On Jan 8, 4:24*pm, Mizter T wrote:
On 8 Jan, 16:03, "Peter Masson" wrote:

"Mizter T" wrote:

On 8 Jan, 09:08, wrote:
319361 has just pulled very slowly into the the 'new' siding at Herne
Hill. All three rails look unused-rusty at the moment so this must
still be quite an unusual occurrence! (I have a poor quality photo if
anyone's interested)

Presumably practice for when the new timetable starts on 22 March.

The current timetable shows trains terminating at Blackfriars from the north
at 0816, 0844, 1026, 1056, and 1126, and trains starting from Elephant &
Castle for the north at 0855, 0920, 1618, 1700, and 1740. Do some or all of
these reverse and lay over in the Herne Hill reversing siding?

OK, my mistake, it would appear that it's now in 'proper' use then - I
can't quite see where else the trains you mention would go.

Sharp-eyed Peter-I hadn't spotted those 'new' trains either. Are they
diverted former Moorgate terminators? Or just a way of testing the new
facilities before the big bang timetable change?

On 8 Jan, 20:59, wrote:
On Jan 8, 6:04*pm, Stephen Furley wrote:

What's the new siding being used for? *Is this something to do with
the re-building of Blackfriers station?

It's a product of the Thameslink Programme - trains that currently use
the soon to close Moorgate branch will be diverted through
Blackfriars, and a few of these will reverse in said siding (in
addition to and/or in place of those that already do).

So the new siding is entered from the North end, unlike the old one?
if that is the case, then it would explain why I was having difficulty
understanding what it was for.

On Jan 8, 10:15*pm, Stephen Furley wrote:

So the new siding is entered from the North end, unlike the old one?

Yup.

wrote

Sharp-eyed Peter-I hadn't spotted those 'new' trains either. Are they
diverted former Moorgate terminators? Or just a way of testing the new
facilities before the big bang timetable change?

There have been various tweaks to the FCC Thameslink timetable, presumably
in preparation for the through peak running to Southeastern, but in effect,
one of the southbound Blackfriars terminators terminated there in the
previous timetable - though I don't know where the ecs used to go - and the
other four used to run to Moorgate.

When the through running timetable starts there will be 5 trains which look
as though they'll go into the reversing siding, but they will come out bof
public service at Elephant & Castle rather than Blackfriars. All other
Moorgate terminators will run through to Southeastern destinations,
including Kent House, Beckenham Junction, Bromley South, Orpington, and
Sevenoaks. The longest runs would appear to be the 0623 Ashford
International to Bedford and the 1646 Bedford to Ashford International.

Peter