Snow/Wintry conditions

[whole diary]

[Ollie]

Well my train has departed PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) ontime fingers crossed it gets here

3 mins early into Reading!!! 

And I was on it

If I'd have known before I'd have warned the TM^▸ (Train Manager, or possibly Ticket Machine, depending on context) you were joining him

[thetrout]

Well I am happy

Ok so the train is 20 minutes late... But I got on just as the Buffet was closing, but the Customer Host was more than happy to serve me some Coffee and Shortbread...!

We're sat in Temple Meads now waiting for something or other... I don't mind though... also long as I get to Cardiff before 5AM

If I'd have known before I'd have warned the TM^▸ (Train Manager, or possibly Ticket Machine, depending on context) you were joining him

I'm not that bad surely...??

And for BNM I agree with Mookiemoo, why would I want to know where my trousers were?? I should hope they are firmly attached to my lower half

[Ollie]

If I'd have known before I'd have warned the TM^▸ (Train Manager, or possibly Ticket Machine, depending on context) you were joining him

I'm not that bad surely...??

Nah - you ain't THAT bad

Hope you enjoy your hols

[thetrout]

Nah - you ain't THAT bad

Hope you enjoy your hols

Ok i'll admit it, when you hear that the buffet has no First Class Complimentary stock... it's normally because i've eaten it all

Thanks... Have a most acceptable Christmas to yourself sir

[Ollie]

Nah - you ain't THAT bad

Hope you enjoy your hols

Ok i'll admit it, when you hear that the buffet has no First Class Complimentary stock... it's normally because i've eaten it all

Thanks... Have a most acceptable Christmas to yourself sir

I shall try

On another note folks: http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=5012 has a full list of the planned cancellations for tomorrow.

[thetrout]

In case anyone is remotely interested... I got into Cardiff Central 2 minutes early

I made it to the airport for 3:15AM

And now to relax in the executive lounge before 3 hours and 30 minutes of PURE HELL!!

[johoare]

I am SO glad I got up early  .. 8am and 8.04 departures are indeed cancelled even though the weather conditions are infinitely better than yesterday..
I've decided to save myself the pain of going down to the station to see three trains worth or people (one of which is usually an intercity) cram onto a three car turbo.. I'm pretty sure it won't be pleasant..

I can work from home fortunately so will work here for an hour and then go and get the 9.03 which (at the moment) is showing as running...

[Worcester_Passenger]

On another note folks: http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=5012 has a full list of the planned cancellations for tomorrow.

Confusingly, that list says the 05:34 Hereford - Padd'n would be cancelled, whereas the the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) 'liveupdate' page has it as merely "revised" - an extra call at Didcot to compensate for the cancelled 05:17 Malvern - Padd'n.

[IanL]

0726 CBY to PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) Showing on NR^» (Network Rail - home page) departure boards as cancelled, but did in fact run (10min late).
0835 from CBY running very late after leaving Hereford 2min late but arriving Ledbury approx 30 late.

[Timmer]

Are the loadings on the Cardiff-Pads quite light as they are usually the first trains to be canned at times of disruption?

[IndustryInsider]

three trains worth or people (one of which is usually an intercity) cram onto a three car turbo.. I'm pretty sure it won't be pleasant..

Of course that's three trains worth on a normal working weekday, numbers are well down due to it being so close to Xmas and the bad weather as well.  I'm sure those remaining trains would still have been busy though.

Regarding the amended timetables, click on this link to see how it should be done. http://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/sites/default/files/Special%20timetable%20Birmingham%20to%20Marylebone%20Tuesday%2021%20December.pdf

Courtesy of our neighbours at Chiltern Railways who are also operating a reduced service.  In FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s defence it it easier for Chiltern only having two routes as such and a far easier job of amending timetables on the fly due to the lack of other TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)'s on most of their route, but still, how hard would it have been to amend the base files for the FGW timetables and put them up as PDF's in a similar way?  The likes of Jo would find it far easier to work out what is and isn't running without the need to cross-reference to different routes.

Are the loadings on the Cardiff-Pads quite light as they are usually the first trains to be canned at times of disruption?

Comparatively speaking, yes.  Hence the threat of there very existence a few years ago.

[Tim]

Are the loadings on the Cardiff-Pads quite light as they are usually the first trains to be canned at times of disruption?

There is certainly less loading London-South Wales than there is London-Bristol.  London-far west is pretty busy too and services are less frequent anyway so London- South Wales services are a sensible first candidate to be CAPED.  Of course it causes problems for people from Bristol Parkway, but some of them mights fuind it easier to connect at BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI) but BTM is a commonly used alternative))  Makes more sense to do this as a planned cancellation and release  sets and staff to allow the other HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) to run reasonably normally than have everyone's jounrey delayed. 

[Mookiemoo]

Slightly OT - does anyone know if someone is likely to make it to Weymouth from Nottingham tomorrow

By road - hence OT

[Jez]

Do more people tend to travel on the xx25 Paddington from Cardiff rather than the xx55 Cardiff-Paddington service then? Is there a need for this service to be half hourly?

[anthony215]

Do more people tend to travel on the xx25 Paddington from Cardiff rather than the xx55 Cardiff-Paddington service then? Is there a need for this service to be half hourly?

To answer your question yes i think it does need to be half hourly, especially as trains can be very busy trains at xx25 from Cardiff are more busier because they are coming from Swansea.

On weekends the service is mostly hourly apart from the early morning.