Fast Trains Return ........

Saw an S stock with Fast Moorgate displayed earlier!

With the current timetable, the most common way to recover lost minutes is to divert via the fast, so the now "rare" fasts will more than likely be seen more often than not ;D

Nobody spotted the Semi-Fast Baker Street to Northwood service yesterday evening then? Baker Street, Finchley Road, Harrow then all stations to Northwood.

It cannot be displayed on the DMIs, but that doesn't mean we won't run the occasional one ;D

Chesham/Amersham to Watford trains then!

I doubt it has been updated yet from the sounds of it.

It's all very well diverting slow NB Amersham / Chesham trains to run down the Fast Lines to make up lost time but these trains are now scheduled and advertised to stop at all stations. I would find it difficult to believe that on each occasion a slow Chesham is diverted to the Fast Lines, passengers at intermediate stations are advised of that fact and advised to travel to Harrow / Moor Park as appropriate.

Also, given that ALL NB Met trains are now scheduled and advertised to stop at Wembley Park, shouldn't Wembley Park now be considered a mandatory stop in the NB direction like Finchley Road, Harrow and Moor Park?

The service must have been totally up the wall today. A TSR in the Wembley area removed all fast trains heading south this morning and my A stock from Baker Street at 2045 was a semi-fast Ruislip! It was going to pass Wembley Pk but stopped there. There were about 8 S stock queuing between Wembley and West Harrow going south! ;D

At 1013 an all stations Uxbridge train has been reformed at Baker Street to work a Chesham Super-Fast 422 5126+5169

And the same at Harrow just before 12pm, an all stations UXB-ALD was reformed to a Fast UXB-ALD 424 21039/40

Finchley Road-Harrow on the Hill-Moor Park

Yes, the Harrow crowd had their own starters from Harrow or Uxbridge!

I don't want to put a big downer on anyone noticing these things, but this kind of thing happened before but is maybe more noticeable now.

After the evening peak (as I normally work the late shift) I'm doing this sort of thing on a regular basis. I could probably list many more than the above from just the past week, and on the days I worked, nothing that significant occurred. My early-turn colleagues probably could as well.

So, whilst the thread does concern fast trains, and whilst they may be more rare than they once were, they will still regularly happen when trains run late. In fact, with everything running "slow" it is more likely that something will run "fast" if running late. Running fast is now more likely than turning short - which was very regular under previous timetables.

Of course, some trains will run fast AND turn short, but this will also be part of the great scheme of things to get everything running back to time.

Like I said, I don't want to pour cold water on anyone's interest in these matters, and hope I don't come across as being too harsh

Wouldn't that still count as a "fast" since the Wembley Park stop isn't usually guaranteed?

On the subject of weekend closures. What is the ratio of A Stock to S Stock on the Uxbridge branch this weekend? Just outta interest.

On my own personal note, I would like to run a super-fast as (at the very least) Finchley Road - Rickmansworth (stopping at Harrow if we must).

However, apparently when diverting via the fast, we must still serve Moor Park - I have tried to omit the stop but have met with severe opposition. I did do one (or maybe two ) but was pulled up on it.

Needs working on that one... ;D

There are a couple of videos on youtube, one with a Chesham train strolling through Platform 1 at Harrow.