First Great Western 2nd Loco hauled diagram

[anthony263]

I have read in a railway magazine and have also heard from other enthusiasts that First Great western are to introduce a 2nd loco hauled diagram to from december 2009. This is to allow some of the Cardiff - Taunton services to be extended to Paington to replace the loss of the direct SWT services from London Waterloo.

According to the magazine i read ( I think it was the september issue of Rail express/The railway magazine) that trains will be hauled by a class 67 although i have been told that FGW were going to hire a class 47 from West Coast Rail.

 

[2030720310]

Don't think it was the railway magazine, but sounds interesting.

 

[devon_metro]

0622 BristolTM - Cardiff
0800 Cardiff - Paignton
1235 Paignton - Cardiff
1700 Cardiff - Taunton
1912 Taunton - BristolTM

Not likely to be 67s though...

 

[43034 The Black Horse]

No Duffs are meant to be involved.

 

[2030720310]

Has this diagram started yet? I don't think it had on the 7th August because I was at Taunton on that day and the 67s were only doing services to Cardiff. If it hasn't when will it start, does anyone know yet?

 

[MCR247]

Did you read the first post?If you did you ahould of noticed it said Dec 2009!

 

[2030720310]

Sorry, didn't read it properly, apologies...

 

[Turbostar]

It's supposed to be starting from the Dec timetable, as SWT will cease running west from Exeter, as they need the units to cover for more services from Exeter St Davids-London Waterloo, as they'll have the new loop open at Axminster.

 

[TGVDUDE]

i'll be very interested about this! please post when you hear more!

 

[Class 33]

Yes do please keep us informed on this. A 67 and mk2's from Paignton-Cardiff would be great. A 47 would be FANTASTIC!

I also read your post on another forum saying that another diagram would see 67 or 47 working from Cardiff-Brighton. Is that still a possibility?

 

[TEW]

There is a possibility of a third diagram, I have no idea on what services though.

 

[devon_metro]

I also read your post on another forum saying that another diagram would see 67 or 47 working from Cardiff-Brighton. Is that still a possibility?

Considering the fact that there are 0 services from cardiff to brighton, and Exeter (West) do not sign it the chances of that are hilariously low!

 

[anthony263]

Considering the fact that there are 0 services from cardiff to brighton, and Exeter (West) do not sign it the chances of that are hilariously low!

Aint there a a train from cardiff - brighton on a sunday?

As for a class 47/57 being used i have heard this from people i know , some of whome work for FGW .

for this diagram there has even been talk of a arriva class 57 being hired in, but since i cant seem to get a definate answer i am going to wait til we get closer to december to see what happens

 

[matt]

No Duffs are meant to be involved.

I presume it will be some variety of class 57

 

[anthony263]

I presume it will be some variety of class 57

It could be although i have read in rail express that both the loco hauled diragrams will be hauled by 1 class 67 with a dvt and then i am hearing from someone else that it is likely to be hauled by a class 47/57 so i think we will just have to wait and see, Although i wouldnt mind a class 47 being brought in as i havnt been behind a 47 on the mainline since i last went to torquay on a crosscountry service back in 1997

 

[43034 The Black Horse]

I presume it will be some variety of class 57

Well from a source, GBRF the men with hired 57/3s. But we'll see.....

 

[TEW]

I heard 57/3s, which allowed the use of FGW drivers.

 

[Class 33]

I have just checked the new Winter timetable.

Cardiff-Paignton (Monday-Friday)

0800 Cardiff-Paignton
1247 Paignton-Cardiff

 

[anthony263]

I have just checked the new Winter timetable.

Cardiff-Paignton (Monday-Friday)

0800 Cardiff-Paignton
1247 Paignton-Cardiff

i thought it was 12:35 off paignton?

what time is it expected back into cardiff then ?

 

[Class 33]

Well according to the timetable.

The 0800 from Cardiff gets to Paignton at 1127. The 1247 from Paington gets to Cardiff at 1629.

 

[37401]

Well according to the timetable.

The 0800 from Cardiff gets to Paignton at 1127. The 1247 from Paington gets to Cardiff at 1629.

hi sorry to be a bother, do you know what the calling points are

thanks very much

 

[Class 33]

Well it's a bit of a time consuming process to get the full calling points for these services at the mo. As the proper timetables have not been released on FGW's website, it means going onto journey planner such as crosscountrytrains.co.uk and putting in all the stops to work out where it stops and doesn't stop i.e. put in Cardiff to Bridgewater leaving at 0800 to see if it stops there. Looks like though the 0800 to Paignton will probably run semi-fast to Bristol, then all stops to Paignton. Whilst the 1247 to Cardiff will probably be all stops including Lawrence Hill and Stapleton Road. As the journey is 1 hour 8 minutes between Bristol & Cardiff on that service.

 

[devon_metro]

0800 CDF PGN
Newport
Severn Tunnel
Patchway
Filton
Bristol Temple Meads
Parson Street
Nailsea & Bwell
Yatton
Worle
Weston
Highbridge
Bridgewater
Taunton
Exeter St Davids
Dawlish Warren
Dawlish
Teignmouth
Newton Abbot
Torre
Torquay
Paignton

1247 PGN CDF
Torquay
Torre
Newton Abbot
Teignmouth
Dawlish
Exeter St D
Tiverton Pway
Taunton
Bridgewater
Highbridge
Weston
Worle
Yatton
Nailsea
Bristol Temple Meads
Filton
Patchway
Severn Tunnel
Newport
Cardiff

 

[anthony263]

looks like thy have given it to much time to get back to cardiff, in fact i suspect that it will get back into cardiff around 16:20

 

[TEW]

The other loco hauled diagram has lots of time to do Newport-Cardiff but always trundles along the slow lines.

 

[TGVDUDE]

Aint there a a train from cardiff - brighton on a sunday?

Yes, the're is, i would love to see 57 on these workings, epseically the Cardiff - Paigton

 

[fgwrich]

Well from a source, GBRF the men with hired 57/3s. But we'll see.....

Well...GBRF are hiring VT 57's at the moment for quite a variety of moovements, plus with 57309's currently use on the Night Rivera...And Virgin recent anouncement of a lesser requirment of the 57's...Then Who knows which loco's could be used later this year...

 

[Drsatan]

Couldn't a 31 be used? Until late 2004 at least one Cardiff-Brighton return trip a week was worked by two Fragonset 31s and Mk2s.

 

[43034 The Black Horse]

Couldn't a 31 be used? Until late 2004 at least one Cardiff-Brighton return trip a week was worked by two Fragonset 31s and Mk2s.

Would need 2 and then you would need a through wired set as can't be double headed as run round is a farce.

 

[Drimnagh Road]

This is exciting, it seems South Wales will yet again become the place to be for loco hauled trains. The Cardiff-Holyhead 57, and the two FGW loco hauled diagrams.

Actually speaking of the Cardiff-Holyhead service, that 12:47 Paignton-Cardiff provides a nice connection into the WAG express at Newport. Paignton-Holyhead loco hauled isn't a bad amount of mileage these days....

We all would love to see heritage traction, such as 31s etc but the reality is things are different than 2004, there are a lot more modern locos around these days, and it makes sense to use them if available. As we have seen, loco hauled trains can be very useful to cover for DMUs however a train company, such as FGW, has to make a business case for same and as such has to be careful that it is not seen to be "playing trains". Use of heritage traction when there are modern locos available would give this view.