Heat related disruption 8 July 2026 onwards

Coleridge · 11 Jul 2026

Darandio said:
Luckily we can explore the data for somewhere like Newport. In the last 10 years it has averaged around 3.6 days per year where the temperature is 29°C or above, but 9 of those days happened in just one year!

Granted it is getting warmer and we are seeing it more but not exactly uncommon? Absolutely it is.

You're right, of course: my choice of words was poor.

29 degrees air temperature is uncommon (though getting less so) but is not extreme. However, the rail companies seem to treat cancellation of services as the default action rather than a last resort - today's services on the Ebbw Vale line were cancelled in the early hours, merely in anticipation of it being hot.

Hopefully, it's the old units that are failing, with the newer ones being removed from other services to replace them, although I imagine that TfW's new trains were ordered to the very cheapest specification and are probably not as resilient as they might be.

RailUK Forums

High Dyke · 11 Jul 2026

Nice to see so many 'ossing about train cancellations. Would they still complain if their train ran over a heat affected rail and was possibly derailed?

reach123y · 11 Jul 2026

Not sure if it's down to the heat but nothing much moving at Leeds. Apparently power problems at York ROC according to staff here. Trains stacking up.

HST125Scorton · 11 Jul 2026

Lineside fire (Internally) reported around the Acton Bridge area taking and melting signalling cables, could of been from the passing Kettle 44871 which was diesel assisted with a 57.

800001 · 11 Jul 2026

reach123y said:
Not sure if it's down to the heat but nothing much moving at Leeds. Apparently power problems at York ROC according to staff here. Trains stacking up.

Services backed to Micklefield, and services due to head from York towards Leeds are being held at York.

Trainman40083 · 11 Jul 2026

ChrisC said:
Thirty years ago, when the Robin Hood Line first re-opened, the fares were incredibly cheap due to them being heavily subsidised. These days I don’t think that they are that cheap. There are a few cheap fares between some pairs of stations but the return fare from Nottingham to Mansfield is no longer very much cheaper than many other journeys of similar distance. For the distance it is not very much less than Nottingham to Derby, or Nottingham to Newark.

Whatever the fares, it doesn’t change the fact that EMR have removed the train service from a large town like Mansfield. Today EMR are currently stating that there is a good service with minor changes, however, all trains are again cancelled after approx 12 noon. You would think that EMR could at least run a couple of trains between Nottingham and Mansfield at peak time this afternoon to enable passengers who travelled into Nottingham this morning to return home by train. The Stagecoach Pronto and Trent Barton Threes buses must be doing very well out of this.

Yes, just £3 single on the bus. You could imagine the railway losing passengers, if the bus service is more reliable.. That said, it is a fair walk from the railway station to Nottingham Victoria for the bus.

D1537 · 11 Jul 2026

Appears to be a lineside fire north of Crewe, not much moving at Preston, 9S80 Euston-Edinburgh is going via Manchester.

Peter0124 · 11 Jul 2026

HST125Scorton said:
Lineside fire reported around the Acton Bridge area taking and melting signalling cables, could of been from the passing Kettle 44871 which was diesel assisted with a 57 https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:U86800/2026-07-11/detailed

Uh oh

GordonT · 11 Jul 2026

Peter0124 said:
Uh oh

Is it heresy to wonder if steam locomotives should not be operating in steam on NR lines during heatwaves?

yorkshirerail · 11 Jul 2026

Seem to be no trains towards Wakefield Westgate Kirkstall Forge and Woodlesford in or out of Leeds reported power supply failure

86247 · 11 Jul 2026

with all this heat and fires on the railway and cancellations everywhere things don't look good for my coast & peaks 4 out 8 rover next week.

Hedge Fund · 11 Jul 2026

GordonT said:
Is it heresy to wonder if steam locomotives should not be operating in steam on NR lines during heatwaves?

Not heresy at all in my opinion.

Look at the destruction caused by a single steam train in Cumbria last year. 40 separate fires, hundreds of firefighters drafted into the area, and 2000 metres of cable to be replaced.

