Goodbye National Excuse

Si · Post by Si » Wed 18 Nov, 2009 3:54 pm

Blee? Reef? What accent is that?!

Uno Hoo · Post by **Uno Hoo** » Wed 18 Nov, 2009 6:16 pm

My son, who drives for Northern Rail, says that today has been chaotic - flooding at Cononley, signal wire theft at Ardsley, collision at Neville Hill, etc.Looks like poor Blakey may have had a difficult journey after all. At least he had a bit of forewarning prior to departure.

raveydavey · Post by **raveydavey** » Wed 18 Nov, 2009 9:23 pm

Not sure if I should post this here or on another thread, but our friends on Wellington Street have added a story about the disruption....illustrated with what is clearly a stock photo of some firefighters next to a DMU in Metro colours....oh dear!http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/Cha ... 5830871.jp

dogduke · Post by **dogduke** » Tue 24 Nov, 2009 12:08 am

..When is poor old Blakey back??I suspect he'll have a real if unfortunate tale to tell.And as usual it be entertaining no matter how arduousthe journey.

Post by **tyke bhoy** » Tue 24 Nov, 2009 10:23 am

dogduke wrote: ..When is poor old Blakey back??I suspect he'll have a real if unfortunate tale to tell.And as usual it be entertaining no matter how arduousthe journey. He did say he was going for a week and departure was last Wednesday so I suspect he may be on late tomorrow or on Thursday. However the fact he has not been posting for a week does suggest he got there in the end, it just doesn’t tell us when that end was and how much more complicated reaching it was.

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Wed 25 Nov, 2009 7:58 pm

Well here we are folks - safely back despite the trials and tribulations. Last Wednesday I arrived early at Leeds station after hearing that the disruption was now worse than that which had been "cured" by Tuesday teatime. Strutting confidently up to the screens in the knowledge that the 1005 would be OK, being a King's Cross Depot train, I was knocked for six to see "cancelled." Anyway the young lady in the kiosk said all ticket restrictions lifted and I could go on the 0940 which WAS running. I boarded that to find it full of an enraged crowd all loudly advising the World on their Mobiles that they would be late for important meetings in London etc etc and how they would have the entire railway hierarchy hanged in public. With a self satisfied smugness I thought how lucky I was to be leaving 25 minutes earlier than booked after all. You've all heard the old saying "pride goes before a fall" - well it turned out I was sitting on the 0840 which had been cancelled and "demoted" to 0940. Anyway, at 0950 the buffet car fellow came into our carriage, grabbed a microphone, and in great embarrassment (poor lad) announced that there was now no guard but he would keep us posted - more loud groans and Mobile phones with all the latest. Anyway at 1025 a very refined lady came on the intercom to say she had just arrived from London, apologised profusely and genuinely, and off we went - oh the relief - but then we coasted to a halt at Beeston for ten minutes. Getting going eventually I luckily manage to get my Eurostar - thankful that my own patent "allow two hours in London" method of taking the tension out of connections was once again well worth while. Also there are huge number of good eateries on the lovely St. pancras Station.Coming home yesterday another nightmare - I had to pinch myself to make sure it wasn't a bad dream. the entire concourse at King's Cross (huge as you know) was packed with people either in the several queues or wandering around in bewilderment - not a train in the station at 1845 and screens all blank. Well, the public address system is useless - what with cockney accents, inadequate number of speakers and volume against all the hubbub and so on, but the gist of it seemed to be that there was "an incident" in Huntingdonshire and the Hull Trains rolling stock was stranded and wouldn't be coming to London at all - "Passengers for Hull should take the 1903 Leeds train (sit on the roof, mind the wires, and duck under the bridges) and change at Doncaster" - of course at that time there was no 1903 Leeds train, or any other train for that matter. Anyway eventually the 1933 (mine) Leeds train arrived and I got home at last. So I've no idea what the "incident" to the Hull train was, but it ceratinly brought King's Cross to a standstill the like of which I don't think I've seen before.As someone once said "Its being so cheerful as keeps me going."

raveydavey · Post by **raveydavey** » Wed 25 Nov, 2009 8:51 pm

The railways are great when they work, but an absolute nightmare the minute things go wrong. A fact that privatisation has made a hundred times worse as nobody now owns the problem, preferring to pass the buck.

