South Wales local services - Pembroke, Fishguard, Swanline, etc.

[whole diary]

[Jez]

I can imagine the 1738 being overcrowded on a weekday as its the first service people finishing work at 5pm are likely to catch to Swansea (and Neath/Port Talbot and swanline stations) with the 17.04 being a bit too early. I imagine a lot of Bridgend commuters will catch the 17xx Maesteg service which is 3 car.

I noticed today whilst travelling home from work (by car) that what would form the 1750 from Cardiff-Manchester was a 158.  Tracing this back all day today I think this is what would have formed the 0435 from Cardiff-Manchester this morning so im guessing a 158 was available from what ran the weekends diagrams and ran this service today.

[anthony215]

Normally the class 158's tend to be found regulary on Holyhead & Maesteg - Cheltenham services although they do make appearances on the Milford Haven - Manchester service.

I remember about 2 years ago the 23:15 Cardiff - Carmarthen servce was always a class 158 and i dont know why they bother stopping it at Pencoed etc same with the 05:40 Cardff - Milford Haven as you either have another train about 11 minutes after it stopping at those stations or maybe a later maesteg service could be run from Cardiff at 22:40

[Jez]

Do many 158's still go to Maesteg? I thought it was mainly 150's with a few pacers now apart from those that continue from Holyhead (so 158/175's)

I remember travelling on the 2315 a few times and it was a 150 or 158 in the past.

[Hafren]

158s were the norm on the off-peak Holyhead-Maestegs, which then fed them onto other Maesteg/Cheltenham services, but looking at the May timetable those through trains appear to have stopped running, leaving just the morning Chester-Maesteg (was 150/158 but not seen for a while) and the evening 175. This might suggest an increase in the number of 150s going to Maesteg, perhaps to reduce 158 usage during the refurbishment.

[Jez]

Yesterdays 1604 from Cardiff-Pembroke Dock services was formed of a 150 and 153. This would have formed the 15.30 from Manchester Picadilly which before it would have been the 10xx from Carmarthen I think??? I wonder if the delays in the Carmarthen area yesterday morning meant this service was restarted at Cardiff Central (would have been the 11.50 from Cardiff). 

Also yesterday I noticed a pacer was running the Cardiff Bay service

[Hafren]

I'm assuming '1604' means '1904' unless I've missed something special about yesterday  Interesting that they used a 150 and 153 for replacement - 3 car replacement found for a 2 car diagram, but perhaps they were already together for some other service.

Cardiff Bay has had a Pacer since at least Thursday - the 121 must have a problem or be undergoing some heavy maintenance. I wonder what its actual availability is over the year - with a 1-unit fleet the amount of downtime becomes very noticeable.

It seems that, not content with ever-increasing Pacer usage on the Pembroke Dock line on Saturdays, they're now being used on weekdays as well. The 7am(ish) CDF^» (Cardiff - next trains)-PMD has usually been 153+153 over the past year (sometimes 150+153) but whenever I've seen it this week it's been a pair of Pacers! (I suspect it divides at CMN to form the other diagram.) Perhaps it's a high summer plan to minimise the use of single 153s - I don't know what the loadings to Tenby are like on weekdays in the summer holidays.

[Jez]

Yes I did mean 1904 - if only it took 34 Mins from Manchester to Cardiff! Ive been on a 153 from Crewe to Cardiff once and it wasnt a great journey. A 175 is much better!

Is that normally a 2 unit diagram then?

I noticed yesterday a pair of 153's were on platform 2 so I assume this was the 1710 Swanline service which would arrive around 1815. Maybe they are using extra 153's on Swanline and Heart of Wales hence pacers on Pembroke Dock. I noticed a 153 was running one of the valley line services yesterday too.

[Hafren]

Both Pembroke Dock/Manchester workings are usually 2-car 175.

I think you said a 153 was in the valleys a few weeks ago as well. Presumably Coryton/Radyr? Maybe that's done to release the Pacers for Pembroke Dock. Just before the 121 came there was a phase when Cardiff Bay was usually a 153. I noticed 2x153 on what would have been the 1710 SWA^» (Swansea - next trains)-CDF^» (Cardiff - next trains) at some point during the week, which seems odd for a weekday. That diagram must include the early SHR^» (Shrewsbury - next trains)-SWA-CDF service, which tends to vary a lot (150+153 not unknown) as it's a chance to return stock from Shrewsbury to Canton. I'm glad they're running 2-cars on at least some Heart of Wales services now the summer holidays have started; earlier this summer there were still some single 153s, which are fine most of the time, even early summer, but the extra capacity might be useful now the holidays have started. I wonder what the 09.50 SWA-PMD is like as a Pacer now the true peak has begun.

[Jez]

Yes I did see a 153 on the valley lines a few Saturdays ago.  Im not sure which service the 153 was running, I saw it as I was approaching Cardiff Queen Street. Most of the Valley line services appear to be pacers but there are still some sprinters. Is the home depot for the 153/150s and pacers Canton? I know Chester is for the 175s.

