Plymouth train washing disrupts South West Water supply (BBC News 22/05/11)

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Residents of a Devon street where the water keeps going off have been told it is because nearby trains and tracks are being "washed".

The water supply on Mount Gould Road in Plymouth has been affected for about three weeks.

Homeowner Rosalind Sharman-Ward said she was told about the trains when she complained to South West Water.

The company has apologised and said it was due to meet Network Rail to resolve the problem.

Mrs Sharman-Ward said: "Every now and then you suddenly turn the tap on and there's no water. It varies from five minutes to half-an-hour. It's liveable-with but it's very annoying, this morning my daughter had to go out with no shower."

Mrs Sharman-Ward said that when she phoned South West Water to complain about the poor service she was told the train maintenance work was "draining all the mains in the area" for a few hours a day.

The nearest train depot to Mount Gould Road, which is on a hill, is Laira depot, about a mile away.

South West Water said: "We would like to apologise to any customers experiencing temporary loss of water supply in the Mount Gould Road area of Plymouth due to maintenance work being carried out by Network Rail. We are meeting with representatives from Network Rail on Monday to resolve the problem."

[devon_metro]

Sounds like business as usual to most South West Water customers... 

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

thats quite far from the railway tho isn't it? i had a walk around last time i was in the area

[JayMac]

What I'm particularly interested in is the mention of 'tracks' being washed. 

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

good old google maps... i've had a proper look at this today for those who do not know the layout of tracks in plymouth and are interested, its worth knowing that on normal view only the main lines are shown but if you switch to satellite or street view all the lines are shown

[trainbuff]

This must be South West Waters fault. The wash plant has been in operation for years, if not Decades but problems have only developed in the last 3 weeks?

Sounds like SWW playing the blame game here instead of sorting the problem, particularly as the plant is used at night!!!

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

or just guessing without investigating 

[Chris from Nailsea]

Welcome to the Coffee Shop forum, trainbuff! 

[smokey]

This must be South West Waters fault. The wash plant has been in operation for years, if not Decades but problems have only developed in the last 3 weeks?

Sounds like SWW playing the blame game here instead of sorting the problem, particularly as the plant is used at night!!!

The Laira Wash plant has been there at Least 25 years,

I remember in late 1980's Laira sent a rake of MK^▸ (Milton Keynes) II's through the wash plant, ok it happened all the time, but the Loco, a class 50 had been painted only the day before and newly painted stock shouldn't go through wash plants.

However timing is so important.
Due to a fault the Exmover Spray was working but the water rinse WASN'T.
Two or three days later the Class 50 was back in for REPAINTING as it looked awful, all the new paint had lifted.

Seem to remember the MK II's were gleaming.