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Post by spsmiler on Jul 26, 2021 22:58:30 GMT
The Beeb's web site has a video that starts with Pudding Mill Lane DLR, with what I'm guessing is at least 200mm of water across the street level (could be wrong, based on my guess at the Oystercard machine). Oh my goodness, even the inside of a bus was inundated! I also noted the A406 in the Woodford area / approximately below the Central line. What a crazy day it was. Thanks for that link. edit to add... Whilst we do not normally include buses in our discussions here I hope that this tweet of mine will be excused as it is directly relevant to the topic of the floods on Sunday 25/7/21 People being rescued from a bus by a dingy (and by being carried)
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Post by spsmiler on Jul 26, 2021 10:59:48 GMT
We had a terrific monsoon-style downpour yesterday, it came in two tranches, with much lightening and thunder too.
With reference to the problems in the Woodfoord area, road traffic reports said that parts of the North Circular Road (which the Central line crosses in this area) were closed, plus the A1400 Woodford Avenue.
I do not know if Redbridge station was affected but the A406 and A12 directly above it were also inundated and had to be partially closed - a very dramatic move!
Newbury Park station does not normally flood but when there is heavy rain the passageways below the A12 Eastern Avenue which allow people from the southern side of the road to reach the station sometimes become inundated.
The road outside my house was flooded, something like 6 inches deep. Some of my neighbours were beyond panic stricken because water was lapping on their front door steps and when cars passed by the wash they created saw water entering their houses.
But it was not all bad ... I did not need to water the garden!
London's problems pale in to significance compared to what happened in one Chinese city where several metro trains were stranded in flooded tunnels and there is footage online showing people calmly awaiting rescue whilst standing in water chest high. These were the lucky ones, because they were indeed rescued - led to safety on emergency walkways alongside the tracks. Also seen (through the train windows) was water rushing past the train and water cascading down stairways - viewed from what were probably inside ticket halls just below ground. This location had a year's worth of rain in mere days.
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Post by spsmiler on Jul 26, 2021 10:22:04 GMT
Was that concrete station name with seat and two adverts scratchbuilt? I'd like something similar for what I am doing - but I want the version with lights (preferably working - an smd LED should make this possible)
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Post by spsmiler on Jul 23, 2021 20:01:32 GMT
Close-up of the front-left of a 1967 Tube Stock train, showing what I believe to be the receiver unit which detected the codes (from the running rail) used by he ATO system. The rail nearest the camera is the live power rail, it is rusty because this train was on a little-used depôt track. I no longer remember exactly where / when this was filmed ... 1983 Acton Depot open day, perhaps.
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Post by spsmiler on Jul 17, 2021 20:27:57 GMT
I saw this mentioned on the TV news today, but I'm not sure if it was BBC or Sky News.
Uxbridge station, with firmly closed Bostwick gates.
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Post by spsmiler on Jul 17, 2021 10:57:22 GMT
Every day these people publish a photo of a railway signal, sometimes they are very obscure images, sometimes not. A few days ago their image was a LU 'coffee pot'
Today (17th July 2021) it includes a Class 484 train...
(Tweet with image above)
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Post by spsmiler on Jul 17, 2021 9:22:23 GMT
Or the train may be on the mark but not picking up the signal from the beacon for some reason, also flashes on when the train is opened up, just until it realises where it is. hmm... the more the technology, the more there is to go wrong!
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Post by spsmiler on Jul 17, 2021 9:19:35 GMT
Any moves for the train planned? Trying to get a vid of it We won't be told here - I think its easy enough to guess that the train movements will be planned in advance but its a rule here at DD that the times are not disclosed. One reason being because they don't want loads of people with cameras etc lining the route at a time when extra staff are not on hand to supervise the people. I have, in the past, attended special trains running on the LU system but the timetable information has always come from elsewhere. Another issue is that special non-passenger workings don't always run to time - sometimes they are early, other times late. A few minutes out is a 'nothing' because if one has prepared for that eventuality then they will have arrived early / come prepared. But there have been times when the special train is hours 'different' to the timetable, and as ordinary people do not have access to the LU train movements info we end up wasting a lot of time. An added complication arises for people using Oystercards in 'pay as you go' mode - journey time limits can cause the ticketing system to think that you had not touched in or out and charge you a maximum fare. Prepaid Travelcards on Oyster solve this but in London these are not available in one-day format (you must buy a 'weekly'). Paper Travelcards also solve this but they are expensive - priced to encourage people to use Oyster PAYG instead.
