Massive Disruption at Paddington
 

Trains cancelled to Worcester. Trains cancelled to Wales and West
Country. Trains cancelled to Oxford and Bourne End and also to Henley.
All other trains subject to huge delays. Reason = 'signalling
problems' in the West Drayton area from last night = 'vandalism' in
the Iver area = Pikeys cut the signal cables to burn off the plastic
and sell the copper. SB

Massive Disruption at Paddington
 

On Jun 23, 7:05*pm, SB wrote:
Trains cancelled to Worcester. Trains cancelled to Wales and West
Country. Trains cancelled to Oxford and Bourne End and also to Henley.
All other trains subject to huge delays. Reason = 'signalling
problems' in the West Drayton area from last night = 'vandalism' in
the Iver area = Pikeys cut the signal cables to burn off the plastic
and sell the copper. SB

Got this email from FGW CS:

Dear Sir or Madam:

Due to the theft of signalling cable at West Drayton, an extremely
limited train service is able to operate between London Paddington and
Reading.

Network Rail?s Engineering Team are working as hard as possible to
resolve this issue, but due to the amount of cable removed, disruption
is likely to continue until 2200 this evening.

If you are planning on travelling today, we strongly advise that you
check www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk for further information.

Whilst we will make every effort to operate the advertised train
service, we do strongly recommend that you leave extra time for your
journey.

We apologise for any potential disruption to your journey.

First Great Western
www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk

Massive Disruption at Paddington
 

On Jun 23, 7:45*pm, CJB wrote:
On Jun 23, 7:05*pm, SB wrote:

Trains cancelled to Worcester. Trains cancelled to Wales and West
Country. Trains cancelled to Oxford and Bourne End and also to Henley.
All other trains subject to huge delays. Reason = 'signalling
problems' in the West Drayton area from last night = 'vandalism' in
the Iver area = Pikeys cut the signal cables to burn off the plastic
and sell the copper. SB

Got this email from FGW CS:

Dear Sir or Madam:

Due to the theft of signalling cable at West Drayton, an extremely
limited train service is able to operate between London Paddington and
Reading.

Network Rail?s Engineering Team are working as hard as possible to
resolve this issue, but due to the amount of cable removed, disruption
is likely to continue until 2200 this evening.

If you are planning on travelling today, we strongly advise that you
checkwww.firstgreatwestern.co.ukfor further information.

Whilst we will make every effort to operate the advertised train
service, we do strongly recommend that you leave extra time for your
journey.

We apologise for any potential disruption to your journey.

First Great Westernwww.firstgreatwestern.co.uk

As an aside there are quite a few scrap metal yards bordering the
railway and canal in the West Drayton / Iver area. Frequently there is
a pall of acrid black smoke permeating the air from there which drfits
right over to Heathrow and Harlington and Southall. This black smoke
stinks of burnt plastic obviously from burning cables. At the weekends
there are no Council inspectors around, so this largely goes
unreported. But it is highly illegal as is the theft of the cable in
the first place. CJB.

Massive Disruption at Paddington
 

On 23 June, 19:45, CJB wrote:
On Jun 23, 7:05*pm, SB wrote:

Trains cancelled to Worcester. Trains cancelled to Wales and West
Country. Trains cancelled to Oxford and Bourne End and also to Henley.
All other trains subject to huge delays. Reason = 'signalling
problems' in the West Drayton area from last night = 'vandalism' in
the Iver area = Pikeys cut the signal cables to burn off the plastic
and sell the copper. SB

Got this email from FGW CS:

Dear Sir or Madam:

Due to the theft of signalling cable at West Drayton, an extremely
limited train service is able to operate between London Paddington and
Reading.

Network Rail?s Engineering Team are working as hard as possible to
resolve this issue, but due to the amount of cable removed, disruption
is likely to continue until 2200 this evening.

If you are planning on travelling today, we strongly advise that you
checkwww.firstgreatwestern.co.ukfor further information.

Whilst we will make every effort to operate the advertised train
service, we do strongly recommend that you leave extra time for your
journey.

We apologise for any potential disruption to your journey.

First Great Westernwww.firstgreatwestern.co.uk

This seems to have occurred in daylight and involved a substantial
length of 48 core signalling cable. The area is dotted with scrapyards
and infested with parasitic pikeys.

Massive Disruption at Paddington
 

On Jun 23, 9:41*pm, "
wrote:
On 23 June, 19:45, CJB wrote:





On Jun 23, 7:05*pm, SB wrote:

Trains cancelled to Worcester. Trains cancelled to Wales and West
Country. Trains cancelled to Oxford and Bourne End and also to Henley..
All other trains subject to huge delays. Reason = 'signalling
problems' in the West Drayton area from last night = 'vandalism' in
the Iver area = Pikeys cut the signal cables to burn off the plastic
and sell the copper. SB

Got this email from FGW CS:

Dear Sir or Madam:

Due to the theft of signalling cable at West Drayton, an extremely
limited train service is able to operate between London Paddington and
Reading.

