Winter Timetables

[whole diary]

[paul7575]

the SWT^▸ (South West Trains) Exeter - Waterloo timetable changes are very pleasing 

I had a quick look at the SWT version, (their online TTs appeared shortly after the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) and Network Rail national ones today as well) and I think they might have missed a trick removing their Bristol services to the last few pages, on their own. Makes them look like a bit of an afterthought, but it's a minor point.

Paul

[IndustryInsider]

See - if I had a 166 I'd at least be happy with a table to work on for the 2.5 hours I have to endure it

Perhaps the up coming Turbo refurb will include the fairly simple and cheap addition of tables in the 1st Class section of a class 165? After all, it's virtually the same as the compartment in a Class 166 - albeit at only one end.

[Mookiemoo]

See - if I had a 166 I'd at least be happy with a table to work on for the 2.5 hours I have to endure it

Perhaps the up coming Turbo refurb will include the fairly simple and cheap addition of tables in the 1st Class section of a class 165? After all, it's virtually the same as the compartment in a Class 166 - albeit at only one end.

Which begs the question - why were the 165s never fitted with tables anyway - in a first class section?

[IndustryInsider]

Which begs the question - why were the 165s never fitted with tables anyway - in a first class section?

A good question indeed!

[willc]

How did we get on to 165s - these Cotswold services will be booked for 166s - no doubt at the expense of the Reading-Gatwick line, which will get 165s back, without anywhere for airline passengers to put all that luggage.

Presumably no tables because the 165s were intended for stoppers, with short average journey times, while the 166s were built for the Oxford/Cotswold and Newbury routes, where people probably would expect to be able to work during the much longer journeys.

As for losing regulars, it's a very different crowd of passengers at weekends - I think most people who do the commute all the way into London have seen enough of the inside of a train the rest of the week - and if they really are spending yet more time going to London at the weekends, why on earth do they live so far away?

As Insider says, a quiet Turbo is okay for most purposes - though it would be lot better once they finally get round to refreshing them - but it does rather be the question of how many of the HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) brought in to replace Adelantes are now just going to be sitting on their backsides in depots all weekend - the unreliable 180s certainly didn't get the weekend off and passenger comfort all day long was rather better as a result - apart from when someone thought it would be a good idea to put one on the 18.22 on Saturdays...

A couple of points about the cotswold timetable.

First, who came up with note h, on the 09.29 from Moreton, which, rather than saying you can arrive in London earlier by changing at Didcot, says instead, you can arrive in London earlier (than the stopper the 9.29 becomes past Oxford) by catching a later departure? Admittedly, you only have five minutes for the Didcot change, but it's in the journey planners as a connection and should be okay for the hale and hearty - I think most grannies would prefer to catch the through train anyway.

Second, does anyone know what  work will be going on north of Oxford on Sundays in February and March that requires a bus link out to Hanborough for all that period? The only thing I can think of that might come into play at some stage would be the A34 viaduct replacement work at Wolvercote, but they normally seem to only need a weekend or two for each stage of deck lifting work above the railway.

Or are they going to drop the trains entirely some weekends at short notice for some redoubling work - I note that there are through Worcester and Hereford workings laid on via Stroud. There is a vague general note about rail improvement work but surely Network Rail have a pretty good idea of what they are doing when next year by this stage? The late-night weekday replacement buses that were in the current timetable are also not shown here, with another general note about improvement work may affect these trains.

One sensible tweak I have just noticed is that on Saturdays, the 7.10 from Hereford is going to call at Shipton at 9.02, giving a rather more shopping and day trip-friendly pair of Shipton departures to Oxford and London, at 8.00 and 9.02, rather than the current 7.00 and 8.00.