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#1
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North London Line
On Sat, 12 Jan 2008 17:57:33 -0000, "Lew 1"
wrote: Did you ever use the County mainline services? They were very professionally-run, though the last few weeks were marred by the strikes. Only once or twice, not enough to really form an opinion. I hadn't thought that the difference between County and Metro would have been so huge, though it certainly looks like it was County that was getting the praise. (What was the Abbey Flyer, County or Metro?) I find it strangely amusing that one set of passengers would have related the brand "Silverlink" with the height of railway filth, whilst another set saw Silverlink as the railway's Knight in Shining Armour. What difference one word makes! Silverlink County did have a rocky patch a number of years ago but like a number of Nat Ex TOCs they just knuckled down and concentrated on the basics. IIRC they had the most reliable EMUs in Britain with their fleet of Class 321s based at Bletchley. For a railway getting the most boring basics right day in, day out is absolutely essential and they did seem to manage that despite the WCML upgrade works. -- Paul C Admits to working for London Underground! |
#2
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North London Line
On 12 Jan, 18:54, Paul Corfield wrote:
Silverlink County did have a rocky patch a number of years ago but like a number of Nat Ex TOCs they just knuckled down and concentrated on the basics. IIRC they had the most reliable EMUs in Britain with their fleet of Class 321s based at Bletchley. *For a railway getting the most boring basics right day in, day out is absolutely essential and they did seem to manage that despite the WCML upgrade works. It's not really a "despite". As part of the WCML upgrade Silverlink were bought a stack of new trains and 12-car platform extensions and probably benefited from the other infrastructure upgrades and renewals. I'd think this goes a long way to explaining the better reputation of County. U -- http://londonconnections.blogspot.com/ A blog about transport projects in London |
#3
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North London Line
Mr Thant wrote:
On 12 Jan, 18:54, Paul Corfield wrote: Silverlink County did have a rocky patch a number of years ago but like a number of Nat Ex TOCs they just knuckled down and concentrated on the basics. IIRC they had the most reliable EMUs in Britain with their fleet of Class 321s based at Bletchley. For a railway getting the most boring basics right day in, day out is absolutely essential and they did seem to manage that despite the WCML upgrade works. It's not really a "despite". As part of the WCML upgrade Silverlink were bought a stack of new trains and 12-car platform extensions and probably benefited from the other infrastructure upgrades and renewals. I'd think this goes a long way to explaining the better reputation of County. It was perhaps also the fact that County maintained their "old" trains superbly. Their Class 321 reliability was the best of any National Rail train type for the second year running, and their average miles per casualty*, at 49,244, was more than twice the figure for One's fleet of the same class. By contrast, Metro's fleet of Class 313, admittedly around 13 years older but maintained in the same Bletchley depot, achieved a miserable 5189 miles per casualty last year, compared to FCC's 11,355 mpc with the same class. * Strictly, it's the moving annual average of total miles run divided by the number of train faults causing at least a 5-minute delay. Figures from Modern Railways, January 2008. -- Richard J. (to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address) |
#4
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North London Line
I decided on an observational survey trip last Wednesday afternoon to
the former BR/Bakerloo Line joint stations "north of Harrow" on the DC Lines. Headstone Lane - ticket office closed, no UTS gates, no visible staff. Hatch End - ticket office open, no UTS gates, no other visible staff. Carpenders Park (a dreadful early-1950s BR hole accessed through dodgy local authority aubways) - ticket office open, no UTS gates, no other visible staff. Bushey - ticket office open, no UTS gates, no other visible staff. Watford High Road - ticket office open, UTS gates fitted and in use, about 4 revenue staff in ticket hall. Watford Junction - ticket office open, UTS gates fitted and in use, visible staff but presumably all part of the London Midland operation. Temporary exterior LO signs at all LO stations except Hatch End which I suppose might require listed building consent? Had my ticket checked for the first ever on the former Silverlink Metro system, the squad on the 3-car train were at least 8-strong! I'm sure the Mayor's promises regarding ticket office opening and general staffing is not being met at many LO stations, and even some of the new Bakerloo Line stations seem deserted much of the time. |
#5
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North London Line
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#6
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North London Line
On Jan 13, 3:53*am, (Neil Williams)
wrote: On Sat, 12 Jan 2008 14:49:12 -0800 (PST), wrote: Carpenders Park (a dreadful early-1950s BR hole Is it really? *It has a very LUL art-deco look to it - like a lot of Heathrow-branch Picc Line stations. If remaining as built this might be true, however the subway entrances have been retiled by the local authority, the ticket hall refurbished (possibly in the 80s given the NSE red tiling), the supports to the platform concrete canopy have been retiled, the original high-quality maroon enamel BR London Midland Region entrance signage and pole- mounted joint LT/BR totems are long, long, gone and the only original finish would appear to be the cream tiles in the sloping subway leading to the ticket hall. The tall retangular window/toplight above the ticket office, with the east side following the curve of the booking office counter is the only feature of note, albeit liberally covered with graffiti to match much of the exterior brickwork. I would actually find this station, accessed only by unsupervised council subways, quite intimidating to use at night. -- Neil Williams |
#7
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North London Line
Richard J. wrote:
By contrast, Metro's fleet of Class 313, admittedly around 13 years older but maintained in the same Bletchley depot, achieved a miserable 5189 miles per casualty last year, compared to FCC's 11,355 mpc with the same class. Intially Bletchley but, more recently, Willesden. Reliability plummeted when Willesden took over responsibility. |
#8
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North London Line
On Sat, 12 Jan 2008 22:19:51 GMT, "Richard J."
wrote: By contrast, Metro's fleet of Class 313, admittedly around 13 years older but maintained in the same Bletchley depot, achieved a miserable 5189 miles per casualty last year, compared to FCC's 11,355 mpc with the same class. PEP EMUs are crap. But even so, weren't they maintained at Willesden or Wembley? I forget which but I don't recall seeing any at Bletchley. Neil -- Neil Williams Put my first name before the at to reply. |
#9
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North London Line
On Sat, 12 Jan 2008 18:54:39 +0000, Paul Corfield
wrote: Silverlink County did have a rocky patch a number of years ago but like a number of Nat Ex TOCs they just knuckled down and concentrated on the basics. IIRC they had the most reliable EMUs in Britain with their fleet of Class 321s based at Bletchley. For a railway getting the most boring basics right day in, day out is absolutely essential and they did seem to manage that despite the WCML upgrade works. Which is the whole point of a commuter operator. Any such operator that can be described as "boringly competent" or similar has it spot-on, and Silverlink County was pretty much there. Neil -- Neil Williams Put my first name before the at to reply. |
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