|
Post by silenthunter on Jan 28, 2017 22:35:31 GMT
Is it just me or do you think that Crossrail 0.5 should have had a better name than TfL Rail? It doesn't roll off the tongue and it sounds a bit strange...
|
|
|
Post by silenthunter on Jan 28, 2017 22:33:42 GMT
Wouldn't just be easier to recreate the BR era line and run a DMU on it? Anyone from that area going to London would go to Watford Junction anyway... The costs would still be considerable and you would be making a loss making line, any line with a commuting base at both ends has a chance to make money. A big chunk of the passenger base for the link will be travelling north from Harrow on the hill and all stations north. If you lived in Northwood and had a choice for a shopping trip to Harrow or Watford which would you chose. On a different tack I wonder if INTU are contributing to this scheme and if not why not? Not knowing that area, I wouldn't be able to answer that...
|
|
|
Post by silenthunter on Jan 27, 2017 22:03:16 GMT
Wouldn't just be easier to recreate the BR era line and run a DMU on it? Anyone from that area going to London would go to Watford Junction anyway...
|
|
|
Post by silenthunter on Dec 28, 2016 20:50:49 GMT
The Redbridge incident was only a test drill to get a core sample. Very fortunately for the driver of the train that hit it, it missed him on its way to getting embedded in the bulkhead. A much bigger auger penetrated the NCL tunnel near Old Street a few years ago. It later transpired that the test bores had not found the tunnel, and over a dozen piles were planned to be put right through where it ran. Fortunately the auger broke drilling the first one, and the driver of a passing train was alerted by the mysterious pile of mud that had suddenly appeared. It seems that none of the council planning department, architect, surveyor, or anyone else involved in the project even knew the line was there. (There are, of course, "no tube lines in Hackney") Technically, the NCL is a full size line; hence why you can fit 313s down there. If you've not used it at all, it's worth checking out - with all the NSE tiling about, it's like going back to the 1990s.
|
|
|
Post by silenthunter on Dec 25, 2016 22:31:30 GMT
Oh yes...the leather straps that held the windows. Happy days. GWR coaches had those as well. Awkward things.
|
|
|
Post by silenthunter on Dec 25, 2016 22:29:25 GMT
The Mk3 sleepers I've been on all have two toilets, one marked ladies the other gents - though I suspect they are identical. Some have been converted to be accessible when adjacent to the accessible berth. My misremembering - it is two toilets. Mind you, it is effectively only one as a guy can't exactly use the ladies. Mark 5s are due to have ensuite toilets for First Class.
|
|
|
Post by silenthunter on Dec 24, 2016 20:09:23 GMT
TJW, the point about sleeping cars brings to mind the fact as I remember it (and I may be wrong) the lavatories in 2nd class twin berth were at the ends of the cars only, but there was a kind of chute in each cabin, for liquid waste only (marked "No solid waste down here please" or some such). Perhaps someone can refresh my memory!? And was a gazunder provided by BR? The Mark 3 sleepers still have one lavatory at the end only, but that's retention.
|
|
|
Post by silenthunter on Dec 22, 2016 16:43:14 GMT
This was slap bang in the centre of the sleepers on a track used by through loco-hauled expresses.
|
|
|
Post by silenthunter on Dec 22, 2016 13:49:51 GMT
Am I missing something in accepted railway jargon here. As a passenger I would take "to" and "calling at" as synonyms. "To" would the final destination, "calling at" is the stops along the way. We were pointing out that most Greater Anglia trains (although not TfL Rail) don't call at Romford; they pass the station at speed on Platforms 2 or 3.
|
|
|
Post by silenthunter on Dec 22, 2016 13:42:43 GMT
Recommended - the loo on a Turkish steam hauled branch line from Izmir to Buja c1970 - loo available as a simple hole in the corner of the luggage van. There's a Midnight Express joke here somewhere.