Post by **cnosni** » Thu 26 Nov, 2009 12:10 am

BLAKEY wrote: Well here we are folks - safely back despite the trials and tribulations. Last Wednesday I arrived early at Leeds station after hearing that the disruption was now worse than that which had been "cured" by Tuesday teatime. Strutting confidently up to the screens in the knowledge that the 1005 would be OK, being a King's Cross Depot train, I was knocked for six to see "cancelled." Anyway the young lady in the kiosk said all ticket restrictions lifted and I could go on the 0940 which WAS running. I boarded that to find it full of an enraged crowd all loudly advising the World on their Mobiles that they would be late for important meetings in London etc etc and how they would have the entire railway hierarchy hanged in public. With a self satisfied smugness I thought how lucky I was to be leaving 25 minutes earlier than booked after all. You've all heard the old saying "pride goes before a fall" - well it turned out I was sitting on the 0840 which had been cancelled and "demoted" to 0940. Anyway, at 0950 the buffet car fellow came into our carriage, grabbed a microphone, and in great embarrassment (poor lad) announced that there was now no guard but he would keep us posted - more loud groans and Mobile phones with all the latest. Anyway at 1025 a very refined lady came on the intercom to say she had just arrived from London, apologised profusely and genuinely, and off we went - oh the relief - but then we coasted to a halt at Beeston for ten minutes. Getting going eventually I luckily manage to get my Eurostar - thankful that my own patent "allow two hours in London" method of taking the tension out of connections was once again well worth while. Also there are huge number of good eateries on the lovely St. pancras Station.Coming home yesterday another nightmare - I had to pinch myself to make sure it wasn't a bad dream. the entire concourse at King's Cross (huge as you know) was packed with people either in the several queues or wandering around in bewilderment - not a train in the station at 1845 and screens all blank. Well, the public address system is useless - what with cockney accents, inadequate number of speakers and volume against all the hubbub and so on, but the gist of it seemed to be that there was "an incident" in Huntingdonshire and the Hull Trains rolling stock was stranded and wouldn't be coming to London at all - "Passengers for Hull should take the 1903 Leeds train (sit on the roof, mind the wires, and duck under the bridges) and change at Doncaster" - of course at that time there was no 1903 Leeds train, or any other train for that matter. Anyway eventually the 1933 (mine) Leeds train arrived and I got home at last. So I've no idea what the "incident" to the Hull train was, but it ceratinly brought King's Cross to a standstill the like of which I don't think I've seen before.As someone once said "Its being so cheerful as keeps me going." Blakey,who was your driver on the 1933??????? It was........drum roll.......Not me,i was 1833,but never mind (and on time i hasten to add!!).The Hull Train had hit a person on the line just south of St Neots.About 1745ish,its now been outlawed on the railway to say that someone has been hit by a train,the PC brigade going mad im afraid.This (collision with a person)causes all sorts of problems.All trains will have been stopped in all directions whilst Railtrack and BTP appear.It then becomes a crime scene and as a consequence the railway ,its timetable and trains and passengers come 2nd.All inbound trains to London were then subject to delayed arrival,this usully means cancellations.However by the time i reached St Neots i was main line and biting the backside of the slow geordie driver on the 1830 (they are chuffing useless and slow,oh and thick).I passed the Hull train,which was still stood south of St Neots at about 8 o clock.As for your outbound journey im just glad that you got my message and that you went in early.The probelm with all of this is absolutely nothing to do with privatisation,its simply what has happened under BR has continued,except that underinvestment (as in BR days) is now exascerbated by profits to share holders.On your outbound journey the delays were nothing to do with the derailment at Evil Hill (all the sets were stabled overnight in strategic places for the next morning,credit where credits due control,they were on the ball).The problem you experienced was that there was also some signalling cable nicked at Ardsley (again) in the early hours of teh morning and therefore trains (which hadnt been cancelled)had to run on whats called temporary block working,which is one train at a time through the entire area affected (at reduced speed/caution).now im sure this could have been communicated to passengers at the station,but unfortunately even those of us that actually work trains are not informed of what is happening,so its hard to pass it on.Plus,when you do have the info and the guard tries to explain what is going on most ( and unfortunately i mean a very large percentage) passengers have no clue as to what is being said or can understand the garbeled railway jargon that confuseses even us.No matter what explanantion is given people will not be happy when they are delayed or their train is cancelled.This has not changed since BR im afraid and it doesnt look like improving.PS,its funny that people at airports will stomach delays of 4 to 12 hours on flight departures but kick off with considerably smaller delays on the railway.Anyway,hope you had a good time?How is Duvel?

dogduke · Post by **dogduke** » Thu 26 Nov, 2009 2:54 am

Pleased to see Blakey back safe and sound and as expecteda good tale to tell.Cnosi's post is very true to life.Communcation is everything - the great problem I used to find was that by the time you had got round to telling EVERYBODY things had changed and it was a whole new ball game then we start all over again hopefully getting that info to those who can act on it or make good use of it.One driver/guard/signaller missing or delayed on duty can throw what you have already arranged into disarray.I found as Cnosi says people will tolerate delays on other transport systems whereas the railways got a load of stick for a matter of minutes.The reasons for the delays were common to all forms of transport.If it moves - it CAN be delayed.Blakey thankfully understands public transport and therefore gives himself a fighting chance of getting where he is going.Some fools set of on a journey of hundreds of miles which is dependant on a ten minute connection at Leeds from God knows where.And my favourite comment of all time from the 'TRAVELLING PUBLIC(God bless 'em) -Why don't they put another carriage on!Someone somewhere has laboured(with others)to ensure that the service EVEN RAN!!!I remember trying to strengthen a Newcastle-Liverpool service at Newcastle for some long forgotten event in Lancashire,problems coupling at Newcastle delayed it fora aout 30 minutes and everyone en route travelled on other services.

Post by **tyke bhoy** » Thu 26 Nov, 2009 10:36 am

cnosni wrote: The Hull Train had hit a person on the line just south of St Neots.About 1745ish,its now been outlawed on the railway to say that someone has been hit by a train,the PC brigade going mad im afraid.This (collision with a person)causes all sorts of problems. It wouldn't be a "Police incident" would it? It certainly is for the local police forces these days and I am sure I have even heard of the cable theft delays been referred to as "a Police incident"Ardsley must be one of the most regularly hit places so it appears strange to me that there isn't additional security measures there. Or maybe there are, they aren't evident especially as they don't seem to be working.