End of the Chesham shuttle

pictures' taken on the day do uphold the complaint the train was dirty,although a plaque was fitted,its a shame as it is an important photo opportunity to the end of the shuttle service,as well as to the a60/62 stock which time is now sadly short .

www.flickr.com/photos/24772733@N05/5251369519/in/photostream/

A selection of my pictures:

www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=269086&id=679913895&l=2028d00198

I regret not writing "FAREWELL CHESHAM SHUTTLE. (remember to give her a wash tommorow or she'll look abit silly)" But I saw the guy who wrote that message on the side Lol

the thread is slowly falling into history much like the a stock.comments about the dirty state of the train are common,it gives the impression that a "cannot be bothered" attitude.chiltern's turbos' by comparison are clean (although vastly more expensive traveling from aylesbury and in all cases cheaper to buy a return ticket to amersham alight and oyster top up,exiting at the reader on the turbo platform on the return saving at least £3-£6 on zone 1-2 day journey's).

www.flickr.com/photos/trentsidetraveller/5251953899/in/photostream/

the chesham line itself has faced much speculation over the years' notably around 1986 when a bridge replacement in chesham required funding,it has been of speculation as to the future in recent times also.

tube history has not been kind to these single line tracks'.

Not sure which unit(s) are being preserved. They need to patch up the ventilator infill on the cab dome! (and on 5082)!

They'll be waiting a long time then... ;D ;D

EDIT: Naughty bengley.

Local press already reporting some Chesham travellers not happy

www.buckinghamshireexaminer.co.uk/south-bucks-news/local-buckinghamshire-examiner-news/2010/12/15/criticism-over-delayed-direct-trains-114018-27830291/

Annoyed resident Ben Elias in that article is me!

Thats a very good point actually, if you'd traced TOX10 in the dirt with your finger the unit would presumably be sparkling by now.

Hmmm. This is the Bucks Examiner who get excited about the most trivial of matters. This is a good example - two people not happy after two days and they make it their lead story.

Most of the time they are moaning about High Speed 2 and flogging a particularly pointless angle that campaigners will stop it happening; no chance. They are the Bucks equivalent of the Evening Standard but without the journalistic talent.

Good - they better be running in the future!

Well, I came unstuck last night - made it to Baker St for the 20:01 Chesham, think there had been problems but it arrived within a few minutes of right time all was well until Chalfont (apart from getting P1 at Harrow and overtaking a 'fast' Amersham which went up the local lines), train diverted to Amersham as still another train on the branch. spoke to the driver who said the drivers in general are pretty unimpressed with the whole situation, said their meal breaks have been cut in length, etc. So that train had to go to Amersham as it had the fast Amersham it'd overtaken and a Chiltern close behind.

The wait was about 35mins with no information from the station staff in spite of the fact he could be seen in the office. In the end, by the time a Chesham turned up I'd seen the train I'd been on and the fast Amersham behind it return south (plus the one that had been up the branch).

So, basically, it appears this isn't going to work without either or both extending the bay platform and/or altering the track layout so a northbound Chesham can wait off the main line for the branch to clear (another crossover further north before the branch separates away from the main formation so a s/b tain can cross to the s/b main with another n/b train having used the existing crossover and waiting, trains end up passing wrong side, if that makes sense).

If this was the 1980's I can see the branch might end up at risk but these days I don't think there's a cat in hell's chance of the branch getting closed. The problems will have to be fixed in a proper manner.

It's never going to get one. The through Chesham was option 1. Bus service from Amersham and close the branch was a distant, and more expensie, option 2.

The timetable conflicts were always foreseen by those of us who operated in the real world. Running services from the city and hoping they will mesh together on a single line - with only a couple of minutes of lee-way was never going to work.

Apparently urgent discussions are occuring - but I'm not really sure what is going to happen. I cannot see a whole timetable being chucked out for it, but then who knows...

No drivers for the two trains in the platforms at Harrow - give us p1 then - has the line control melted down??