ffcphone
Member
I'm afraid my trainspotting-ability only goes as far as to identify that the following involed a 2 car pacer and a 2 car sprinter.
Arriving at Bolton station around 0720hrs this morning, on reaching Platform 4 I noticed a 4 car train (comprising a 2 car pacer pulling a 2 car sprinter) had come to rest with perhaps only the first car of the pacer alongside Platform 3 of Bolton station. The other cars were still on the curve on the Manchester bound line straddling the points for the rarely-used Platform 3-Blackburn line (platform 1 is by far the most common way for trains to access the Blackburn line).
As I walked down to the end of Platform 4 opposite the pacer section of the train, I thought I could hear all 4 engines in operation. After various brief engine revs and slight train movement, the two trains were decoupled, the Pacer then drawing up to the more usual stopping point on platform 3. The sprinter, under its own power, then followed and drew up to the Pacer whereupon the trains were coupled together again.
The 4 car train then continued on its way with passengers on board.
I can not explain this sequence of events.
As a side issue, passengers on platform 3 awaiting a following service which had been held up by all this were directed to cross to platform 4 which would then operate on a bi-directional basis. Some time later, those passengers were asked to cross back to platform 3 "due to points failure"...presumably the rarely-used points on the south bound approach to Bolton had frozen in the cold conditions?
F
Arriving at Bolton station around 0720hrs this morning, on reaching Platform 4 I noticed a 4 car train (comprising a 2 car pacer pulling a 2 car sprinter) had come to rest with perhaps only the first car of the pacer alongside Platform 3 of Bolton station. The other cars were still on the curve on the Manchester bound line straddling the points for the rarely-used Platform 3-Blackburn line (platform 1 is by far the most common way for trains to access the Blackburn line).
As I walked down to the end of Platform 4 opposite the pacer section of the train, I thought I could hear all 4 engines in operation. After various brief engine revs and slight train movement, the two trains were decoupled, the Pacer then drawing up to the more usual stopping point on platform 3. The sprinter, under its own power, then followed and drew up to the Pacer whereupon the trains were coupled together again.
The 4 car train then continued on its way with passengers on board.
I can not explain this sequence of events.
As a side issue, passengers on platform 3 awaiting a following service which had been held up by all this were directed to cross to platform 4 which would then operate on a bi-directional basis. Some time later, those passengers were asked to cross back to platform 3 "due to points failure"...presumably the rarely-used points on the south bound approach to Bolton had frozen in the cold conditions?
F
