Partial suspension today

It should have been possible to reverse E-to-W at Kings Cross but the points failed. A C Stock was detrained via Kings Cross Disused station, an A Stock onto 'closed' Baker Street platform 3. Elsewhere, passengers smashed windows on a stalled A Stock in order to get some air.

I think we also have a set of points out of commission at Farringdon

C failed. A Smashed.

I see. I assume the train line is fed from the main line then?

Can you say that 20 times? ;D

Surely it is pretty difficult to get a line burst?

Well, not quite the afternoon, but I certainly had to come in and sort out the evening/late evening service as it was still all more or less in tatters.

Eastbound Barking service became stalled just on the approach to Moorgate eastbound (the tail end of the train was just over the pointwork for the bay roads - train length or so further on and the bay roads would have been a useful get-out).

Despite best efforts, by late evening the Met was actually running with more delays than the H&C - simply because it is a larger line, and unfortunately the majority of trains stuck within the original shutdown were Met trains.

The actual shutdown itself lasted just over an hour, so some A-stocks spent over this time south of Baker Street - putting them very much off-path for the remainder of the day. And before anyone suggests that "Surely if they were 2 hours late, they were close to their next trips" please also consider that the train operators were stuck with their trains as well.

To compound things, around 40 minutes into the shutdown, at Hammersmith a train stalled entering depot from platform 1 - effectively putting Hammersmith out of action for well over half an hour. So H&Cs turning back from the original Moorgate shutdown towards depot then became stuck along the Hammersmith branch.

The crossover at Farringdon is indeed out of commission at present, and the one at Kings Cross did us the favour of also failing during the shutdown - but worked once things got moving. The sun may have been shining, but Lady Luck wasn't today. Hottest day of the year, and the one thing we try to avoid at all costs in this weather is people stuck on trains anywhere that's not a platform.