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Post by rheostar on Sept 15, 2013 10:56:54 GMT
Stopping at Turnham Green puts about 3 minutes extra running time on each train's journey ... LU investigated this in detail a few years ago, and the figures they produced were additional journey time of 68 seconds eastbound and 71 seconds westbound, assuming 30 seconds dwell time. Yes, but around Turnham Green it's a compromise between the needs of stopping and non-stopping trains. The signalling will support stopping trains at 2-minute intervals, which is better than the peak timetabled 2½ minutes. Predictions of chaos and reduced line capacity if all trains stopped at TG are symptomatic of the Piccadilly line's policy of favouring service reliability above all other considerations. The current timetable requires frequent pauses "to regulate the service" because there is so much slack in it. Thousands of passengers have their journeys lengthened as a result. In these circumstances, the claimed difficulty in absorbing around 70 seconds lacks credibility IMHO. Oh well, I only do this for a living. What do I know.
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Post by rheostar on Sept 2, 2013 23:25:18 GMT
Perhaps the impact could be reduced if only certain trains called there e.g. all Uxbridge\Rayners Lane trains? That wouldn't work - it's all or nothing. The headways between stopping and non stopping trains would have to be in the region of 5 minutes instead of the 2.5/3 minutes we run now. This would result in an overall poorer service to the rest of the railway. For the sake of a few hundred people using Turnham Green, the customer disbenefit for the rest of the Piccadilly line can't be justified.
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Post by rheostar on Sept 2, 2013 8:08:40 GMT
Stopping at Turnham Green puts about 3 minutes extra running time on each train's journey, so six minutes in all for a rounder. This is acceptable during the early morning and late night periods as the service isn't so intense. But during the day the knock on effect is quite severe.
The section between Hammersmith and Acton Town is signalled for high speed running with the signalling sections being quite long. If the Piccadilly line were to stop at Turnham Green on a permanent basis then this area might have to be resignalled to maintain the current number of trains in service (79 in the peak period). If it wasn't resignalled, then the Piccadilly line would probably have to reduce line capacity resulting in a worse service to the rest of the line.
For these reasons, I can't see it happening.
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Post by rheostar on Sept 1, 2013 13:53:34 GMT
The original location for T5 was to be served by the same loop, so doing a left on the westbound at Hatton Cross made sense at the time. There's a straight section of track with a pre formed box area where the proposed T5 station was intended to be. So it would have been Hatton Cross, T4, T5 then onto H123.
However, other plans came along with T5 being built miles away from the original location, hence the extension.
Doing a left on the westbound was also a simpler build. Had it gone from HX to H123 then T4, when the track came back to HX it would have had to be built under the westbound road to come onto the eastbound. It would have been an engineering nightmare.
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Post by rheostar on Aug 28, 2013 8:23:01 GMT
There's a lot of political pressure for the Piccadilly line to stop all day at Turnham Green, but I can't see it happening. The knock on effect would be detrimental to the rest of the line.
The maximum line speed is 45 mph.
Although it used to be the worse, the 73 stock fleet's now one of the most reliable on the Underground, but that's more down to the era of Tubelines and PPP.
The 73 stock certainly wasn't well engineered! Apart from 'slip slide equipment' (scrapped), 'TEPs' (scrapped), 'inflating cab door seals' (removed), rain coming through the roof (as motormen, we sat in the cabs with umbrellas up), cab heaters that didn't work, no cab ventilation (had to wedge the cab door open with old fuses or a handlamp), MM's seats collapsing, interior panels falling off, saloon heating and vents not working...I could go on, they were good trains.
However, technology moves on and the newer trains are cheaper to run and maintain. We're moving into an era of driverless trains and the 73 stock can't be converted for that use.
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Post by rheostar on Aug 22, 2013 13:55:24 GMT
The Piccadilly's due to be fully upgraded by the mid 20's so the OP's spot on.
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Post by rheostar on Aug 19, 2013 17:44:29 GMT
Think of it as the Piccadilly line supplementing the Met service. :-)
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Post by rheostar on Aug 6, 2013 13:32:04 GMT
The southbound platform at Seven Sisters would be one of the better places.
