Post by Oracle on Aug 5, 2006 9:21:28 GMT
I just had to share this with this Forum, as it shows dedication to get that elusive bay platform road, and also because I am for once speechless...
I assume then that Mansion House reversing is indeed just scheduled for once a day, but in practice is used to turn trains early? Many years ago in the days of the CO/CP and R Stock it was a regular occurrence to turn at MH as well as Tower Hill.
One of the time consuming parts of the logistics planning was to see how many trains used the bay platform 3 at Dagenham East as I was planning a LUL grice first thing Wednesday morning, I spent ages working out ways I could do Dagenham East as well. In the end, after finalising all my plans I decided to do Dagenham East after Maidstone, which meant I could get home earlier on Wednesday.
For Information the M-F morning trains to / from Dagenham East bay platform 3 are ….
Note : (only times from Aldgate East as I didn't have time to find
origins of trains)…..
Aldgate East 07:02 – Dagenham East 07:33 ….
Dagenham East 07:53 – Aldgate East 08:26 to Wimbledon.
Aldgate East 07:39 – Dagenham East 08:10 ….
Dagenham East 08:19 – Aldgate East 08:52 to Ealing Broadway.
Aldgate East 08:04 – Dagenham East 08:36 ….
Dagenham East 08:45 – Aldgate East 09:17 to Ealing Broadway.
Aldgate East 08:30 – Dagenham East 09:02 ….
Dagenham East 09:10 – Aldgate East 09:43 to Wimbledon.
Aldgate East 08:55 – Dagenham East 09:27 ….
Dagenham East 09:35 – Aldgate East 10:07 to Ealing Broadway.
Aldgate East 09:23 – Dagenham East 09:55 ….
Dagenham East 10:10 – Aldgate East 10:42 to Wimbledon.
The M-F evening trains run as follows ….
Aldgate East 16:03 – Dagenham East 16:36 ….
Dagenham East 16:43 – Aldgate East 17:15 to Wimbledon.
Aldgate East 16:28 – Dagenham East 17:00 ….
Dagenham East 17:08 – Aldgate East 17:40 to Wimbledon.
Aldgate East 16:53 – Dagenham East 17:26 ….
Dagenham East 17:34 – Aldgate East 18:06 to Wimbledon.
Aldgate East 17:19 – Dagenham East 17:51 ….
Dagenham East 17:59 – Aldgate East 18:31 to Wimbledon.
Aldgate East 17:44 – Dagenham East 18:17 ….
Dagenham East 18:25 – Aldgate East 18:56 to Wimbledon.
Aldgate East 18:10 – Dagenham East 18:42 ….
Dagenham East 18:51 – Aldgate East 19:23 to Wimbledon.
Aldgate East 18:35 – Dagenham East 19:08 ….
Does not appear to be a return for this one, so it may not go into
the bay but continue to Upminster ECS instead.
As I had nothing else planned now until tomorrow morning I did
several of these trains running between Dagenham East & Becontree. It started off fine with the 16:43 departure from the bay platform 3 and using the `EB' to `WB' trailing crossover and the next three trains booked to go into and return from the bay did so.
The service had started to run a bit late in places after a short
period where no trains arrived from London and it was a case of
checking the front of the train. The 17:44 Aldgate, (18:12
Becontree), or at least what I worked out should have been the
17:44, (at 18:21), had Upminster on the front so I let it go only to
find it said Dagenham East on the back. I don't think it went into the bay though as I did not see it return and the next train which was supposed to go into the bay …. the 18:37 from Becontree, (18:10 Aldgate East), did do the bay. I returned back as far as Dagenham Heathway to catch the last train that terminated at Dagenham East as I wanted to see what happened after the 19:08 arrival as it did not appear to have a return.
No more trains turned up with Dagenham East on the front, so after a while I jumped onto the next train, returned to the car and set off for North London to make camp.
Wednesday morning the 2nd August 2006 would see me get a rare bay, only booked to be done by one train a day, M-F.
After a ride on a Night Bus from Cockfosters, I arrived at
Westminster in time to catch the first train of the day, although
the important one was the sixth Eastbound, but rather than wait, I took the 05:25 to Embankment, then the 05:44 to Temple, let a Circle Line train pass, then caught the 05:57 to Blackfriars, let another Circle Line trains pass, then it was time for the sixth train … The 05:27 from Ealing Broadway / 06:00 from Westminster / 06:06 from Blackfriars, (departed a minute late), and sat in the very front of 7055+17055+8055+7505+17504+7504 to get the full thrill of the Mansion House Bay, arriving on time at 06:08.
Departure to Richmond was on time at 06:20 and I got off at
Blackfriars [P.1] a minute late at 06:22.
For completeness I thought I would do the Tower Hill Bay, which has regular reversals, even though it was not required….
Blackfriars P.2 06:24 actual 06:27, Tower Hill Bay P.2 06:31 actual
06:34.
Tower Hill Bay P.2 actual 06:40 … Monument P.1 actual 06:42.
Monument P.2 06:46 actual 06:47 … Kings Cross St Pancras P.1 actual 07:05.
Kings Cross St Pancras P.6 actual 07:27 … Cockfosters P.3 actual
08:00.
Home by 11:15 and off to bed.
A big thank you to members of Gensheet and the compilers of Baywatch whose information has proved most helpful. I hope my hours spent fighting with the LUL Journey Planner to get the details of ALL of the Dagenham East trains has helped someone else, who now doesn't need to spend hours going through lots of permutations to get the right results. I also hope my reports also help other people planning to do the same.
I assume then that Mansion House reversing is indeed just scheduled for once a day, but in practice is used to turn trains early? Many years ago in the days of the CO/CP and R Stock it was a regular occurrence to turn at MH as well as Tower Hill.