Greyhound uk

[whole diary]

[vacman]

First have launced Greyhound UK^▸ (United Kingdom) www.greyhounduk.com link should now work!

[JayMac]

I've removed my correction, vacman.

looks like an interesting proposition for Hampshire folk. Compares very favourably with the SWT^▸ (South West Trains)/Southern offerings, though maybe not on frequency.....

[JayMac]

I've removed my correction, vacman.

looks like an interesting proposition for Hampshire folk. Compares very favourably with the SWT^▸ (South West Trains)/Southern offerings, though maybe not on frequency.....

Oh, hang on though....on the hour every hour (Pompey-Smoke) from 6am to 6pm.

[Btline]

If it makes SWT^▸ (South West Trains) speed up trains and remove slack - good!

[devon_metro]

If it makes SWT^▸ (South West Trains) speed up trains and remove slack - good!

Goodness me, do you not realise that we are in a recession and that would simply be catastrophic to the balance books if the slightest incident occurred on a train! Delay minutes cost a lot....

[JayMac]

If it makes SWT^▸ (South West Trains) speed up trains and remove slack - good!

Goodness me, do you not realise that we are in a recession and that would simply be catastrophic to the balance books if the slightest incident occurred on a train! Delay minutes cost a lot....

Lost revenue costs a lot as well!!!

[Btline]

If it makes SWT^▸ (South West Trains) speed up trains and remove slack - good!

Goodness me, do you not realise that we are in a recession and that would simply be catastrophic to the balance books if the slightest incident occurred on a train! Delay minutes cost a lot....

Extra slack does not necessarily mean better performance. If they tightened up operations, there is no reason why the slack can't be removed back to BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) timings. (except perhaps in the Clapham area where the lines are full to capacity)

[devon_metro]

In "BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) Days"

*Speed limits were taken with a pinch of salt
*Train doors did not involve guards shutting all doors then local door
*Trains in general called at fewer places
*OTMR^▸ (On Train Monitoring Recorder) equipment was not installed, so drivers could be more "enthusiastic" with the power/brake handle...


Shall I continue?

[Tim]

*Speed limits were taken with a pinch of salt

Isn't this an arguement for NR^» (Network Rail - home page) easing some of the limits upwards now that they are strictly observed.   I've always thought that a sustained campaign to shave odd minutes off here and there (better acceleration, raising line speeds, closing level crossings and perhaps the odd bit of line straightening and or short stretches of Hs line round bottle necks) makes far more sense and benefits far more people accross the country than does building a new HS^▸ (High Speed (short for HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) High Speed Services)) line.  Our towns are too close together to make speeds of greater than 140/150 mph worthwhile, but there are still sections of the GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) with 100 and 110 mph limits that could be gradually raised to 115 or 125 without too much disruption and with significant journey time benefits over long distances.  This is much closer to the German concept of HS rail where lines are upgraded and TGV^▸ (Train a Grande Vitesse) speeds are not achieved but significnat improvements still made. 

If we need to build a new line to the North for capacity reasons then lets make it a large-loading gauge freight line (with 75/85 speeds) to clear some of the slower trains off the existing network which has teh huge advantage of already having lots of stations in the centres of our towns. 

[Phil]

In "BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) Days"
*Trains in general called at fewer places

I don't doubt you - I'm sure you've done your research - but I must confess I find this particular statement quite surprising.

Could you perhaps give some evidence to support this? And which period of BR's reign in particular are you referring to, just out of interest?

[Tim]

In "BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) Days"
*Trains in general called at fewer places

I don't doubt you - I'm sure you've done your research - but I must confess I find this particular statement quite surprising.

Could you perhaps give some evidence to support this? And which period of BR's reign in particular are you referring to, just out of interest?

One example I can think of is - In BR days Chippenham didn't get a stop on all BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI))-Paddington services.  Now every train stops and more also stop at Didcot than they used to (and the am Bristolian stops at Reading which it never used to do).  Extra stop might be less of a problem with the promised electrification and IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.) becaus eof better acceleration (and automatic doors).   