|
|
|
Post by silenthunter on Dec 22, 2016 12:41:11 GMT
I know, Crusty. Very few do, hence the rather cryptic notices at Shenfield and Stratford which read Romford? All trains on the GEML go through Romford, though! Often at 90 miles per hour...
|
|
|
Post by silenthunter on Dec 22, 2016 10:59:10 GMT
There was a goods yard there afterwards, but most of it got turned into housing in the 2000s.
|
|
|
Post by silenthunter on Dec 22, 2016 10:28:00 GMT
Silenthunter, if it wasn't going to Romford, where was it going? They don't use 321s other than on the GEML, do they? Stratford, then Shenfield. I hopped on a 360 next to it that was stopping at Romford. They do use 321s on Northern and Great Northern though.
|
|
|
Post by silenthunter on Dec 21, 2016 20:03:50 GMT
Regular Mark 3s still drop onto the tracks. I was waiting at Stratford Platform 11 for a TfL Rail service a few weeks back (Engineering Work) and I saw that there was a tomato plant growing in between the sleepers.
|
|
|
Post by silenthunter on Dec 21, 2016 20:03:19 GMT
I had a glance at one of these at Liverpool Street today; it wasn't going to Romford, so I didn't get on it. It didn't really strike me as that impressive personally.
|
|
|
Post by silenthunter on Dec 20, 2016 12:53:23 GMT
The stapleress won't like them. She prefers manual w.c.s with "proper locks"! She'd really prefer to see the ballast through the aperture, like in Mark 1s! WCS?
|
|
|
Post by silenthunter on Dec 16, 2016 17:26:51 GMT
What this line should have got are tramtrains, a passing loop and a few extra halts - at Brentwood Road near to Romford and Wingletye Lane near to Upminster. The shorter length of the tramtrains would have meant that shorter platforms would need building whilst being tramtrains the rolling stock could use the 25kV power supply. The more frequent service and extra stops would have boosted patronage and helped reduce road traffic. At least however the line survived and now has a future - unlike quite a few other branch lines here in London. Simon There was a passing loop at Emerson Park formerly, but that's long gone. Also, nearly all of that line is in a cutting and building halts would be difficult in terms of excavation.
|
|
|
Post by silenthunter on Dec 13, 2016 16:09:03 GMT
Don't think there's anything in this. First off, it's not TfL financed at source, so why do Londoners (the 'shareholders' in any London Mayor's report) need to know about it? It's not even in London. Second, the viaduct is indeed a major work, but it's also above ground and this is the wettest part of the British year on a line which has had more troubles than most with landslips, etc. Would it be really surprising if the major structural works did not begin until at least April, even if just on the off-chance that embankment & land-settlement can be reassessed then? Which would also give Herts CC wriggle room to find money for it in a new financial year, if it, as the major contributor, needed such. And I am not stating that is the case, just pointing out this is how local government sometimes has to work, regardless of political colour. It's an extension of the London Underground network, to be used by people commuting into London. If this has indeed gone, however, there's an obvious reason for it going - no votes for Sadiq Khan in this one, unlike the other schemes.
|
|
|
Post by silenthunter on Dec 13, 2016 10:38:26 GMT
Isn't this because it's a Hertfordshire Council project rather than a TfL one? believe this is the case Apparently TfL have control over it now and major work hasn't begun at all. This needs serious looking into by the papers.
|
|
|
Post by silenthunter on Dec 12, 2016 21:25:54 GMT
It is well known that the branch was operated by steam trains prior to 1957. I was wondering where the steam loco's were kept overnight. Where they stabled in the platforms? I guess they also needed coal so were were the coals stored?? Check out the 'Epping Ongar Railway' web page. It shows a single track engine shed and water tower at Ongar. There was a much larger yard at Ongar as well; much of it was later sold off for housing.
|
|
|
Post by silenthunter on Dec 6, 2016 22:40:44 GMT
Most of the platform lengthening on GEML has been done with trains running. It has also had a lot of weekend closures recently.
