Following a train

[Oxfordnumpty]

Hi there,

I'm trying to get my head around following where trains go. In particular, I'm trying to work out where this train went on its next journey (and subsequent journeys) after it arrived at London Paddington at 1037 yesterday morning (Sunday 14 January 2024). Do physical trains have their own IDs? This particular train seems to have the ID: 1P30 671P30MC14 G60498. How do I break down what that code means? I'm asking this because I left a hugely sentimental child's blanket on the train, and am desperate to do all I can to follow where it may have gone in the event that the train wasn't swept on its arrival at Paddington. The lost-property system GWR / Paddington has in place seems about as solid as a chocolate teapot. I realise I may be on a hiding to nothing, but I'm quite enjoying trying to understand this stuff for the first time.

Thanks for any help, and please forgive me if I am asking stupid questions in the wrong places.

Al

 

[hexagon789]

Hi there,

I'm trying to get my head around following where trains go. In particular, I'm trying to work out where this train went on its next journey (and subsequent journeys) after it arrived at London Paddington at 1037 yesterday morning (Sunday 14 January 2024). Do physical trains have their own IDs? This particular train seems to have the ID: 1P30 671P30MC14 G60498. How do I break down what that code means? I'm asking this because I left a hugely sentimental child's blanket on the train, and am desperate to do all I can to follow where it may have gone in the event that the train wasn't swept on its arrival at Paddington. The lost-property system GWR / Paddington has in place seems about as solid as a chocolate teapot. I realise I may be on a hiding to nothing, but I'm quite enjoying trying to understand this stuff for the first time.

Thanks for any help, and please forgive me if I am asking stupid questions in the wrong places.

Al

Realtimetrains.co.uk shows unit allocations, assuming it is correct this train was operated by 802019 yesterday:

1P30 0815 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington
Departing on 14th January 2024​

Great Western Railway

Realtime Trains | 1P30 0815 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington | 14/01/2024

Real-time train running information for 1P30 0815 departure from Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington on 14/01/2024. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[Gaelan]

Do physical trains have their own IDs?

Yes; these are called TOPS numbers. RealTimeTrains is able to show them for certain companies, including GWR.

Your train was 802019.

Sometimes RTT also directly shows where a train goes after a service; in this case it doesn't do so directly, but you may be able to find it by looking at other trains departing from Paddington shortly after.

 

[156421]

Currently approaching Totnes as 2U16 1052 Plymouth to Cardiff Central

 

[MrJeeves]

This particular train seems to have the ID: 1P30 671P30MC14 G60498. How do I break down what that code means?

1P30 is the headcode, which is mainly used to help the signaller recognise the train on their screens to route it correctly across different lines.

671P30MC14 is its ID in a system called TRUST, which is a "system utilised to monitor the running of trains".

G60498 is the train's UID which is its reference in timetable data. While it's called a "unique ID", it's only unique to the current timetable, and only represents the timetabled route operated by the service rather than that particular journey. This means you have service G60498 on the 14 Jan 2024, as well as G60498 on 21 Jan 2024, etc. (every Sunday).

It's rather complex (and I had to look some of this up before writing this!) but doesn't really help all too much with your aim of finding where the train went after. I would imagine the blanket would have been found at Paddington by the cleaning crew, but there's no clue as to whether it would have been collected and given to lost property or just left on the train for someone else to deal with.

As @hexagon789 posted above, you can find the train in question on RTT (Realtime Trains): https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:G60498/2024-01-14

You can then click the last stop (Paddington) and look for the next service to leave from the platform it arrived into (8).

Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be much help in this case as the next service using Platform 8 appears to have been another terminating train (which consisted of two units coupled together, so it couldn't fit in the platform with the original train still there!).

 

[hexagon789]

Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be much help in this case as the next service using Platform 8 appears to have been another terminating train (which consisted of two units coupled together, so it couldn't fit in the platform with the original train still there!).

There was a bit of disruption yesterday morning; the unit may have gone straight to depot as booked (it usually does as 5P30 after arriving from Worcester), RTT doesn't show an Empty Coaching Stock path to the depot though unfortunately.

 

[Gaelan]

ECS

(ECS refers to an "empty coaching stock move", where a passenger train is moved without any passengers on board.)

 

[hexagon789]

(ECS refers to an "empty coaching stock move", where a passenger train is moved without any passengers on board.)

Sorry, I use the acronym too often to remember I have to explain it!

