Reading Station improvements

[whole diary]

[Thatcham Crossing]

This means that a mere 12"/305mm of water can drown and write off a car

Happened to someone I know a few years back. Was proceeding slowly/gingerly through a flood (probably less than 12"). Bow-wave created by large 4x4 coming the other way goes through the front of his car - written off 

[eightonedee]

Oops, lots of flooding through Cow Lane Bridge this morning, certainly does not cope with heavy downpours. Cars either not going through, with some risking it failing due to water in the engine.

How long did this last for? Does anyone know? I thought one of the reasons the work took so long was that they struggled to get the answer to this problem

Posted by: onthecushions
Insert Quote

Modern cars can have their air intake ducted from low down at the front, not through a carburettor and air filter above the engine. This means that a mere 12"/305mm of water can drown and write off a car, breaking an engine connecting rod.

Be warned.

Yes - even some 4x4 models from manufacturers who do not specialise in such vehicles. "Proper" 4x4s like Land Rovers and Jeeps have their air intakes positioned to give them a much deeper safe wading depth.

One of our near neighbours discovered this to his cost during the flooding early in 2014. Our combined drive floods in extreme conditions, and we had over a foot across it. He thought it would be fun to charge through in his (company) BMW X3. The inevitable happened - water into intake, compressed in the block, engine wrecked. To make matters worse for his dignity, not only did he have to paddle to get to dry land, but he put the transmission into Park from which it would not budge, so it had the indignity of having to be towed out with all 4 wheels locked by another neighbour's Jeep!   

[Adelante_CCT]

How long did this last for? Does anyone know?

I passed through at 05:30 and all was fine, by 07:00 the water was extremely high with some avoiding and others taking the risk. Reports suggest that the road was closed from 08:45 until 09:30, by which time the levels were low enough to reopen the road, albeit via a single lane contra flow due to a few cars having broken down either under the bridge or at the top of the hill.

A customer of mine passed through around 10:15 and said it had all cleared. I went through again at 14:45 and men were still on standby just in case.

It has been reported that the (new) pumps had failed and that the warning system for such an event had also failed 

[patch38]

"Proper" 4x4s like Land Rovers and Jeeps have their air intakes positioned to give them a much deeper safe wading depth.

You still need to know how to drive through standing water though, even in a 4x4. Stopping to assess the flood for depth and obstructions is what most people fail to do and then driving through at a speed high enough to maintain the bow-wave. If you are really serious about wading, a raised air intake (RAI) or 'snorkel' is the order of the day - that way the water will be over your head before it gets into the engine!

Taking the 'I've got a 4x4' attitude of just turning up and driving blindly into a flood is every bit as likely to end in misery in a Jeep or LR as it is in an 'ordinary' vehicle, as the X3 story above proves.

[Reading General]

Driving through a Ford was something my dad insisted I experience when I first learnt  as well as driving in the snow. Off we went to Bucklebury after I had passed my test to find out. That was the early 90’s, I doubt Bucklebury Ford ever gets over a couple of inches anymore.

[bobm]

I doubt Bucklebury Ford ever gets over a couple of inches anymore.

I doubt it does but it does suffer from 4X4s who enter the ford and then turn left or right to follow the stream.  Something which has exercised the Parish Council over the years.

[Bmblbzzz]

Talking of fords, who else is amused by the road signs which say "Ford: road liable to flooding"? And even better, one I've seen in Warwickshire, "Ford: impassable at all times".

[eightonedee]

You still need to know how to drive through standing water though, even in a 4x4. Stopping to assess the flood for depth and obstructions is what most people fail to do and then driving through at a speed high enough to maintain the bow-wave. If you are really serious about wading, a raised air intake (RAI) or 'snorkel' is the order of the day - that way the water will be over your head before it gets into the engine!

Taking the 'I've got a 4x4' attitude of just turning up and driving blindly into a flood is every bit as likely to end in misery in a Jeep or LR as it is in an 'ordinary' vehicle, as the X3 story above proves.

Happy to endorse that - there's a picture in our living room of me in my now very elderly Discovery doing just that in the 2003 floods  that featured in the Goring Gap News at the time. For a demonstration of how to do it, see the following-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypuHsPse9Zc

in which Adrian Lawson drives his Defender through the floods around the south of Theale Gravel Pits during the 2014 floods.

[CyclingSid]

Probably better than on his bike!

