Storm Franklin - Further weather disruption possible

[43066]

Well, the Reading-Waterloo line has as non-existent a service today as it did yesterday. There's been an attempt to run two trains, neither of which ran throughout. 56 hours and counting since SWR last managed to run a train that ran throughout down here.

And the information is comically bad on SWR's journey check. At the moment they are showing 5 trains cancelled across SWR. Clearly that is not correct: there's more than 5 cancelled on Waterloo-Reading alone!

Then we have comments like this:


The industry needs to get a grip on its messaging, and fast. Despite all the modern communications tools we have, they somehow manage to still put out confusing, unclear (and indeed just plain wrong) information to the punters.

What’s wrong with that exactly? They might have had to swap to stock without working disabled loos, or even subbed in a 455, which I think have run to Reading in the past?

Or would you rather they didn’t pass on that information?

 

[dk1]

Oh, thanks. Does that mean a change of train then, rather than just the usual driver swap at Cambridge?

Yes. It saves continually inheriting delays to the northern half of the route that only then gets worse due to the single line sections.

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Same here. Not a good day out.

Can’t believe my luck being long weekend Thursday-Wednesday.

 

[WesternBiker]

Looks messy on Wessex area and SWR. I’m guessing the 40 fallen trees has risen today !

I have just travelled from Wimbledon to Farnborough. Slightly late due to the 50 mph speed restriction, although at one point we were overtaken rather impressively by train on the fast line! But otherwise, stress free. Interestingly, the train was very busy indeed for a Sunday.

Other services on the mainline seem to be reasonably okay: as others have said, the advice is to avoid Reading.

I was surprised at how few trees in the woodland seem to have fallen, but there are a lot of fallen branches (rather than entire trees). Those can be equally dangerous, of course.

 

[dk1]

Half hourly Norwich-London IC reduced to an hourly Norwich-Colchester shuttle tomorrow. All change for the capital.

 

[TrainGeekUK]

Weather has got very windy on the south coast in the last hour…

Uckfield to Oxted is out of action at the moment, power failure at Ashurst.

 

[Iskra]

A barge with a digger on has broken free of moorings, hit a road bridge and is now stuck in the river under Leeds Station leading to a block on departures towards Leeds West Jn....

nothing moving anywhere at Leeds. Total chaos. Can’t see anything improving soon. No buses available. Walking 40mins to catch a lift home.

 

[YorkshireBear]

nothing moving anywhere at Leeds. Total chaos. Can’t see anything improving soon. No buses available. Walking 40mins to catch a lift home.

I think the lines north west of Leeds might be shut for a number of days.

 

[Iskra]

I think the lines north west of Leeds might be shut for a number of days.

Agreed, still torrential rain. Usually takes at least 24hrs to dissipate. Still thousands stuck at Leeds with limited information on what to do.

 

[dk1]

Looks like Leeds is open again.

 

[MikeWM]

Squall went through here an hour or so ago. Wouldn't want to have been out in it, but nothing we don't see a few times a year.

Looking through the forecasts, I think the railways would perhaps have been better to hint at not to travelling today, particularly in the north of England - where people may now, again, have set out ok but have a lot of trouble getting home - than tomorrow, where for most of the country any problems are going to be in the morning and the afternoon/evening look fairly calm.

 

[YorkshireBear]

Agreed, still torrential rain. Usually takes at least 24hrs to dissipate. Still thousands stuck at Leeds with limited information on what to do.

Not just that, I think the pontoon has done some damage to rail bridges too.

 

[bramling]

Squall went through here an hour or so ago. Wouldn't want to have been out in it, but nothing we don't see a few times a year.

Looking through the forecasts, I think the railways would perhaps have been better to hint at not to travelling today, particularly in the north of England - where people may now, again, have set out ok but have a lot of trouble getting home - than tomorrow, where for most of the country any problems are going to be in the morning and the afternoon/evening look fairly calm.

Had the squall here half an hour or so ago.

Vicious. My RCD at home tripped out on upstairs lights, and after some searching we found a (thankfully fairly minor) drip running right through a ceiling light fitting. I suspect it’s the valley gutter overwhelmed as the amount of rain which fell in a short space of time was massive. Managed to get the circuit to reset now, and the dripping has stopped, but leaving it off for the time being as a precaution. Unfortunately it’s in a location which is hard to easily inspect.

The squall in itself will definitely have caused some disruption.

(As an aside, I can’t recommend RCDs enough. Anyone who has the old-style fuse boxes really should make the outlay and upgrade).

 

[ashkeba]

More to do with the fact that the Exeter AOM and Duty Manager is a massive ned given the chance

What is a ned, please?

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Yes. It saves continually inheriting delays to the northern half of the route that only then gets worse due to the single line sections.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 Feb 2022 ==


Can’t believe my luck being long weekend Thursday-Wednesday.

Dare you get a sun(bed)tan and clock on Thursday asking how their week went?

