9M52 Edinburgh - Euston

[Marton]

Just seen this on Realtime Trains

Why does it have a head-code starting with 9?

 

[GatwickDepress]

I think it's to assist the signallers with identifying those long-distance express services? Correct me if I'm wrong, please!

London Overground services on the East London Line also seem to use Class 9 headcodes, which given the traffic around there, would be very useful to have.

 

[D6975]

Just seen this on Realtime Trains

Why does it have a head-code starting with 9?

I think it's to distinguish between the ones that go via Brum and the ones that go direct.

 

[bb21]

Yes, London - Birmingham - Scotland services have been allocated 9 headcodes since the timetable change. This helps the signallers differentiate between WCML services through the Trent Valley and those via Birmingham.

 

[gordonthemoron]

Ecml?

 

[tractakid]

Ecml?

The wEst Coast Main Line, I presume.

 

[bb21]

Ecml?

Oops.

Of course you know what I meant. Butter fingers.

 

[gordonthemoron]

TBF TV is east of Brum

 

[atillathehunn]

I was just mucking round on RealTimeTrains and noticed that certain trains up and down the WCML appear to run with a class 9 headcode.

For instance:
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/Y81861/2013/12/18/advanced

Is this a new policy? I thought class 9 was unfitted freight. I know Virgin get a bit of a rap about their service but...

 

[starrymarkb]

IIRC these are priority services that have very tight slots or potential to cause big problems if they miss their booked path. IIRC they are/were mainly XC services through Birmingham New Street.

Also Eurostars run with 9Oxx or 9Ixx codes (to match the 90xx or 91xx train numbers on the continent)

 

[BW]

Is this a new policy? I thought class 9 was unfitted freight. I know Virgin get a bit of a rap about their service but...

That seems to be an old use of it. It's now apparently for Eurostar, or London Overground, and was used by Virgin on the WCML for a while (but apparently not any more, if Wikipedia is to be believed).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headcode#Train_classes

 

[swt_passenger]

I was just mucking round on RealTimeTrains and noticed that certain trains up and down the WCML appear to run with a class 9 headcode.

For instance:
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/Y81861/2013/12/18/advanced

Is this a new policy? I thought class 9 was unfitted freight. I know Virgin get a bit of a rap about their service but...

Class 9 is basically another normal passenger class nowadays. LOROL have been using it since the ELL was extended through New Cross Gate as another example, XC used it for some long distance services for a while a few years ago prior to Arriva taking over, (so around 2006 or 2007?).

The class 9 definition in the group standards changed to something vague at the same time, I remember looking it up in the past but can't find it at this moment.

Edit: Seems it might just be 'other trains as authorised' now, though it would be useful to find an official quote, should be able to shorten the discussion next month...

 

[455driver]

There is already a thread on this.

And there will be about 30 others because people cant use the "search" facility!

 

[swt_passenger]

And there will be about 30 others because people cant use the "search" facility!

If only the built in search was anything like as good as Google's though...

Google finds a huge number of references to class 9 head codes, using the "site:www.railforums.co.uk" suffix. As far as I can see (until it got boring!) they are nearly all different threads, going back to around 2005, there's been about half a dozen queries about it since the summer...

 

[David Goddard]

I believe that GNER used Class 9 reporting numbers when they operated the regional Eurostars for a while around 2000- this was to highlight them to the signallers to ensure they went into platforms that were long enough.

 

[Manchester77]

There's two threads active about class 9 headcodes on this page, perhaps to save any more a sticky or something just saying before you post a thread about an unusual WCML headcode please read this?

 

[Tomnick]

I believe that GNER used Class 9 reporting numbers when they operated the regional Eurostars for a while around 2000- this was to highlight them to the signallers to ensure they went into platforms that were long enough.

I don't think they ever ran as class 9s, but rather 1X** - indicating (as X does) that they carried various restrictions on where they could be signalled.

 

[David Goddard]

OK, thanks for confirming. Was quite a long time ago now!

 

[455driver]

I don't think they ever ran as class 9s, but rather 1X** - indicating (as X does) that they carried various restrictions on where they could be signalled.

Yes they were 1X**, for example the 0555 Kings Cross (KGX) to York (YRK) was 1X29 and the 0923 YRK-KGX was 1X26.

Interestingly due to the class 91s being overhauled the 1134 KGX-YRK and the 1415 YRK-KGX were withdrawn for the entire Winter2000/2001 timetable.

 

[carriageline]

Class 9 is a class 373, or other passenger train if authorised. So could be anything!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk