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Post by spsmiler on Feb 15, 2024 17:03:37 GMT
Probably passenger demand would mean that a fleet of two car S Stock trains will suffice.
But if they had some TramTrains (as per Sheffield) then they could use these to extend the service to Watford Junction - via the alignment originally planned by the Metropolitan Railway and once in Watford as street trams for the rest of the journey.
Simon - looking forward to more cloud cuckoo land transport pre-election promises!
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Post by spsmiler on Feb 14, 2024 22:19:51 GMT
The issue was planned engineering work on the fast lines overnight. Your train was scheduled to go via the fast lines just before they closed, however the late departure meant the work had already started by the time you got to Milton Keynes and therefore the slow lines were the only available option. Thank you for the reply - this is just about the only reason that I could think of that would make sense - I had been expecting the train to go 'as fast as line speed allows' to try to reduce the delay below 30 minutes and reduce the 'delay repay' refunds. For the record, I bought my travel tickets during the 'Great Rail Sale' period so the 100% refund will be just £30.50. This was even less than my ticket would have cost had I used my Senior Railcard. I was poised to complain to the Railway Ombudsman, but will not now do so.
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Post by spsmiler on Feb 14, 2024 13:44:50 GMT
Yesterday I had my Awayday to Glasgow - 5am start, the 7:30 train from Euston and the 17:30 back, which alas left Glasgow about 30 minutes late, arrived at Milton Keynes 33 minutes late and then (because it had missed its timetable slot) was put on the slow tracks* so that it was behind a stopping train and finally reached Euston a whopping 63 minutes late!
*) My comments on this additional delay are in the 'incandescent with anger' category.
Anyway, I saw and travelled on the 1980s Metro Cammell trains (which looked a bit like a twin door leaf variant of the 1983ts) and the brand new Stadler trains, plus at the Riverside Museum I saw two generations of older Subway trains. This museum is about 15 minutes walk from Kelvinhall Subway station
Below are some tweets with photos
========================
To travel on the Subway I bought a ride-at-will day ticket. I discovered that this is an ITSO compliant smartcard. I put it in the same wallet as my London Oyster card as well as my other travel tickets for the Avanti train between London and Glasgow.
In Glasgow the ticket gate smart card readers ignored my Oyster card.
At Euston the ticket gate gave a 'card clash' error message.
I also tweeted about this ticket as now that I have proof positive that such is possible I'd much rather be able to buy similar for use in London - rather than use PAYG. Note that I did not see any facility for magnetic stripe tickets on the Subway
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Post by spsmiler on Feb 11, 2024 19:07:57 GMT
I missed the 1896 trains - was still a teenage schoolboy when they were withdrawn - but I do vaguely recall seeing something on the TV news about the Subway closing for rebuilding when it happened.
Anyway, I must be mad but for the week coming I'm booked on a 7:30 am red eye train from Euston to Glasgow and hope to see the preserved train in a museum as well as the new and 'soon retiring' fleets.
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Post by spsmiler on Feb 11, 2024 19:01:16 GMT
A short video where the trains can be seen and heard in action
Much went wrong when filming this - the train that came first was running early and I was looking in the opposite direction in anticipation of the other train. I had rainwater on my camera lens and some of the footage is somewhat unsteady. Also, the video editing software on my computer kept crashing when I was editing this footage
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Post by spsmiler on Feb 9, 2024 0:19:13 GMT
Its a branch line in as far as the Central line splits into two branches at Leytonstone - which are of equal importance
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Post by spsmiler on Feb 7, 2024 22:51:44 GMT
Photos published in Tweets
I checked Real Time Trains, the journey 230 008 was making was its last for the day. At Bidston it went 'ecs' to the depot. So arriving 7 minutes early was not a problem to the passengers, its just that I had not expected it and was caught unawares. apologies for the wet blob in the photo.
The first tweet has still images from video
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Post by spsmiler on Feb 7, 2024 22:46:59 GMT
Well I had totally forgotten about them!
