Recent content by Occtraveller

Looks like some fettling is required: "Network Rail Western @networkrail... 1h ? Travelling to Heathrow? There will be an amended timetable operating on Tuesday 28 November because of an issue with the way trains communicate with signals."...

This is just a guess, but the imminent opening of Reading Green Park station is going to cause some delays. As I recall, it turns the Reading-Basingstoke services from barely viable turnaround to not really viable, although the 769s might help? Perhaps Bramley was identified as the bottleneck on...

Was the union consulted on 458/5's new cabs, or was the change considered small enough that the original cab desks/layout would be preserved? If you're going back to the original entry into service of the 458/0, that was in 1998. A different time.

Regarding fuelling - is it like a petrol station pump, where the filler clicks off when the back-pressure indicates that the tank is (almost) full, or more like an airliner where a specific quantity of fuel is programmed into the dispenser? The auto shut-off mechanism never worked very well...

The 387s for GWR were a fairly late addition to the electrification plan. I'm sure I remember as late as the end of 2015, the plan was still to have a mix of 365s and 319s. Had this tender happened a bit earlier, we could still have had the 365s, but they've all been sent to the scrapyard now...

It's operationally a lot easier to switch from diesel to electric, or vice versa, when stationary than on the move. The places where the switch happens at running speed, on GWR at least, have been specially reinforced, as I understand it. And if diesel to electric fails to work, the train just...

Do we know if the 484s have the additional packing in the suspension, to raise the ride height compared to when they ran on LU? - quote from https://railengineer.co.uk/what-next-for-vivarail/ I would have thought they'd want to avoid it given the height restrictions, but it may be necessary...

My understanding is that the Reduced Length Units (7-cars) are running an older build of software that only supports TPWS+AWS - it does not implement ETCS so cannot run in Heathrow tunnels. TPWS+AWS are not installed there and aren't going to be. The Full Length Units (9-car) run ETCS as their...

Surely the carbon strips are a wear item?? The whole point of using carbon, rather than something more conductive, is that it wears in preference to the much harder to replace contact wire. I suppose it's possible that a new design means that the pantograph has to be dismounted to change the...

Yep, 800023 was leading. Came to a fairly sudden stop just outside Taplow, then after a lengthy pause (about a minute) pulled away on diesel. I didn't notice the engine running when we pulled into Reading though (on time), so possibly went back to electric on route.

I can confirm that the 1637 to Swansea is a pair of 800s, currently sat on coach H about to depart from Paddington. Haven't noted the unit numbers.

387s were stabling there when I passed at about 2200 on Thursday 28th. They have been running in service since start of play on the 28th.

They departed Reading on diesel when I was there about 1215 today, but that may have been due to a wiring problem near Twyford. EDIT: 'They' being the 1211 to Swansea, which was the 1130 from Paddington (started 15 late), and the 1213 to Paddington, started from Bristol at 1100. Both left...

I wondered why the 800s were pulling away from Reading on diesel (both directions). Caught the delayed 1222 to Oxford, many delays and platform alterations on the board.

On the Waterloo-Reading route, we recently started getting 10-car Class 458/5s on some diagrams in addition to the previous 8-car Class 450s. These stations are too short: Earley Winnersh Triangle Winnersh Ascot Virginia Water (platform 3) Feltham Twickenham Richmond (although these are listed...