1642 Gloucester to Weymouth

[Ivo]

Hi all,

The above service seems to hit trouble every day! Loss of power one day, low capacity the next. Indeed, last Saturday it was ten minutes late out of Bath, which is perfectly normal (and a massive improvement on the Friday offering of nearly 30 late!) However, on this Saturday, April 17, it wasn't run by a 150. Or a 153. Or a 158. Or even a Pacer. Instead, it was an HST! An eight-car High Speed Train, Class 43, running on the Heart of Wessex Line!

Is anyone able to shed some light on this ridiculous journey please?

 

[devon_metro]

It ran as an HST Bristol - Weymouth and return.

 

[anthony263]

I heard that a hst worked it the day after as well, something about problems with some of the FGW DMU'S in fact a hst has worked the Cardiff - Taunton diagram recently

 

[87015]

FGW DMU fleet is always in a mess, the 'improved' SPM depot is a total farce and reliability is worse than when the sets were at Canton...

 

[43034 The Black Horse]

FGW DMU fleet is always in a mess, the 'improved' SPM depot is a total farce and reliability is worse than when the sets were at Canton...

I wouldn't say so. There's a lot of old hands there, with many many years of experience (some ex Swindon Works apprentices there..) and they are skilled chaps.
Remember, SPM was mainly an HST depot until a few years ago and took them a while until they got used to working with units. Now they're fine with them and are training up many apprentices in the process.

May I ask where you have gen from that SPM is a 'total farce'? Not having a dig, just enquiring.

 

[Ivo]

Well then, I should probably add that I used the same journey the day before to Westbury. It was formed of a 150+153 combination, but the 150 engine had failed so the 153 was doing all the work. Thus, it was slow and was curtailed at Westbury (and swapped for a different 150). Could this have something to do with it?

 

[Techniquest]

I heard that a hst worked it the day after as well, something about problems with some of the FGW DMU'S in fact a hst has worked the Cardiff - Taunton diagram recently

You mean Sunday? Would have been a bit difficult as there was engineering work on with buses replacing trains between Westbury and Taunton

 

[anthony263]

You mean Sunday? Would have been a bit difficult as there was engineering work on with buses replacing trains between Westbury and Taunton

I meant the friday or thats what i was told

 

[Newportmuscles]

SPM is not a farce, they have several problems. Still learning what isn't in the manuals, catching up of years of being "maintained" at Canton and a lack of spare parts. Also at the moment a lot of major exams are due, which doesn't help with 3 car 158s!

And I was the driver of the HST to Weymouth

 

[devon_metro]

SPM is not a farce, they have several problems. Still learning what isn't in the manuals, catching up of years of being "maintained" at Canton and a lack of spare parts. Also at the moment a lot of major exams are due, which doesn't help with 3 car 158s!

Just tell the SPM people to invest in some gaffa tape, does wonders... ah... wait.

 

[455driver]

Originally Posted by 87015
FGW DMU fleet is always in a mess, the 'improved' SPM depot is a total farce and reliability is worse than when the sets were at Canton...

May I ask where you have gen from that SPM is a 'total farce'? Not having a dig, just enquiring.

No reply, what a surprise, they see a few problems and suddenly everything is a farce, maybe the units have to be taken out of srevice to catch up on the maintenance backlog.
I notice on a gen site that everything that goes wrong affecting FGW is called a "farce" even when it isnt FGWs fault. Boring boring!

 

[Dennis]

catching up of years of being "maintained" at Canton

Haven't all the units been through the refurb program since then? Or was that mainly cosmetic?

 

[455driver]

The refurb was to the interior/exterior, nothing mechanical was touched.

 

[Newportmuscles]

The refurb was to the interior/exterior, nothing mechanical was touched.

Correct, below solebar is done after so many hours.
At SPM at the moment 143611 has new axles, a single 158 power car is bogie less and an 153 is under going a big exam.

 

[Dennis]

Rode on a 153 today (think it was 380) and observed shiny looking bogies, so it's not going unoticed that the Wests units are getting a bit of TLC. However, from a normal paseengers point of view, one of the most important things in the next few months, apart from getting a seat, will be working aircon on the 158's; seen a fair few open windows in the last couple of weeks.....

 

[87015]

I wouldn't say so. There's a lot of old hands there, with many many years of experience (some ex Swindon Works apprentices there..) and they are skilled chaps.
Remember, SPM was mainly an HST depot until a few years ago and took them a while until they got used to working with units. Now they're fine with them and are training up many apprentices in the process.

May I ask where you have gen from that SPM is a 'total farce'? Not having a dig, just enquiring.

West control, who you'd hope would be fairly on the ball about fleet availability and unit faults.

Seems odd to still be blaming Canton three years later when SPM MPC is lower than both Wessex Canton days and current Canton ATW fleets.

 

[43034 The Black Horse]

West control, who you'd hope would be fairly on the ball about fleet availability and unit faults.

Seems odd to still be blaming Canton three years later when SPM MPC is lower than both Wessex Canton days and current Canton ATW fleets.

When I posted that, last month. I spoke to some chaps down at SPM who responded with:

How about the golden spanner due to most improved 143s?

looking at out fleet board we always meet the target for max availability atm,

we do however have 4 units out of miles waiting for exams...

as you say, it has to be remembered that when we took on the dmu's, we were a hst depot, with no training, it was learnt as the guys went along, even now, most of the blokes havent had dmu block training apart from training days.

The state of the units is a cleaning issue, they aren't actually as bad as spotters make out...

 

[grh]

Hi ,

Well a HST to Weymouth.!!!! What a shame i missed it again. Only work down the road from the Yeovil-Dorchester line.
Is this going to be a regular occurance??? I hope so.

Will it take over the 67s. A HST or 67 is required every day in the summer I think, as they are SO over crowed.

Remember the ''Weymouth Sand and Cycle Explorers'' with 37 Haulage and 4 MKII, 6 days a week in the summer timetable.

It seems to of been since the trains run to/from Glos, Gt Malvern etc that they NEVER keep to time.
If I go on the service, which I think is a superb line, the train always looses time collecting tokens at Maiden Newton and Yeovil Pen Mill.

Graham