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Post by spsmiler on Feb 7, 2024 22:41:40 GMT
Even thinking of rebuilding Barking Riverside station is absurd - the station is what, two years old? Surely it should have been built 'future proof', by which I mean with an extension over the Thames in mind.
Maybe it will be better to just extend the Hammersmith & City and leave the Overground station 'as-is'? (Also instead of extending the DLR, which also has lower capacity as well as less potential for a truly rapid-transit' fast service).
This would also make a more frequent service easier to arrange!
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Post by spsmiler on Feb 7, 2024 22:32:43 GMT
A few days ago I was at Stratford at about 4pm and eastbound trains were coming through so frequently that they were stopping on the up ramp before entering the station (possibly also queuing further back) and departing with a white signal
20+ minute gaps during the day for central London is absurd.
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Post by spsmiler on Feb 7, 2024 22:25:02 GMT
Even though there is a train shortage on the Central line the uneven nature of the gaps can see trains as close as a few minutes apart (in the same direction)
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Post by spsmiler on Feb 6, 2024 23:17:30 GMT
Thanks.
But I have never even seen images by other people showing these trains in this livery
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Post by spsmiler on Feb 6, 2024 23:13:28 GMT
Bridges were built on that route to replace level crossings - as someone else said, especially in the rush hour the crossing would be closed more than open.
Especially because crossing are closed for far longer than is needed for a train to actually traverse it. It is seen as acceptable to delay road users (including bus passengers) for 2 - 3 minutes before the train actually arrives at the crossing. Reduce this time to something more realistic and for quieter branch lines a crossing would be more acceptable to road users ... but that cannot apply here as the Epping branch is a busy branch line.
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Post by spsmiler on Feb 6, 2024 20:21:57 GMT
I had a rail only day saver
It was very difficult at Bidston. Not just with the rain on my camera lens but two 230 trains at the same time - I did not know which way to point my camera as the island platform was too wide for decent views of them both at the same time!
Then the guard of the train enterimg service said I had 2 minutes if I wanted to look inside .... I took up her offer!
Afterwards i was just about able to get to see blue grey 507001 on the Northern line to Southport.
Photos to vome, most likely Wednesday as I am still on the Avanti train to Euston and its running late after a long station stop at Crewe
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Post by spsmiler on Feb 5, 2024 23:42:02 GMT
Seen by chance at Shepherds Bush WLL and then again at Hackney Wick.
I was not able to film the entire train and do not know what to call this - Diversity Design? Inclusivity Design?
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Post by spsmiler on Feb 5, 2024 23:34:32 GMT
Shock horror, I got to ride in one - my first 710/3
(For many months, even several years, I've travelled on 710/1 and 710/2 trains on other Overground routes but today was my first 5 car North London Line 710)
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Post by spsmiler on Feb 5, 2024 23:28:12 GMT
Oh good, as I'll be visiting Bidston tomorrow (6th Feb) and hope to see at least one there. Not sure if I'll get a ride in it however, as my Merseyrail ticket wont be valid.
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Post by spsmiler on Feb 5, 2024 23:23:42 GMT
I might yet make a YouTube film about the closed bridge - if I do it will suggest that if the bridge is a danger to road traffic then what about rail traffic?
Will a lump of concrete have to fall onto the tracks (or even a moving train in passenger service) to get this bridge either repaired or replaced?
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Post by spsmiler on Feb 5, 2024 23:18:44 GMT
This tweet includes the Overgound extension from Barking Riverside - something that I was told would be impossible as the station is too low for a bridge over the Thames and too high for a tunnel below the Thames.
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Post by spsmiler on Jan 31, 2024 10:46:35 GMT
In the meantime, as we know, things have not been going well for the 230's in Wales. However when looking at Bidston station on Real Time Trains yesterday I saw information suggesting that at least two 230's had been running (that was Tuesday 30th Jan 2024)
This is very relevant for me as I've booked a day trip to Merseyside next week and whilst there am planning to visit Bidston in the hope of at least seeing a 230.
