Yet Another Dire Day On The North Downs Line

[FGW_DID]

However, no matter who operates the route, the lack of serviceable rolling stock and crews won't change quickly. I lay the blame for the stock issue squarely at the DfT's door, when they forced the jettisoning of the 769s.

Amended that for you slightly
If the 769s had been introduced, the plan was for X amount of Turbos to be cascaded West. There still wouldn’t have been a huge reserve of Turbos or 769s to fall back on if / when serviceability goes down the pan.

 

[Deepgreen]

Amended that for you slightly
If the 769s had been introduced, the plan was for X amount of Turbos to be cascaded West. There still wouldn’t have been a huge reserve of Turbos or 769s to fall back on if / when serviceability goes down the pan.

Indeed, but it amounts to the same thing - not enough trains and thus dire service. I was at Guildford for nearly an hour and a half this evening trying to get back to Gomshall when train after train in both directions were either cancelled or skip-stopping. Abysmal, and compounded by yet more level crossing failures of the ones that took almost a year to install and test!

The train I eventually caught had a deafening buzzing on the p.a., to the extent that it was impossible to understand what was being said, which the guard then needlessly repeated 'live' with the same result!

So, both old (trains) and new (level crossings) equipment is failing...

 

[DelW]

Indeed, but it amounts to the same thing - not enough trains and thus dire service. I was at Guildford for nearly an hour and a half this evening trying to get back to Gomshall when train after train in both directions were either cancelled or skip-stopping. Abysmal, and compounded by yet more level crossing failures of the ones that took almost a year to install and test!

I'd suggest keeping a copy of the timetable for Compass Bus route 32 handy!

 

[Deepgreen]

I'd suggest keeping a copy of the timetable for Compass Bus route 32 handy!

Yep! We actually have bus route 25 to/from Guildford past us, but it finishes by early evening. The 32 is also fairly close by. I have been asked to have a post I put on social media about the situation published as a letter in an on-line newspaper tomorrow, to which I have agreed (with some trepidation about how accurately they will transcribe it!).

 

[Deepgreen]

Cancellations continue, no doubt not helped by the recent fire on a 165 at Redhill! Today this (attached - the 1159 from Gatwick to Reading) train is cancelled and the RTT reason is shown as being "replaced by a slower train". However, no replacement train is running, just the next scheduled one - does this really count as a 'replacement'?!

 

[FGW_DID]

Cancellations continue, no doubt not helped by the recent fire on a 165 at Redhill! Today this (attached - the 1159 from Gatwick to Reading) train is cancelled and the RTT reason is shown as being "replaced by a slower train". However, no replacement train is running, just the next scheduled one - does this really count as a 'replacement'?!

This has been mentioned previously about RTT, the delay code may be correct but the explanation isn’t. From the Delay attribution guide MS is “Planned underpowered or shortformed service and or vehicle, incl. exam set swaps”.
LTV Turbos are currently showing at -2 availability and that’s on the 2 cars.
165112 which was the unit involved at Redhill is back in service.

Presumably there has been some jiggling around of the fleet by control. With 2 light I would imagine that one unit has been taken from the North Downs and possibly one from the Basingstoke services but that’s just my guess.

 

[Deepgreen]

This has been mentioned previously about RTT, the delay code may be correct but the explanation isn’t. From the Delay attribution guide MS is “Planned underpowered or shortformed service and or vehicle, incl. exam set swaps”.
LTV Turbos are currently showing at -2 availability and that’s on the 2 cars.
165112 which was the unit involved at Redhill is back in service.

Presumably there has been some jiggling around of the fleet by control. With 2 light I would imagine that one unit has been taken from the North Downs and possibly one from the Basingstoke services but that’s just my guess.

Many thanks for that. Do you know what the bogie fire on 165112 involved? Seems commendably quick to get it back in service.

 

[FGW_DID]

Many thanks for that. Do you know what the bogie fire on 165112 involved? Seems commendably quick to get it back in service.

I’ve been off on rest days so not 100% on this but I think dragging brakes were mentioned. I think it was only out of service for that day.

 

[DelW]

It seems as though little is likely to improve until the 175s are in service in numbers sufficient to release turbos back eastwards. Until then it seems that cancellations and two-car trains will still be all too frequent. I imagine it must be even more annoying and frustrating for staff than it is for passengers.

 

[sp503]

It seems as though little is likely to improve until the 175s are in service in numbers sufficient to release turbos back eastwards. Until then it seems that cancellations and two-car trains will still be all too frequent. I imagine it must be even more annoying and frustrating for staff than it is for passengers.

I think GWR has already made NDL a priority. I have seen multiple times cancellations on the Basingstoke line because a unit had to be redeployed to the NDL to cover a broken down train, which made me feel worse for users on the Basingstoke line and other branch lines suffering from the insufficient rolling stock.

Speaking of which, are the turbos significantly less reliable than other DMUs? They seem particularly unreliable when the weather is too hot or too wet.

 

[FGW_DID]

I think GWR has already made NDL a priority. I have seen multiple times cancellations on the Basingstoke line because a unit had to be redeployed to the NDL to cover a broken down train, which made me feel worse for users on the Basingstoke line and other branch lines suffering from the insufficient rolling stock.

Speaking of which, are the turbos significantly less reliable than other DMUs? They seem particularly unreliable when the weather is too hot or too wet.

