Colin Rosenstiel wrote:

I'd forgive FCC a lot if they could produce timetable information for
tomorrow. No trains Cambridge-London by either route. The *only*
timetable information (apart from individual trains via NRE) I can find
is a poster on the platform at Cambridge station. No leaflets, nothing
on the FCC web site beyond snip

It's a pity that NRE's website doesn't provide an easy way to print out
a timetable for a whole day's services between two stations (if there
is, please tell me).

But Traveline East Anglia does:
http://194.75.238.42/scripts/webtriplanner.dll/journeys
and it seems to know about tomorrow's engineering works.

Enter "Cambridge" to "London" for "Tomorrow", make sure that the bus
and train boxes are both ticked and press "Find journey". When the
results appear click on the litle icon that looks like a grid and it
displays the whole day's services for that leg.

The only drawback is you end up with two separate tables, one for the
Cambridge-Hitchin bus and one for the Hitchin-London train. But it
might be better than nothing.

www.transportdirect.info also allows you to print the whole day's
service, again without showing connections sensibly.

PaulO

Paul Oter wrote:

Yes, but WAGN almost always shortened their own name to WAGN (or
sometimes wagn) in timetables and on the sides of trains. FCC seem not
to want to abbreviate their name to FCC.

Although they do on their own journey check service (WAP, PDA, web) if
there are any status/line updates.

Jonathan

On Sat, 22 Apr 2006 13:34 +0100 (BST), (Colin
Rosenstiel) wrote:

In article ,
(James Farrar) wrote:

On Thu, 20 Apr 2006 19:55:44 -0000, (Mark Brader) wrote:

Paul Oter:
The displays on the platforms which only show a single departure
were showing First Capital Connect.

We may well see further variations in the future as staff learn
how to cope with this ridiculously long name.

Um, well, it is a shorter name than "West Anglia Great Northern".

Which was very rarely said, and even less commonly written.

If they didn't insist on adding "First" to all their company names (as
they don't with Hull Trains) they'd not have the problem.

Nonetheless, Capital Connect does strike me as a name that resulted
from a meeting where a bunch of suits were asked the question "how can
we say Thameslink without saying Thameslink?"

--
James Farrar
. @gmail.com

James Farrar wrote:
On Sat, 22 Apr 2006 13:34 +0100 (BST), (Colin
Rosenstiel) wrote:

In article ,
(James Farrar) wrote:

On Thu, 20 Apr 2006 19:55:44 -0000, (Mark Brader) wrote:

Paul Oter:
The displays on the platforms which only show a single departure
were showing First Capital Connect.

We may well see further variations in the future as staff learn
how to cope with this ridiculously long name.
Um, well, it is a shorter name than "West Anglia Great Northern".
Which was very rarely said, and even less commonly written.
If they didn't insist on adding "First" to all their company names (as
they don't with Hull Trains) they'd not have the problem.

Nonetheless, Capital Connect does strike me as a name that resulted
from a meeting where a bunch of suits were asked the question "how can
we say Thameslink without saying Thameslink?"

I never really thought of it like that - but it seems a likely explanation!
It's a very annoying name. Couldn't they have used "First City Connect"
or even just "First Capital" maybe...

--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

Dave Arquati wrote:
It's a very annoying name. Couldn't they have used "First City Connect"
or even just "First Capital" maybe...

On a FCC service from Cambridge to London the other day I overheard a
couple of City commuters disscussing the new name. One of them
mentioned that they had noticed the First Capital Connect stickers on
the side of the train and assumed that it was advertising for a new
credit card or some other financial company.

I can understand his confusion. After all, "Capital One" is the name of
a bank, as is "First Direct"...

PaulO

James Farrar wrote:


...Capital Connect does strike me as a name that resulted
from a meeting where a bunch of suits were asked the question "how can
we say Thameslink without saying Thameslink?"


At Moorgate last week I noticed an announcement on a whiteboard
informing passengers about major disruption on the line that runs
through Luton. It said "First Capital Connect (Thameslink) trains are
suspended, use WAGN instead....

PaulO

I used to use a WAGN service train from Stoke Newington to Liverpool
St, which was, on the whole, pretty reliable.

Now a few years later, having tried to use the same service a couple
of stops up at Bruce Grove (now I believe run by One) it's just
totally unreliable/impossible. In my experience, trains have never
arrived on time, northbound or southbound, & are often cancelled with
no explanation, or even an announcement to tell you that the late
train you're waiting for, ain't even coming!

