Tubeguru gets a new job

[Root]

Hahaha.

[tubeguru]

Meanwhile, back at the trains ...

Those of you who follow railway matters will know that between the 27th of December and the 2nd of January, all routes through Reading station will be closed. This is so the signalling can be transferred to the new Thames Valley Signalling Centre at Didcot. Once this is done the Reading signalbox will be demolished to make room for the new platforms which will form part of the remodelling works.

The exciting bit of all this is that FGW high speed services will still run, but via diversions. Services to Bristol, South Wales and Oxford will run via Greenford, High Wycombe and reversing at Banbury. Services to the west country via Westbury will start and terminate at Waterloo, with Paddington and Exeter drivers swapping over at Basingstoke.

Over the next couple of weeks I will find out when I have been given my two days of route familiarisation. One day for Banbury on the front of a Wrexham & Shropshire train, and one day of taking four different trains between Waterloo and Basingstoke to cover the entire diversion route. We don't have to learn the route; we simply have to get an overview. On the days we drive over the route we will be conducted by EWS drivers.

Doubtless the spotters will be out to get pictures of HSTs in unusual locations, not least Waterloo and Basingstoke. Keep a look out for us!

[moley]

Are the West of England trains going Basingstoke > Yeovil > ExSD (Reverse) or Basingstoke > Wesbury (Reverse) > ExSD?

Is the Basingstoke stop only a crew stop or is it a passenger stop too?

[tubeguru]

Are the West of England trains going Basingstoke > Yeovil > ExSD (Reverse) or Basingstoke > Wesbury (Reverse) > ExSD?

Is the Basingstoke stop only a crew stop or is it a passenger stop too?

The WoE services are going Basingstoke -> Yeovil -> Exeter. No trains will be running on the Berks and Hants line during the diversion. Basingstoke will not be a passenger stop so far as I know, because this is a diversion and there are plenty of SWT services for Basingstoke.

[tubeguru]

The diversion from Basingstoke to Waterloo will be Basingstoke -> West Byfleet -> Chertsey -> Staines -> Clapham Junction -> Waterloo. Trains will run via Twickenham in all instances except on Monday the 27th, when they will go round the Hounslow Loop.

[tubeguru]

With regard to Waterloo, HSTs can only use platforms 17, 18 and 19 with restrictions. I have no idea what the restrictions are. They are not permitted in any other platform, so don't go looking for them on the lower-numbered side! HSTs are also only allowed to use the Windsor lines in and out of the station, and not the main lines.

[rhubarbrhubarb]

Will the Berks and Hants line be getting any trains at all, then?

[tubeguru]

Pass. Certainly not between Reading and Westbury.

[moley]

Are the West of England trains going Basingstoke > Yeovil > ExSD (Reverse) or Basingstoke > Wesbury (Reverse) > ExSD?

Is the Basingstoke stop only a crew stop or is it a passenger stop too?

The WoE services are going Basingstoke -> Yeovil -> Exeter. No trains will be running on the Berks and Hants line during the diversion. Basingstoke will not be a passenger stop so far as I know, because this is a diversion and there are plenty of SWT services for Basingstoke.

But SWT are running a reduced service Basingstoke through to Exeter to provide paths.

The diversion from Basingstoke to Waterloo will be Basingstoke -> West Byfleet -> Chertsey -> Staines -> Clapham Junction -> Waterloo. Trains will run via Twickenham in all instances except on Monday the 27th, when they will go round the Hounslow Loop.

With regard to Waterloo, HSTs can only use platforms 17, 18 and 19 with restrictions. I have no idea what the restrictions are. They are not permitted in any other platform, so don't go looking for them on the lower-numbered side! HSTs are also only allowed to use the Windsor lines in and out of the station, and not the main lines.

HSTs usually use platform 19. On 19, the driving cars are past the nornal end of the passenger platform. The actual platform continues right up to the opening for the Eurostart shed. Not sure about platforms 18/19 - this may relate to short HST sets only.

Re: The Mainlines. HSTs are not allowed through Platforms 7/8/9/10/11/12 at Clapham Junction from memory due to the tight angles. Hence, the long winded diversion I presume. That said, West Byfleet -> Chertsey -> Staines -> Clapham Junction is the ususal EWS route so it may be that there are not many EWS drivers cleared on the SW Mainline.

Pass. Certainly not between Reading and Westbury.

I read somewhere refereing to a shuttle service from Taunton to Newbury (or something like that) but it was a few months ago. Presumably, some WoE Services must be running from PNZ only as far as BTM?

[greatkingrat]

The timetables are up at the FGW site. There is an hourly shuttle Theale - Bedwyn plus a few services through to Pewsey and Westbury.

[dudey]

The thing that amuses me most about this is that despite all of the trouble and planning that has evidently been taken to provide the best service possible, at a presumably great cost to all involved (mainly FGW, i guess), my bet is that 90% of the customers will be hopelessly confused, moan intolerably at everyone they can find in a uniform, complain that it's the worst possible time to be doing the work (even though it clearly is and they're just being selfish because it's probably the only time of year they go on the railway), and just generally not appreciate all of the time and money being put into it by FGW and their staff. As well as SWT for accommodating them.

Apart from that, this is all very interesting. I happen to be in Basingstoke on 2nd January, so I might pop over to the station and have a peek at the HST's there.

[al]

I bet there'll also be loads of people travelling who didn't even realise there was engineering work planned - even though every news bulletin over holiday periods seem to say that half the network shuts down, many seem not to think about checking if the route they plan to use is affected.

Its even more amazing when the route concerned goes past an airport - when the line to Luton was closed a couple of years ago, the number of people missing flights was astonishing because they didn't check on engineering work, and had not allowed any margin for error whatsoever!

[Garion]

Shows how much people here take things for granted and never check...

[Sam]

Oh yeah, why should they check?

Despite advertising for months on the platform and on the weekly engineering work poster that LOROL do not run trains to Willesden Junction on a Sunday, there'd be at least 5 people asking for a train to Willesden... really does amaze me how much of a bubble people live in at times!

[Starkey7]

Perhaps they should run trains on Sundays.