Not worth the risk.

800001 · 11 Jul 2026

yorkshirerail said:
Seem to be no trains towards Wakefield Westgate Kirkstall Forge and Woodlesford in or out of Leeds reported power supply failure

LNER on 'X' stating a fault with the signalling system

London North Eastern Railway (@LNER) on X

⚠️ #LNERUpdate Services are currently disrupted due to a fault with the signalling system in the #Leeds area. We’re working with Network Rail to get our trains moving again as quickly as possible. ℹ️ For further information, please see: https://t.co/UEazAM553j

x.com

#LNERUpdate Services are currently disrupted due to a fault with the signalling system in the #Leeds area.

We’re working with Network Rail to get our trains moving again as quickly as possible.

ℹ️ For further information, please see: lner.co.uk/travel-informa…

Kite159 · 11 Jul 2026

Doesn't help things when SWR cancel the West of England diesels at Basingstoke, only for the units to sit in Barton Mill for 2 hours getting cooked (on Saturday). At least yesterday (Friday) it sounded like the services were terminating at Basingstoke and forming the next available train back west.

route101 · 11 Jul 2026

I'm stuck at Carlisle as overhead wires have tripped.

MerkadesVito · 11 Jul 2026

HST125Scorton said:
Lineside fire reported around the Acton Bridge area taking and melting signalling cables, could of been from the passing Kettle 44871 which was diesel assisted with a 57 https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:U86800/2026-07-11/detailed

Seen the fire myself. Was trainspotting for Black 5 and when I was leaving i saw smoke covering the tracks north of acton bridge near chapel lane footbridge, ended up reporting it to NR.

vikingdriver · 11 Jul 2026

Kite159 said:
Doesn't help things when SWR cancel the West of England diesels at Basingstoke, only for the units to sit in Barton Mill for 2 hours getting cooked (on Saturday). At least yesterday (Friday) it sounded like the services were terminating at Basingstoke and forming the next available train back west.

At least the drivers can sit in the air conditioned shunters cabin for some respite from the horrific sauna like environment they are expected to work in!

800001 · 11 Jul 2026

MerkadesVito said:
Seen the fire myself. Was trainspotting for Black 5 and when I was leaving i saw smoke covering the tracks north of acton bridge near chapel lane footbridge, ended up reporting it to NRView attachment 207564

Well done for reporting, hopefully prevented it spreading and becoming more serious.

MerkadesVito · 11 Jul 2026

800001 said:
Well done for reporting, hopefully prevented it spreading and becoming more serious.

Yes, It definitely couldve been alot worse. It really kicked off when I saw it. My speculation on how it happened is that the grass caught on fire, the flames made the OHLE hot and as 44871 passed by it could've melted the OHLE wires. Though I would recommend waiting for official evidence

Crepello · 11 Jul 2026

MerkadesVito said:
Seen the fire myself. Was trainspotting for Black 5 and when I was leaving i saw smoke covering the tracks north of acton bridge near chapel lane footbridge, ended up reporting it to NR.

Thanks for the photo - interesting to see how NR and the fire service collaborate. Good work by the latter - I gather British fire apparatus only carry about 400 gallons, with tankers rarely available. That's *not* a lot of water for a good-sized brush fire.

Dave W · 11 Jul 2026

Gareth1990 said:
Technically fossil fuel is not made up of dinosaurs, the coal and oil beds of the world were laid down during the Carboniferous period, over a hundred million years before the rise of the Dinosaurs

I can only applaud this level of detail on the matter

AndrewE · 11 Jul 2026

Gareth1990 said:
Technically fossil fuel is not made up of dinosaurs, the coal and oil beds of the world were laid down during the Carboniferous period, over a hundred million years before the rise of the Dinosaurs

Dave W said:
I can only applaud this level of detail on the matter

er, not quite... lots of coal and even more oil is actually Jurassic! see Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurassic

