Sounds like it could get ugly.

Some TOCs are planning on running an amended timetable (East Coast,
c2c), others have one up their sleeves, ready to go (or not go, as the
case may be).

This afternoon might be a good time to go out and enjoy the splendid
autumn colours - in southern Britain at least - might not have any
autumnal leaves left on the trees come tomorrow, indeed might have fewer
trees as well.

In message , at 13:13:57 on Sun, 27 Oct
2013, Mizter T remarked:
Sounds like it could get ugly.

Some TOCs are planning on running an amended timetable (East Coast,
c2c), others have one up their sleeves, ready to go (or not go, as the
case may be).

This afternoon might be a good time to go out and enjoy the splendid
autumn colours - in southern Britain at least - might not have any
autumnal leaves left on the trees come tomorrow, indeed might have
fewer trees as well.

I agree. I remember the 1987 storm, and the smaller one in Jan 1990
which was actually more of an inconvenience (both for my personal
transport needs and for domestic electricity supply).

Like 1990, this one is apparently going to be in the daytime, which
makes it more disruptive than the 1987 one which was at night.

I've changed my plans and will be doing some errands this evening that
were pencilled in for Monday morning, and stay at home tomorrow.
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 14:12:21 on
Sun, 27 Oct 2013, Paul Corfield remarked:
I suggest you check the weather forecast again. The storm is scheduled
overnight not during daylight hours. I am amazed given the never
ending hype about the storm that you've got the time wrong!

I haven't, the winds have been getting later and later quite
consistently. (The rain will precede the winds by a few hours though,
but it's the winds that are more likely to affect transport and
electricity).

I've changed my plans and will be doing some errands this evening that
were pencilled in for Monday morning, and stay at home tomorrow.

I suggest you review your plans then.

I suggest you re-check the forecast! The Amber Warning for London
doesn't even come into force until 3am tomorrow morning.

In the north of Cambs, the highest wind speed is at 9am (under the Met
Office's 3hr granularity). 26mph gusting 45mph, which is quite a bit
lower maximum than for London (eg 33/60 at Heathrow at 6am).
--
Roland Perry

"Roland Perry" wrote in message ...

In the north of Cambs, the highest wind speed is at 9am (under the Met
Office's 3hr granularity). 26mph gusting 45mph, which is quite a bit
lower maximum than for London (eg 33/60 at Heathrow at 6am).
==========================

I really wouldn't take that as gospel - the UKMO warnings system tends to be
a few hours out of date. Also, this is a low that's still evolving and its
exact development and track still retains a significant degree of
uncertainty, even now. As far as one can tell, it looks like the low will
zip across the country more quickly than some models were suggesting a day
or so back with max gusts eg in Ely probably around 0300-0400. But that's
still 12 hours away (and subject to change with this sort of system that
even the high-res models have trouble in handling). For latest information
you could always check through this thread later on this evening:

http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/foru...al-storm-chat/

(Sorry - rather OT here, but since I happened to be having a quick
browse...)

JGD

On 27/10/2013 13:13, Mizter T wrote:
Sounds like it could get ugly.

Some TOCs are planning on running an amended timetable (East Coast,
c2c), others have one up their sleeves, ready to go (or not go, as the
case may be).

This afternoon might be a good time to go out and enjoy the splendid
autumn colours - in southern Britain at least - might not have any
autumnal leaves left on the trees come tomorrow, indeed might have fewer
trees as well.
I'm in East Sussex and our trees are still green. That was the problem
with the Big Storm as the trees had a canopy of wet leaves.
Derek.

On 27/10/2013 13:13, Mizter T wrote:
Sounds like it could get ugly.

Some TOCs are planning on running an amended timetable (East Coast,
c2c), others have one up their sleeves, ready to go (or not go, as the
case may be).

This afternoon might be a good time to go out and enjoy the splendid
autumn colours - in southern Britain at least - might not have any
autumnal leaves left on the trees come tomorrow, indeed might have fewer
trees as well.

Nice idea but there's not that much in the way of autumn colours round
here yet!

--
Graeme Wall
This account not read, substitute trains for rail.
Railway Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail

On 27/10/2013 13:25, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 13:13:57 on Sun, 27 Oct
2013, Mizter T remarked:
Sounds like it could get ugly.

Some TOCs are planning on running an amended timetable (East Coast,
c2c), others have one up their sleeves, ready to go (or not go, as the
case may be).

This afternoon might be a good time to go out and enjoy the splendid
autumn colours - in southern Britain at least - might not have any
autumnal leaves left on the trees come tomorrow, indeed might have
fewer trees as well.

