Created 27-Jun-22
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It was hard for me to believe when I planned to go to Loughborough on Sunday 26th June 2022 that it was a month since my last visit. I have averaged one and a half visits per week for many years, lineside permits or not, and counting only those weeks when trains were allowed to run due to Covid. The reason I have not been so regular recently is simply due to the awful timekeeping that currently prevails. In truth it isn’t really the timetable; that is perfectly feasible provided that locomotive crews, signallers and station staff cooperate. It is really the two additional trips for driver experience courses that jam up the system. That leads to later and later running which is frequently not resolved until the 14:00 diesel hauled departure from Loughborough. An additional operational problem arises because Leicester North Station will not release a passenger train until it has been in that station for the full timetable interval of fifteen minutes however late it arrived.
So how did I fare on my most recent visit? It was many times worse than any previous visit this year. Driver training runs were again taking place. A move to propel an out of steam locomotive from Loughborough to Quorn Yard for display took an age and then the diesel shunter was pathed back from Quorn holding up both the main service and the DALEX. For an unknown reason, because nobody would tell me, the trains were running at less than walking speed for long distances both sides of Quorn in both directions. I suppose this might have been fire risk but that should not have been a factor for diesel hauled services. It was not a hot day and there was no reason to believe track was buckling in the heat.
I have a feeling it might be a month or six before I waste my time again.
So how did I fare on my most recent visit? It was many times worse than any previous visit this year. Driver training runs were again taking place. A move to propel an out of steam locomotive from Loughborough to Quorn Yard for display took an age and then the diesel shunter was pathed back from Quorn holding up both the main service and the DALEX. For an unknown reason, because nobody would tell me, the trains were running at less than walking speed for long distances both sides of Quorn in both directions. I suppose this might have been fire risk but that should not have been a factor for diesel hauled services. It was not a hot day and there was no reason to believe track was buckling in the heat.
I have a feeling it might be a month or six before I waste my time again.
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© DAVID ARMITAGE