M&NEJ
Member
I go to RealTime Trains every morning to see how the northern WCML is running and whether (rarely) there's a late-running sleeper that I can see in daylight. Yesterday, 12/06/24 was such a day: 1M16, the "up" Highlander, was 3 hours late, along with a flight of freights: at Lancaster 4M86 (07:03), 4M82 (07:19), 4M49 (07:26) 6L35 (07:38) and 4M57 (07:50).
I guess I'm not alone in enjoying the detective work that RTT allows, and it was clear there'd been a problem on the "up" line somewhere near Southwaite (between Carlisle and Penrith) the previous night. 1M20 (390.005, Avanti 20:06 Glasgow - Crewe) had made a normal call at Carlisle then gone no further after Southwaite at 21:32. Hard on its heels, 1M65 (397.005, TP 20:12 Edinburgh - Manchester Piccadilly) similarly had called at Carlisle then got no further than Southwaite (21:41).
On a trip during the day to Oxenholme I heard an on-train announcement that my Avanti service was delayed by a "broken down freight train blocking the line"; then at Oxenholme another train announced as late because of "a tree falling on the line". These may have been later, unrelated incidents (or else just Avanti-speak?!). On returning home I resumed the detective work, looking for a failed freight; but the answer came at tea-time with 5Z69, a 15:00 Plumpton to Longsight ECS, which I witnessed in Lancaster - a 57 dragging a pendolino. Presumably Avanti's 1M20 had failed north of Plumpton loop. Earlier, 397.005 had run as ECS from Southwaite to Preston as 5M65.
So I'm left with a mystery. Normally on RTT one can tell from the timings that a train has retreated after coming upon a line block (e.g. overhead wires down at Lockerbie and an Avanti from Glasgow, having got towards Beattock summit, returns to its point of origin). On this occasion neither Avanti's 1M20 nor TP's 1M65 had apparently returned to Carlisle; and both sets subsequently ran (or were dragged) as ECS southwards from the vicinity of the failure. Were they running empty from Carlisle on the night of 11/06/24 or were passengers de-trained in the wilds of Cumbria?
What happened and where did the passengers go?! Thanks to anyone interested enough to shed light on the mystery!
I guess I'm not alone in enjoying the detective work that RTT allows, and it was clear there'd been a problem on the "up" line somewhere near Southwaite (between Carlisle and Penrith) the previous night. 1M20 (390.005, Avanti 20:06 Glasgow - Crewe) had made a normal call at Carlisle then gone no further after Southwaite at 21:32. Hard on its heels, 1M65 (397.005, TP 20:12 Edinburgh - Manchester Piccadilly) similarly had called at Carlisle then got no further than Southwaite (21:41).
On a trip during the day to Oxenholme I heard an on-train announcement that my Avanti service was delayed by a "broken down freight train blocking the line"; then at Oxenholme another train announced as late because of "a tree falling on the line". These may have been later, unrelated incidents (or else just Avanti-speak?!). On returning home I resumed the detective work, looking for a failed freight; but the answer came at tea-time with 5Z69, a 15:00 Plumpton to Longsight ECS, which I witnessed in Lancaster - a 57 dragging a pendolino. Presumably Avanti's 1M20 had failed north of Plumpton loop. Earlier, 397.005 had run as ECS from Southwaite to Preston as 5M65.
So I'm left with a mystery. Normally on RTT one can tell from the timings that a train has retreated after coming upon a line block (e.g. overhead wires down at Lockerbie and an Avanti from Glasgow, having got towards Beattock summit, returns to its point of origin). On this occasion neither Avanti's 1M20 nor TP's 1M65 had apparently returned to Carlisle; and both sets subsequently ran (or were dragged) as ECS southwards from the vicinity of the failure. Were they running empty from Carlisle on the night of 11/06/24 or were passengers de-trained in the wilds of Cumbria?
What happened and where did the passengers go?! Thanks to anyone interested enough to shed light on the mystery!