[eightonedee]

Getting this thread back on subject, I am pleased to report (at last) some improvement to the destination/information signage.

The electronic board by the town entrance was replaced this week with a new one with white lettering, two panels of departures in chronological order that manage together to give nearly an hours worth of train information, and three panels of destination by destination information. Better still, each line of information shows platform number, timetabled departure and estimated time continuously (not alternating), and when a train departs the information whizzes off to the side in a rather fetching manner and the information below moves up without any great blank gaps in the display. A (very poor with the phone which doesn't do it justice) snap attached.

Now lets roll out signage of this standard throughout the station and finish the job properly!   

[stuving]

Getting this thread back on subject, I am pleased to report (at last) some improvement to the destination/information signage.

The electronic board by the town entrance was replaced this week with a new one with white lettering, two panels of departures in chronological order that manage together to give nearly an hours worth of train information, and three panels of destination by destination information. Better still, each line of information shows platform number, timetabled departure and estimated time continuously (not alternating), and when a train departs the information whizzes off to the side in a rather fetching manner and the information below moves up without any great blank gaps in the display. A (very poor with the phone which doesn't do it justice) snap attached.

Now lets roll out signage of this standard throughout the station and finish the job properly!   

Yesterday afternoon, due to the line closure, each screen was also timesharing with a message about that. This involved each whole screenful whizing off sideways and the message whizzing in for a few seconds. Annoying for one screen, as the cycle time didn't allow long enough to find what you were looking for. With a bank of them doing it, apparently, asynchronously, it's rather distracting.

I also find these new screens markedly less clear to read, due to the use of a minimal 7x5 matrix instead of the 9x7 (I think) previously. Not too bad for a canopy-dangler, but these ones are higher up and a lot of people will struggle to read them. So more useful information, but at a cost.

[eightonedee]

Yesterday afternoon, due to the line closure, each screen was also timesharing with a message about that. This involved each whole screenful whizing off sideways and the message whizzing in for a few seconds. Annoying for one screen, as the cycle time didn't allow long enough to find what you were looking for. With a bank of them doing it, apparently, asynchronously, it's rather distracting.

I also find these new screens markedly less clear to read, due to the use of a minimal 7x5 matrix instead of the 9x7 (I think) previously. Not too bad for a canopy-dangler, but these ones are higher up and a lot of people will struggle to read them. So more useful information, but at a cost.

Oh - not so keen on the emergency message system (although I've yet to see it in action, but understand the point you are making). However I recognise that there's a damned if you do, damned if you don't element to this. If there's not prominent notification of major problems there's bound to be complaints. Perhaps confining this to the middle screen might be preferable, but this immediately raises the issue - should those after destinations in the first third of the alphabet lose out when a major incident triggering such a message occurs?

As to the legibility/pixel issue, I still have reasonably good distant vision, so didn't notice this. Is it a feature of what appears to be a new generation of "white" electronic signs? Stuving - do you also find this with the new platform signs at Wokingham?

I still rate the new signs at Reading as a step forward, though. 

[Marlburian]

I have various eyesight problems but find the new departures board at Reading Station easier to read.

One minor grouse is that if I've left it a bit tight to catch a train at Reading and am not completely sure if mine is leaving from the usual platform, the signs on the deck by each set of stairs/escalators often seem to be displaying some sort of routine warning rather than confirming where the train waiting below is going. OK, it's only for a few moments, but when every second counts ...

[FremlinsMan]

An article in The Beauty of Transport, January 29: "UNBLOCKING THE BOTTLENECK (READING STATION, READING, UK^▸ (United Kingdom))"
https://thebeautyoftransport.com/2020/01/29/unblocking-the-bottleneck-reading-station-reading-uk/

[stuving]

An article in The Beauty of Transport, January 29: "UNBLOCKING THE BOTTLENECK (READING STATION, READING, UK^▸ (United Kingdom))"
https://thebeautyoftransport.com/2020/01/29/unblocking-the-bottleneck-reading-station-reading-uk/

Curving steel columns raise the canopies over the footbridge while sculptural concrete ones support the footbridge itself and provide visual drama at platform level.

Yes, well, but ... several of those adding comments to that blog have complained about the cold winds through the transfer deck - which is pretty much where I came into this forum. And on Saturday, waiting for a train (actually two of them) down on P10/11, I was thinking more about how cold and gloomy it was - almost as bad as Gatwick - not about "visual drama".