Midland Main Line disruption 13/12/23

[johnnychips]

A notice at Sheffield states that the MML is flooded at Draycott between Derby and Long Eaton. Passengers for London are advised to travel via Doncaster, and passengers for Leicester via Nottingham.

 

[LCC106]

Happened last Tuesday too with little running through. Thanks for the info.

 

[JustPassingBy]

Sounds like the majority of drivers don't sign the Erewash Valley route?

 

[LCC106]

Sounds like the majority of drivers don't sign the Erewash Valley route?

I wonder what the pathing’s like with other traffic.

 

[edwin_m]

This is a place that has flooded for years, I was told ever since the Derby Canal was filled in and the railway cutting became the route for run-off to drain towards the Trent.

 

[midland1]

Looks like they are running via Castle Donington.

 

[HurdyGurdy]

A lot of work was done to deal with the run-off where drainage formerly ran along the canal. Nowadays it floods when the river levels on the nearby Derwent are particularly high for any length of time and there's little the railway can do when that happens.

The Environment Agency site is quite good at predicting river levels.

 

[43055]

Sounds like the majority of drivers don't sign the Erewash Valley route?

Seems to be a mix of via Derby and Erewash.

Even though the problem is between Derby and Long Eaton it seems that there is no service between Crewe and Nottingham even though there will be 2 units at Crewe which could keep a service running along the North staffs.

 

[Dr Hoo]

Looks like they are running via Castle Donington.

Well, that's the usual diversion. Obviously it avoids missing out Derby.

Sounds like the majority of drivers don't sign the Erewash Valley route?

I've never known a case when an EMR driver (on relevant service groups) doesn't sign the Erewash Valley.

 

[bib]

The Derwent itself isn't that high, at least upstream, I wonder if it is backing up from the Trent. It doesn't seem like re-excavating part of the canal has fixed the problem

Midland Mainline to get flood protection from restored canal

The rail line has flooded 19 times in eight years, costing about £2m and causing delays.

www.bbc.co.uk

How do they run via Castle Donnington, do they head to Willington and reverse?

 

[rower40]

How do they run via Castle Donnington, do they head to Willington and reverse?

There's a Ground Position Light signal and trailing crossover at Stenson Junction allowing reversal there.

It does seem odd that there's no Crewe-Derby service even though the flooded bit is between Derby and Nottingham. And the North Staffs can't be completely blocked, as a freight (6Z76) has gone through - now 45 mins early because it didn't need to refuge in Uttoxeter Down Goods Loop.

 

[NorthStaffs]

There's a Ground Position Light signal and trailing crossover at Stenson Junction allowing reversal there.

It does seem odd that there's no Crewe-Derby service even though the flooded bit is between Derby and Nottingham. And the North Staffs can't be completely blocked, as a freight (6Z76) has gone through - now 45 mins early because it didn't need to refuge in Uttoxeter Down Goods Loop.

Yes it is odd when a semblance of a Crewe Derby service could run using the 2 units stabled overnight at Crewe and ease pressure on east west links.Yet again EMR seeming to favour other routes.

 

[43055]

Yes it is odd when a semblance of a Crewe Derby service could run using the 2 units stabled overnight at Crewe and ease pressure on east west links.Yet again EMR seeming to favour other routes.

It does seem like the Cinderella route at times.

 

[InTheEastMids]

Yes it is odd when a semblance of a Crewe Derby service could run using the 2 units stabled overnight at Crewe and ease pressure on east west links.Yet again EMR seeming to favour other routes.

I wonder if the issue is that, when you're trying to bring EMR IC services from Derby to Sheet Stores/Trent Junctions via Stenson Junction (with reversal), there simply isn't the capacity for the Derby-Crewe trains in addition to the XC services around Stenson Junction.

 

[rower40]

It does seem like the Cinderella route at times.

I wonder if it was always like this since Grouping in 1923. Crewe being one of the operating centres of the LNWR, while Derby was the hub of the Midland Railway. So the line that joins them (the North Staffordshire) was seen as the "other" company's problem, and neither set of management wanted to have to deal with that line.

 

[baz962]

No London drivers sign Erewash , other than a tiny section between claycross and Chesterfield

 

[ChrisC]

This is a place that has flooded for years, I was told ever since the Derby Canal was filled in and the railway cutting became the route for run-off to drain towards the Trent.