Im not sure if the 1710 from Swansea-Cardiff would form the early Shrewsbury-Swansea-Cardiff service as dont other services now run through from Shrewsbury-Cardiff in the new timetable?

Are most Pembroke Dock diagrams pacers now then?

[anthony215]

Normally the 06:42 Cardiff - Swansea - Pembroke Dock service on weekdays is  a class 150 & 153 normally this is split either at Swansea or Carmarthen, Mind you i have been on it when it is formed of 2 class 150's 7 a class 153, on saturdays it is only formed of a  single class 153

Last night however the 23:53 service from Pyle to Hereford which would have been 21:28 from Milford Haven was formed of a class 150 & x3 class 153's

[Jez]

I noticed a train passing last night which had lots of units forming one train - I live near to the railway line. Im guessing it was a way of moving units back to Canton for the start of a new week.

[Hafren]

Thinking about it, the 1710 would now go back to the early SWA^» (Swansea - next trains)-SHR^» (Shrewsbury - next trains), which does Fishguard the night before off a Pembroke diagram, if I've worked it out right.

All the daytime ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company))) diagrams to Pembroke on Saturdays seem have been Pacers for most of the summer, instead of the usual 150/153 mix. As of last week (presumably relating to the start of the summer peak), I've been passing them frequently on the morning CDF^» (Cardiff - next trains)-PMD service (07.50 from Swansea) on weekdays. This is usually 2 sets; I suspect it splits at Carmarthen to form the 9ish CMN-SWA which them becomes the 10.05 SWA-PMD etc. I'd guess the third weekday diagram is still a 15x because it goes onto the Heart of Wales line the next day.

[Jez]

Something "interesting" comes to mind re Ebbw Vale as well...Ebbw Vale services have hour-long turnarounds at Cardiff. I would guess that the arrival and departure times need to be around the same point in the hour (leading to hour-long turnarounds) in order to make things work on the single line. Swanline... also hour-long turnarounds, this time at both ends, in order to provide optimal pathing. Ebbw Vale takes 3 diagrams, Swanline 2. As both routes have hour-long turnarounds at Cardiff, if the Ebbw Vale timetable were shifted about 20 minutes earlier, it would more or less tie in with Swanline. Make a few minor adjustments, and we produce an hourly through service, still with hour-long turnarounds at Swansea for robustness, using the same total of 5 units!
There is, of course, a drawback: 153s are no good for Ebbw Vale, so we'd have to ensure no set swaps at Swansea (by timetable or last minute problem-solving), but we could always just re-swap at Cardiff when that happens. And if we retain the setup on Satudays we'd need 4 cars on all 5 diagrams (i.e. more total diagrams) - unless there's some dividing/splitting at Cardiff, along with some extra shunt moves.

Back to reality...

I think this is a really good idea. I travelled on the Swanline from Neath to Swansea today and its amazing how many people use this service at the smaller stations like Skewen. I think it could benefit from an hourly service and possibly some small changes to the timetable to allow it to become and Ebbw Vale-Swansea hourly service. Seems silly the units on Ebbw Vale and Swanline timetables sitting in Cardiff for nearly an hour each time before they run the return journey.

[Hafren]

It wouldn't surprise me if the Ebbw Vale and Swanline services were intentionally self-contained for performance reasons - Ebbw Vale because of the single line and its status as the new service, and Swanline because of the impact delays have on faster services. (As any user of the HST^▸ (High Speed Train) following the 1738 will know!)

An hourly Swanline service would hopefully help build up demand; two-hourly is not exactly useful for such a built-up area. I think an hourly through service would be useful on weekdays, but perhaps not on Saturdays when more capacity is needed for Ebbw Vale and in the summer on Pembroke etc.

Are Pacers still running frequently to Pembroke? Last time I was commuting there seemed to be 2 Pacerised diagrams even on weekdays, but I haven't really noticed what's been going on since the winter timetable started.

A simplistic look at it suggests that the through servcie would work on weekdays without extra stock... Currently, assumign Pacers are still going to Pembroke, there must be something like 2 Pacers + 1 153 on Pembrokes, 1x 150 and 1x 153 (nominally) on Swanline, 3x 150 on Ebbw Vale, 2x 153 on HoW^‡(resolve) (which rotate with the Swanline 153). If we accept stopping the through HoW/Swanline journeys, running Pacers to Ebbw Vale and running 153s on all the Pembrokes, we could probably use the same units as: 3x 150 & 2x Pacer Swanline-Ebbw Vale and 5x 153 overall on HoW & Pembrokes.

[anthony215]

Hopefully once the 4 class 150's are back from FGW^▸ (First Great Western) then maybe an hourly swanline service can be introduced, meanwhile ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company))) should drop the stop at pontyclun on the 17:10 Swansea - Cardiff swanline service as it regulary delays the 17:28 Swansea - London Paddington service beind it.

As for the Ebbw Vale vale service once the loop at Tondu is sorted out then the services can be extended through to Maesteg, which shouldn't require any extra units on weekdays as the services currently requires 3 class 150's