TRANSPORT | Metrolink

[Signalman 60]

Originally Posted by apologiesforthedelay

We won't see a 6 minute service until all these problems are ironed out.

Anyone know what the exact nature of the problem was this time?

[kriis101]

OK, so today I became Bradfordian2 for the day...

Operating trams:
Alt-Pic line: 3001,3008,3011,3017,3020,3027.
Bur-Pic line: 1010,1013,1022,1025, 2002, 3010.
Alt-Pic directs: 1006,1018, 1002+1016,1003+1024,1007+1014,1009+1017,1012+1026,1019+1020, 2004,3022.
Ecc/Media line: 3006,3012,3014,3015,3023,3024,3025,3026,3030,3037,3038.
SML-ORL: 3002,3004,3005,3013,3019,3029,3039,3040.

Trams not in service today:
1001,1015,1021,1023.
2001,2003,2005,2006.
3003,3007,3009,3016,3018,3021,3028.

3031+3036 and 3041+3056 still not equipped with ATS.



Edit: I think I am missing a tram from the ORL/SML :/ not quite sure how I have missed it within the 2.5hours I was at SPS/SHU. Anyone got an idea to which it is??

[r02bapurdie]

Originally Posted by kriis101

OK, so today I became Bradfordian2 for the day...

Operating trams:
Alt-Pic line: 3001,3008,3011,3017,3020,3027.
Bur-Pic line: 1010,1013,1022,1025, 2002, 3010.
Alt-Pic directs: 1006,1018, 1002+1016,1003+1024,1007+1014,1009+1017,1012+1026,1019+1020, 2004,3022.
Ecc/Media line: 3006,3012,3014,3015,3023,3024,3025,3026,3030,3037,3038.
SML-ORL: 3002,3004,3005,3013,3019,3029,3039,3040.

Trams not in service today:
1001,1015,1021,1023.
2001,2003,2005,2006.
3003,3007,3009,3016,3018,3021,3028.

3013+3036 and 3041+3056 still not equipped with ATS.

Is that might to say 3031+3036 and 3041+3056 still not equipped with ATS not 3013+3036?

[kriis101]

Originally Posted by r02bapurdie

Is that might to say 3031+3036 and 3041+3056 still not equipped with ATS not 3013+3036?

yup, cheers for spotting

[martin2345uk]

You spent 2.5 hours sat at a tram stop? :-O That's hardcore.

There's a large yellow locomotive of some kind lurking in the shadows underneath Mauldeth Rd West bridge... I'm assuming it's ready for the tensioning and energising that's due to start on Sunday..

[Pablo Diablo]

I was half an hour late for work because of the ORL problems. My Oldham tram turned into a Bury tram at Victoria

[martin2345uk]

Originally Posted by Pablo Diablo

I was half an hour late for work because of the ORL problems. My Oldham tram turned into a Bury tram at Victoria

I hope your work was understanding. Any employer that penalises staff for lateness caused by public transport failures makes me sick! And I've known a few...

[Pablo Diablo]

Originally Posted by martin2345uk

I hope your work was understanding. Any employer that penalises staff for lateness caused by public transport failures makes me sick! And I've known a few...

Yeah they were cool about it.
Everyone at work is well aware of how unreliable Metrolink is... I talk about it enough

[Kofieye]

Originally Posted by Bradfordian2

I'm always ready for a challenge, and I was reasonably hopeful about this one, given that the T68As get on to directs the same as other types of tram.
Actually, I've only consistently kept detailed records since late June, I'm not out every day (far from it) and when I am it is often because there is something special going on, e.g. a football match. When there is a match on, the recent form has been that all directs have been doubled - so, no T68As. Even on what you might call a 'normal' running day, there are rarely more than four solo trams on directs, so the likelihood of catching 2001 out on any one day is about one in eight.
Given the number of times recently I have been out midweek (i.e. when directs are running, and calling at Woodlands Road) it should perhaps have been expected that I would have caught 2001 once. In fact I have caught it twice - on Wednesday 4th July, and Wednesday, 18th July. On the 4th I noted it operating the 1541 journey Altrincham-Bury, and on the 18th the 1829 Altrincham-Bury.
Note that both those journeys are too late in the day to be calling at Woodlands Road. The best you can do is to assume that the tram stayed on the same running all day, in which case on the 4th it should have operated the 1042, 1242, and 1442 Bury-Alt, and on the 18th the 1130, 1330, and 1530 Bury-Alt, all calling at Woodlands Road.
Interestingly, on both the dates I have mentioned, there were no fewer than three T68As on directs - on the 4th it was 2001/3/4, on the 16th 2001/3/5.

