12 car train stopping at GN stops this morning?

[Intercity_225]

Just saw that 2P07 05:43 Peterborough - London Kings Cross was operated by a 12 car 700 (specifically 700149) today, meaning it stopped at Welwyn North, Hatfield, Potters Bar & Alexandra Palace, all of these I believe only fitting 8 coaches. This service (and the whole diagram it is on) is normally booked for an 8 car 700. Do 12 cars stop at the stations listed above particularly frequently? Thanks

 

[rmHawk765]

Just saw that 2P07 05:43 Peterborough - London Kings Cross was operated by a 12 car 700 (specifically 700149) today, meaning it stopped at Welwyn North, Hatfield, Potters Bar & Alexandra Palace, all of these I believe only fitting 8 coaches. This service (and the whole diagram it is on) is normally booked for an 8 car 700. Do 12 cars stop at the stations listed above particularly frequently? Thanks

No - from Finsbury onwards only Stevenage, Biggleswade, St Neots, Huntingdon Hitchin, all stations to Peterborough, Letchworth, Baldock, Ashwell & Modern (as bizzare as it sounds), Royston, Cambridge South and Cambridge are booked to be served by 12-coach trains. Everything else is booked to be 8-coaches, but if disruption occurs the night before and trains are misplaced this sort of stuff can happen. Perhaps the most bizzare yet possible occurrence is for a 12-coach 700 to serve the Hertford Loop 6-coach stations as there is a booked King's Cross-Royston via Hertford train once a week!

 

[mathstrains19]

No - from Finsbury onwards only Stevenage, Biggleswade, St Neots, Huntingdon, Hitchin, [...] are booked to be served by 12-coach trains

When did the Peterborough-Horsham trains stop serving Sandy/Arlesey?

 

[Royston Vasey]

No - from Finsbury onwards only Stevenage, Biggleswade, St Neots, Huntingdon, Hitchin, Letchworth, Baldock, Ashwell & Modern (as bizzare as it sounds), Royston, Cambridge South and Cambridge are booked to be served by 12-coach trains. Everything else is booked to be 8-coaches, but if disruption occurs the night before and trains are misplaced this sort of stuff can happen. Perhaps the most bizzare yet possible occurrence is for a 12-coach 700 to serve the Hertford Loop 6-coach stations as there is a booked King's Cross-Royston via Hertford train once a week!

A handful of reasons for this. Firstly because 12 cars can serve it, unlike Shepreth and Foxton where the rear four would foul level crossings in the down direction. This gives Ashwell a Thameslink service and my mind forgets how hard the good rail users of Ashwell and the Mordens fought for this when TL was in planning (even though I was a resident of a Morden during that process!)

The most important reason is that it makes the down timetable work. For most of the day, the stopper from Kings Cross arrives at Cambridge only 3-5 minutes before the Thameslink from Brighton. Removing the AWM call from the GN local and adding it to the TL is what creates that ~4 minutes, and means that TL isn't crawling through South Cambs behind a stopper. There are even a small number of 2 minute headways between the two, arriving at Cambridge in the peaks, because the GN stopper does call at AWM, but that would be unsustainable all day.

 

[rmHawk765]

When did the Peterborough-Horsham trains stop serving Sandy/Arlesey?

To be honest I just forgot those are 700/1s my mistake

 

[Failed Unit]

I noticed the same thing last week as well. The 12 cars have shown up a few times on the stoppers. It is amazing how many people don’t listen to the selective door opening announcements and need to run forward. Welwyn Garden City and Knebworth both have regular calls with 12 cars. The only think with Welwyn Garden City is they must approach on the slow line, otherwise the wouldn’t clear the fasts.

 

[rmHawk765]

I noticed the same thing last week as well. The 12 cars have shown up a few times on the stoppers. It is amazing how many people don’t listen to the selective door opening announcements and need to run forward. Welwyn Garden City and Knebworth both have regular calls with 12 cars. The only think with Welwyn Garden City is they must approach on the slow line, otherwise the wouldn’t clear the fasts.

People still don't listen to the last coach not opening at Hornsey...

Welwyn doesn't have booked 12-coach calls. Knebworth does get calls from Peterborough-Horsham trains in the morning peak on the other hand (admittedly forgot to mention this in my original post as it's a bit of an oddity).

AIUI approaching on the slow line vs on the fast lines is a bit irrelevant because it is faster to enter the platform by using the 70mph crossover anyway, hence why TL trains are booked for the slow line from Woolner Green Jn onwards.

Overall 700 allocation has been a mess recently. The unit availability is poor anyway, but the heatwaves caused damage to pantographs on several 700/1s so there was (and sort of still is) a period of short-forming using 700/0s, as a 700/1 with only one pantograph runs on half power and cannot keep to the timetable. Therefore I imagine the placement of the units is a bit random right now.

 

[Failed Unit]

People still don't listen to the last coach not opening at Hornsey...

Welwyn doesn't have booked 12-coach calls. Knebworth does get calls from Peterborough-Horsham trains in the morning peak on the other hand (admittedly forgot to mention this in my original post as it's a bit of an oddity).

AIUI approaching on the slow line vs on the fast lines is a bit irrelevant because it is faster to enter the platform by using the 70mph crossover anyway, hence why TL trains are booked for the slow line from Woolner Green Jn onwards.

Overall 700 allocation has been a mess recently. The unit availability is poor anyway, but the heatwaves caused damage to pantographs on several 700/1s so there was (and sort of still is) a period of short-forming using 700/0s, as a 700/1 with only one pantograph runs on half power and cannot keep to the timetable. Therefore I imagine the placement of the units is a bit random right now.

Actually, unless it has changed allocation very recently and early morning Peterborough- Horsham stops there every day around 0520. It looks like an LNER staff train.

It is frequently used in disruptions, which is where the problem I suggest comes from. Going north the train must cross at Potters Bar. This can cause problems if the slow line is full of trains.

But northbound calls at Welwyn Garden City are not uncommon on the Peterborough - Horsham or Cambridge- Brighton services to keep passengers wanting to go north moving. Sometimes they even stop them at Welwyn North and Knebworth.

 

[rmHawk765]

Actually, unless it has changed allocation very recently and early morning Peterborough- Horsham stops there every day around 0520. It looks like an LNER staff train.

There has always been a staff train at Welwyn but its stock has never remained similar, so presumably it is indeed a booked 700/1?

 

[Failed Unit]

it was today. 700117. Every time I have gone on it this year it was 12.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

When did the Peterborough-Horsham trains stop serving Sandy/Arlesey?

They haven't. That could have been engineering related if it refers to a weekend date?