RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted September 7, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 7, 2016 Going back to the introductions over the 387's this week? I thought these were taking. Over the paths of the greenford services which would then shift over and terminate in the new bay at west ealing. But as a regular commuter from paddington to west drayton, i have found all this week that services still operating to greenford acording to the digital displays at paddington. Is this just me or what? Simon probably knows the answer... According to the information on Realtime Trains for today your original view seems to be more or less correct - it appears that some Greenford trains are running to/from Paddington while some are terminating at West Ealing in the new bay and the 387s are running more or less in their paths. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
St. Simon Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 According to the information on Realtime Trains for today your original view seems to be more or less correct - it appears that some Greenford trains are running to/from Paddington while some are terminating at West Ealing in the new bay and the 387s are running more or less in their paths. I'm not sure if they can be terminating in the bay, I don't think it's finished out, certainly not commissioned until Christmas. Simon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Kazmierczak Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 I think this is the route the reversing Cl.387s currently take at Hayes & H.......... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 I'm not sure if they can be terminating in the bay, I don't think it's finished out, certainly not commissioned until Christmas. Simon I've seen photos of trains using the bay at West Ealing. Well one photo, but it still counts... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted September 7, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 7, 2016 I'm not sure if they can be terminating in the bay, I don't think it's finished out, certainly not commissioned until Christmas. Simon They're definitely showing Platform 5 (of three!) at West Ealing and one arrived today (according to RT trains) at the same time as a train on the Up Relief which implies they are going into the bay. Interesting. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher125 Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 (edited) There are a few more videos of these now cropping up on youtube, looking at twitter a few Greenford branch users are understandably a little aggrieved but otherwise it seems to have been well received. Nice to hear 'GWR' being used by the audio announcer, though the new one does sound a little odd at times. Edited September 7, 2016 by Christopher125 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
St. Simon Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 (edited) They're definitely showing Platform 5 (of three!) at West Ealing and one arrived today (according to RT trains) at the same time as a train on the Up Relief which implies they are going into the bay. Interesting. Perhaps Crossrail have decided commission it early, but I'm not sure if they've told us! EDIT: My mistake, it has been commissioned, as its not my plan I don't get the latest 'intel' so apologies for confusion! On my way to work this morning, I did see that some contact wire is up between Tilehurst and Reading, but at Tilehurst one the of registry arms on the Down Relief wasn't attached to the contact wire beneath it, it was still cable tied to the boom, although the two arms either side were attached to the contact wire. Simon Edited September 8, 2016 by St. Simon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium corneliuslundie Posted September 8, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 8, 2016 Good to see real progress. I have to admit that part of my interest is the knock on effect of delays to the Valleys scheme, which I cannot now see being finished anything like soon enough to take over from the Pacers. But that is another story. They'll just have to bring back 56xx and BR suburbans on the Rhymney! But a question. I assume that pantographs on current UK electric stock are designed to work between certain upper and lower height limits, and that their effectiveness changes with contact wire height - though I would non have a clue about the details. I know when the BedPan line was electrified there was a very tight spot at Farringdon. I don't know if it is still there as I stopped commuting a decade ago. I believe that a design constraint for the class 317 and 319 classes was this low spot. So, the question: if it is necessary to raise contact wires through stations will current designs of pantograph cope? PS If you feel that this is a distraction from the topic of the thread please say so and I shall desist, or ask the question elsewhere. Jonathan 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 I'd interpret that to say that the wires are fine, but there may be an issue with the live metalwork that's used to support them (everything on the wire side of the insulators is live, obviously). Nice to see the goalposts moving anyway. I remember the same thing with the 458s - they were specified and built to what Alston/SWT were told the DDA legislation was going to be, but subsequent to that the requirements were made more onerous, and the trains didn't comply and they had to be expensively modified (think the eventually came up with a relatively cheap solution, but it could have been very costly). If there's one thing guaranteed to drive an engineer mad, it's changing the spec once the design is complete/ build has started. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
billbedford Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 What's the purpose of the third light on the front of the 378s? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
exet1095 Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 387133 (western set) coupled to 387130 on the UGL west of Hayes at 9am this morning, "not in service" displayed. 3rd rail shoe gear vey prominent on both units. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
