Unusual Move at Barking

Correct !!!

i gather from elsewhere it's now a timetabled move twice in the evenings, though I've seen the 150 in Pl 7 I've only ever seen it reverse off the platform not do the main line shunt! oh well...

....as for seeing the morning starter from East Ham depot, you are certainly kidding, I'll be soundly asleep when that moves off ;D ;D ;D

It could have been, I passed by East Ham Sheds last week on my way to work on an early shift and it was parked in the depot out side the shed near the down C2C line .

Any pressure at Barking comes from only having 2 car DMU's on the Goblin route, the trains need 3 or 4 car units.

Extending to Dagenham Dock will need a turn back or bay road at this station

Following on from a short chat I had with Aspect when I took over his train at Barking yesterday, it would seem that the May timetable change means there are now 2 class 150's stabled in East Ham depot. So that means more platform 7 working anyway as you can't get directly to/from platform 1 to/from the depot.

I've also been pondering the reason why they work to the spur East of Barking.......

Logic would suggest that as long as a 150 is sat in platform 7, nothing else can pass though. A quick glance at the off peak timetables show that there is no conflict between the Goblin's class 150 30 minute service and c2c's class 357 30 minute service heading towards Dagenham Dock (Dagenham Dock bound trains use platform 7), however it's not necessarily that clear cut.

During the peaks, when many of my sightings have occurred, c2c's service via Dagenham Dock ramps up to every 20 mins AM peak and 15 minutes PM peak; the Goblin ramps up to every 15 minutes in both peaks - the opportunity for conflicts is therefore greatly increased.

Delving a little deeper into the timetables reveals that the Goblin service has changed with the May changes such that peak service is now 15 minutes where previously it was 20 minutes; in the old timetable they appear on paper to depart 1 minute after arrival!! The new timetable appears to suggest they now have around 5 or 6 minutes turn round time, unless of course they have very generous 20 minute turnarounds by making use of platform 7.......and that would mean having to use the spur east of Barking as there's no way they could occupy platform 7 for 20 minutes.........hmm...

There is also the factor of other traffic that passes through platform 7 - freight. Of course they don't run to fixed timetables in the same way as passenger trains, but there is a lot of it through Barking and that will almost certainly be another reason for the Goblin 150's not being able to occupy platform 7 for long.

I believe that the plan for a long time in the future is for the GOBLIN to become Clapham to Grays. But Boris will have to put some wires up first

to get into the dagenham dock down side waste terminal requires a freightliner heavy haul shunter to give acceptance and meet each incomming train/loco. a lol service could be delayed,and block the down main if flhh are shunting the yard,as only one move can take place at a time. only real place lol can turn around is grays,as purfleet also has to have a shunter in place. keith jackson