47827
Member
Re: 14 minute turnaround at Holyhead. My hunch (only from past goings on as I'm several years out of touch with some of these railway operations) I would expect everything to run as planned for any delays of below about 30 mins and simply cause a knock on delay to the return, provided the paths in each direction did not cause complete carnage to everything else on the route. Delays over 30 mins by Chester on the way up may result in either running through to Holyhead and return with stops removed (if that served any purpose) or terminating at Bangor/Llandudno Junction if a good part of the delay couldn't be recovered by doing that. The issue is then the relief crew being Holyhead based so they would need a taxi or similarly timed rail departure to reach the curtailed start point. You could, of course, just go all old fashioned and let the set return with a hefty delay, but I would imagine that wouldn't be favourable generally if over 30 mins.
And with the crews, Chester set up a link similar to this for class 47s in 2002 with a good handful of mostly ex BR drivers only needing refreshers or a short course. With many no doubt retired or moved elsewhere and the fact a class 67 (especially with mk4 push pull sets and DVT included) requires much more training than back in the 2000s for the other example. Llandudno Junction has gone much longer without locomotive experience at the driving end although their smaller size and cross cover potential for Holyhead turns would be of use if the project ever went above 2 operating diagrams. Whilst guard competency isn't unimportant, especially on mk4 sets, it would not be quite as big an ordeal as the driver training aspect so more staff could be covered should the need ever arise. As posted last year junction guards were trained on mk3s so it may be slightly easier to retrain them than Chester who've had no loco hauled trained guards since maybe 15/16 years ago (and that was only on mk2s) at a much larger depot with the usual staff turnover and retirements. Crewe used to have many of its guards trained due to the former ruggex and footex trains, which had been lost by the time mk3s came on stream, especially as no hiring in of third party stock took place post mk2 days. But again mk4 sets are effectively a new challenge. Good job it probably won't go beyond 2 diagrams save for the likelihood of the third set occasionally covering events days on Marches additionals perhaps.
And with the crews, Chester set up a link similar to this for class 47s in 2002 with a good handful of mostly ex BR drivers only needing refreshers or a short course. With many no doubt retired or moved elsewhere and the fact a class 67 (especially with mk4 push pull sets and DVT included) requires much more training than back in the 2000s for the other example. Llandudno Junction has gone much longer without locomotive experience at the driving end although their smaller size and cross cover potential for Holyhead turns would be of use if the project ever went above 2 operating diagrams. Whilst guard competency isn't unimportant, especially on mk4 sets, it would not be quite as big an ordeal as the driver training aspect so more staff could be covered should the need ever arise. As posted last year junction guards were trained on mk3s so it may be slightly easier to retrain them than Chester who've had no loco hauled trained guards since maybe 15/16 years ago (and that was only on mk2s) at a much larger depot with the usual staff turnover and retirements. Crewe used to have many of its guards trained due to the former ruggex and footex trains, which had been lost by the time mk3s came on stream, especially as no hiring in of third party stock took place post mk2 days. But again mk4 sets are effectively a new challenge. Good job it probably won't go beyond 2 diagrams save for the likelihood of the third set occasionally covering events days on Marches additionals perhaps.