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Post by rheostar on Jul 30, 2013 21:51:30 GMT
would it not make more sense to have a crew depot where the trains are stabled, so crew can log on and take the trains out? Yes it would, but why it's not is another story all together. The night drivers from the west end of the railway work the last trains east and stay at Ash House overnight. They bring the trains off of Arnos Grove sidings and go west in the morning. Conversely, the east end night drivers work the last trains west, stay in Northfields depot overnight (I think), then work the first trains east in the mornings.
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Post by rheostar on Jul 20, 2013 11:56:47 GMT
What happened to the train crew accomodation that used to be at Oakwood? The accommodation's still there, but only used for the remote booking on shifts in the morning.
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Post by rheostar on Jul 17, 2013 18:47:16 GMT
I can remember voicing an opinion against them when they were being conceived, but I was told that I wasn't with future thinking - i.e. a dinosaur. What goes around comes around as they say - I'd like to see South Harrow reopen, although realistically that wouldn't happen, nor places like Kennington or Euston. You could (and I did!) do wonders with the Picc Line Rayners branch service if you had a spare crew at South Harrow in times of disruption. It takes a long time for a dinosaur to become extinct Along with many people at the time, we said that the super depots wouldn't work. We were told to shut up and get on with it. The line went from having the mess rooms and SM's offices over the track to them being a nine minute walk away. The line's never been right since. Ash House was a balls up from day one! There are tentative plans to open a depot at Cockfosters. The only problem is where it'd be located as access is quite limited.
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Post by rheostar on Jul 15, 2013 9:13:10 GMT
So how did you get on?
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Post by rheostar on Jul 11, 2013 23:20:53 GMT
Stand on any Piccadilly line platform in the central area and in three hours you'll see every train that's out on the road. Between 06:30 and 10:00, 79 trains will be in service.
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Post by rheostar on Jun 30, 2013 8:29:38 GMT
With correct maintenance the 73 stock will last for some time yet. Mind you, I suppose it has to as their replacements won't arrive on the Piccadilly line until the mid 20's.
I know very little of the Island Line, does it have many tight bends as the cars of the 73 stock are a lot longer than a 38?
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Post by rheostar on May 21, 2013 9:43:17 GMT
There's booked staff trains between Arnos Grove and Oakwood first thing in the morning and late at night.
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Post by rheostar on May 17, 2013 0:10:29 GMT
A lot of it depends on when the training courses are being run at Ashfield House.
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Post by rheostar on May 14, 2013 18:13:17 GMT
Gets more intriguing. 888 was cut up at Northfields on 29/1/93. 888 was the one damaged in the Bounds Green fire on 11/8/82. That brings back memories, I was part of the crew that pushed out the burnt up train.
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Post by rheostar on May 2, 2013 9:46:05 GMT
There is no need at all to have many dozens of tube stations listed for example. English Heritage have some funny rules that constantly change about making alterations to listed buildings. At Arnos Grove, when the T/Op bridge was first being considered, LU came up with a proposal that matched the 1930's design of the station. This was rejected by English Heritage as 'it wasn't honest' and wanted any additions to be obviously 'new'. I forget now how many designs were submitted, but English Heritage changed the criteria halfway through the process so we ended up with something that's a bit of a dog's breakfast. There was one design described by the architect as a 'tube over the tube'.The same was with the supports for the OPO cameras used in listed stations . They had to be specially commissioned as EH rejected the standard designs. As you can appreciate, the costs spiralled upwards as design after design was dismissed by EH. As for Northfields reopening, it's probably the best thing for the railway since it closed. However, the biggest win would be getting a depot at Cockfosters as was originally intended when the extension was built back in the 30's. Back in the late 70's when I first started on the Piccadilly line, we had six depots - the two super depots are only comparatively recent (mid 90's) and the worst thing that ever happened to the railway.
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Post by rheostar on Apr 12, 2013 14:52:49 GMT
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Post by rheostar on Apr 11, 2013 8:08:16 GMT
Don't think I've seen 'Service Closed', anyone able to confirm its meaning? After the close of traffic at night. Have a look at the status around 3am.
