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

[whole diary]

[phile]

150 returned from Northern mid November on receipt of cascaded 150/1s from LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise)..    You cannot run additional services without funding from whatever source.   On paper, ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company))) have a surplus of 150s but these were identified for other work which I would prefer not to comment on as there has been a political, or otherwise another reason why this has not taken place.   There has been a deafening silence both from ATW and WAG^» (Welsh Assembly Government - about) on this matter for some 2/3 years now.

[Jez]

Quite a few trains delayed between Port Talbot and Neath/Swansea today due apparently to a cable theft in the Neath/Swansea area.

Ive seen quite a few 158s on the Carmarthen-Manchesters this week - at least 1 diagram per day. Are they short of 175s?

[anthony215]

They are missing that 175 that was damaged in the collision with the lorry at Whitland a month or so ago. From what I have heard although this is only talk from staff  it is likely to be out of service for at least a few months till they get a new cab built and fitted.

I deally when the WAG^» (Welsh Assembly Government - about) services go over to class 67's & MK3 carriages in March/April that the mk2 rakes could be used to provide extra capacity or to release some dmu's to strengthen other services although as many have said I doubt it will happen.

[Jez]

Yes I guess one 175 being out of use is having a big impact.  I noticed todays Swanline/HOW services appeared to be mainly 150s whilst nearly all of them during the week have been 153s.

What is being used on Pembroke Dock at the moment - both weekday and Saturdays?

[anthony215]

Havent been out of late due to lack of funds and work etc but I wouldn't be too surprised if ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company))) have been using some of the class 142/143 pacer units on the Pembroke dock route.

[Jez]

I dont get to see Pembroke Dock very often due to them mainly starting from Swansea. I get an idea whats on HOW as most of them interact with Swanline at some point.

I do know however that a 175 was used on one Pembroke Dock diagram a few Saturdays ago but this was I guess because of the engineering works between Port Talbot and Bridgend meaning nothing was running to normal diagrams west of Bridgend.

[anthony215]

I noticed 1 of the refurbished class 158's working  on 1 of the swanline services today.

It should have been working the 15:14 Cardiff - Fishguard Harbour service but it was running late an still hadnt arrived into Swansea when I departed on the 16:28 Swansea - London Paddington service.

I like how they have refurbished most of Swansea station , looks completly different since I Last used it back in June 2011


Anyway according to the latest issue of Todays railways UK^▸ (United Kingdom) march 12th has been stated  at the opening date for Fishguard & Goodwick station.

[phile]

Yes I guess one 175 being out of use is having a big impact.  I noticed todays Swanline/HOW services appeared to be mainly 150s whilst nearly all of them during the week have been 153s.

What is being used on Pembroke Dock at the moment - both weekday and Saturdays?

Why should there not have been 153s on the Pembroke Docks - no problem with them.   150s appear on HOW subsituting quite frequently and there are diagrams for Sundays.

[Jez]

No problem at all with 153s on Pembroke Dock at all, im just enquiring what IS used on there as I dont get to see them very much, weekdays or Saturdays.

I notice one of todays Swanlines - the one that forms the Early Shrewsbury-Swansea-Cardiff was a 150 and 153 making up a car car.

Also there is a 150 on at least one of the Manchester-Carmarthen/Milfords today, certainly the one that is usually a 158 on Saturdays, the 150s have been busy recently!

[anthony215]

There does seem to be a class 150 working regulary on 1 of the Milford Haven - Manchester services now most likely until that class 175 is repaired and back in service.

I have noticed a class 158 appearing on the swanlines regulary now although they do mostly appear on the Maesteg - Cheltenham route.


I do hope come 2015 the WG will try and get more units from scotrail when they are available to provide a much needed boost to capacity. I am sure some 3 carriage class 170's would be welcomed on the Milford Haven/North Wales - Manchester routes in place of a  2 carriage class 175.

[phile]

158s should not appear on the Swanlines except in the case of disruption.   The daytime diagrams interface with the Cardiff Valleys or Heart of Wales where they cannot work.   3/4 of Maesteg to Cheltenhams are booked for 158s so obviously their availability is better now.

[Jez]

Ive noticed a 158 regularly on Manchester-Milford (at least 1 per day during the wee and Saturdays) but until today not seen many 150s on that route. There were 2 today - the diagrams that work the 1455 and 1555 from Swansea-Manchester.

Even tho 75% of Maestegs are booked 158 I still see a lot of 150s on that route.

[Jez]

Seemed to be a few problems at Cardiff this afternoon. The pacer that was on the daytime swanline that ends up going to Abergavenny arrived into platform 1 ready to depart to Abergavenny. I was sat on the Cardiff-Maesteg train at the end of platform 3a which was a 150 and quite cosy with a few people standing. The guard comes onto the train and informed everyone they needed to get off as this unit was required for another service and there would be another train to form the Maesteg at the end of platform 4 at 4.30pm. So off everyone got and it turned out the pacer had failed and the 150 meant for Maesteg was now going to Abergavenny and departing off Platform 3b.   As Platform 1 was now unavailable due to the failed pacer and platform 2 already had the 1630 Portsmouth train sat on it the London Paddington train had to come in on Platform 4 (baring in mind Maesteg passengers were also waiting on Platform 4 and then London passengers all had to move from platform 1 to 4.  The London train was sent after the Portsmouth train so a delay to this service was caused because of this pacer.

When the 4 car Ebbw Vale train came in we were informed the front 2 cars were being detached and used for the delayed Maesteg service. The rear 2 cars were then kept for the 1738 Swanline and then I assume an hour later the next Ebbw Vale 4 car would be turned around straight away and sent back out to keep a 4 car on that service whilst swanline made do with 2 cars.  I ended up on the 1648 Swansea train as there would be more room than the delayed Maesteg and by then it was around 20 mins later anyway.

At Cardiff the manual announcements were very good, if a little louder than they needed to be!

Today I noticed the majority of ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company))) diagrams (that i saw) were back to normal after a very mixed few weeks.  The only sprinter i saw on Manchesters was the 1555 off Cardiff which is usually the case on a Saturday. Everything else seemed to be 175 as usual.

[anthony215]

ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company))) do seem to be really stretching the class 175 fleet lately although on a saturday I suppose they have the 175 which normally does WAG2 on weekdays

[Jez]

ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company))) do seem to be really stretching the class 175 fleet lately although on a saturday I suppose they have the 175 which normally does WAG2 on weekdays

Yes plus they have 1x 158 on a Saturday as well. Not sure if the 1321 Holyhead is a 150, 158 or 175 on Saturday?