Unusual Move at Barking

[Deleted]

Was at Barking about 1930hrs yesterday 3rd June and noticed a Class 150 London Overground train in platform 7. This is by no means a frequent sight, however when I have seen that before it has always reversed in Platform 7 and then proceeded back West via the "wrong road starting signal". However on this ocassion, the train proceeded East to a point past the converging points from the various Barking platforms (roughly adjacent the LUL Barking sidings) stopped and appeared about to take the route back via Barking Platform 8.

Never seen that before, never seen an LO train run East of Barking, so I thought I'd share it !!!

[Colin]

You don't get out much do you!!

That move happens every single morning with the stock that stables in East Ham overnight - and I've seen it occur at least 3 times this week during the afternoon.

It really does happen quite a lot....maybe you've just been unlucky not to see it before now; or are you getting out on the handle less these days?!!

[Deleted]

Jun 4, 2010 22:58:58 GMT Colin said:

It really does happen quite a lot....maybe you've just been unlucky not to see it before now; or are you getting out on the handle less these days?!!

Correct !!!

i gather from elsewhere it's now a timetabled move twice in the evenings, though I've seen the 150 in Pl 7 I've only ever seen it reverse off the platform not do the main line shunt! oh well...

....as for seeing the morning starter from East Ham depot, you are certainly kidding, I'll be soundly asleep when that moves off ;D ;D ;D

[Dstock7080]

Was it this one, 150132 in "NETWORK West Midlands" livery which is now on the GOBLIN?

tinyurl.com/39zuxsx

[DWS]

Jun 5, 2010 12:19:08 GMT Dstock7080 said:

Was it this one, 150132 in "NETWORK West Midlands" livery which is now on the GOBLIN?

tinyurl.com/39zuxsx

It could have been, I passed by East Ham Sheds last week on my way to work on an early shift and it was parked in the depot out side the shed near the down C2C line .

[Tubeboy]

I read that TFL are thinking of extending the GOBLIN to Dagenham Dock to relieve pressure at Barking. Cant see the problem, as the branch is self contained and mainly operates out of platform 1.

[DWS]

Jun 5, 2010 20:39:05 GMT Tubeboy said:

I read that TFL are thinking of extending the GOBLIN to Dagenham Dock to relieve pressure at Barking. Cant see the problem, as the branch is self contained and mainly operates out of platform 1.

Any pressure at Barking comes from only having 2 car DMU's on the Goblin route, the trains need 3 or 4 car units.

Extending to Dagenham Dock will need a turn back or bay road at this station

[andypurk]

Jun 5, 2010 21:00:22 GMT DWS said:

Jun 5, 2010 20:39:05 GMT Tubeboy said:

I read that TFL are thinking of extending the GOBLIN to Dagenham Dock to relieve pressure at Barking. Cant see the problem, as the branch is self contained and mainly operates out of platform 1.

Any pressure at Barking comes from only having 2 car DMU's on the Goblin route, the trains need 3 or 4 car units.

Except that a large part of the problem at Barking is the narrow space between the platform edge and the building on platform 1, along with the narrow stairs.

Extending to Dagenham Dock will need a turn back or bay road at this station

If any such extension happened, I imagine that the LO trains could reverse in the reception siding for the waste terminal just beyond the station. However, turn around times are a bit tight at the moment, so any extension would probably need an extra unit

[Colin]

Following on from a short chat I had with Aspect when I took over his train at Barking yesterday, it would seem that the May timetable change means there are now 2 class 150's stabled in East Ham depot. So that means more platform 7 working anyway as you can't get directly to/from platform 1 to/from the depot.

I've also been pondering the reason why they work to the spur East of Barking.......

Logic would suggest that as long as a 150 is sat in platform 7, nothing else can pass though. A quick glance at the off peak timetables show that there is no conflict between the Goblin's class 150 30 minute service and c2c's class 357 30 minute service heading towards Dagenham Dock (Dagenham Dock bound trains use platform 7), however it's not necessarily that clear cut.

During the peaks, when many of my sightings have occurred, c2c's service via Dagenham Dock ramps up to every 20 mins AM peak and 15 minutes PM peak; the Goblin ramps up to every 15 minutes in both peaks - the opportunity for conflicts is therefore greatly increased.

Delving a little deeper into the timetables reveals that the Goblin service has changed with the May changes such that peak service is now 15 minutes where previously it was 20 minutes; in the old timetable they appear on paper to depart 1 minute after arrival!! The new timetable appears to suggest they now have around 5 or 6 minutes turn round time, unless of course they have very generous 20 minute turnarounds by making use of platform 7.......and that would mean having to use the spur east of Barking as there's no way they could occupy platform 7 for 20 minutes.........hmm...

There is also the factor of other traffic that passes through platform 7 - freight. Of course they don't run to fixed timetables in the same way as passenger trains, but there is a lot of it through Barking and that will almost certainly be another reason for the Goblin 150's not being able to occupy platform 7 for long.

[Deleted]

Saw an out of service 150 come into Willesden Junction low level bay this morning at 11.10 from the City loop, and then go into the depot - one of the peak hour workings running out maybe, or a maintenance move?

[Deleted]

I believe that the plan for a long time in the future is for the GOBLIN to become Clapham to Grays. But Boris will have to put some wires up first

[Chris M]

And build a platform or two at Gospel Oak

[jacko1]

Jun 5, 2010 21:40:57 GMT andypurk said:

Jun 5, 2010 21:00:22 GMT DWS said:

Any pressure at Barking comes from only having 2 car DMU's on the Goblin route, the trains need 3 or 4 car units.

Except that a large part of the problem at Barking is the narrow space between the platform edge and the building on platform 1, along with the narrow stairs.

Extending to Dagenham Dock will need a turn back or bay road at this station

If any such extension happened, I imagine that the LO trains could reverse in the reception siding for the waste terminal just beyond the station. However, turn around times are a bit tight at the moment, so any extension would probably need an extra unit

to get into the dagenham dock down side waste terminal requires a freightliner heavy haul shunter to give acceptance and meet each incomming train/loco. a lol service could be delayed,and block the down main if flhh are shunting the yard,as only one move can take place at a time. only real place lol can turn around is grays,as purfleet also has to have a shunter in place. keith jackson

[Chris M]

Would the infrastructure changes required to allow reversing in the waste terminal reception siding without these limitations be extensive and/or otherwise costly?

[andypurk]

Jun 9, 2010 22:19:04 GMT jacko1 said:

Jun 5, 2010 21:40:57 GMT andypurk said:

Except that a large part of the problem at Barking is the narrow space between the platform edge and the building on platform 1, along with the narrow stairs.



If any such extension happened, I imagine that the LO trains could reverse in the reception siding for the waste terminal just beyond the station. However, turn around times are a bit tight at the moment, so any extension would probably need an extra unit

to get into the dagenham dock down side waste terminal requires a freightliner heavy haul shunter to give acceptance and meet each incomming train/loco. a lol service could be delayed,and block the down main if flhh are shunting the yard,as only one move can take place at a time. only real place lol can turn around is grays,as purfleet also has to have a shunter in place. keith jackson

But those are just the current rules for accessing the terminal, the access from the main line to the reception line should be fully signalled from the mainline (as it is a facing connection off a busy passenger route). The question would be whether LO can access the western end of the reception line without affecting shunting of the terminal itself. If there are delays, freight can be recessed at Ripple Lane; although, if there are delays any LO services would likely to be turned around at Barking.