour, Kings Sutton is served by Chiltern anyway so that's how people there go to London, people from Heyford drive to Bicester if they are going to London, Tackley is tiny and the Stratford service has gone to Chiltern.

And no-one is going to pay for platform extensions. SDO^▸ (Selective Door Opening) is a proven system here and further afield, eg Southern have stations with all sorts of platform lengths out in the rural areas. Their electric sets have computer-controlled systems which hold the relevant details for each stations, while the 171s have a crew-controlled door selection system.

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

How about Banbury, to give Cherwell Valley passengers back their fast trains?

Because there's no demand/point. Oxford and Banbury are already linked by two XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) fasts an hour, Kings Sutton is served by Chiltern anyway so that's how people there go to London, people from Heyford drive to Bicester if they are going to London, Tackley is tiny and the Stratford service has gone to Chiltern.

And no-one is going to pay for platform extensions. SDO^▸ (Selective Door Opening) is a proven system here and further afield, eg Southern have stations with all sorts of platform lengths out in the rural areas. Their electric sets have computer-controlled systems which hold the relevant details for each stations, while the 171s have a crew-controlled door selection system.

which is why units with corridor connections are important

[willc]

But not if you're only running a four-car set on the part of the route where you're using the SDO^▸ (Selective Door Opening), which would be the case in the Cotswolds.

I doubt that if the new DMUs^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) ever do happen, FGW^▸ (First Great Western) would want a ragtag fleet that had versions without corridor connections for Portsmouth-Cardiff and a batch with them fitted for the Thames Valley.

I've always suspected that if they had actually had the money to a proper job with the 166s, instead of a lash-up, bargain basement three-car train, BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) would probably have built something like the four-car 171s that Southern has for the Uckfield line, which would be just the job for the Cotswolds, the Newbury route and Reading-Gatwick. It might even have had a/c that worked...

[Btline]

The Chiltern and LO 172s (as in my avatar) have no connexions - they are 75 mph trains.

The LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise) ones (and I presume FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s ones if they have any sense) do - they are 100 mph trains. (which ironically are less streamlined)

At many places where SDO^▸ (Selective Door Opening) is currently used, I'm sure the platforms could be extended to cover 4 23 metre coaches.

And as for the Cherwell Valley line - it was mearly a gesture of good will the local stations, which had their London service lengenthed by an hour when Chiltern won the Stratford trains. PS: Chiltern don't stop at Kings Sutton much - esp on the faster trains.

[IndustryInsider]

And as for the Cherwell Valley line - it was mearly a gesture of good will the local stations, which had their London service lengenthed by an hour when Chiltern won the Stratford trains. PS: Chiltern don't stop at Kings Sutton much - esp on the faster trains.

Kings Sutton has a pretty decent service given its size. Every two hours off-peak to and from London with journey times of around an hour and twenty minutes, and the local FGW^▸ (First Great Western) services to back that up. It could do with a better commuter service towards London as the prime service actually involves going to Banbury to come back the other way (still only 1h 22m though) and there's an earlier through Clubman train at 06:29 arriving 07:50.

Coming home the service is excellent with direct trains at 17:03, 18:03 and 19:03 all taking around an hour and ten minutes. They ARE fast trains Btline - non-stop to Kings Sutton, no, but fast trains nonetheless. The first two are Clubman's.

There's no way a FGW service to/from Paddington would ever be able to match those timings, and there's just not the market for any more trains from Kings Sutton anyway. Also, it would be pretty pointless sending one of the peak HST^▸ (High Speed Train)'s all that way with hardly anybody on board. Passengers from Tackley and Heyford (that don't drive to Bicester) don't travel on the through stopping trains all the way, they change at Oxford - so journeys haven't been extended by an hour at all, though the convenience of the old through Turbo trains is an unfortunate result of the removal of Stratford trains from Paddington and the widescale use of HST's on the route.

Up until the Adelantes went, it perhaps would have been worth running one of them through from Banbury in the morning and back in the evening - one Adelante used to form an early evening service from Paddington then stable at Oxford from about 8pm for nearly three hours before returning to London - that would have been an ideal candidate. However, yet again, such potential benefits from them have been lost.

Oh, and the Chiltern Clubman's are 100mph with no corridor connection - I'm sure you meant to say that.

[Btline]

No the Chiltern 172s are 75 mph, with no corridor connexion.

The Chiltern 168s are 100 mph, with no corridor connexion.

And I was talking about extending the 172 service not an HST^▸ (High Speed Train). And I admit that I ignored down trains for Kings Sutton, just looking at the morning trains, which is not as good.

[IndustryInsider]

No the Chiltern 172s are 75 mph, with no corridor connexion.

So you're talking about the new trains being delivered at the end of next year then? Sorry, I misread your post. Sensibly, anything intended to work local routes should be 75mph as the gearing works wonders for the acceleration. As they will be mostly confined to the Aylesbury route that will do fine. If in the future they need to be re-geared for a higher speed then they can be without massive expense.

[willc]

New DMUs^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit), whatever they are - and they could still be Spanish or Chinese - will be what the Government decides to buy, not necessarily what FGW^▸ (First Great Western), TPE^▸ (Trans Pennine Express) or Northern would buy if they had a choice. If they decide corridor connections are an unnecessary luxury, they won't pay for them - and given that most sets are unlikely to run coupled anyway (Oxford-London being the only likely route this will happen on) don't bank on it.

On the Cotswold Line, excluding the halts, the only platforms that cannot already take at least four 23m coaches are Hanborough, Shipton (both directions) and Honeybourne (westbound only post-redoubling). On the assumption the trains will have SDO^▸ (Selective Door Opening) and sliding doors as standard, there's no point at all spending scarce finance on platform extensions - station stops will be swift and straightforward, like Turbos and 180s.

[devon_metro]

New DMUs^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit), whatever they are - and they could still be Spanish or Chinese - will be what the Government decides to buy, not necessarily what FGW^▸ (First Great Western), TPE^▸ (Trans Pennine Express) or Northern would buy if they had a choice. If they decide corridor connections are an unnecessary luxury, they won't pay for them - and given that most sets are unlikely to run coupled anyway (Oxford-London being the only likely route this will happen on) don't bank on it.

On the Cotswold Line, excluding the halts, the only platforms that cannot already take at least four 23m coaches are Hanborough, Shipton (both directions) and Honeybourne (westbound only post-redoubling). On the assumption the trains will have SDO^▸ (Selective Door Opening) and sliding doors as standard, there's no point at all spending scarce finance on platform extensions - station stops will be swift and straightforward, like Turbos and 180s.

Perhaps refusing to extend platforms due to cost would mean that trains were inable to call at the small stations and all trains could run fast from London to Worcester. I imagine the trains would be packed with those businesspeople currently on Chiltern

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

sdo doesn't work too well if two 4 car units are put together, if 5 of the coaches overhang the platform, thats ok i will use the connecting corridor, oh wait look like im getting off at the next stop, at least i wont get a penalty fair as there is only 1 guard and he cant get threw,

my lame sarcasm and poor spelling not withstanding, do i maybe have a point?