I agree. I remember the 1987 storm, and the smaller one in Jan 1990
which was actually more of an inconvenience (both for my personal
transport needs and for domestic electricity supply).

Like 1990, this one is apparently going to be in the daytime, which
makes it more disruptive than the 1987 one which was at night.

I've changed my plans and will be doing some errands this evening that
were pencilled in for Monday morning, and stay at home tomorrow.
In '87 I was woken by a crashing sound. The lights were out. I used my
lighter to get down stairs to find a box of candles. A hundred year old
apple tree had come down blocking the back door and French windows and
the dog excitedly wanted to go out.
Derek.

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message , at 13:13:57 on Sun, 27 Oct 2013,
Mizter T remarked:
Sounds like it could get ugly.

Some TOCs are planning on running an amended timetable (East Coast, c2c),
others have one up their sleeves, ready to go (or not go, as the case may
be).

This afternoon might be a good time to go out and enjoy the splendid
autumn colours - in southern Britain at least - might not have any
autumnal leaves left on the trees come tomorrow, indeed might have fewer
trees as well.

I agree. I remember the 1987 storm, and the smaller one in Jan 1990 which
was actually more of an inconvenience (both for my personal transport
needs and for domestic electricity supply).

Like 1990, this one is apparently going to be in the daytime, which makes
it more disruptive than the 1987 one which was at night.

I remember being on the 10th (top) floor of the ICL tower block in Bracknell
during the 1990 storm. I swear the building was swaying slightly - certainly
coats on a coat-rack well away from the windows were swaying. And the
aluminium window frames were rattling like crazy. I worked with a disabled
guy who was allowed to park in a special place beside a 15-foot high
100-yard long brick wall that separated a path from the loading bay. That
lunchtime he'd been out and found a lorry parked in his space so he'd parked
in the normal car-park. And he was very glad - later that afternoon the
whole wall collapsed, right onto where his car would have been :-( I
noticed that when the wall was later rebuilt, it was much more substantial,
with buttresses every so often and a double course of bricks with some
through bricks - they were taking no chances of it every happening again.

The 1987 one was very frightening: my house was a few hundred yards from the
thick pine forest just south of the railway line between Bracknell and
Ascot, and I could hear the crack and crash as one tree after another fell
over. Interestingly, many of the trees had snapped off low down and then the
top bit had landed, still fairly vertical, to one side, rather than them
being horizontal as I'd imagined. I earned a lot of brownie points as I was
one of relatively few people who made it into work that morning, having
walked a couple of miles after deciding that the local roads were so clogged
with stationary traffic that it wasn't worth even *trying* to drive. My wife
was living in Worcestershire at the time (long before we met) and did not
have a TV so she never saw a news report. And it wasn't until several months
later when she say huge gaps in woodland when she went to visit somewhere in
the south east that she even *heard* that there'd been a great gale and that
it had devastated huge areas of woodland. She'd been far enough north west
to avoid the effect of the gale and had never seen/heard anything on the
news, though it's surprising that no-one she worked with, who may have seen
a news, mentioned about it at the time.

On Sun, 27 Oct 2013 13:13:57 +0000, Mizter T
wrote:

Sounds like it could get ugly.

Some TOCs are planning on running an amended timetable (East Coast,
c2c), others have one up their sleeves, ready to go (or not go, as the
case may be).

This afternoon might be a good time to go out and enjoy the splendid
autumn colours - in southern Britain at least - might not have any
autumnal leaves left on the trees come tomorrow, indeed might have fewer
trees as well.

A huge storm was always a problem, but many years ago the railways
kept lineside trees trimmed to minimise possible disruptions. Today?
No such precautions.

Guy Gorton

I understand the need for tracks to be checked for damage / fallen
trees but this does all seem a bit OTT.

Faced with 2 options - eg:

a. say we'll try to tun trains as normal but there may be severe
delays/cancellations then get loads of complaints when some trains are
delayed/cancelled; or
b. announce there'll be no trains until (say) 09:00 because of the
severe weather, and get some (few) complaints from the few who really
wanted to get to work etc but brush them off on the basis of the
prioirty given to safety (and trust the punters will never know if it
turns out many trains could have run sooner).

I don't blame managers for going for (b). I think it's a consequence of
the way most British people expect zero risk and take zero persoanl
responsibility.

But then I'm a grumpy old man who sees nothing wrong with unmanned level
crossings without gates
--
Robin
reply to address is (meant to be) valid