How detailed! I feel I am now obliged to track down whoever painted them and see what they used (in terms of a picture)! I think they're quite new (the postcards), so its feasible!

[kriis101]

Originally Posted by martin2345uk

You spent 2.5 hours sat at a tram stop? :-O That's hardcore.

There's a large yellow locomotive of some kind lurking in the shadows underneath Mauldeth Rd West bridge... I'm assuming it's ready for the tensioning and energising that's due to start on Sunday..

Noo, 2.5 hours in total, was around St Peters Square for the longest (about 1.5hours) while I had lunch and stuff lol Then went across to Shudehill for the 6 Bury-Pic trams.

[CHAPS2034]

Went into Manchester Tuesday afternoon. There was some Olympic footy on at Old Trafford in the evening.

Lots of staff helping out in Piccadilly rail station and also in the Undercroft on Metrolink. On reaching the entrance to the Metro platform a PSR asked me where I was going. Answer - "I'm not sure" - which threw him! I often use the Metro to go on a mini pub crawl and part of the fun is to just get on the first one that comes (old fogies' bus passes are soooo useful

He then explained that if I wanted a Bury service to go to the left hand end of the platform (where the trams usually stop to pick up) or go to the opposite end of the platform for any others. They had barriered off the platform half way down and formed a queuing "snake" with red barriers for the trams going via St Peter's Sq. It was quite quiet at the time but perhaps helps ease congestion on the platform going into the rush hour. I wonder however, how would they handle a double going down towards the footie?

Noticed lots of PSRs at all the city centre stops highly visible helping people out.

Cheers
CW

[kriis101]

Originally Posted by CHAPS2034

I wonder however, how would they handle a double going down towards the footie?

Well I was surprised how organised it seemed from your description.

The doubles answer is weird though. I thought they might have queued people the opposite way around, as some eccles/mediacitys (heading left would be doubles, so if they queued people for St Peters direction on the left of the platform, then anyone going that way would have to be in the front tram of the double anyway(the rear unit being out of service from there). The Pic-Burys are singles so would have no problem stopping at the right hand end of the platform :/

[Trafford Bar]

Originally Posted by kriis101

Well I was surprised how organised it seemed from your description.

The doubles answer is weird though. I thought they might have queued people the opposite way around, as some eccles/mediacitys (heading left would be doubles, so if they queued people for St Peters direction on the left of the platform, then anyone going that way would have to be in the front tram of the double anyway(the rear unit being out of service from there). The Pic-Burys are singles so would have no problem stopping at the right hand end of the platform :/

The doubles stop short so the front unit fills up and the rear unit is kept empty to allow capacity for boarding at the Gardens and onwards

[WatcherZero]

Originally Posted by Trafford Bar

The doubles stop short so the front unit fills up and the rear unit is kept empty to allow capacity for boarding at the Gardens and onwards

Was what I was going to say.

[dpjones1978]

Originally Posted by wythenshawe_tram_fan

It's got 5 sets of doors!

Its also got 3 carriages.

[Bradfordian2]

Originally Posted by kriis101

OK, so today I became Bradfordian2 for the day...

Operating trams:
Alt-Pic line: 3001,3008,3011,3017,3020,3027.
Bur-Pic line: 1010,1013,1022,1025, 2002, 3010.
Alt-Pic directs: 1006,1018, 1002+1016,1003+1024,1007+1014,1009+1017,1012+1026,1019+1020, 2004,3022.
Ecc/Media line: 3006,3012,3014,3015,3023,3024,3025,3026,3030,3037,3038.
SML-ORL: 3002,3004,3005,3013,3019,3029,3039,3040.

Trams not in service today:
1001,1015,1021,1023.
2001,2003,2005,2006.
3003,3007,3009,3016,3018,3021,3028.

3031+3036 and 3041+3056 still not equipped with ATS.



Edit: I think I am missing a tram from the ORL/SML :/ not quite sure how I have missed it within the 2.5hours I was at SPS/SHU. Anyone got an idea to which it is??

