Today, this morning, 48 h after ''problems'' started, 84 h after the
last snow fell in this area, and 36 h after the alleged emergency
service was put in place, I actually found this emergency service in
place and working and corresponding to what they were advertising in
their web updates.

With flexitime and avoiding the peaks I did on time Up 09:25 off LUT
to WHP, and Down on 16:05 off ZFD to LUT.

Up train barely half full, Down train ~3/4 full, perhaps people have
given up.

FCC TL are keeping the same basic 4 TPH emergency service in 23/12 and
24/12 according to their web site now, but I assume there will be a
further twiddling on 24/12 towards xmas run down.

EDIT QUOTE

Major disruption
Service update 22/23/24 December

Thameslink route

We are continuing to run a revised timetable. East Midlands Trains is
stopping its services at Bedford this morning and City Thameslink
station is open. Please check the Live train updates page before you
set out.

With Southeastern, we are operating a half hourly service between City
Thameslink and Sevenoaks via Catford leaving Sevenoaks at '02 & '32
and City Thameslink at '09 & '39.

....

Service update 23 and 24 December

Both the Thameslink and Great Northern routes will be running a
revised service in the two days before Christmas to reflect the recent
impact of the weather.

The timetable for Thursday can be found he Thameslink timetable and
Great Northern timetable.

END QUOTE


And I am still unable to find out exactly what the north of Thames
issue is.

I could guess NR want plain line running i.e. no use of points so no
turnbacks at Luton or St.Albans nor FL/SL switching, but that don't
explain why just 4 TPH nor the stopping pattern they are using.

Or maybe the is an OLE speed limit, but that again don't imply the 4
TPH pattern.

--
Nick