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Exeter to Okehampton services (to commence before the end of 2021)

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Watershed

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I'm amazed that the single line between Cowley and Crediton has that many spare paths on it ? 8 Trains PD Okey, How many to Barn? Plus leaving space for, say 1 up and down ballast per day at some point. - Are they going to combo and split at Crediton?
Are these 159 SWR extensions or "new" use of GWR 150's ( or what ever?)

It's really not the defining limitation.

Cowley Bridge Jn-Crediton is 5¼ miles of single line, 5 miles of that at 60/70mph. Even with a stop at Newton St Cyres, the Sprinter SRT is 7.5 minutes (9.5 in the up direction including a minute's engineering allowance).

Add on the standard 2 minutes for resetting the route after the passage of each train and you have a line occupation of 21 mins out of each hour for your standard hourly Barnstaple path.

As you can see, in theory you could operate 5 trains an hour over that stretch, so having an hourly Barny train in each direction plus a two hourly Okehampton service is not exactly taxing.

Most services don't call at Newton St Cyres either, which saves a further 2-3 mins.

These are GWR services, using Sprinter (150) timings.
 
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PHILIPE

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Don't take anything in RTT for certain at this stage but wait until they appear in Journey Planning systems..
 
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Tom

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Don't take anything in RTT for certain at this stage but wait until they appear in Journey Planning systems..
If the trains were marked as advertised (they are marked as unadvertised and can be best considered to be placeholders), then they would be in journey planners ;)
 

Glenn1969

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No Okehampton services showing in RTT for any date until at least 2 September which is the last date you can search for
 

Brush 4

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It's official! Timetable info included.

The Dartmoor Line - Home

2021 timetable​


The initial Dartmoor Line timetable (to start by the end of 2021) will provide:


  • Trains every two hours each way, seven days a week, between Okehampton, Crediton and Exeter St Davids, including services for daily commuters.
  • Approximately half of the daily Monday to Friday services will be extended to and from Exeter Central, including the key peak services.
  • At a later date weekend services to be extended to and from Exeter Central where possible.
 
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REVUpminster

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D1 and D2 May timetables are advertising the reopening before the end of the year. Seems early if it's not opening until the December timetable.
 

REVUpminster

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I'll probably get shot down in flames on here but a whisper I heard yesterday was the service could commence 12/13 September.
 

geoffk

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What stock availability like? GWR seems to have been short of stock recently as some Exmouth - Paignton trains have been formed of a single 150. On 19th July, three out of the seven trains in the cycle were two-car. I thought the stock situation would only be eased by the introduction of class 769 on the North Downs line. Perhaps my observation on that date was just on a bad day.
 
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REVUpminster

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What stock availability like? GWR seems to have been short of stock recently as some Exmouth - Paignton trains have been formed of a single 150. On 19th July, three out of the seven trains in the cycle were two-car. I thought the stock situation would only be eased by the introduction of class 769 on the North Downs line. Perhaps my observation on that date was just on a bad day.
On a good day 3 166s all following one another operate Exmouth-Paignton. The rest are generally 2 X 150s and on odd occasions a 158 and even rarer a 165.
 

PHILIPE

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What stock availability like? GWR seems to have been short of stock recently as some Exmouth - Paignton trains have been formed of a single 150. On 19th July, three out of the seven trains in the cycle were two-car. I thought the stock situation would only be eased by the introduction of class 769 on the North Downs line. Perhaps my observation on that date was just on a bad day.

The present position may not be representative of the normal position in so much as maintenance staff may be missing due "pinging". The shortage of train crews may be more apparent but any shortage of backroom staff may not be so apparent but can still have an effect on service delivery. When distributing units and determining the number of diagrams possible, any shortfall in day to day availability does not come into the equation.
 

PHILIPE

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The service will be operating from Saturday 20 November in advance of the next Timetable change. Services are shown as STP in RTT pro tem
 

Melancholia

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A nice roughly 1tp2h service. Hopefully there will be plenty of people using those, even so when the new Okehampton Parkway station opens.
 

Parallel

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Looking at RTT, it's good to see that Newton St. Cyres has a few additonal stops from the Okehampton services (one in the morning in both directions and one towards Okehampton in the evening). I think this is the first time in a while that the station has a northbound service before about 5pm...
 
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PHILIPE

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On a good day 3 166s all following one another operate Exmouth-Paignton. The rest are generally 2 X 150s and on odd occasions a 158 and even rarer a 165.


In case anybody is interested regarding clearance there was a 158 on the route trainer today
 

TB

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Does anyone know if all the track work done recently to bring the route from crediton to Okehampton up to scratch has seen any changes to the speed limit on the line?

Or is it still a rather sedate 40mph?
 

REVUpminster

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Does anyone know if all the track work done recently to bring the route from crediton to Okehampton up to scratch has seen any changes to the speed limit on the line?

Or is it still a rather sedate 40mph?
75mph for passenger and 30 for freight speed limits have appeared on the branch.
 
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