St. Simon Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 What's the purpose of the third light on the front of the 378s? Hi, Its used for lighting the coupling when attaching and detaching units whilst I also believe it can be used for a light for video cameras for track inspection. 387133 (western set) coupled to 387130 on the UGL west of Hayes at 9am this morning, "not in service" displayed. 3rd rail shoe gear vey prominent on both units. There is a Track Circuit Failure on the Down Main (has been since yesterday evening), which has meant Down moves are being put on the reliefs, which has probably meant that the 387 diagrams aren't be running as often as timetabled today Simon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 So, the question: if it is necessary to raise contact wires through stations will current designs of pantograph cope? The wire heights will be changing from very low to low. They will be nowhere near as high as the heights you get above level crossings, which all pans are designed to cope with. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted September 8, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 8, 2016 Good to see real progress. I have to admit that part of my interest is the knock on effect of delays to the Valleys scheme, which I cannot now see being finished anything like soon enough to take over from the Pacers. But that is another story. They'll just have to bring back 56xx and BR suburbans on the Rhymney! But a question. I assume that pantographs on current UK electric stock are designed to work between certain upper and lower height limits, and that their effectiveness changes with contact wire height - though I would non have a clue about the details. I know when the BedPan line was electrified there was a very tight spot at Farringdon. I don't know if it is still there as I stopped commuting a decade ago. I believe that a design constraint for the class 317 and 319 classes was this low spot. So, the question: if it is necessary to raise contact wires through stations will current designs of pantograph cope? PS If you feel that this is a distraction from the topic of the thread please say so and I shall desist, or ask the question elsewhere. Jonathan It would probably be a relatively simple matter of adjusting the overheight setting on the pantograph in order to stop it lowering when it met a section of higher contact wire. But in any case the contact wire height would have to be within the set tolerances and shouldn't have been approved at design stage if it wasn't. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Northroader Posted September 8, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 8, 2016 (edited) Coming home this afternoon, and looking in on Reading depot, it was just turbos, none with sticky out bits on the roof. The west end leads had some usefully sited register arms on the masts, and earth cable up, but nothing else. Further on, up to speed, I was looking at the auto transformer cable (above the up relief) Every so often there were jumper leads going down by the masts, disappearing into the cats cradle of cabling around the catenary. I thought some linked on to the earth, but that couldn't be so? We were too fast to be sure about that. The other curiosity was I was on a GWR HST Paddington -Swansea, but there was an Arriva train cleaner wandering round with his big plastic bag, was he lost?, or was he fulfilling the old saying "Keep Wales tidy, dump your rubbish in England?" Edited September 8, 2016 by Northroader Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Coming home this afternoon, and looking in on Reading depot, it was just turbos, none with sticky out bits on the roof. The west end leads had some usefully sited register arms on the masts, and earth cable up, but nothing else. Further on, up to speed, I was looking at the auto transformer cable. Every so often there were jumper leads going down by the masts, disappearing into the cats cradle of cabling around the catenary. I thought some linked on to the earth, but that couldn't be so? We were too fast to be sure about that. The other curiosity was I was on a GWR HST Paddington -Swansea, but there was an Arriva train cleaner wandering round with his big plastic bag, was he lost?, or was he fulfilling the old saying "Keep Wales tidy, dump your rubbish in England?" If it is not yet live it will need to be earthed at regular intervals, probably about every 400m or so. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Banger Blue Posted September 10, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 10, 2016 Not energised yet! The RRV in Reading Depot during the weekdays has been involved in 'snagging' work. Speaking to the team's COSS when he booked off with me the other day, they are still a couple of weeks away from completing the work. No mention of any of the 387s coming to stay in the immediate future, although when I do a "View Stock List" report on INTERGRALE for 'RG-Reading Depot' 387130 now appears on the list, but I wouldn't read to much in to that Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted September 10, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 10, 2016 The situation with the section on the Relief Lines between Scours Lane and Tilehurst isn't much better. Although there is catenary there - and has been for a couple of weeks - it is completely unusable I found on having a look at some of it yesterday. The first view shows the catenary wire on the Up Relief immediately east of Tilehust station strapped to the gantry by temporary strapping instead of being fixed to the register arm (click to enlarge pics) A little further east the Down Relief contact wire is similarly suspended from a gantry While at Scours Lane the gantry which marks the eastern extent of the electrified(ish) route through to Milton is still far from a finished job on the Relief Lines (nearest viewpoint) Thence the section which will lead into the western end of the depot is also at a fairly early stage Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanders Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 Severn tunnel shuts on Monday for 6 weeks; this will be the first big disruption this far west. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great Western Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 Can we expect whe the tunnel reopens OHL extending out at each end? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bristol_Rich Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 Suspect they'll leave it like the have with the Patchway tunnels From 31:30. Given the closure of the tunnel and the route to it from Filton triangle you would assume it's a good time to conduct some of the other infrastructure works e.g the removal of the footbridge at Pilning. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arun Sharma Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 Very interesting film. I didn't realise just how much loss of visibility there is in the few seconds approaching the mouth of a tunnel. Incidentally, was that a bird strike at 40m50sec? It certainly obscured a significant part of the central visual area for the rest of the film. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakydoke Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/the-130-year-old-severn-tunnel-to-close-for-six-weeks-for-essential-railway-upgrade Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Kris Posted September 11, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 11, 2016 That's a lot of soot they've removed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdChap Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/the-130-year-old-severn-tunnel-to-close-for-six-weeks-for-essential-railway-upgrade Interesting to see that the Regional Eurostar services are part of Network Rail's plans!! Edwin C. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now