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Post by rheostar on Apr 9, 2013 16:34:51 GMT
The service was never closed, it was at severe delays following the problem at Holborn on the eastbound. Su31's spot on, it was a cock up at the NOC.
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Post by rheostar on Mar 31, 2013 13:31:07 GMT
If you want to stay completely on the tube and avoid escalators, go Cockfosters to Barons Court (stay at the rear of the Piccadilly line train), up the stairs at Barons Court and cross to the eastbound platform. Then catch a District line train to South Kensington.
Admittedly, you'll be going past South Ken on the Piccadilly, but it's only a few stops.
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Post by rheostar on Mar 8, 2013 9:24:25 GMT
My fear is that we are working towards a time when the only LUL employees left with be T/Ops and those working on or about the track. Station staff will be supplied by private companies as a more economic option. In twenty/thirty years time there probably won't be any T/Ops.
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Post by rheostar on Mar 8, 2013 9:17:55 GMT
I'm going to find my station's labyrinth later today.
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Post by rheostar on Feb 25, 2013 9:47:04 GMT
Do you mean other bus depots ? I think variety is the key here. But I'm just wondering if tube drivers are more likely to get bored as most tube lines are underground (as opposed to sub surface lines such as the Met line) and you generally have to stop at every station and speeds are relatively low? After a while, one bit of tunnel looks very much like another. Being a driver on the Piccadilly line, I used to like going out into the open sections especially up to Uxbridge. The section between Arnos Grove and Barons Court was just one long drag. Many drivers 'switch off' after a while and don't know where they are. Once I remember the controller calling me on the radio and asking where I was. Unfortunately, I didn't have the foggiest and didn't answer until I'd stopped at the next station. I couldn't remember if I was going east or west, or where I was on the railway. But in all my time I never had any SPADs (or ones that I'd admit to). After a while, it's a bit like driving a car - it's something you do without really thinking about.
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Post by rheostar on Feb 21, 2013 18:39:14 GMT
The excitement of driving a train wore off after the first day, I was then bored for the following eight years.
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Post by rheostar on Dec 24, 2012 22:45:57 GMT
Years ago, we ran a train from Arnos Grove to Hammersmith just for our kids going to a panto there.
Whilst the kids were in the panto we held the train in Northfields depot.
When we came out of the panto, I called up the controller to let the train out of the depot. It arrived on the platform at the same time as our group. Back on the train via the butterfly cocks in the leading car and away we went for the return to Arnos.
The kids loved having their own train. :-)
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Post by rheostar on Nov 27, 2012 9:43:37 GMT
When I was a guard back in the late '70's, early 80's, as a non smoker I hated changing ends in the sidings as we had to go through the smoking cars.
The Piccadilly line '73 stock had the second and fifth cars as smokers and they were horrible. The ceilings and walls were stained nicotine yellow, the floors were scarred with cigarette burns and they stank! Empty fag packets, dog ends and matches littered the floors.
The other four cars were quite pleasant in comparison.
Saying that, at the RTC the instructors used to teach us that when we had a problem with a train, before we did anything "roll a fag" to give us some thinking time. How times have changed.
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Post by rheostar on Oct 7, 2012 20:11:35 GMT
Oh for flip sake we had this debate last year or the year before. "Slightly curved" is ok, when you have a curve as severe as Bank Central Line you end up with a gap between the PEDs and the train where it would be possible for a passenger to get trapped between the two. I believe someone on here said they have a station with that problem in Singapore or Hong Kong and surprise, surprise it had a fatality for exactly that reason. For total deja vu someone will now ask why we don't straighten all the platforms....... Listen and learn from the geezer with the world on his shoulders. He works down there all the time. He knows his onions, in other words, he's got far more experience than most suggestions on this thread..... I've some experience on these things too. As a driver I had a one under, and I've dealt with three or four each year for the past twenty plus years - four so far in 2012. From my experience, the French PEDs would have prevented 90/95% of those incidents.
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Post by rheostar on Oct 7, 2012 19:14:55 GMT
Those shorter barriers would stop 90% of one unders, saving 30 or so lives each year.
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