In the years between, I used a WAGN service from Palmers Green to
Finsbury Park. Best overground service ever in my opinion. Never
suffered a late train, & the fast morning service direct to Finsbury
Park was excellent!

In message , karijk
writes

In the years between, I used a WAGN service from Palmers Green to
Finsbury Park. Best overground service ever in my opinion. Never
suffered a late train, & the fast morning service direct to Finsbury
Park was excellent!

My experience of the past few years of WAGN from Palmers Green to
Moorgate has been pretty bad. They lost a large route I believe and they
seemed to consider this route as a "hobby." :-) Fairly minor electrical
problems caused hours of delays while they hunted up an engineer. Some
mornings your train ended up at Kings Cross because of overhead cable
problems at Drayton Park.

Four days out of 5 the service was just about ok, but the fifth day you
could take hours to get home. One night a driver got half way up the
slight hill from Bowes to Palmers Green and decided his unit wasn't
going to make it..... he had to reverse back into Bowes and chuck us all
off. You couldn't write a sitcom as good.

The service now ? Well so far I've never been diverted to Kings Cross by
these guys, or turfed off at Finsbury Park..... so it's already a
massive improvement.


--
Edward Cowling London UK

On Fri, 28 Apr 2006 19:12:26 +0100, Edward Cowling London UK
wrote:

The service now ? Well so far I've never been diverted to Kings Cross by
these guys, or turfed off at Finsbury Park..... so it's already a
massive improvement.

Well I stupidly decided to get from Finsbury Park to Crews Hill
yesterday. There was already one fatality at Waterbeach but trains
appeared to be running OK at the London end. A replacement bus service
was apparently provided over the disrupted section of line. However the
audible recorded announcements were woeful with gaps when someone had
obviously failed to type in the correct words.

The 12.41 to Peterborough arrived and a surprising amount of people got
off which struck me as odd. However there was no message provided as to
why - the timing is important though. I then stupidly (as it turned out)
got the 12.44 Hertford North. We were then unceremoniously shunted into
the sidings at Gordon Hill and told to get the next train. No apology,
no staff at the station, no announcements - absolutely nothing. A
southbound local train was also summarily cancelled.

What then happened was that an endless flow of fast FCC, GNER and Hull
Trains were routed via the Hertford Loop. It later transpired that there
had been a fatality at Hatfield which caused this diversion. The
National Rail website says this happened at 12.45 but the fact that the
FCC 12.41 train driver had obviously advised many of his passengers that
he was not taking the normal route suggests that FCC and NR knew before
my train left Finsbury Park. I'd like to understand why there was no
announcement to advise people that they were likely to be delayed or
have their journey curtailed. The following train turned up late at
Gordon Hill thus turning a simple 20 minute journey into one that took
nearly an hour. I had to cut short my trip and opted to get the last bus
at 14.05 (!) from Crews Hill rather be marooned waiting for a train that
might arrive in an hour.

I find the lack of staff and information objectionable. I also find the
cavalier attitude towards local passengers unacceptable. I don't see why
people on GNER or fast FCC services are of apparently greater value than
those of us on the local service. However it was obviously decided that
mucking up local journeys was far more preferable that possibly slowing
down a few people on an Inter City train. WAGN must have been hopeless
if the above is "an improvement".

I'm sure that the "old hands" who use NR all the time will shrug their
shoulders at all of the above. I accept that FCC and NR can't prevent
fatalities - they happen and they cause chaos. They can do something
though to look after *all* of the customers. I rarely use NR services
these days because on the rare occasions I do it always goes wrong.

--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

I don't see why people on GNER or fast FCC
services are of apparently greater value than those of us on
the local service.

Always the case - hertford loop is the alternative route for GNERs and
fast WAGN/FCC's and the local services will always take second fiddle.
There used to be a power limitation on that loop limiting the number of
electrics there too.

Following the potters bar crash they ran no local services on the
hertford loop at all - all were replaced by buses and the GNERs and fast
WAGNs ran that way instead. I recall at the time they said if they had
thinned the locals everything would have been more overcrowded and they
assumed faced with a bus that many would work from home or use the tube
instead.

I use FCC from potters bar and generally it's ok but anything goes
wrong, no-one takes control and helps the customers. A cancellation used
to bring an additional stop on a fast service but now you just wait for
the following one. FCC also will not accept tickets on Thameslink or the
Tube during the 6 week weekend closure of the WGC loop and the £80
proportion of my season I can wave goodbye too. The replacement bus
takes an hour to KX as against the usual 15 mins.

It's crappy treatment but they have a captive audience. It sucks but
it's life as a commuter.

D