In message
, at
02:28:14 on Tue, 11 Dec 2007, Mr Thant
remarked:
Why are the platforms at St Pancras Thameslink so massive in width?

There has been some discussion of whether or not the box was designed to
a take two island platforms, but reduced to the current layout to save
costs. Now that it's possible to access the station, perhaps we can see
if it would be possible to steal the outer edges of each platform to
make a track each side, to regain an island layout?

I had a think about this when I was there on Sunday. The answer is
probably yes, but you'd be left with Clapham style islands and
escalators no nowhere.

You'd have to move things like the escalators.

Sorry, I wasn't very clear. The platforms would be two feet wide, so
installing anything wider than a stepladder would block access to the
south end.

The platforms can't both be "massive" and "only 2 ft wide" - if an extra
track was inserted. Anyone done some measurements?
--
Roland Perry

On 11 Dec, 04:11, Mizter T wrote:

The preference of TfL for the Shere machines perhaps makes sense -
they are certainly the more elegant solution when fitted with Oyster
readers, the readers on the S&D machines look a bit like a bit boil
that's just been stuck on.

The S&D machines also don't work in cold or wet weather properly.
They're clever in that they can report back their status (so RPIs can
tell if you're lying about the fact the machine wouldn't sell you a
ticket) but they can't detect the fact that the touch screen simply
stops working - either completely, or certain parts of the screen. The
one at Hatfield (for example) is under a shelter, but not sheltered
enough to stop the bottom of the screen getting wet - and certainly
not enough to protect it from extreme cold/windy weather. Therefore
you can't purchase any tickets at all - and yet the machine will
report itself as working fine.

In other words, they're crap if they're in an exposed location - at
least for the next few months or so!!

Jonathan

"jonmorris" wrote

Did FCC adjust the timetable to take into account the longer/shorter
time to arrive at StP? And, have they made the necessary changes to
the infrastructure to report on the arrival times for the screens?

Southbound St Pancras International departure times seem to be one minute
earlier than the former Kings Cross Thameslink times. Northbound the former
Kings Cross Thameslink times are used unchangedf.

Peter

jonmorris wrote:
On 11 Dec, 09:01, "Garry Smith" wrote:

snip

I also noticed that the displays don't say whether the next train will
be 4 cars or 8 - the displays at KX TL did.

This is stupid. I don't think they state the location of first class
anymore either.

Indeed. But since all the FCC TL trains are DOO the driver will always
stop by the signs that say 'S car stop' (on both platforms - one sign
for each), which themselves are adjacent to the DOO screens (again one
set of screens for each platform - I've noticed that they broadcast
full-colour DOO feed, rather than black and white which is the norm).

What I'm personally more annoyed about are the new gates - at the moment
you have to shove your (paper) ticket through the slot, and the flaps
themselves are so slow they make it easier for tailgaters to pass
through behind someone else (compared to the other two sets of gates on
the LU network anyway).

"lonelytraveller" wrote in
message
...
Why are the platforms at St Pancras Thameslink so massive in width?

They had a load of cheap platform material left over from Shepherds Bush?

Paul S

Mizter T wrote:
On 10 Dec, 23:38, Sky Rider wrote:
(snip)

I've also noticed that the FCC ticket machines at SPILL have blank
circular plates - I presume that they will be converted to Oyster pads
in due course (so far I've yet to discover any Oyster-compatible
machines that were not built by Cubic).

You want non-Cubic ticket machines that do Oyster eh?!

Yes. To put it another way, I haven't discovered any FCC ticket machines
that are Oyster-compatible yet. This is not to say that I don't like
using Cubic machines with Oyster, but it is more likely that FCC will
stick with their own S&B machines than take Cubic machines.

There is also the possibility of ITSO rollout on the FCC network during
the 2010s...


London Overground has both Scheidt & Bachmann Ticket Xpress...
http://therailticketgallery.fotopic.net/p26682964.html

...and Shere Fast Ticket machines...
http://therailticketgallery.fotopic.net/p15267418.html

...which have both been adapted to to include an Oyster reader (can't
find any photos so perhaps I'll take some).

snip

I don't really use the Overground so I wouldn't have noticed.

On Dec 11, 6:22 am, (Neil Williams)
wrote:
Don't forget, BTW, that the LUL A-stock is quite a bit *bigger* than
mainline stock.

Indeed. Looking at the front profile of an A stock train it does look
a rather chunky beast. In fact its so wide its even out of gauge for
some of LUs own sub surface sections.

B2003

On 11 Dec, 10:33, Roland Perry wrote:
In message
, at
02:28:14 on Tue, 11 Dec 2007, Mr Thant
remarked:



Why are the platforms at St Pancras Thameslink so massive in width?

There has been some discussion of whether or not the box was designed to
a take two island platforms, but reduced to the current layout to save
costs. Now that it's possible to access the station, perhaps we can see
if it would be possible to steal the outer edges of each platform to
make a track each side, to regain an island layout?

I had a think about this when I was there on Sunday. The answer is
probably yes, but you'd be left with Clapham style islands and
escalators no nowhere.

You'd have to move things like the escalators.

Sorry, I wasn't very clear. The platforms would be two feet wide, so
installing anything wider than a stepladder would block access to the
south end.

The platforms can't both be "massive" and "only 2 ft wide" - if an extra
track was inserted.

Whyever not? The kind of "massive" we're talking here is only like,
say, the southbound platform at Angel (ie unusually large for an
underground station), and that's equal to one track plus a tiny
island.

U

In message
, at
03:36:48 on Tue, 11 Dec 2007, Mr Thant
remarked:
The platforms can't both be "massive" and "only 2 ft wide" - if an extra
track was inserted.

Whyever not? The kind of "massive" we're talking here is only like,
say, the southbound platform at Angel (ie unusually large for an
underground station), and that's equal to one track plus a tiny
island.

I think we can only resolve this with some measurements!
--
Roland Perry

Fortunately I didn't have to go through it this morning, but
my wife did. Here's what she said - her first two points are
not actually about the new station, but her last point is
interesting.

"Today's journey was the usual fiasco. A train broke down at
St Pancras so we were stuck for 25 minutes at Cricklewood.

At King's Cross all the machines stopped accepting tickets and
would only accept Oyster cards. I tried mine on 3 machines before
I gave up so by the time I got to Piccadilly Circus it failed in the
reader there too!

New definition of Hell - Thameslink, Midland Mainline and a Eurostar
from Paris all arriving at the same time!!!!"
--
Garry Smith