 

[43096]

What’s wrong with that exactly? They might have had to swap to stock without working disabled loos, or even subbed in a 455, which I think have run to Reading in the past?

Or would you rather they didn’t pass on that information?

The disabled bogs being OOU isn't down to severe weather (unless someone had had a very dodgy curry), is it? And the fact it says only disabled toilets are unavailable means the non-PRM ones are available, rather than no toilet facilities.

Personally, I'd rather they gave first priority to which trains are actually running (or not). The five cancellations is just utter nonsense. That was the real point I was making: info on what toilets are not available is of secondary importance in the grand scheme of things when they haven't run a train for 56 hours and continue to cancel left, right and centre.

 

[yorkie]

What is a ned, please?

In most common usage it means a hooligan or a 'chav' but in rail enthusiast circles it refers to 'new engine desperado' (i.e. someone who spots locomotives and logs them in a book, typically bby marking new ones with a red pen).

 

[dk1]

What is a ned, please?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 Feb 2022 ==


Dare you get a sun(bed)tan and clock on Thursday asking how their week went?

My Mum has an account with a local tanning shop. I might just do that now lol

 

[syorksdeano]

Not something you see everyday

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Not something you see everyday

Just another bridge bash?!

 

[cactustwirly]

More to do with the fact that the Exeter AOM and Duty Manager is a massive ned given the chance

I don't believe it will make it all the way, normally it'll get subbed at Taunton for a 800.

Are there actually any train crew that sign both Reading and 150s?

 

[dk1]

Just another bridge bash?!

All okay again. Rather a non event.

 

[MP393]

I don't believe it will make it all the way, normally it'll get subbed at Taunton for a 800.

Are there actually any train crew that sign both Reading and 150s?

Definitely made it!

 

[Dai Corner]

I don't believe it will make it all the way, normally it'll get subbed at Taunton for a 800.

Are there actually any train crew that sign both Reading and 150s?

An Exeter driver who posts on another railway forum has confirmed he's on this job.

 

[dk1]

An Exeter driver who posts on another railway forum has confirmed he's on this job.

They both seem to be enjoying it. Makes a nice change to do something different.

Reminds me when we had a 150/2 booked on the 06:20 Liverpool St-Sheringham & 20:02 return although only as a single unit throughout.

 

[Edsmith]

Tree blocking the line at Charing

 

[CHAPS2034]

Here's a few of the issues from oop norf which I don't think have been reported on here, taken from NRE at 1930. Mostly flooding - and the wind hasn't got going yet!

Train services between Leeds, Carlisle and Morecambe are currently being disrupted due to flooding north of Skipton and flooding near Giggleswick.

Train services between Sheffield and Lincoln are being disrupted due to flooding near Kiveton Bridge.

Carstairs - Lockerbie

Due to high winds between Carstairs and Lockerbie, trains between these stations may be delayed by up to 60 minutes until the end of the day.

Leeds - Huddersfield

Heavy rain flooding the railway between Dewsbury and Huddersfield means trains have to run at reduced speed on some lines. Trains running through these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Sheffield - Stockport

Multiple trees and flooding between Sheffield and Stockport means all lines are blocked, Trains running between these stations may be cancelled, delayed, revised or diverted. Diverting will add an additional 15 minutes to the journey.

Shrewsbury - Wrexham Central

Heavy rain flooding in the Gobowen area means all lines are blocked.

Shrewsbury - Newtown

Flooding of the railway between Welshpool and Newtown means the line is blocked. Trains may be delayed or cancelled.

Crewe - Stafford

Due to flooding, trains between Crewe and Stafford may be delayed by up to 20 minutes.

 

[Class 170101]

Half hourly Norwich-London IC reduced to an hourly Norwich-Colchester shuttle tomorrow. All change for the capital.

But not a true half hourly service from Liverpool Street, more like 15 and 45 minute gaps

 

[randyrippley]

Something may have happened to the 16:51 Edinburgh-Birmingham
Five minutes ago it was showing as expected 100 late at Lancaster
Now it just shows "delayed" and somewhere between Haymarket and Carlisle

 

[dk1]

But not a true half hourly service from Liverpool Street, more like 15 and 45 minute gaps

How do you work that out? For most of the day it’s xx:00/xx:30. Only the 17:50 really that’s off pattern.

 

[CHAPS2034]

Something may have happened to the 16:51 Edinburgh-Birmingham
Five minutes ago it was showing as expected 100 late at Lancaster
Now it just shows "delayed" and somewhere between Haymarket and Carlisle

RTT shows this left EDI 85L

At Beattock summit 98L and passed Lockerbie at 1948 118L

Double Voyager - presumably running at reduced speed.

 

[Class 170101]

Realtime Trains - Departures from London Liverpool Street

Realtime Trains is an independent source of live realtime running information for the Great British railway network.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Just look at the VST departures the rest aren't running tomorrow apparently, looks like xx00 to Ipswich and xx14 to Colchester.