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Post by spsmiler on Jan 29, 2024 21:53:03 GMT
Today I used a station that I've never used before - Stockwell. Its not a part of London I have any need to visit but I was curious because the station was more or less completely rebuilt for the Victoria line and I was wondering if any of the older 1920s tiling still remained. So whilst passing through I stopped to explore.
Whilst on the escalator up from southbound platforms to the ticket hall I experienced something that is in the 'a blast from the past' category.
A slow handrail (ie: the handrail was moving more slowly than the steps). Several times I had to briefly let go.
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Post by spsmiler on Jan 29, 2024 21:45:12 GMT
I noticed today on north Overground trains that they were still saying that 'due to a short platform' the doors in the rear car will not open and passengers should move forwards inside the train - even though the doors did open!
This was at Surrey Quays and Canada Water.
To be fair however, at Canada Water only one pair of doors stayed closed, and the initial message saying that the doors would not open was more generic than about any particular set of doors.
Maybe I'm 'late to the party' in noticing this, however I'm normally at the front of the train - where all doors do open!
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Post by spsmiler on Jan 25, 2024 11:04:26 GMT
The new version is now live at Woolwich. Is it at all doorways or does it alternate with the older / original version?
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Post by spsmiler on Jan 24, 2024 21:39:43 GMT
Thanks - so hopefully this will be used more often - but not everywhere / instead of the scrolling line version.
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Post by spsmiler on Jan 24, 2024 21:36:37 GMT
Are these trains worse for this than the 378's - and other sliding door trains? (eg: 315s)??
Could the plug type doors be a factor? If so, is the Elizabeth line similarly afflicted?
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Post by spsmiler on Jan 24, 2024 21:31:27 GMT
Ofcourse hindsight is a great thing but I do really think with some structured planning and adequate funding, TFL really should have considered replacing the 72ts, the 73ts and the 92ts at the same time with one single order, benefiting from the "bulk" saving principle. I dont know how long previous central line fleets have lasted but I think (especially given todays intense service demands compared to yesteryear), that 30-35 years should be the expected lifespan of a central line fleet given how intensely worked any fleet would be on the line. Bare in mind that the 62ts before that (which did not need to meet as much of an intense service level), were replaced in after 33 years. I dont know what is to come but at some point both this fleet and the bakerloo will need to be replaced, and ultimately, kicking the can down the road will only result in more money having to be spent for both the short run and long run. I think that they might well have wanted to do this ... one word explains why it has proven impossible money (ie: lack of funding)
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Post by spsmiler on Jan 23, 2024 12:16:38 GMT
Seen a few days ago - large stickers partially blocking the view through the glass on some Class 710 passenger door windows (only some - not all windows). This photo was taken at Leytonstone High Road. The message on the stickers is Take Care Closing Doors. Beyond what is seen in my tweet and I say in this message I have no idea whether these are experimental, will also appear on Class 378 train doors, etc. x.com/citytransportin/status/1745151557568491560x.com /citytransportin/status/1745151557568491560?s=20
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Post by spsmiler on Jan 23, 2024 12:07:49 GMT
The trial was supposed to have ended in October - my photo dates from this month, January 2024.
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Post by spsmiler on Jan 22, 2024 15:03:07 GMT
As we know, the passenger information screens (PIS) are above the platform doors.
Last Thursday I saw some of the displays showing information in a format that I've not seen before:
Alternate PIS displays showed this format and information in the more traditional format.
PS: Message edited in February 2024 because I've found a way to get Tweets to parse so that they are visible
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Post by spsmiler on Jan 22, 2024 14:56:27 GMT
I wonder ... is that a staff training train, a Parliamentary train or a service to prove that some sections of track are used by LO as otherwise they might cease being available for LO services?
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