This is probably a bit of a pointless rant, but I'll feel better for
posting it!

I had the great (dis)pleasure of taking a Silverlink Metro from
Highbury & Islington today - and it was just as bad as I feared! What a
stark contrast going from a WAGN refurbished 313 to a Silverlink 313 -
with grafitti, broken seats, 'compliance' stickers throughout [Don't do
this, Don't do that, You're on camera..] and traveling through some of
the nicest parts of town to Docklands.

I've heard just about every security announcement possible over the
last few weeks, but at Custom House I got a new one - a warning that
criminals are about and to look after your valuables! Wow, that really
inspires confidence in using the service - and this is in broad
daylight!

Anyway - my point...

The whiteboard at Highbury & Islington stated the trains were leaving
at 48 and 18 to North Woolwich, when it should have been 58 and 28. The
computer display on the platform was right, but at 1123 the train
arrived - and promptly departed at 1124 - FOUR minutes early! It
then proceeded to be early at every station right up to Stratford,
where it then sat for 5 or 6 minutes.

I feel sorry for anyone who might reasonably expect to get a train at
least a minute or two before the departure time. Maybe the 48 and 18
times were right after all!

Is this a common thing?

Jonathan

On 7 Aug 2005 09:52:56 -0700, "jonmorris" 
wrote:


>The whiteboard at Highbury & Islington stated the trains were leaving
>at 48 and 18 to North Woolwich, when it should have been 58 and 28. The
>computer display on the platform was right, but at 1123 the train
>arrived - and promptly departed at 1124 - FOUR minutes early! It
>then proceeded to be early at every station right up to Stratford,
>where it then sat for 5 or 6 minutes.
>
>I feel sorry for anyone who might reasonably expect to get a train at
>least a minute or two before the departure time. Maybe the 48 and 18
>times were right after all!


Yes.  18 and 48, according to my current TT.

Neil

-- 
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
When replying please use neil at the above domain
'wensleydale' is a spam trap and is not read.

>Yes.  18 and 48, according to my current TT.
> Neil


Better tell Silverlink then, as the TV screen showed 28 and 58!

Just checked now, and the next trains are indeed as they were this
morning;

18:58 North Woolwich, On Time
19:08 Queens Park [London], On Time
19:28 North Woolwich, No Report
19:38 Queens Park [London], No Report

I think you must have an out of date timetable, or they're running
different today while there's some engineering work from Camden to
Willesden?

On 7 Aug 2005 10:44:40 -0700, "jonmorris" 
wrote:


>I think you must have an out of date timetable,


No.  12 June-10 December 2005.


> or they're running
>different today while there's some engineering work from Camden to
>Willesden?


That one, by the looks of SS's website.  Perhaps the driver/guard were
confused?  Either that or (more likely) it was 26 minutes late
instead...

Neil

-- 
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
When replying please use neil at the above domain
'wensleydale' is a spam trap and is not read.

On 7 Aug 2005 10:44:40 -0700, "jonmorris"  wrote:


>>Yes.  18 and 48, according to my current TT.
>> Neil
>
>Better tell Silverlink then, as the TV screen showed 28 and 58!
>
>Just checked now, and the next trains are indeed as they were this
>morning;
>
>18:58 North Woolwich, On Time
>19:08 Queens Park [London], On Time
>19:28 North Woolwich, No Report
>19:38 Queens Park [London], No Report
>
>I think you must have an out of date timetable, or they're running
>different today while there's some engineering work from Camden to
>Willesden?


From the Silverlink website:

<quote>

Sunday 07 August 2005

A revised train service will operate between North Woolwich and Queen’s
Park (via South Hampstead) and between Willesden Junction High Level and
Richmond. Customers should use the Bakerloo line service between Queen’s
Park and Willesden Junction. An all-stations replacement bus service
will operate between Camden Road and Willesden Junction.

</quote>

And, sure enough, the revised timetable shows departures from Highbury
at 28 and 58 bound for North Woolwich, and 08 and 38 for Queens Park
(via Camden Road, Primrose Hill (albeit not calling at same) and South
Hampstead)

The normal Sunday timetable is, indeed, 18 and 48 from Highbury to North
Woolwich, so methinks someone may have allowed too much time between
Camden Road and South Hampstead (9 minutes in the down direction, 11
minutes up) and the relevant boxes neglected to regulate the trains in
an appropriate manner.

Cheers,

Barry

-- 
Barry Salter, barry at southie dot me dot uk
Read uk.* newsgroups? Read uk.net.news.announce!

jonmorris wrote:

>  the platform was right, but at 1123 the train
> arrived - and promptly departed at 1124 - FOUR minutes early! It
> then proceeded to be early at every station right up to Stratford,
> where it then sat for 5 or 6 minutes.
>
> I feel sorry for anyone who might reasonably expect to get a train at
> least a minute or two before the departure time. Maybe the 48 and 18
> times were right after all!
>
> Is this a common thing?
> 
> Jonathan


Maybe the driver's watch was wrong.

> Maybe the driver's watch was wrong.


Don't they all wear synchronised watches? Wagn own horrid purple ones,
so presumably Silverlink has the same but with their own colour scheme?

Certainly other things are shared around within National Express. The
customer services guy I once spoke to at Wagn said he also dealt with
Silverlink and C2C, and answered accordingly based on which
phone/number rang! And we're supposed to think they're all separately
operated...

Jonathan

On 7 Aug 2005 15:18:39 -0700, "jonmorris" 
wrote:


>Certainly other things are shared around within National Express. The
>customer services guy I once spoke to at Wagn said he also dealt with
>Silverlink and C2C, and answered accordingly based on which
>phone/number rang! And we're supposed to think they're all separately
>operated...


Silverlink's Customer Services has an address nowhere near their
operating area.  I recall that the whole operation calls itself
"London Lines", but this is rarely publicised.

Neil

-- 
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
When replying please use neil at the above domain
'wensleydale' is a spam trap and is not read.