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Post by spsmiler on Jul 17, 2021 8:57:22 GMT
The existing trains only just fit in sidings at Elephant & Castle. Run 5 car 1996ts trains, more frequently, with some even terminating at Willesden Junction bay* platform? Alas, the signalling system introduced by BR in the mid 1980's prevents this. *This is long enough for 5 car LO trains and I feel pretty sure that a 5 car Bakerloo line train formed of 1996ts would be shorter than a five car 378 / 710. The bigger issue might be restoring the 4th rail (if its not there anymore) and finding when the bay platform is not being used by LO trains which are not in passenger service. The advantage of the bay platform is that it is located between the main running lines so that terminating trains will not block through services. btw, I understand the idea that the Bakerloo should wait for Lewisham before it gets brand new trains, but still feel that it should have new trains 'now' and that if / when Lewisham comes then if need be these could be cascaded elsewhere (Piccadilly fleet enhancement - in conjunction with new signalling?)
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Post by spsmiler on Jul 13, 2021 21:10:48 GMT
I feel sure I know the answer but thought I should ask anyway... Are there any 'tube train' stations which are partly in tunnel and partly in open air? I'm thinking of a tube train version of Bow Road, which is a 'subsurface train' station.
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Post by spsmiler on Jul 13, 2021 21:00:52 GMT
OK, thanks. Of course it makes sense to build the houses near the railway and the increase in passenger journeys will hopefully have a very positive effect on the balance sheet.
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Post by spsmiler on Jul 13, 2021 10:06:54 GMT
Can these still be afforded?
Whilst its one thing to replace old existing trains, will passenger numbers justify also increasing the overall fleet?
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Post by spsmiler on Jul 13, 2021 10:04:07 GMT
ah, thats a shame, as some people were hoping for a Paddington - Abbey Wood 'Christmas Gift'
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Post by spsmiler on Jul 11, 2021 22:24:59 GMT
yes but what a time - just when far more people than usual will be travelling! As I understand it Chiltern Railways have also got a reduced service today, although this is affecting people from destinations on the route to Birmingham Snow Hill - and not from London. Chiltern services are deliberately reduced north of Banbury and via Amersham to allow for additional trains and stock to serve Wembley. Thanks Jack, the information I saw only talked about stations that would not be served, with warnings to passengers wanting to go to the football that they will not be able to get home ... instead they should drive to a different station. There was nothing about enhanced services to other stations.
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Post by spsmiler on Jul 11, 2021 21:01:58 GMT
yes but what a time - just when far more people than usual will be travelling!
As I understand it Chiltern Railways have also got a reduced service today, although this is affecting people from destinations on the route to Birmingham Snow Hill - and not from London.
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Post by spsmiler on Jul 10, 2021 10:27:54 GMT
With trial operations now underway, various details have now made their way into the public domain with the conformation of a 6 tph peak and 5 tph off-peak service on the NLE when it first opens rising to a 12 tph peak and 10 tph off-peak service after in 2022 (presumably after the Bank Branch blockade). Mill Hill East is also confirmed as getting the remainder of it's direct service restored. TFL Press Release hereDoes this mean that Battersea trains will go to Mill Hill East? Sort of a self-contained service?
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Post by spsmiler on Jul 10, 2021 10:06:41 GMT
Any other extensions planned? Perhaps more pertinent... has anyone found the magical money tree that will find all this? (I'm willing to throw 2/- or even as much as 2/6 into the begging bowl but can't fund it all by myself!)
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Post by spsmiler on Jul 5, 2021 9:32:09 GMT
Are any of these computer controlled systems any cheaper to run than a man in the signal box with levers, or the programme machine with relays? Are they cheaper to install? Are they more reliable or safer? ISTR when the Vic was opened reading that it required more ATOs than guards for one-man operation. The ARO's pay was higher than that of a guard. Axle counters in open sections are susceptible to "things on lien line" such as the local yobbos pressing them up and down to give false readings (several cases in Lincolnshire on the main line). Can computers deal with things a driver might have to contend with such as someone who chucks a load of barbed wire on the track that gets tangled round shoe gear? Remove dead animals stuck between juice rails and running rails causing a dead short on the 750volt side? Real life situations that I had to deal with as a BR driver. Absolutely issues that primarily apply to open air sections of railway. Things like fallen trees, supermarket trolleys and even bed mattresses could be added to that list. Then there are human trespassers. Perhaps full unattended automation should be reserved for tunnels and (perhaps) fully new-build services. Such as in cities like Lille France and Vancouver Canada. Maybe when they get their new trains the underground sections of the Central, Piccadilly and Bakerloo lines could be converted to full automation, but with staff at the front of the trains on surface sections? Of course it will be expensive - for instance: every station served by driverless trains would need platform doors (or half-height gates). This is something that has been done on the Paris Metro, so the concept is already known. Individual line characteristics and sheer practicality suggests that perhaps Southgate station would be excluded from automation? Of course, if our beloved decision makers are *that* keen for a London Underground line which includes surface sections of railway to be 'driverless' then I think more people would agree to it if it was a brand new Underground line where the surface sections could be designed from the outset to be suitable for fully automated trains. Although not on-topic for this thread I feel sure that there are paper crayonista plans for a brand new service that links Brent Cross with west London.