[The Grecian]

BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) used to run a much less standardised stopping pattern than it does now. There were some trains out of Paddington in the 1980s that would be first stop Bristol Parkway/Bath Spa/Exeter St Davids (depending on route). I have an old BR timetable for the winter of 1991/92 which shows that one afternoon Portsmouth-Cardiff train ran non-stop from Salisbury to Bath.

It's not just FGW^▸ (First Great Western) either - the off-peak hourly Waterloo-Weymouth train back then ran non-stop to Southampton Parkway and also missed out Hamworthy and Upwey for a journey time of 2h30m. Intercity Crosscountry's 'Cornishman' from Penzance to Dundee only stopped at Exeter, Taunton and Bristol TM^‡(resolve) between Plymouth and Birmingham. The clockface stopping pattern now used on most routes has tended to ensure more stations get regular services.

[grahame]

In "BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) Days"
*Trains in general called at fewer places

I don't doubt you - I'm sure you've done your research - but I must confess I find this particular statement quite surprising.

Could you perhaps give some evidence to support this? And which period of BR's reign in particular are you referring to, just out of interest?

Elsewhere in the country, I can certainly remember travelling from King's Cross ... first stop places like York.  Now, it's Peterborough, Doncaster, York.    Similar things on the West Coast too.  And Charing Cross -> Hastings trains would NEVER dain to stop at Orpington or Hildenborough.   I wasn't living in this neck of the woods in those days, but I think that a far lower proportion of trains stopped (or would stop) at Bradford-on-Avon, Avoncliff and Freshford, and weren't there trains until quite recently that went through Westbury and Salisbury without stopping on their way from The Principality to Waterloo?   Such trains skipped Newport too, didn't they, and there was more than one a day skipping Temple Meads.

*Speed limits were taken with a pinch of salt

Isn't this an arguement for NR^» (Network Rail - home page) easing some of the limits upwards now that they are strictly observed.   

Certainly some of the speed limits - in days long ago - used to be taken with a whole bucket of salt. There was an unfortunate accident at Salisbury, where a train no scheduled to stop ran through at about twice the authorised speed.  Informed sources say it was a regular thing, but because the particular loco had a higher center of gravity it rolled over, the train piled up, and there were significant casualties.   But of course there are no "runthrough"s at Salisbury any more - my original point 

I'm sure there is a case for reviewing speed limits based on the fact that only (say) 10% margin is needed rather than 25% - I would have thought that a profession such as the railways would have had mechanisms in place to do that. But then I would have throught they would have also had mechanisms in place to ensure a sensible service timing and level on lines like the TransWilts, and they haven't! 

[Phil]

Yes, but I can also remember when Paddington trains to the west used to routinely stop at Slough - and it's not so long ago that round here places like Box and Corsham had stations as well.

[Mookiemoo]

Yes, but I can also remember when Paddington trains to the west used to routinely stop at Slough - and it's not so long ago that round here places like Box and Corsham had stations as well.

Ah but something I have noticed - slough seems to be the black sheep

In the peak and with peak flows there seems to be more RDG^‡(resolve) - Maidenhead - PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) stoppers than there are RDG - Slough - PAD stoppers

It was noticeable yesterday (yes - I'm no longer suffering extreme irritation (this is a male dominated board - you would not understand! LOL^▸ (laughing out loud)) and being pissed off by notwork rail) that more trains were advertising extra stops at maidenhead and not slough - looking at the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) website.

Sp why does Slough only seem to get regular fasts AGAINST the peak flow?

I remember even a couple of years ago some of the all station stopper were RDG - Twyford - Maidenhead - Slough - PAD - which seems eminently sensible for 2 trains an hour

And dont blither on about the taplows/burnhams etc etc - they are close enough to other stations if they REALLY have to gor on the stopper they can get there - but given there are about four an hour in the peaks - what is 15 minutes?

Beyond Hayes you have heathrow connect filling in the gaps

I suspect this will be moved but over the last few months - the dirth of slough fasts has been a source of irritation - I dont expect the intercities to stop there - before someone throws up the cotswolds villages argument - Reading to slough is a world of difference in terms of frequency, population etc than oxford to Worcester!