On 10 Oct, 11:18, wrote:
When I regularly travelled on that route, the problem used to mainly
be dwell times at Blackfriars, and access to London Bridge, which I
believe is just 2 tracks (1 up, 1 down) at one point. 15 minutes
between the 2 stations was not uncommon. Someone at Thameslink told me
an additional problem was that Southern trains 'had priority over
Thameslink trains at London Bridge' as it was 'their station', which I
was a bit dubious about.

I've been on Thameslink trains between Blackfriars and London Bridge
which have been at a standstill, and the driver has announced,
"Apologies for the delay, we are being held up as the South Eastern
trains are being given priority YET AGAIN". May be perception rather
than reality...

Patrick

wrote in message
oups.com...
When I regularly travelled on that route, the problem used to mainly
be dwell times at Blackfriars, and access to London Bridge, which I
believe is just 2 tracks (1 up, 1 down) at one point. 15 minutes
between the 2 stations was not uncommon. Someone at Thameslink told me
an additional problem was that Southern trains 'had priority over
Thameslink trains at London Bridge' as it was 'their station', which I
was a bit dubious about.

Probably a load of rubbish as you say. London Bridge is a Network Rail
station, you'd have thought that would be known even by Thameslink staff...

Paul

On 9 Oct, 17:03, "Tim Roll-Pickering"
wrote:
Graham J wrote:
However a simplified overview of the problem is that heading towards
London Bridge

While true, isn't there also a problem at Farringdon because of the time it
takes to switch from overhead to track power supplies?

There wouldn't be a problem if they routed the whole thing via
Loughborough junction, and added a diveunder/bridge somewhere in the
vicinity of Herne Hill. But for some reason they'd rather demolish the
only surviving parts of the original London Bridge station, demolish
the slim but pretty old building at the north of the platforms, and
demolish the rather beautiful Green Dragon Court (one of the last
surviving atmospherically historic bits of Borough - to the extent of
appearing in films, like Harry Potter).

Railways were often built by modernist extremists, but, apart from
Newcastle (where they demolished the outer parts of the old castle)
and Berwick (where they demolished most of the inner parts of the
castle), this takes this biscuit for its sheer brazen-facedness.

On Oct 9, 5:19 pm, Peter Heather wrote:
The biggest problem at Farringdon is the extremely cramped facilities
for passengers. The exit stair from the northbound platform is
extraordinarily narrow and it takes ages to get off the platform in
the morning peak.

Years ago I used to commute to farringdon and it does get extremely
crowded in the mornings. Of course its not helped by people who can
only climb the stairs slowly but decide to stand in the way and block
everyone else anyway instead of moving to the side and letting others
past.

B2003

"Peter Heather" wrote in message
ups.com...

From experience that isn't a problem and takes a matter of seconds.
The biggest problem at Farringdon is the extremely cramped facilities
for passengers. The exit stair from the northbound platform is
extraordinarily narrow and it takes ages to get off the platform in
the morning peak. Almost as bad is the access along the narrow
southbound platform when it is crowded in the evening. I hope the
station gets completely rebuilt in the TL plan otherwise it will never
cope with the proposed 12 car trains.


You've missed all the discussions over the last few years about the Moorgate
Branch being closed so that the Farringdon platforms can be lengthened to 12
cars, and the entire station rebuilt for Thameslink then?

Paul

On Oct 10, 2:41 pm, "Paul Scott"
wrote:

Probably a load of rubbish as you say. London Bridge is a Network Rail
station, you'd have thought that would be known even by Thameslink staff...

It doesn't much matter who owns/runs the station, it's the 'Southern'
signalling/control centres that (allegedly) make Thameslink wait.

Tim Roll-Pickering wrote:
While true, isn't there also a problem at Farringdon because of the time it
takes to switch from overhead to track power supplies?

Doesn't seem to take more than a few seconds to lower the pantographs;
and some trains can switch from overhead to 3rd rail DC on the fly
(Eurostar).

What's tedious is on weekends the train crawling at walking pace through
City Thameslink when the station is closed.

--
Simon Hewison

On Sun, 14 Oct 2007 20:53:14 +0100, Simon Hewison
wrote:

Tim Roll-Pickering wrote:
While true, isn't there also a problem at Farringdon because of the time it
takes to switch from overhead to track power supplies?

Doesn't seem to take more than a few seconds to lower the pantographs;
and some trains can switch from overhead to 3rd rail DC on the fly
(Eurostar).

What's tedious is on weekends the train crawling at walking pace through
City Thameslink when the station is closed.

Be thankful for small mervcies. They will have to stop when the AC/DC
changeover point is moved to City TL.!
--
Peter Lawrence

On Mon, Oct 15, 2007 at 07:30:31PM +0000, Peter Lawrence wrote:

Be thankful for small mervcies. They will have to stop when the AC/DC
changeover point is moved to City TL.!

FFS, if they're going to move it at all, why not move it all the way to
Blackfriars?

--
David Cantrell | Cake Smuggler Extraordinaire

The Law of Daves: in any gathering of technical people, the
number of Daves will be greater than the number of women.

"Peter Lawrence" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 14 Oct 2007 20:53:14 +0100, Simon Hewison
wrote:

Tim Roll-Pickering wrote:
While true, isn't there also a problem at Farringdon because of the time
it
takes to switch from overhead to track power supplies?

Doesn't seem to take more than a few seconds to lower the pantographs;
and some trains can switch from overhead to 3rd rail DC on the fly
(Eurostar).

What's tedious is on weekends the train crawling at walking pace through
City Thameslink when the station is closed.

Be thankful for small mervcies. They will have to stop when the AC/DC
changeover point is moved to City TL.!

According to the TL reports, AC/DC changeover stays at Farringdon, its only
DC/AC that moves to City Thameslink. I think so that units that fail to
raise the pan or switch to AC can get into the sidings on third rail. As the
PP suggested, there is already no need for units to stop when dropping the
pan, and most stock can raise the pan on the move as well.

Paul