 

[Oxfordnumpty]

Thank you all so much for this information! Blanket aside, it's fascinating to learn how these trains are coded and labelled and I'm enjoying going down this rabbit-hole!
Al

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Lost property sometimes does work.
On a recent trip to Edinburgh on Avanti, I got off at Haymarket (easier interchange with the tram) and left a coat on board.
I realised my error as the Avanti train vanished towards Waverley, but I continued on my tram ride down to Leith and back to Waverley - an hour or so.
On reaching Waverley I called in at the Lost Property office and pleaded stupidity to the staff, who instantly produced said coat.
So full marks to the station staff who cleaned the Pendolino on arrival and handed my coat into Lost Property, all within the hour.
And also for the repartee with the LP staff who could record a fast success.
We even had a cheery discussion about whether my coat was "brown" or "beige".

I guessed this result would likely happen, on a terminating long distance train going back to Euston, but I was very pleased to see the system works.
Had the local cleaning not taken place I'm not sure I would have seen my coat again.
It would be much more difficult on a train not being cleaned until later in the day at another location, on overnight at a depot somewhere.
My sympathies with the OP on his loss - hopefully only temporary.

 

[Purple Train]

Regarding where your train went, I have a sneaking suspicion, given the train seems to disappear into a void of nothingness, that it would have been booked to form the 11.20 to Oxford, which was cancelled due to "a problem with the traction equipment" according to RTT. Frustratingly for this case, it neither shows the booked platform for this working (i.e. whether it was supposed to have used platform 8, and would therefore be your train), nor does it show the booked allocation (likewise). As @hexagon789 says, that service from Worcester usually goes empty to the depot after that service, but, given the special timetable in operation yesterday, and the lack of a suitable empty-stock working on RTT, I'm not sure whether that would have been the case on Sunday.

 

[eta]

I was actually on the 11:20 to Oxford yesterday (assuming you mean this one: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:G60413/2024-01-14/detailed); don't remember the unit number, but it did indeed use platform 8 (and was cancelled due to a door fault, after sitting down in the platform for a good 30 minutes while a Hitachi engineer failed to fix it).

Edit: that train's previous working was 1P20, if that helps.

 

[Purple Train]

I was actually on the 11:20 to Oxford yesterday (assuming you mean this one: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:G60413/2024-01-14/detailed); don't remember the unit number, but it did indeed use platform 8 (and was cancelled due to a door fault, after sitting down in the platform for a good 30 minutes while a Hitachi engineer failed to fix it).

Edit: that train's previous working was 1P20, if that helps.

That's interesting - the 0815 Foregate Street-Paddington is 1P20 today, but was 1P30 yesterday! I assume the train went off to North Pole, then?

 

[eta]

That's interesting - the 0815 Foregate Street-Paddington is 1P20 today, but was 1P30 yesterday! I assume the train went off to North Pole, then?

I didn't stick around to find out, but I would assume so!

 

[Purple Train]

Also, 802019 (assuming that was indeed the unit in question) is currently working the 10.52 Plymouth-Cardiff Central (a diagram that starts at North Pole, somehow) so presumably they did get it to North Pole and fix it.

Back to the OP's situation, presumably that's a bit of a double-edged sword: it would (presumably) have been found yesterday, and so have been found either at Paddington or North Pole (so there's no real chance of it being somewhere awkward and far-flung like Carmarthen, which is good) - but then, if it was found at North Pole, I can't imagine there's a particularly large chance of getting it back, can there?

Unless it was missed by everyone, and is still on the train at Taunton!

 

[Oxfordnumpty]

I've done a little more digging and discovered that the train did indeed come out of service after and went to North Pole (great name). I understand all GWR lost property gets collected and ends up at Bristol Temple Meads, and the next delivery from North Pole to Bristol will happen on Wednesday. I know a team of cleaners got onto the train at Paddington so I'm slightly surprised it wasn't found / handed in to lost property there (I spoke to the Paddington lost property office this morning too) - but I shall keep my fingers crossed for North Pole delivery.

 

[MrJeeves]

That's interesting - the 0815 Foregate Street-Paddington is 1P20 today, but was 1P30 yesterday! I assume the train went off to North Pole, then?

Different days, different timetables, hence different headcodes, no?

 

[Towers]

OP, have you tried sending GWR a tweet (an “X” if we prefer silly names!) about it? Customer Services can be pretty responsive there. If you quote the unit number (802019) as identified by @Gaelan above, they may even be able to make contact with Train Manager in charge of the train currently and ask them to have a look for it.

GWR use ‘Missing X’ as their lost property partner, you should be able to log the item as lost on their website and, in theory, if it has been handed in then it should resurface. Do bear in mind that it might take a good few days however, particularly if the item in question has been found by the cleaning team on a depot and needs to be collected and processed. Good luck!