The Kimmeridge Clay and equivalents are the major source rock for the North Sea oil.[19] The Arabian Intrashelf Basin, deposited during the Middle and Late Jurassic, is the setting of the world's largest oil reserves, including the Ghawar Field, the world's largest oil field.[20] The Jurassic-aged Sargelu[21] and Naokelekan formations[22] are major source rocks for oil in Iraq. Over 1500 gigatons of Jurassic coal reserves are found in north-west China, primarily in the Turpan-Hami Basin and the Ordos Basin

also Jurassic coal at Brora in Scotland: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brora_Coalfield

Gareth1990 · 11 Jul 2026

AndrewE said:
er, not quite... lots of coal and even more oil is actually Jurassic! see Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurassic

also Jurassic coal at Brora in Scotland: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brora_Coalfield

Yes, but Where Britain and the Middle East is now was at the Bottom of the Tethys Ocean, so even then the deposits wouldn’t be dinosaurs, more like trillions and trillions of tons of algae, with a few sea creatures such as ichthyosaurs which were NOT dinosaurs

Recessio · 11 Jul 2026

Jan Mayen said:
I see the Bluebell Railway have cancelled the last trip of the day today & both dining trains tomorrow.

kje7812 said:
Severn Valley have cancelled the Steam Footplate Experience tomorrow, the diesel FE is still running (at the moment).

Andy Pacer said:
Great Central Railway have suspended services over the past day or so due to the weather

GordonT said:
Is it heresy to wonder if steam locomotives should not be operating in steam on NR lines during heatwaves?

Are stream trains also affected by the higher temperatures? (Genuine question: I'm far too young to remember the days of steam!)

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Jul 2026 ==

Hedge Fund said:
Not heresy at all in my opinion.

Look at the destruction caused by a single steam train in Cumbria last year. 40 separate fires, hundreds of firefighters drafted into the area, and 2000 metres of cable to be replaced.

Not worth the risk.

Ah, that answers my question!

kje7812 · 11 Jul 2026

Recessio said:
Are stream trains also affected by the higher temperatures? (Genuine question: I'm far too young to remember the days of steam!)

In addition to potential fires, hot weather can affect steam locos directly. If the water in the tanks get too hot, the injectors will not work properly which means you can't get water into the boiler. We had such problems today and Wednesday on the Severn Valley with 7714 getting too hot.

ChrisC · 11 Jul 2026

bunnahabhain said:
Monday, no service beyond Sheffield to Liverpool, no Leicester or Worksop service after 1200. A repeat of Friday.

So, EMR have managed to run a half hourly service between Nottingham and Mansfield today and are running a full Sunday service tomorrow, yet can‘t even manage a few peak time trains to get people home from work on Monday afternoon. Hopefully, as the temperature in Nottinghamshire on Monday is currently forecast to be just 24C they will change their plans and run a full Monday timetable.

westcoaster · 11 Jul 2026

AM9 said:
That's good resilience that shows how much modern stock has advanced. No complaints about 'ironing board seats', bright lighting or lack of seat-back tables then!
Out of interest, I know that the '700s can climb the 1:27 gradients in the core, but how fast does half power get them on the main line?

it takes time but they do get up to 100 mph, the half power only affects AC running not DC running.

apinnard · 11 Jul 2026

ChrisC said:
So, EMR have managed to run a half hourly service between Nottingham and Mansfield today and are running a full Sunday service tomorrow, yet can‘t even manage a few peak time trains to get people home from work on Monday afternoon. Hopefully, as the temperature in Nottinghamshire on Monday is currently forecast to be just 24C they will change their plans and run a full Monday timetable.

They can’t even muster a driver for the final Connect out of St Pancras tonight, which is sat in P1 full of passengers waiting to go.

Mcr Warrior · 11 Jul 2026

route101 said:
I'm stuck at Carlisle as overhead wires have tripped.

Where had you been hoping to get to? Did you get there (but late)?

route101 · 11 Jul 2026

Mcr Warrior said:
Where had you been hoping to get to? Did you get there (but late)?

Luckily we left around 35 minutes late heading to Glasgow.

Heat related disruption 8 July 2026 onwards

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