XC delayed by Dorridge 12/10/11?

[Vectorspace]

The 16:33 XC from New Street to Southampton Central was delayed just outside Dorridge today for 25 minutes.

We were told it was due to an emergency on a following train, which then overtook us - it was a Chiltern 168.

We were then overtaken by a container freight hauled by a pair of 66s before we moved off, and then proceeded very slowly to Leamington (because of the freight train).

When I got off at Leamington, the train manager announced that he still had not been given a reason why we were held for the Chiltern train (no mention of the freight)

Does anyone know what was going on on that Chiltern train, and why they let the freight train overtake us too? I can't think of any situation that would require us to be held that long, when an XC Voyager is faster than a Chiltern 128 train anyway - even a medical emergency could have been dealt with by stopping at any earlier station.


P.S. The icing on the cake was the signal failure between Warwick and Leamington, which got the freight train stuck first.

 

[Crossover]

The Delay Reason given online is "waiting for a member of staff"

Interestingly though, 1O90 (1355 from NCL and 1633 from BHM) was 48 mins down by Leamington Spa, had made it up to only 25 down at Basingstoke and was 13 early into Southampton!

 

[TEW]

It did not run along its booked route via the Laverstock curve though, it ran direct from Basingstoke to Southampton, which is a much quicker route.

 

[Crossover]

It did not run along its booked route via the Laverstock curve though, it ran direct from Basingstoke to Southampton, which is a much quicker route.

Quick look and the train at the same time next Wednesday is pathed to take about 40 mins longer as well.

What is the Lavistock curve and is it just used for a select number of services to keep the line open or something?

 

[Eagle]

What is the Lavistock curve and is it just used for a select number of services to keep the line open or something?

It's a curve in Salisbury between the London–Exeter line and the Bristol–Southampton line. 1O90 uses it, ostensibly because it was unpathable via the SWML (which given it's post-evening peak I find strange).

From the December timetable 1O90 will instead run direct from Basingstoke to Eastleigh only and straight into the depot.

 

[barrykas]

The 16:33 XC from New Street to Southampton Central was delayed just outside Dorridge today for 25 minutes.

We were told it was due to an emergency on a following train, which then overtook us - it was a Chiltern 168.

Does anyone know what was going on on that Chiltern train, and why they let the freight train overtake us too? I can't think of any situation that would require us to be held that long, when an XC Voyager is faster than a Chiltern 128 train anyway - even a medical emergency could have been dealt with by stopping at any earlier station.

Looking on TRUST reveals that the crew on the XC are due to be relieved at Leamington Spa, and the relieving crew were on the Chiltern service for some reason, hence the need for the XC to be looped to avoid stopping the job at Leamington due to a lack of crew.

Cheers,

Barry

 

[Vectorspace]

That makes sense (I assume the crew were too late arriving in Brum to catch the right train), but it doesn't explain why they also let the freight train overtake us.

 

[Rugd1022]

That makes sense (I assume the crew were too late arriving in Brum to catch the right train), but it doesn't explain why they also let the freight train overtake us.

Freight trains have booked paths too.... no sense in holding it up and causing more delays to other trains behind it. It may have been let through so that it could reach Fenny Compton or Banbury and be put in the Goods Loops there.

 

[The Planner]

If it was a Class 4 Intermodal that passed you then they had no choice, they don't fit in Fenny Compton on the up and if you were in Dorridge loop he had to get to Banbury or Aynho.

 

[Vectorspace]

But a Voyager is faster than a freight train, even with the stops at Leamington and Banbury surely it shouldn't have been held up?

 

[The Planner]

But weren't you in the loop already when the freight passed ??? there was nowhere else to put the freight train. It is best to keep freight trains running as slowing them down makes it harder for them to recover.

 

[Tomnick]

If there was nothing behind the freight, then it wouldn't need to be put inside at all (just held on the main for the unit to come out of the loop). More than likely though, there would have been something behind, and as The Planner says, that something would then be knocked even more by the freight that's now got to get on the move again.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

There would have been a Dorridge terminator behind the freight, they run every 20 minutes with the Chiltern, XC and freight services running in the gaps behind the Dorridge terminators. There is also a level crossing to consider at the location, it is a very busy bit of railway and if something has to go in the loop then it kinda has to wait its turn to get back out.

 

[Hydro]

It's a curve in Salisbury between the London–Exeter line and the Bristol–Southampton line. 1O90 uses it, ostensibly because it was unpathable via the SWML (which given it's post-evening peak I find strange).

From the December timetable 1O90 will instead run direct from Basingstoke to Eastleigh only and straight into the depot.

The odd XC service uses Laverstock as it's a diversionary route, and pathing them that way ensures route knowledge is kept up to date. The odd ECS movement even can go via Chandlers Ford for the same reasons.

 

[CaptainHaddock]

Whenever I hear the name Dorridge it makes me wonder if it's where you'd be issued with a ticket to if you had a bad cold and asked for one to Norwich.