No doubt someone will have the actual stats but I wouldn't say there was a significant difference. Failures when its too hot/cold/wet are generally down to the human / machine interface (i.e the driver! )

 

[nw1]

As an aside I do remember this line being more reliable in the 80s. I used Guildford daily and though it wasn't my line, I'd always see a Tonbridge stopper on the way back from school. It was rarely delayed/cancelled. The units used (119s) weren't especially new in those days either.

 

[Bikeman78]

As an aside I do remember this line being more reliable in the 80s. I used Guildford daily and though it wasn't my line, I'd always see a Tonbridge stopper on the way back from school. It was rarely delayed/cancelled. The units used (119s) weren't especially new in those days either.

Same here. I was a frequent user of Reigate station in the 1980s and it ran like clockwork. Sometimes a 117 would turn up instead of a 119 but it still ran to time.

 

[Deepgreen]

I made a journey today from Gomshall to Reading and back. Both trains ran, and to time. On the way out, the p.a. speakers at Gomshall were clicking and buzzing loudly and there were four 'orange men' on site reporting the issue, but that was not why they were there, apparently (on chatting to one). I also pointed out a medium-sized tree that had partly fallen and was very close to fouling the loading gauge on the eastbound road, and they thanked me for pointing it out (I don't know if it had previously been reported by drivers, etc.).

Anyway, on the return trip, I noticed that the platform indicators at various stations were saying my train was two cars, whereas it was actually three - a rare instance of the service being better than shown!

 

[Purple Train]

This has been mentioned previously about RTT, the delay code may be correct but the explanation isn’t. From the Delay attribution guide MS is “Planned underpowered or shortformed service and or vehicle, incl. exam set swaps”.
LTV Turbos are currently showing at -2 availability and that’s on the 2 cars.
165112 which was the unit involved at Redhill is back in service.

Presumably there has been some jiggling around of the fleet by control. With 2 light I would imagine that one unit has been taken from the North Downs and possibly one from the Basingstoke services but that’s just my guess.

It is certainly very stretched at the minute. Two-car 165137 (which I understand to be a "floater" unit that flits between Reading and Bristol depending on where it's required) has been out and about around Reading for a little while, which is usually, to me, a signal that Reading are down to bare bones. My suspicion is also that reliability of the Turbos is slightly decreasing - obviously this is from a Windsor perspective rather than a North Downs one, and I appreciate it's atrocious nitpicking and the service is excellent, but twice since September there's been a gap in service due to the unit failing and a replacement having to be sourced (fortunately I haven't been delayed just yet), whereas before September I didn't record a single instance of this on a day on which I travelled (caveat: I am hopelessly unobservant).

 

[Deepgreen]

It is certainly very stretched at the minute. Two-car 165137 (which I understand to be a "floater" unit that flits between Reading and Bristol depending on where it's required) has been out and about round here for a little while, which is usually, to me, a signal that Reading are down to bare bones. My suspicion is also that reliability of the Turbos is slightly decreasing - obviously this is from a Windsor perspective rather than a North Downs one, and I appreciate it's atrocious nitpicking and the service is excellent, but twice since September there's been a gap in service due to the unit failing and a replacement having to be sourced (fortunately I haven't been delayed just yet), whereas before September I didn't record a single instance of this on a day on which I travelled (caveat: I am hopelessly unobservant).

Where is "round here", please - Windsor? Your details just say "despond", which could be anywhere! 165 reliability is, in my experience, more than "slightly decreasing"...

 

[Purple Train]

Where is "round here", please - Windsor? Your details just say "despond", which could be anywhere! 165 reliability is, in my experience, more than "slightly decreasing"...

Apologies - yes, I do mean Windsor! I said "round here" to mean it seemed to be spending a lot of time at Reading. Sorry, I'll edit the post.

 

[Deepgreen]

By way of light relief - this was at Gomshall the other evening - perhaps revealing how GWR regards our rural stations..!

 

[Deepgreen]

I must say that, for the last couple of weeks, the number of cancellations on the NDL seems to have dropped hugely, from my daily checks on RTT. I have no idea whether the improvement is from staffing, stock availability, or both. Fingers crossed for its continuation.

 

[Class 317]

I must say that, for the last couple of weeks, the number of cancellations on the NDL seems to have dropped hugely, from my daily checks on RTT. I have no idea whether the improvement is from staffing, stock availability, or both. Fingers crossed for its continuation.

As a regular almost daily user at the moment I have to agree. It's costing me much more to get to work without the delay repay!!

 

[Deepgreen]

I wrote too soon! Today has seen several cancellations. Here we go again...

 

[MasterPhillips]

Unfortunately a unit failed due to no cab heating. There was also a driver shortage to make things worse.

 

[Deepgreen]

Unfortunately a unit failed due to no cab heating. There was also a driver shortage to make things worse.

Thanks. Driver shortage seems to be a standard thing now, and unit failure must be expected to worsen steadily, I imagine. The other day I was wondering if the current scrapping of many class 465 and 466 units could yield any non-traction-related spares for their cousins the 165s and 166s.

 

[wokspotter]

Yet another grim day today,but don't worry,Great British Railways will sort it all out.

 

[DelW]

Yet another grim day today,but don't worry,Great British Railways will sort it all out.

Yesterday was poor too, multiple cancellations plus late running. Nothing left Deepdene westbound between 1322 and 1445, the latter very busy.

 

[izvor]

...and Sunday too, just an hourly service timetabled between Gatwick and Guildford, and every other one of these cancelled for much of the day.