I was out myself last night from about 1615 (which I presume was an hour or two later than yourself) and comparison of our respective observations makes interesting reading.
Here's the summary.
Alt-Picc: My observation entirely consistent with your own.
Alt-Bury: - - - - - - - - - - - -ditto- - - - - - - - - - - - - - (but there was a later change).
Bury-Picc: - - - - - - - - - - - ditto- - - - - - - - - - - - - - (but there were two later changes)
Ecc/Media: - - - - - - - - - - -ditto- - - - - - - - - - - - - - ( - - - - - -ditto- - - - - - - - - - - )
Until I saw your summary I hadn't noticed that every single tram on Eccles/Media was an M5000 - most unusual. Perhaps giving preference to T68/T68As on Bury is a nod to the M5000's famous rough riding at speed?
SML/ORL: You have 3013/40, I have 3016/18/21.
If I had to guess which one was out there somewhere but for whatever reason it failed to cross your path, I would be inclined to guess 3021. It has been operating out of Old Trafford depot since at least 12th July, and when I saw it yesterday afternoon it was on an Old Trafford running. It seems less than likely it would have been substituted for a Queens Road based tram, i.e. 3013 or 3040, neither of which has, to my knowledge, operated out of Old Trafford recently.
As to why 3013 & 3040 became 3016 & 3018 I don't doubt your recording, so they were presumably changed over. This comes as a bit of a shock, since I had gained the impression that trams were very rarely substituted on SML/ORL.
3016 is actually Old Trafford based, but, whatever the time it may have appeared in service, it dropped on to a Queens Road running. Conversely 3002 is a Queens Road tram, but it was on an Old Trafford running, no doubt because of Old Trafford's 3003 & 3009 (and, briefly, 3016?) being out of service. 3027 has operated from Old Trafford in recent days, but has not necessarily been permanently transferred.
I did mention above that after the start of my own recording, one or two changeovers took place.
1. 2004, after having worked the 1629 Alt-Bury direct, would normally have done the 1730 Bury-Alt, but instead worked (a probably slightly belated) 1724 Bury-Picc in place of (the presumably late-running) 3010, which in turn did 1730 Bury-Alt, etc. 3010, as expected, ran to depot after the 2029 Alt-Vic, and 2004 presumably stayed on Bury-Picc for the rest of the evening.
2. 2001 passed through Victoria at 1836 heading towards Shudehill out of service. I presumed it was going to Piccadilly to operate the 1900 Picc-Bury, covering for a late-running 1010, but it seems I was wrong on that. I don't know what it did immediately after I saw it, but it seems to have finished up on the 1956 Picc-Ecc via Media, replacing 3014, which ran to depot. As far as I am aware, 2001 stayed on Ecc/Ms for the rest of the evening. In the meantime 1010 was apparently too late to contemplate it operating the 1824 Bury-Picc and 1900 Picc-Bury, and those journeys appear to have missed.
3. 1022, which would be expected to have worked the 2000 Picc-Bury, instead did 1956 Picc-Eccles via Media in place of 3038, which in turn operated a slightly late 2000 Picc-Bury. 3038 was, in turn, displaced by 1018 which had earlier been on directs. 1018 (which would have been the 1941 Alt-Vic) may have continued to Bury to pick up as the 2036 Bury-Picc, or it may just have covered from Victoria, I just don't know. 1022 continued on Picc-Ecc/M, and 1018 on Picc-Bury, presumably for the remainder of the evening.
4. There must have been a bit of a swap around on Eccles/Media, since I had calculated that the four trams to run to depot after the evening peak would be 3015/25/6/37, but they turned out to be 3012/23/5/37.

[kriis101]

