Leeds to Skipton leaf fall disruption

[Llama]

That's a fair comment. There are people who would murder for this job and be grateful every day.

 

[londonmidland]

Back to the original topic, it seems as if drizzle is the worst offender when it comes to poor adhesion, when paired with crushed leaves on the line.

Not only is it pretty unpredictable (it won't show up on most automated weather forecasts), it can get pretty much anywhere, unlike rain.

Here, if you loop the radar, it appears it can appear 'out of the blue' pretty much anywhere.

 

[seagull]

Even in the middle of glorious summer, some drizzle can turn steel rails into oil/rust coated nightmares.

I recall being on a Welsh narrow gauge train on a lovely summer evening which turned to light drizzle as we set off, and the almost non-stop slipping of the locomotive all the way caused a 45 minute journey to become a very slow 2 hour one.

But leaf fall is undoubtedly the biggest contributor to low adhesion issues at this time of year.

 

[Leeds1970]

to help with the track circuit problem - retro fit scrubber blocks to disc brake stock as per class 158 units. (they have had them since the 90's )
as for the comments by a driver regarding poor driving - it can be similar to road where by your good on the test then start getting 'bad' habits of which quite a lot go unnoticed until a dtm does a ride out or there is an incident.

 

[johntea]

I worked around Shipley for 10 years and it was always quite annoying when the line had problems (not just leaf fall) as you suddenly went from a 15 minute trip to/from Leeds to having to rely on road transport which I generally found always took at least 4 times as long

In fact many times it was quicker to go to Bradford Interchange via rail and then find alternative options from there!

 

[Adam0984]

I hope in the future they can consider self contained diagrams so the train does 1 route all day or a mini triangle to keep delays localised rather than dragging the whole system down

 

[30907]

I hope in the future they can consider self contained diagrams so the train does 1 route all day or a mini triangle to keep delays localised rather than dragging the whole system down

Seemed to be what they were doing on Monday with Leeds-Skipton (the busiest route, ironically) cancelled much of the day.

As a permanent solution you'd need a couple of extra units (and crews) to operate the timetable - maybe only one if you could completely rewrite it (and as I recall from trying it years ago it's pretty much impossible).

 

[Halish Railway]

I hope in the future they can consider self contained diagrams so the train does 1 route all day or a mini triangle to keep delays localised rather than dragging the whole system down

This is what’s most likely going to happen when Leeds to Skipton and maybe Ilkley becomes a pair of 331/0s so that 6 coach trains can be guaranteed on this route and won’t be allocated to services from Bradford that would otherwise carry around a lot of fresh air.

I’d imagine that a pairs of 331/0s won’t need a leafall timetable as they will easily exceed the 333 timings which I’d imagine they’d keep in case there’s a substitution, as well as the fact that 2/3s of the bogies are powered rather than 1/2 resulting in better traction, as well as the motors being less powerful.

 

[YorksLad12]

Seemed to be what they were doing on Monday with Leeds-Skipton (the busiest route, ironically) cancelled much of the day.

As a permanent solution you'd need a couple of extra units (and crews) to operate the timetable - maybe only one if you could completely rewrite it (and as I recall from trying it years ago it's pretty much impossible).

It's not just the timetable for Leeds North West services, you've also got to flight in the Harrogate Line arrivals and departures. It's quite impressive, really. Any rewrite would also have to take frequencies into account; do you cut Bradford to Skipton and Ilkley (and Leeds?) down to hourly, for example?

This is what’s most likely going to happen when Leeds to Skipton and maybe Ilkley becomes a pair of 331/0s so that 6 coach trains can be guaranteed on this route and won’t be allocated to services from Bradford that would otherwise carry around a lot of fresh air.

I’d imagine that a pairs of 331/0s won’t need a leafall timetable as they will easily exceed the 333 timings which I’d imagine they’d keep in case there’s a substitution, as well as the fact that 2/3s of the bogies are powered rather than 1/2 resulting in better traction, as well as the motors being less powerful.

Is it? I thought it was going to be three-car sets during the day, strengthened to six at the peaks? The daytimes I caught Leeds to Skipton or Ilkley services they were always quiet (experiences of others may vary, of course).

 

[yorkie]

I've created a new thread to discuss how these lines be improved:

https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/how-could-airedale-and-wharfedale-lines-be-improved.224747/