Network Rail?s Engineering Team are working as hard as possible to
resolve this issue, but due to the amount of cable removed, disruption
is likely to continue until 2200 this evening.

If you are planning on travelling today, we strongly advise that you
checkwww.firstgreatwestern.co.ukforfurther information.

Whilst we will make every effort to operate the advertised train
service, we do strongly recommend that you leave extra time for your
journey.

We apologise for any potential disruption to your journey.

First Great Westernwww.firstgreatwestern.co.uk

This seems to have occurred in daylight and involved a substantial
length of 48 core signalling cable. The area is dotted with scrapyards
and infested with parasitic pikeys.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/10398387.stm

Says 300 ft of cabling.

CJB.

Massive Disruption at Paddington
 

On 23/06/10 19:05, SB wrote:
Trains cancelled to Worcester. Trains cancelled to Wales and West
Country. Trains cancelled to Oxford and Bourne End and also to Henley.
All other trains subject to huge delays. Reason = 'signalling
problems' in the West Drayton area from last night = 'vandalism' in
the Iver area = Pikeys cut the signal cables to burn off the plastic
and sell the copper. SB

And you know it was "Pikeys" (whatever they are) how exactly?

Rgds

Denis McMahon

Massive Disruption at Paddington
 

Denis McMahon wrote:


And you know it was "Pikeys" (whatever they are) how exactly?

Rgds

Denis McMahon

Yes, that annoys me too - what's wrong with 'criminals', 'thieves' or
'anti-social greedy selfish *******s who don't give a toss about
inconveniencing the public'?

Mind you, the latter brings them uncomfortably close to respected
pillars of society like bankers, but there you go, perhaps we need to
differentiate between thieves who look like us and thieves who are a bit
dodgy and foreign, eh?

Anyway, here's hoping the Police nick them before they're all sacked to
pay for the sins of the City, otherwise FGW will be back working on the
Time Interval system before long.

Tom

Massive Disruption at Paddington
 

On Wed, 23 Jun 2010 23:40:01 +0100, Tom Barry
wrote:

Denis McMahon wrote:


And you know it was "Pikeys" (whatever they are) how exactly?


Yes, that annoys me too - what's wrong with 'criminals', 'thieves' or
'anti-social greedy selfish *******s who don't give a toss about
inconveniencing the public'?

The reason they are called pikeys is that pikemen were the original
cannon-fodder endowed with allegedly less brain than Paddington, a
collective form of village idiot. Such people (of whatever racial or
national origin) tend not to think of themselves never mind others so
occasionally put their axes through live high-voltage cables with
predictable consequences. The real criminals and selfish greedy
*******s are the dodgy scrap dealers who pay them silly prices and
make their own fat profit.

Massive Disruption at Paddington
 

"CJB" wrote in message
...
On Jun 23, 9:41 pm, "
wrote:
On 23 June, 19:45, CJB wrote:





On Jun 23, 7:05 pm, SB wrote:

Trains cancelled to Worcester. Trains cancelled to Wales and West
Country. Trains cancelled to Oxford and Bourne End and also to Henley.
All other trains subject to huge delays. Reason = 'signalling
problems' in the West Drayton area from last night = 'vandalism' in
the Iver area = Pikeys cut the signal cables to burn off the plastic
and sell the copper. SB

Is there not a way that a spare core or two of the cable could carry a nice
deterrent voltage to stop this?

(probably banned cos of elf n safety!)

Kev

Massive Disruption at Paddington
 

In message
"Kev Lawrence" wrote:


"CJB" wrote in message
...
On Jun 23, 9:41 pm, "
wrote:
On 23 June, 19:45, CJB wrote:





On Jun 23, 7:05 pm, SB wrote:

Trains cancelled to Worcester. Trains cancelled to Wales and West
Country. Trains cancelled to Oxford and Bourne End and also to Henley.
All other trains subject to huge delays. Reason = 'signalling
problems' in the West Drayton area from last night = 'vandalism' in
the Iver area = Pikeys cut the signal cables to burn off the plastic
and sell the copper. SB

Is there not a way that a spare core or two of the cable could carry a nice
deterrent voltage to stop this?


Wouldn't stop them trying. There was a case recently of someone electrocuted
in a sub-station trying to steal the main feeder!

Many years ago, when I lived in Nairobi, thieves stole a great chunk (about a
mile) of the main umpteen KV feeder between the town and the airport!

--
Graeme Wall

This address not read, substitute trains for rail
Transport Miscellany at www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail
Photo galleries at http://graeme-wall.fotopic.net/