Yorkshire09876
Member
Is 67028 on thunderbird duties in Cardiff these days?
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TfW Class 67+Mk4 sets: trip planning/experiences, diagram updates etc
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Back on Crewe ETD for some rectification work at the moment. Canton thunderbird/training loco will be its regular duty though.
37052 xb mr
Established Member
Not quite, now gone wasn’t a dead duck just issues !
It was there long enough to cause problems
I've just seen the TfW Rail Ltd Board minutes for August 2025 which includes the following quote:
AC in this context is Alexia Course, the Chief Commerical Officer of TfW.
37052 xb mr
Established Member
Left 1 minute after your postIt was there long enough to cause problems
Topological
Established Member
Well done to @LowLevel for getting the train moving.Left 1 minute after your post
However, even a couple of minutes in Platform 13 is enough to mess things up. I think it might be time for the appropriate people to lean on TfW to use a different train for the via Warrington route retention and then put the 06:27 into Platform 10 like the others.
It is interesting to see TfW looking at more sets. How many sets are needed to run 5 diagrams? 7 seem to manage 3 or 4.
37052 xb mr
Established Member
The 5 sets in service
Worked 5 full diagrams yesterday !
And should have done today
Turns out, nothing wrong with
67025 but hey ho
Topological
Established Member
I did not check yesterday as I was not travelling. I just knew that Monday and Tuesday were not fully covered.The 5 sets in service
Worked 5 full diagrams yesterday !
And should have done today
Turns out, nothing wrong with
67025 but hey ho
Really good to know that Wednesday was fully covered. Hope we can see that every day.
Welshguy1048
Established Member
@sd0733
@37052 xb mr
@MP393
@BillStampy
@FrodshamJnct
Evening
Which loco and set is on 1W96 tonight please ? And will be loco or DVT leading from Chester ?
Thank you
Dave
@37052 xb mr
@MP393
@BillStampy
@FrodshamJnct
Evening
Which loco and set is on 1W96 tonight please ? And will be loco or DVT leading from Chester ?
Thank you
Dave
BillStampy
Established Member
67022 set HD07, loco leading from Chester.
Welshguy1048
Established Member
craigybagel
Established Member
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There is no other train that can do it - there is only one ECS a day northbound between Crewe and Manchester.
To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time a 67/MKIV set has failed along the Castlefield corridor.
Topological
Established Member
One idea might be to put the Mk4 on 1V32 instead and then that arrives into Cardiff as a peak train. There might be some richer commuters who would like a breakfast.
The 197s that presently start in Crewe as 1V32 can do 1V33 instead, providing route retention as needed.
Requires a bit of messing about with 197s around Cardiff because 1V32 is currently a Milford Haven train while 1V33 terminates at Cardiff, but should be doable.
craigybagel
Established Member
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As well as having to rewrite the timetable and break up the pattern of alternating 67/197 services, it would also mean the first arrival into Cardiff from Manchester on a service with 1st class wouldn't be until nearly 12.
It seems like a lot of trouble just because on one occasion on this diagram the 67 broke down in a rather unfortunate location. Especially when 197s aren't exactly renowned for their reliability either.
37052 xb mr
Established Member
Will be very lucky to get chefs
Working at weekend
I think some Saturday services have a chef but none on a Sunday.
Currently Looking unlikely as it stands that anything will be running on the Marches between Hereford and Newport tomorrow.
There were 5 planned with an extra Holyhead to Cardiff round trip.
Topological
Established Member
I note RTT showing nothing between Cardiff and Hereford. Only the freight shows for tomorrow. Presumably means P coding of the TfW service.
Does anyone know how bad the situation is? I am supposed to be travelling from Pontypool to Manchester Sunday and if the line is closed then that makes it an awkward one to work around. When it was just Hereford to Shrewsbury closed then Pontypool to Newport and then via Birmingham worked.
BillStampy
Established Member
Not sure how bad it is, but between Newport and Cwmbran, two signal berths are taken up by "POOL" and one with "5MPH", which isn't great. Gloucester to Bristol's currently shut too, so going around Birmingham for any Marches passengers is currently not an option either.
Anonymous10
Established Member
Making it a via reading?
Topological
Established Member
Thanks.
I always forget that as far as Cwmbran is on sites like Traksy. I agree it does not look good.
The M5 was horrible this evening around Bristol, and the M4 across the bridge was not great either. From Newport onwards was not so bad. Suspect I will be back on the motorway on Sunday and getting a refund for the train.
In past years the Marches have been out of action for days, if not weeks, but normally that was between Hereford and Shrewsbury.
Hopefully this will allow some time to get the Mk4s working for when the line does reopen.
Lewisham2221
Established Member
Even that doesn't look like an option at the minute - flooding between Bristol Parkway and Swindon
Philip Roberts
Member
Usually the 67s don't fair so well after they've been stood idle
37052 xb mr
Established Member
Not sure how many you want working ?
5 sets are in service &
Bar 1V33 mishap at Piccadilly yesterday, which 67025 Set HD06
Later resumed the diagram on 1W61, all 5 diagrams have been covered since Wednesday,
4 sets on Tuesday.
1 set is on exam
1 Set, HD03 out with wheel set issues.
If the line wasn’t blocked
5 sets would have worked tomorrow.
Topological
Established Member
No one wants the Mk4s to fail. The reality is that they do regularly.
There are 7 sets and 5 diagrams. Others can judge how many days are acceptable to have less than 5 covered.
Like many of the travelling public, I want a train to turn up on time and ideally with the facilities/capacity advertised. So how many do I want working - as many as possible.
BillStampy
Established Member
Pratically there's only around 6 available at a time as once one comes off an exam, another goes on very shortly after. So leaves little room for any failures or scheduled maintenance.
At this time of year a lot of the time its been one on exam and one on tyre turning so effectively 5 from 5, this also means that the 5 serviceable sets run out of exam miles quicker as they're never spare.
There's also the Leominster incident which although a reformed rake is back, has impacted things quite a lot, using resources to get HD02 back out but also losing half of HD08, which should have been out around now but will now be around 10 months yet, this set is cover for the heavy overhaul programme which has also subsequently been knocked back by a similar amount of time awaiting HD08. There's also been animal strikes which knocked HD05 out for a long period, tree strikes which damaged a few sets and other incidents like HD03s severe wheel damage which, whilst they're back (HD03 should be back mid week) they've all impacted maintenance and exam schedules by losing sets for relatively long periods.
Loads of work has gone into keeping availability good and for quite a few periods, diagram coverage has been in excess of 90%. Obviously as a caveat there's been a bit of a wobble the last few weeks prior to this week due in the most part to some of the above issues. Compared to other small fleets, such as AT or 230s they generally hold up pretty well. The big difference is its far more obvious when a 2 car 197 rolls in vice a Mk4 than a 2 car 150 vice an Active Travel unit so is far more noticeable and affects far more people.
Comparing them to the 197/1 fleet which has 22 diagrams for a 26 strong fleet but generally only manage cover around 15-17 diagrams a day, a fleet thats causing shortforms its certainly not restricted to Mk4s.