Pulling the cord

[whole diary]

[paul7575]

You have no idea what carriage you are in as there are no signs..

Although annoying, this is something I like about Southern's announcements:
"Welcome aboard the Southern service to Southampton Central and Bongnor Regis, calling at ....  This train will divide at Horsham, coaches 1-4 will continue to Southampton Central, coaches 5-8 will continue to Bognor Regis.  This is coach 2 of 8."
Then a reminder after each station announcement: "This is coach 2 of 8."

If only they'd turn off the coach numbering stuff once they've done the split though - that would be a major improvement...

Paul

[TerminalJunkie]

Train driver forgot to stop at Didcot Parkway station

Rail operator First Great Western has apologised to passengers after a train driver forgot to stop at Didcot Parkway on Wednesday night.

Dozens of passengers were affected by the mistake which meant they had to wait 30 minutes at Swindon station before returning to Didcot.

Rest of story at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/8564357.stm

[IndustryInsider]

Interesting one that, as down trains booked to call at Didcot are checked down by signals on the approach to the station as a reminder to the driver to stop.

[Deltic]

Perhaps the signaller forgot to follow this protocol and set the route through the station so the driver got a green aspect.  The story mentions braking after the station but not before.

[moonrakerz]

You have no idea what carriage you are in as there are no signs..

Although annoying, this is something I like about Southern's announcements:
"Welcome aboard the Southern service to Southampton Central and Bongnor Regis, calling at ....  This train will divide at Horsham, coaches 1-4 will continue to Southampton Central, coaches 5-8 will continue to Bognor Regis.  This is coach 2 of 8."
Then a reminder after each station announcement: "This is coach 2 of 8."

As I have previously mentioned: SWT^▸ (South West Trains) tell you "coaches 1,2 & 3  will go here......4, 5 & 6 will go there", having stuck labels all down the train saying "A, B, C............." etc ! 

[super tm]

Interesting one that, as down trains booked to call at Didcot are checked down by signals on the approach to the station as a reminder to the driver to stop.

err no they dont.  The signals just run through a cycle depending if a train is sceduled to come off the oxford branch or the next one is through from Didcot.  It is not unusual on a train stopping at Didcot to already have a green signal as they enter the platform.

[inspector_blakey]

 

An up train, perhaps, where the signal is right at the end of the platform. But for a down train there is no signal on the platform - it's round the bend towards Swindon out of sight.

[paul7575]

As I have previously mentioned: SWT^▸ (South West Trains) tell you "coaches 1,2 & 3  will go here......4, 5 & 6 will go there", having stuck labels all down the train saying "A, B, C............." etc ! 

No longer AFAICT^▸ (as far as I can tell), since they binned reservations in December...

Paul

[Super Guard]

Train driver forgot to stop at Didcot Parkway station

Rail operator First Great Western has apologised to passengers after a train driver forgot to stop at Didcot Parkway on Wednesday night.

Dozens of passengers were affected by the mistake which meant they had to wait 30 minutes at Swindon station before returning to Didcot.

Rest of story at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/8564357.stm

One assumes the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) was seriously lacking of news Wednesday night?!

[Mookiemoo]

Just been reported on the five live 2030 news bulletin

[devon_metro]

Just been reported on the five live 2030 news bulletin

Are you having us on??

What was the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) saying the other day about quality over quantity..!!

[Mookiemoo]

Just been reported on the five live 2030 news bulletin

Are you having us on??

What was the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) saying the other day about quality over quantity..!!

Nope was there!   Thats why I mentioned it! 

[moonrakerz]

As I have previously mentioned: SWT^▸ (South West Trains) tell you "coaches 1,2 & 3  will go here......4, 5 & 6 will go there", having stuck labels all down the train saying "A, B, C............." etc ! 

No longer AFAICT^▸ (as far as I can tell), since they binned reservations in December...

Paul

Actually - in the 3 years (or so) that I have been using the Temple Meads to Waterloo service (always on Advance tickets) I have never been given a seat reservation, only a general one for the train. That didn't stop them continuing to label the coaches though - BUT, I did note today that the Waterloo train was "letterless". To be honest, I hadn't noticed on the last couple of trips !

[Hafren]

I was on a HST^▸ (High Speed Train) stopping at St Germans and the TM^‡(resolve) said only coaches A-D would b unlocked. (despite being big enough for 6 coaches at least!) I'd be in a bit of a rush if i was in H wanted to get off!

St Germans is Front 4 on the down and Rear 5 on the up...it doesnt matter how big the platform might be ,these are the designated coaches which can safely be unlocked at this station and this is decided by FGW^▸ (First Great Western) Competance Management

My main experience of HSTs at short platforms is West Wales, and at smaller stations there is often at least one carriage that is platformed but locked. In the case of unstaffed platforms, I get the impression that it's been done intentionally, not only as a margin of error (and in some cases there are less accessible stretches of platform) but also to reduce the numbers of doors that can be left open, particularly at smaller places where only a few people will be inconvenienced anyway. It also helps where there are curved platforms, bearing in mind that with SDO^▸ (Selective Door Opening) the TM will be unlocking from the end and not the middle - I get the impression that they're quite happy to open only 2 or 3 carriages at Narberth for example.

I'm reminded of a question that's been in the back of my mind for a couple of years! The Pembrokeshire halts are all equipped with 2+7/2+8 stop markers enabling HSTs to be stopped with Coach A platformed when H is leading, except in cases where there's an operational need to stop the front at a specific point. But there seems to be some inconsistency with up trains (i.e. coach H usually leading) - often they seem to ignore the stop markers and stop with H platformed, which at short platforms means only first class! Obviously this has to happen at Manorbier and Tenby for operational reasons, but at other stations it would be more useful to platform coach A. Can anyone suggest why they stop with H platformed so often? Consistency with the two special cases? (Which happens to be inconsistent with the Dock, where the country end will always be platformed for obvious reasons!)

[devon_metro]

They only unlock the front 3 at Torre IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly) despite the platform taking more (in the down direction) due to the curvature of the platform.