Night Riviera - merged posts, ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[thetrout]

I bet that's going to be lightly loaded... 21:45 Departure from Penzance  - Exeter St Davids. There should never be an occasion where that is deemed acceptable!

[LiskeardRich]

The news feed in the top corner shows

21:45 Penzance to London Paddington due 05:55
This train will be diverted between Exeter St Davids and Reading.
This train will call additionally at Taunton.
This is due to flooding earlier.
----------------------------------------------------
23:45 London Paddington to Penzance due 07:53
This train will be delayed by up to 175 minutes and is expected to run as shown below.
 This train will be diverted between Reading and Exeter St Davids.
This train will call additionally at Taunton.
This is due to flooding.

Message Received :04/12/2012 15:54

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) timetables shows its meant to call at Taunton so why is it calling additionally at Taunton as well?

Calling pattern according to timetable is:

^London Paddington
^Reading
^Taunton (Not on Sunday's)
^Exeter St Davids
^Newton Abbot
^Totnes (Monday - Friday, Penzance to London Paddington only)
^Plymouth
^Liskeard
^Bodmin Parkway
^Lostwithiel (Monday - Friday, London Paddington to Penzance only)
^Par (Not on Sunday's - Penzance to London Paddington)
^St Austell
^Truro
^Redruth
^Camborne
^Hayle (Monday - Friday, London Paddington to Penzance only )
^St Erth
^Penzance

[LiskeardRich]

In addition the down isnt scheduled to arrive in Penzance until 0950!!!

[Ollie]

Hi. This is because it was originally in the system to divert via Honiton. But has been put back to normal route but running later (down) / earlier (up)

[Southern Stag]

The sleeper isn't booked to call at Taunton all this week as it's booked to run via Honiton because the line through Cowley Bridge is closed over night for repairs. Tonigh the sleepers have been altered to run via Taunton with the Penzance-London sleeper leaving earlier at 2040 and sitting at Taunton from 0036 to 0153. Passengers on the down sleeper have the delights of Tiverton Parkway to look forward to, it will be stopped there from 0251 to 0550, presumably waiting for the line to reopen.

[bobm]

Looking at the calling times it seems the down sleeper is planned to spend a while idling away in the Tiverton Parkway area, I assume waiting for overnight engineering work to finish.  Having travelled through there in daylight today there seems to be a lot to do.  Several large drums of cable being rolled out and some poor sod sheltering under an umbrella while working on a lineside cabinet were among the things I saw.

Edit: ^^  what he said  ^^

[Super Guard]

The up-sleeper berth passengers have been receiving phone calls to make them aware of the early starts from Penzance-Exeter, so most if not all of those who were booked on the up last night were on board.  A unit also ran PNZ-Exeter in the path of the original sleeper times with a bus going forward to Taunton to connect.

As has been stated, it is needing to clear Cowley Bridge as early as possible so they can close the line.  The original plan was to divert via Honiton & Yeovil but that line has been closed overnight also - which FGW^▸ (First Great Western) were notified of late Monday afternoon, hence why Monday sleeper services were also cancelled.

It's not just the sleeper being affected by this closure - 2145 Paddington-Exeter via Bristol is also being terminated at Taunton (and the 0546 Exeter-Pad starts at Taunton at 0617).

[ChrisB]

Appears to have run rather late after a loco failure.

Anyone know where the replacement had to come from?

London Paddington (@NetworkRailPAD)
06/03/2013 23:23
Sorry for the delayed boarding of the @FGW^▸ (First Great Western) sleeper train, this is due to the failure of a locomotive. A replacement loco is en route.

[JayMac]

Normal operation to get the set from Old Oak Common to Paddington is to use two Class 57s.

The set was hauled back to Old Oak Common by a Class 08 shunter, where the defective Class 57 (57604 Pendennis Castle) was removed. The set was then reformed with the pilot Class 57 that had hauled it into Paddington. That's the loco that would normally be at the buffer stop and remain at Paddington after departure of the down Night Riviera.

After being reformed the set was hauled back to Paddington by the Class 08 shunter, leaving that at the buffer stop.

All that took some time to arrange, hence a rather late departure, 96 mins down, at 0121. Some spirited running down the B&H^▸ (Berks and Hants - railway line from Reading to Taunton via Westbury), and thanks to the long wait that is usually timetabled at Exeter St Davids, saw the service back on schedule by 0411.

[bobm]

Mechanical problem with the stock for the Up Sleeper means a predicted two hour late start from Penzance.

However some good customer service from FGW^▸ (First Great Western).  Would be passengers being told to catch the local service which normally follows the sleeper and once at Plymouth they will be provided with light refreshments while awaiting the sleeper's arrival from Cornwall.

Fingers crossed they can get the sleeper fixed. 

[Southern Stag]

Not been a good period for the sleeper unfortunately. Sunday's up service was replaced by an HST^▸ (High Speed Train), with passengers also offered the choice of travel on Monday am. And last week, or it may have been the week before, the down service was delayed leaving London by a couple of hours.

[Chris from Nailsea]

It was on 6 March, apparently: see http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=12122.0 

[bobm]

Last night's up was also slightly delayed at Exeter while the man with the spanners attacked 57603 due to a loss of power.

[IndustryInsider]

Mechanical problem with the stock for the Up Sleeper means a predicted two hour late start from Penzance.

Replacement fuel filters needed apparently.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Oh for electrification, eh?