On Jun 24, 6:55*pm, Paul Scott wrote:
Noticed on TfL weekend travel a hint that a trial run of the Circle to
Hammersmith 'Teacup' service is happening this weekend. Can anyone
confirm this is the case? There are no 'service changes' displayed for
the Circle, they're just saying for Edgware Rd station:
"Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 June, there is no through Circle line
service. Passengers travelling between Bayswater and Baker Street in
either direction will need to change trains at Edgware Road"
Not the whole story methinks...
As others have confirmed, yes there's a trial happening this weekend.
I read about this recently in 'another place' - actually no need to be
coy, it was on the District Dave forum - and intended to but never
quite got round to posting something here, not least because but I
hadn't quite realised how imminent the trial was due to be.
There's lots of discussion in this mega-epic DD thread concerning the
weekend trial and indeed the whole Tea cup concept - talk of the trial
starts on page 29:
http://districtdave.proboards.com/in...8139&page =29
There's a good deal of scepticism about it - FWIW some of those
commenting are involved in the operational railway (whilst others are
just observers), though I can't help but feel that some of the
opposition is just the innate conservatism and opposition to change
that always shows itself when a shake-up of the old ways is proposed.
As I've said downthread, if it makes the Circle line work better,
there's surely something to be said for it.
Incidentally one thing I picked up from that thread is that on
Saturday afternoon (between around 1430 and 1830) there will be a
period "when trains run east of Whitechapel to fully replicate the Dec
09 off peak service", otherwise trains will be terminating at
Whitechapel. I'm not au fait enough with the plans to comprehend the
full implications of that, but it will be referring to the eastern end
of the H&C line - normally on Saturdays, just like M-F, the H&C line
provides a full service all the way to Barking during the day (though
not during the early morning or late evening).