ffcphone
Member
Yesterday late afternon I arrived at Preston station aiming to catch the 1647 (I think it is) fTPE to Manchester Airport. This service normally comprises 2 x 3 car 185s which combine at Preston with the first 3 coaches coming from the Lakes and the latter 3 from Scotland. Although the Lakes train arrived on time, "animals on the line" (according to NatRailEnqs) delayed the arrival of the Scottish train to an estimated 1705.
Northern Rail run a Blackpool to Manchester Victoria service which departs Preston at 1649 and this was running on time although NatRailEnqs indicated it was 2 minutes late leaving Kirkham & Wesham.
As someone who really detests travelling on old Northern Rail stock, even more so in this heat, I pondered which service would actually get through Euxton Junction first, this being the last opportunity for the fTPE to "overtake" the slower Northern service. I have known signallers hold a Northern service just outside Leyland for some minutes to allow a fTPE into the junction first.
I have attempted to ask station and train staff if there is a hard and fast rule as to how late the fTPE train must be running before signallers will allow the slower Northern service to exit Euxton Junction first but have never got a response other than "it's up to signallers". I guess there must be a point at which the priority to fTPE is lost simply because the delay would impact too much on Northern.
Anyways, I opted for the Northern Service which duly arrived a minute or so late and departed around 1651.
Having cleared the cluttered exit from Preston station, the train proceeded to travel fairly slowly on the short West Coast Mainline stretch and, indeed, removing my headphones, it was evident the engine under my carriage couldn't sustain more than a second or so of thrust every five seconds or so. Thus, no real acceleration was being provided.
From stationery, all seemed well as the engine revved up and maintained it's high revolution rate until I guess something like 30-40mph was reached and thereafter it wound down to idle and resorted to seemingly random and very short attempts to spool up again as above.
This proved very frustrating as I initially wondered whether the fTPE would catch up and overtake but it didn't - we got through Euxton Junction first.
The rest of the journey continued in a similar way. Line speed never being reached, acceleration from rest being seemingly fine but then one engine (at least) showing problems providing further acceleration beyond a certain point.
Might the hot weather have had something to do with this or does this sound more a mechanical fault?
By Bolton, the train was around 7-8 minutes late which surprised me as I anticipated more but I guess the frequent stopping call pattern and the fact the train seemed normal from rest to 30-40mph would explain how there was little deterioration in timings.
If the fault had been known at Blackpool, I presume Northern would have viewed it more sensible to run an "injured" train rather than none at all knowing it should at least limp back to Manchester with some passengers rather than leaving them stranded.
No mention was made of the mechanical problems however onboard.
F
Northern Rail run a Blackpool to Manchester Victoria service which departs Preston at 1649 and this was running on time although NatRailEnqs indicated it was 2 minutes late leaving Kirkham & Wesham.
As someone who really detests travelling on old Northern Rail stock, even more so in this heat, I pondered which service would actually get through Euxton Junction first, this being the last opportunity for the fTPE to "overtake" the slower Northern service. I have known signallers hold a Northern service just outside Leyland for some minutes to allow a fTPE into the junction first.
I have attempted to ask station and train staff if there is a hard and fast rule as to how late the fTPE train must be running before signallers will allow the slower Northern service to exit Euxton Junction first but have never got a response other than "it's up to signallers". I guess there must be a point at which the priority to fTPE is lost simply because the delay would impact too much on Northern.
Anyways, I opted for the Northern Service which duly arrived a minute or so late and departed around 1651.
Having cleared the cluttered exit from Preston station, the train proceeded to travel fairly slowly on the short West Coast Mainline stretch and, indeed, removing my headphones, it was evident the engine under my carriage couldn't sustain more than a second or so of thrust every five seconds or so. Thus, no real acceleration was being provided.
From stationery, all seemed well as the engine revved up and maintained it's high revolution rate until I guess something like 30-40mph was reached and thereafter it wound down to idle and resorted to seemingly random and very short attempts to spool up again as above.
This proved very frustrating as I initially wondered whether the fTPE would catch up and overtake but it didn't - we got through Euxton Junction first.
The rest of the journey continued in a similar way. Line speed never being reached, acceleration from rest being seemingly fine but then one engine (at least) showing problems providing further acceleration beyond a certain point.
Might the hot weather have had something to do with this or does this sound more a mechanical fault?
By Bolton, the train was around 7-8 minutes late which surprised me as I anticipated more but I guess the frequent stopping call pattern and the fact the train seemed normal from rest to 30-40mph would explain how there was little deterioration in timings.
If the fault had been known at Blackpool, I presume Northern would have viewed it more sensible to run an "injured" train rather than none at all knowing it should at least limp back to Manchester with some passengers rather than leaving them stranded.
No mention was made of the mechanical problems however onboard.
F