It certainly used to happen a few times each winter when I was at college in Derby in the late 1970’s. I had quite a few journeys between Nottingham and Derby via Castle Donnington.

 

[nickswift99]

There have also been changes to the Trent over time. Used to be lots of power stations abstracting water for cooling. Only one left now...

 

[70014IronDuke]

I wonder if it was always like this since Grouping in 1923. Crewe being one of the operating centres of the LNWR, while Derby was the hub of the Midland Railway. So the line that joins them (the North Staffordshire) was seen as the "other" company's problem, and neither set of management wanted to have to deal with that line.

Not at all. Others may know better, but at least I never felt anything like that in the 1970s. On the contrary, I'd say it was rated 'an important' secondary route, as evidence by the use of relatively comfortable, up-market former WR cross country sets (sorry, I don't know the class numbers, don't think we used them then).

 

[ChrisC]

Not at all. Others may know better, but at least I never felt anything like that in the 1970s. On the contrary, I'd say it was rated 'an important' secondary route, as evidence by the use of relatively comfortable, up-market former WR cross country sets (sorry, I don't know the class numbers, don't think we used them then).

They were Swindon Class 120 3 car Cross Country DMU’s. I always found them very comfortable and warm in winter. I still remember the grey seats and orange curtains. Certainly during the 1970’s, when I used them regularly between Lowdham and Derby, it was an hourly Crewe-Derby-Nottingham-Lincoln route. Very useful it was too for connections to/from so many places. There weren’t many alternative trains between Nottingham and Derby in those days.

 

[louis97]

Yes it is odd when a semblance of a Crewe Derby service could run using the 2 units stabled overnight at Crewe and ease pressure on east west links.Yet again EMR seeming to favour other routes.

I suspect its more a toss up between providing crew for the Matlock or the Crewe route when they can't run between Derby and Nottingham. A good chunk of the Crewe services will be working throughout between Nottingham and Crewe, so you have to make do with the crew you have available in Derby. Obviously Matlock is shorter, so is easier to fit into any 'as required' sections of diagrams.

 

[Qwerty133]

I suspect it’s more a toss up between providing crew for the Matlock or the Crewe route when they can't run between Derby and Nottingham. A good chunk of the Crewe services will be working throughout between Nottingham and Crewe, so you have to make do with the crew you have available in Derby. Obviously Matlock is shorter, so is easier to fit into any 'as required' sections of diagrams.

Honestly staffing shouldn’t be too much of an issue as if that was the only they should quite easily be able to source taxis to transport crew between Nottingham and Derby as required.

 

[Mugby]

For a number of years the flooding problem at Draycott seemed to have been solved by the introduction of a pump and a considerable length of flexible hose pipe laid out along the cess of the Up line.

I imagine the pump was probably removed as a (false) economy measure at some point.

 

[800001]

For a number of years the flooding problem at Draycott seemed to have been solved by the introduction of a pump and a considerable length of flexible hose pipe laid out along the cess of the Up line.

I imagine the pump was probably removed as a (false) economy measure at some point.

Pump still in place and operating, but overwhelmed with water coming off fields.

 

[DDB]

Does anyone know exactly where this is. The disruption information tends to say Long Eaton as the nearest station and large town but that is confusing as it goes through Long Eaton on high viaducts.

 

[edwin_m]

Does anyone know exactly where this is. The disruption information tends to say Long Eaton as the nearest station and large town but that is confusing as it goes through Long Eaton on high viaducts.

The usual area for flooding is around Draycott, which was mentioned upthread. Water tends to fall into the cutting north of the village and drain along the railway until it falls away where the cutting ends at the A6005 crossing.

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[ChrisC]

Pump still in place and operating, but overwhelmed with water coming off fields.

For the last 2 months the amount of rain has been unbelievable. Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire were very badly hit by Storm Babet in October and there has been so much more heavy rain since then. The ground is absolutely saturated and there’s standing water in so many fields. There’s been water running off fields onto roads in some locations for weeks so it’s probably just the same in the Draycott area where the railways has always been prone to flooding.

 

[duffield]

I assume there are permanent solutions to the regular Draycott flooding but they've been dismissed as "too expensive", so we're just supposed to accept the not infrequent line closures?

But you'd think NR could (say) at least do something like double the pumping capacity to minimise the closure time.

 

[JustPassingBy]

If the pump has been overwhelmed then they might need five times the number of pumps to make a difference, not just one more.