Originally Posted by Bradfordian2

I was out myself last night from about 1615 (which I presume was an hour or two later than yourself) and comparison of our respective observations makes interesting reading.
Here's the summary.
Alt-Picc: My observation entirely consistent with your own.
Alt-Bury: - - - - - - - - - - - -ditto- - - - - - - - - - - - - - (but there was a later change).
Bury-Picc: - - - - - - - - - - - ditto- - - - - - - - - - - - - - (but there were two later changes)
Ecc/Media: - - - - - - - - - - -ditto- - - - - - - - - - - - - - ( - - - - - -ditto- - - - - - - - - - - )
Until I saw your summary I hadn't noticed that every single tram on Eccles/Media was an M5000 - most unusual. Perhaps giving preference to T68/T68As on Bury is a nod to the M5000's famous rough riding at speed?
SML/ORL: You have 3013/40, I have 3016/18/21.
If I had to guess which one was out there somewhere but for whatever reason it failed to cross your path, I would be inclined to guess 3021. It has been operating out of Old Trafford depot since at least 12th July, and when I saw it yesterday afternoon it was on an Old Trafford running. It seems less than likely it would have been substituted for a Queens Road based tram, i.e. 3013 or 3040, neither of which has, to my knowledge, operated out of Old Trafford recently.
As to why 3013 & 3040 became 3016 & 3018 I don't doubt your recording, so they were presumably changed over. This comes as a bit of a shock, since I had gained the impression that trams were very rarely substituted on SML/ORL.
3016 is actually Old Trafford based, but, whatever the time it may have appeared in service, it dropped on to a Queens Road running. Conversely 3002 is a Queens Road tram, but it was on an Old Trafford running, no doubt because of Old Trafford's 3003 & 3009 (and, briefly, 3016?) being out of service. 3027 has operated from Old Trafford in recent days, but has not necessarily been permanently transferred.
I did mention above that after the start of my own recording, one or two changeovers took place.
1. 2004, after having worked the 1629 Alt-Bury direct, would normally have done the 1730 Bury-Alt, but instead worked (a probably slightly belated) 1724 Bury-Picc in place of (the presumably late-running) 3010, which in turn did 1730 Bury-Alt, etc. 3010, as expected, ran to depot after the 2029 Alt-Vic, and 2004 presumably stayed on Bury-Picc for the rest of the evening.
2. 2001 passed through Victoria at 1836 heading towards Shudehill out of service. I presumed it was going to Piccadilly to operate the 1900 Picc-Bury, covering for a late-running 1010, but it seems I was wrong on that. I don't know what it did immediately after I saw it, but it seems to have finished up on the 1956 Picc-Ecc via Media, replacing 3014, which ran to depot. As far as I am aware, 2001 stayed on Ecc/Ms for the rest of the evening. In the meantime 1010 was apparently too late to contemplate it operating the 1824 Bury-Picc and 1900 Picc-Bury, and those journeys appear to have missed.
3. 1022, which would be expected to have worked the 2000 Picc-Bury, instead did 1956 Picc-Eccles via Media in place of 3038, which in turn operated a slightly late 2000 Picc-Bury. 3038 was, in turn, displaced by 1018 which had earlier been on directs. 1018 (which would have been the 1941 Alt-Vic) may have continued to Bury to pick up as the 2036 Bury-Picc, or it may just have covered from Victoria, I just don't know. 1022 continued on Picc-Ecc/M, and 1018 on Picc-Bury, presumably for the remainder of the evening.
4. There must have been a bit of a swap around on Eccles/Media, since I had calculated that the four trams to run to depot after the evening peak would be 3015/25/6/37, but they turned out to be 3012/23/5/37.

Well I know for definite 3013 and 3040 were out, i saw them a couple of times during the day... The Oldham line was still a bit of a mess, probably from the morning suspension of the Oldham section, even at 1430. I saw a tram heading to Oldham Mumps coming out from Picc Gardens. Can't remember which number that was... probably the one MET3 tram that I didn't note down!!

Until I saw your summary I hadn't noticed that every single tram on Eccles/Media was an M5000 - most unusual.

I noticed it pretty early, as I was at St Peters Square. Noticing that only trams heading to Alt and Bury were T68s - these obviously being the directs.
But yeah, of the 36 trams that would pass through St Peters, only 9 of them were T68/As! I think the '3' area of my smartphone will be tired out!!

My question now is.... how dead are 1001 and 1021? I don't remember seeing them for quite a while. The only other T68s that wern't out yesterday were 1015 /23 which I know have been out recently - Everytime 1015 goes past I notice the different font type of the numbering around the centre articulation after its Coronation St yellow livery as 1030!

[CHAPS2034]

The doubles stop short so the front unit fills up and the rear unit is kept empty to allow capacity for boarding at the Gardens and onwards

Thanks TB. Makes sense.

I guess they have been practicing this tactic on the Bury - Alty double M5000s

CW

[martin2345uk]

God dammit the trams have failed me again! Currently sat on 3039 at St. Werburgh's Road for aaages due to points failure at Irk Valley. These infrastructure problems are not good, no rusty Italian trams causing the issues, it's all new stuff! Not quite sure why we're stuck here rather than running a service to Victoria but there you go, least I've got a comfy seat this time :-)

[Kofieye]

Originally Posted by martin2345uk

God dammit the trams have failed me again! Currently sat on 3039 at St. Werburgh's Road for aaages due to points failure at Irk Valley. These infrastructure problems are not good, no rusty Italian trams causing the issues, it's all new stuff! Not quite sure why we're stuck here rather than running a service to Victoria but there you go, least I've got a comfy seat this time :-)

M5000? Comfy seat? You gotta be kidding me!