Angry passengers on the Harrogate Line

[stuartmoss]

The 07:25 to York was cancelled for mechanical reasons, but a York bound pacer has just gone tearing through Horsforth fast with Leeds passengers on.

 

[dk1]

May have come good after fitters attention & with the next service a now only a few minutes behind it makes sense to omit some stops to make up time & maybe delay fewer other services on the single line sections. Affected passengers do find it hard to grasp but it is usually for the greater good.

 

[455driver]

2C08 0713 LDS-YRK Left LEEDS 27 minutes late after fitters attention, it then ran fast to Harrogate (16 late) but then had to sit at Knaresborough for 12 minutes waiting for 2C13 to clear the single line, 2C08 arrived York 22 minutes late at 0854.

It looks like they were trying to make up some time so it could go first on the single line but failed, 2C15 0845 YRK-LDS left 13 late as a result of the late arrival of 2C08 at York and had to wait at Cattal for 10 minutes so 2C14 to clear the single line.

2C74 was also hit for 7 minutes at Knaresborough waiting for 2C08 to clear in front of it.

See how 1 late runner affects others where there are silly little bits of single line involved.

 

[greatkingrat]

Seems like a lack of communication between the service controllers and the signalmen.

 

[455driver]

How so?

 

[Condor7]

May have come good after fitters attention & with the next service a now only a few minutes behind it makes sense to omit some stops to make up time & maybe delay fewer other services on the single line sections. Affected passengers do find it hard to grasp but it is usually for the greater good.

Horsforth is one of the busiest stations on the line, would there have not been passengers on the train wanting to get off at Horsforth?

 

[ushawk]

Horsforth is one of the busiest stations on the line, would there have not been passengers on the train wanting to get off at Horsforth?

They would have been announcements before the train left Leeds that it would be running fast so they would have had to catch the next available train.

 

[greatkingrat]

How so?

Because there was no point running the train fast if it was going to end up sitting at Knaresborough for 12 minutes anyway. Either they should have agreed with the signalmen to give it priority on the single line, or they might as well left it as stopping at all stations.

 

[theblackwatch]

Because there was no point running the train fast if it was going to end up sitting at Knaresborough for 12 minutes anyway. Either they should have agreed with the signalmen to give it priority on the single line, or they might as well left it as stopping at all stations.

Agree, there was no point it running fast just to be held at Knaresborough (where, incidentally, it arrived 2 minutes before the train coming the opposite way left Cattal and entered the single line section). If it had been deemed that the York-Harrogate-Leeds service should take priority, then what good was it allowing the late running train to run fast just to stand at Knaresborough. There are occasions when it is sensible to allow a late running train to run 'fast' and miss out stops, but this wasn't one of them.

 

[Tomnick]

In the presumed absence of any instructions (from the TOC via their own Control) to the contrary, the Signalmen involved seem to have made the right decision. Faced with two trains arriving at opposite ends of the single line at more or less the same time, it makes sense to run the one that's one time first, especially as it was a peak service into Leeds. I'd guess that either the TOC Control had their eye on this conflict and were trying to get the late train through first (but didn't tell anyone), or they were just trying to get the unit to York ASAP and didn't think to consider the effect of the single line.

 

[YorkshireRider]

It still made sense to run it fast, for the benefit of passengers heading to Harrogate and Knaresbrough, it reduced their delay. Given the next service was leaving in 3 mins anyway, what would be the point in running the 0743 near empty, being signal checked behind the late running 0713.