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Post by spsmiler on Jul 3, 2021 17:26:54 GMT
Trains from the Bayswater direction sometimes queue to enter Edgware Road, when this happens it would seem better if there was the option to reverse at the station before - Paddington - which for many passengers IS their destination. It would also reduce overcrowding caused by waiting passengers.
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Post by spsmiler on Jul 3, 2021 17:17:34 GMT
I read about this somewhere else.
It is disappointing to hear but it is not known whether it was an engine or a battery fire. Obviously not having been there at the time I do not know what actually happened and why ... but what I do know is that whilst both diesel and battery buses have been known to catch fire it is very rare and has not become a cause for any alarm. Certainly ever more battery buses are entering service on our streets, and this would not be happening if the various authorities thought that they pose a safety hazard.
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Post by spsmiler on Jul 2, 2021 16:58:25 GMT
Surely if the trains used end door cutout or if the end passenger doors were a little further in along the length of the train then more of the back of the train could be in the tunnel, allowing the cab to still be in the station when calling at stations.
I'm not sure which but either Merseyrail or the Tyne & Wear Metro are adopting the second of my options to allow longer trains to be used.
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Post by spsmiler on Jul 2, 2021 11:32:21 GMT
Not a possibility unique to axle counters either. I seem to recall an incident at King's Cross main line some years ago where the track circuit had at least 3 ends through pointwork and a rail was left out in error but the track circuit transmitter and receiver ends were still present and the missing rail went undetected until an alert train driver noticed it and stopped in time to prevent a derailment. wow, just wow ... oh the possibilities, even at low speed
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Post by spsmiler on Jun 28, 2021 22:06:31 GMT
Upminster and Barking drivers do not go beyond HSK. This goes back to C stock days. yes but why would they? ... as history states that this is Metropolitan territory! I suppose that this also means that in the days when the District operated some of the Circle line trains (on Sundays) these were not crewed by Upminster or Barking staff.
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Post by spsmiler on Jun 28, 2021 22:03:16 GMT
I think 4tph is seen as the minimum needed to offer an easily understood 'turn up and go' service that does not benefit from checking train times on a timetable.
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Post by spsmiler on Jun 28, 2021 21:54:20 GMT
A tweet showing the 4TC in action
btw, as a reply to that tweet I asked the question quoted below ... the reply was in the affirmative, which quite possibly is what we see occurring in the photo!
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Post by spsmiler on Jun 22, 2021 18:35:44 GMT
Which platform did it go into?
Platform 1 (next to the District line platform) or platform 7/8?
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Post by spsmiler on Jun 21, 2021 21:41:44 GMT
Brunel Line, etc, etc, still indentifies NONE of : train direction stopping pattern short workings Route codes B2, etc also do not. The 4 letter Paris RER system (after the line designations A B etc) do all of this. The North London Lines route codes did reference short running plus fast trains (headcode began with A) and non passenger workings (C). Also, trains between Broad Street and the Watford line that were routed via Primrose Hill had a different headcode to those that went via Hampstead Heath. In days past through trains from Broad Street went to Richmond, Watford Junction and Croxley Green, plus there were short workings to Willesden Junction, Harrow & Wealdstone and Bushey & Oxhey. So the service was much more variable than today with more through 'one seat' journey possibilities. Until circa 1952 the North London Lines electric trains also served a branch to Rickmansworth (in competition with the Metropolitan / Great Central [etc] Railways service). However, whilst Bakerloo line trains also sometime ran short workings they only served Watford Junction (not Croxley Green as a passenger destination) and did not carry headcodes. This thread here at DD includes all these codes and how they changed over the years (scroll down)... districtdavesforum.co.uk/thread/28099/class-501-set-numbersAs for stopping pattern, I recall using the local electric service into Liverpool Street in the rush hours in the 1980's when there were many trains that skip stopped stations (often several stations) and despite the often complex nature of the service pattern we all managed very well - even though the trains did not show route or stopping pattern headcodes.
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Post by spsmiler on Jun 21, 2021 19:42:30 GMT
re: the Vivarail train carrying show visitors at Rail Live last week, I think this tweet will be of interest - external and internal views of the train in action (you may wish to look at the doors to accept that the inside really is a former D Stock train!)
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Post by spsmiler on Jun 20, 2021 12:23:05 GMT
As previously stated, the benefit of a diversion is in case of unforeseen issues affecting the ECTS that temporarily closes the line to all trains.
Faster acceleration combined with higher speed capability are useful when trains are running late, even if not used as a part of the daily timetable. Whilst the closely spaced stations mean that the benefits will not be significant if only applied to the tunnelled route but if part of a route / system-wide speed uplift then (to parody an advertising slogan) 'every little bit helps'!
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Post by spsmiler on Jun 20, 2021 11:15:01 GMT
I did not realise there were any through trains to Ongar, always thought it was a branch service. I have only once saw a 62 stock show Ongar at Snaresbrook, however I do not think it went there and may be set wrong. I think that in the days when the service only operated at rush hours there were regular start / end of peak hour service journeys that ran as far as Loughton.
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