Recent content by 2T57

The introduction of 196 units on the Hereford - New Street (via Bromsgrove) route was a great improvement and usually offered 4 carriages (either a 4-car unit or 2x2). However, 6 of the 16 services (Mon-Fri) have been reduced to 3 carriages, running with the older 172 units and occasionally I've...

Hopefully it won't be long before 196 4-car units are back on all services on the Hereford line. There are currently two patterns working with 3-car 172s on the New Street to Hereford (via Bromsgrove) route.

Indeed and that's an ECS movement

The 05:43 Great Malvern to New Street (Mon-Fri) was five minutes late into New Street today as it was running immediately behind the first train from Redditch to Four Oaks – a situation I’ve experienced before on the 05:43 service. The Redditch service leaves the town at 06:04 but the regular...

Thank you for the information. The new 20.40 Hereford to New Street service isn't booked to call at Bromsgrove. Yet 20 other daily services from Hereford to New Street (Mon-Fri) are able to call at Bromsgrove – including those running in peak when, presumably, the availability of paths must be...

It would make sense for there be more services between Worcester and Bromsgrove, especially as Bromsgrove is an interchange for Cross City/Hereford-Worcester passengers. However, a new 20.40 Hereford to New Street service (Mon-Fri from 19 May) doesn’t call at Bromsgrove which seems odd as...

Yes, it left at 03:45. Looking at a timetable from 1981, the five Monday to Saturday services on the Heart of Wales route left Shrewsbury at 03:45, 06:22, 10:46, 15:43 and 18:48. In the opposite direction they departed Swansea at 05:44, 10:10, 12:25, 14:58 and 19.05. There was no Sunday...

Thanks. I've edited the sentence. From the car-park I noticed the lack of gangway and thought it was a 170. Would still like to know what's happened to the 4-car 196s on this route.

According to the West Midlands Railway travel updates page, as many as 25 services running between New Street, Worcester and Hereford today will have just two carriages instead of the usual four. It's going to be a bit cosy with the additional Christmas shoppers etc I've noticed 172s back on...

Passengers on the new 09:45 Cardiff Central to Edinburgh can change at Derby for Nottingham. An East Midlands Trains service departs Derby at 12:49 (8 minutes after the arrival of the Cardiff service) to arrive at Nottingham at 13:19.

Agreed, that's why it's ridiculous for the new Cardiff-Edinburgh service to call at Worcestershire Parkway northbound but not southbound

Agreed, so a real shame that this new service calls at Worcestershire Parkway northbound, but not southbound

Due to this incident, the 15:00 Temple Meads to Manchester Piccadilly called additionally at Bromsgrove where it was held for around 45 minutes in Platform 1. Some passengers changed at Bromsgrove for West Midlands Trains' services for Birmingham New Street.

Indeed, operating as nothing much more than a regional stopper, making 9 station calls and taking around 100 minutes to cover just 68 miles between Temple Meads and Foregate Street.

I’ve noticed that a number of Birmingham to Hereford services have been formed of just two carriages recently. Even pre-Covid, some services on this route had five carriages and were often full. I note that West Midlands Trains does not release information to the various real-time running...