the_eggwhite: (Default)
[personal profile] the_eggwhite
Well, it appears that I'm working from home today. I thought this would make a bit more sense than continuing to try to get in to work when the people at the station told me that if all went well, and things didn't change again, I'd get to the station near my work by about 11:00am. They told me this whilst the information was changing about every five minutes about which trains were running, which lines were open and whether there was a service at all.

I couldn't even get a train back from Staines - they told me there'd be one in the right direction "in about ten minutes", but that it was going direct to reading. There was another one "right behind it". They also told me (in a fit of actual helpfulness) that this was what they were being told by control, and that control had been saying exactly the same thing for the last 45 minutes, and still no trains had been seen. So I went and got a bus.

Apparently control had also been telling them that the Weybridge <-> Waterloo via Hounslow services were running fine. Evidence, however, indicated that all trains on that service towards Waterloo were getting cancelled at Staines, with passengers being told to get the next one (which was only going to waterloo). Trains on that service heading back out to weybridge appeared to not exist. Apparently none had been seen since the small hours, and anything that did head in towards waterloo didn't come back. Clearly there is a black hole somewhere on the Hounslow loop. I suspect Hounslow.

Amusingly, the best advice they were able to give me at staines for if I had tried to get into work was as follows:
1) Get on a possibly existing train (which had been 40 minutes away for about half an hour so far, and showed no signs of getting closer) that may or may not have got me as far as Twickenham.
2) At Twickenham, ask them if there were waterloo <-> waterloo via hounslow & richmond shuttle trains running, and also ask them to call Staines and tell them, because no other bugger was telling them (his exact words).
3) If such shuttle trains were running, get on one of those.
4) If such trains were not running, get on a bus. He didn't know which bus, as it wasn't a rail replacement bus. This also means I would have had to pay for the bus journey as well. I'd also have needed to fathom out how to get to Barnes / Roehampton from twickenham by bus.

2006-11-27 11:00 (UTC)
by [identity profile] doris.livejournal.com
I've said it before and I'll say it again, monkeys could to it better.

There were engineering works between Richmond and Barnes yesterday and they didn't finish them so they've overrun until today. Even trains that go direct to Waterloo are skipping Richmond entirely. They get to Twickenham, stop long enough for some twat to stick their head in and go "can you move down a bit, please" in a whiney voice at a packed solid coach, then go back on themselves and go to Waterloo via Kingston.

And they're always trying to convince people that getting public transport is better

xx

2006-11-27 11:19 (UTC)
by [identity profile] urizen.livejournal.com
Wow, I guess I was lucky to get to Feltham only half an hour late...

2006-11-27 11:29 (UTC)
by [identity profile] eggwhite.livejournal.com
I suspect you lucked out by getting one of the fast trains to waterloo - they don't seem to have become buggered until Twickenham. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, they were heading in to waterloo and then failing to come back out again... which meant that the Reading end ran out of trains to send.

2006-11-27 11:43 (UTC)
by [identity profile] urizen.livejournal.com
That makes Waterloo sound like some sort of train graveyard... the Clapham triangle...

"The trains go in, but never come out again..."

2006-11-27 11:58 (UTC)
by [identity profile] majic13.livejournal.com
I am missing the Waterloo line less and less by the day. n_n

2006-11-27 12:06 (UTC)
by [identity profile] karohemd.livejournal.com
Trains are actually quite nice when they work but when they don't they're a nightmare. I had to cut short being at a gig on Saturday so I wouldn't have to go through the rail replacement nightmare. :o(

2006-11-27 12:21 (UTC)
by [identity profile] anonymous-james.livejournal.com
I caught the 7:43 to Waterloo. It arrived at 9:40. It should have got there at 8:30. We did the strange Twickenham reverse and were told that the driver had to change ends. So the back became the front and vice versa.

I wonder how bad it'll be when I try to go home...

2006-11-27 12:50 (UTC)
by [identity profile] nemy.livejournal.com
whats all this mess caused by and how long will it last?

2006-11-27 13:28 (UTC)
by [identity profile] doris.livejournal.com
They were supposed to be doing engineering works between Richmond and Barnes yesterday, but despite this being England, they were all totally surprised that it rained, so they've overrun until today. Not sure how long it will last.

xx

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