Recent content by Steve B

Looking at the Eisteddfod website there are a variety of public transport options, including an hourly shuttle from Carmarthen station.

They have generally doing complete days now for a few months, with occasional days where a switch takes place. Yesterday had a switch but that didn't work out well - 009 was replaced by 010 which then failed with "a problem with the brakes" according to RTT, leading to further disruption and...

My recollection of a footplate ride on "Oliver Cromwell" at Bressingham is not very positive. They were basically allowing as many people on as possible with the result that nobody could get a view of the whole footplate - I'm not exaggerating, it was like travelling on the London Underground in...

They have been doing complete diagrams for several months - with occasional glitches

I don't know, but given that most of the line is 40mph max there may not be much need to reduce it further! Anecdotally, it is sometimes the case that late running is blamed on "these *** trains", but like anywhere else some delays are caused by other factors - misbehaving members of the...

Looking at RTT the answer seems to be "not brilliantly", but they did run. Monday: 2 x 230, 1x197. 1 230 round trip cancelled in the late afternoon evening Tuesday: 2 x 230, 1 x 197. the 230s were swapped with other 230s during the day - several cancellations (initially due to "a problem with...

I'm curious - 230007 is showing on RTT today as being 2 coaches. That surely isn't right or even possible is it? Steve B

According to RTT there are 2 x 230s out today, with 1x 197. No planned unit swaps. First time for a while?

Thank you - none of the reports I read gave any details. From that I'm guessing that the line to West Kirby was shut as well.

And so it was for much of last week, except that it isn't 1 230, but 2 - they swap over during the day... Clearly they are having problems as outlined above, but at least TFW seem to be trying to run the timetable, even if it means moving 197s in to cover. I've mentioned before the number of...

Thank you, as always, for a helpful insight into what is happening. Always appreciated.

I get the impression that most of the recent failures have been brake related - what, I wonder, is going on there? This doesn't seem to have been a problem so much in the past, so why now? I don't think that the brakes on these trains are "new technology" as such that are still needing to be...

It's actually 3 diagrams since the increased service was introduced. There is a 197 covering one of the diagrams today, but normally the 230s cover them all. I'm not sure how easy it would be to rescue a 230 with anything other than a 230 - their couplings are not compatible with anything else...

Was the derailment of 006 the reason there were no Merseyrail services to West Kirby or New Brighton earlier this morning? The reason given was an operational problem at the depot. There do, sadly (or annoyingly if you're stuck on a platform waiting in the sun), seem to have been regular...

In the present timetable there are a couple of services that don't go to Central but terminate in platform 4 - 16.32 and 1943. The last train of the day (23.56) also terminates at General, but in that case uses platform 3. I agree that looks like a hangover from the days that the trains went to...