|
|
|
Post by silenthunter on Dec 6, 2016 22:39:32 GMT
The only civil/structural works in the GOBe scope are those directly required to achieve the electrification of the route. Generally the bridge works you see are all part of renewals and other works plans, apart from the parapet height extensions you might see springing up along the route. There happen to be some significant bridge replacements on the GOB route: the Lea Viaduct, River Lea Bridge 35, Palmerston Rd, Tottenham High Rd and Wightman Rd, all on GOB but not part of the electrification scope. Platform lowering works such as at WQR have been required to match the track lowering needed to fit the OLE under the many low headroom bridges on the route. Platform extensions generally can be done in possessions so they are programmed to suit resource, but obviously they will be in place in time for the longer trains! It is a very long time since I have personally used this line, but I certainly recall that many of the platforms on the line were quite long and had been shortened mostly with barriers to block off the unmaintained extra section. I guess current HSE considerations could mean that work to reinstate the closed off platform sections might need a line possession to protect the workforce especially when fitting new style platform edges, but hopefully this sort of work can be accommodated overnight before the new longer trains become available. However I really hope they are using this extended closure to sort out the two more problematic short platforms - South Tottenham and Harringey Green Lanes. To confirm my recollection I found a reasonably recent "drivers eye" video taken of the route on YouTube - Gospel Oak - Barking - Darren J which at 8.10 and 10.30 shows that extending these platforms could well be problematic if the line was operational. At Harringey Green Lanes it appears the earlier longer platforms have been removed, leaving just decapitated concrete stubs. As for South Tottenham I suspect the junctions before and after the already staggered platforms may make extending the current platforms problematic. Network Rail have had a fair bit of bad press recently, with delayed and over budget projects like the GWR Electrification. I hope their planners have done a better job here as I doubt GOBLIN users will be keen to suffer further closures to extend platforms on a line which has already been subject to an extended closure. I believe the GOBLIN has using two-car DMUs since before privatisation; it formerly used to have longer trains when services ran into St. Pancras.
|
|
|
Post by silenthunter on Dec 6, 2016 17:27:17 GMT
When are the new trains due to arrive?
|
|
|
Post by silenthunter on Dec 6, 2016 17:26:45 GMT
There are 1920s built trams in use in Blackpool.
|
|
|
Post by silenthunter on Nov 11, 2016 22:53:22 GMT
The scandal is why it costs so much in this country compared with Europe to electrify rail lines. The severn tunnel has been electrified after a 40 day blockade working day and night. The route via Bath could have been done in a similar way. With all trains being bi-mode it is tempting to delay electrification. Newton Abbot-Plymouth electrification may remain a pipedream and regular London-Plymouth in three hours gone. 'Europe' is not a homogeneous entity, I would point out. Can you be more specific on the costings per kilometre please?
|
|
|
Post by silenthunter on Nov 8, 2016 14:44:10 GMT
Eight are being upgraded to 'e300' standard, the rest are going.
|
|
|
Post by silenthunter on Oct 12, 2016 17:43:29 GMT
It was called that previously... seriously, the number of names that franchise has gone through...
|
|
|
Post by silenthunter on Sept 21, 2016 21:57:11 GMT
A friend told me he had seen a TFL-Rail liveried 315 in Chingford sidings, but I thought that rather unlikely! Anyone else seen it? Well, it'd be less out of place than the Electric Blue privately owned Class 86 Les Ross attached to a Mark 3 rake that's been parked in Ilford a few times lately...
|
|
|
Post by silenthunter on Sept 21, 2016 21:07:30 GMT
The LO Aventras are going to be used on the line, yes.
|
|
|
Post by silenthunter on Sept 21, 2016 17:05:19 GMT
I've noticed recently that the LO unit for the Romford-Upminster shuttle now comes from Chingford instead of Ilford. Usually starts from Chingford late the previous evening, stabling overnight at either Liverpool Street or Romford. They've been using 317s or 321s on that shuttle for months. Don't entirely know why you need an outer-suburban unit with a toilet for a eight-minute journey...
|
|