The Voice - Match preview #25: Carlisle United vs Bradford City Saturday 18th January 2025 12:30pm

My nephew has 2 going, he bought tickets but now can't make it

 

I only need one is this OK with you.

 

I only need one is this OK with you.

I only need one is this OK with you.

 

Yes, mate, I have sent you a PM

 

Commuter belt not the tube, where there are LuL tube sets every two mins at peak, the commuter belt is covered by trains , fast / not so fast every 15 mins at peak at some locations. I understand what you mean but trains are not like tubes lines, no comparison.

 

Carlisle club legend Jon Mellish sold to Wigan today. Carlisle fans are gutted.

 

Additional trains running outside the timetable are normally planned about a year in advance in my experience eg steam or diesel specials for enthusiasts I can’t speak for freight etc, but I suspects it’s months. Staff are alerted by STN ‘s ie Special Traffic Notices. The title gives it away, “ Special “ ie outside the normal track access passenger timetable.

The big issue however is rolling stock. Train operating companies rent ALL their multiple units, diesel or electric powered and have sufficient just to run their normal service PLUS a small allowance which are out of service so to speak for repairs, servicing etc . You just can’t find or obtain units from just anywhere . Sad but true . You can’t pull drivers from anywhere either who have to undertake months of route learning even if they are qualified drivers .

Remember trains are dedicated multiple units these days NOT individual carriages pulled by a locomotive . In fact carriages are only stored for specials mentioned above in a tiny number of locations in the UK .

“Selective”:carriages work on only rare occasions as they become impossible to “police” without large numbers of staff and obedient passengers.

My experience of partitioned carriages in electrical multiple units has been for Blair, Brown, Cameron, and Queeny on the Cambridge route but NEVER with the general public, it just doesn’t happen any more .

Hope that helps… I can’t do it justice how complex the Franchise system has made operating the railway for customers benefit has become

Will it go back to loco and carriages and a man with a green flag not a chance I’m afraid unless it’s a “ special “ and even they are becoming rare !

 

This is a related document from 2008 , it’s long and damn boring but just to highlight how complex it all is these days . I advise don’t even try read it other than the headline contents and linked what comes together to plan the running of a single train . Madness!
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/40039969.pdf

 

There is no such thing as proactivity based on football matches other than those pre planned into the T/T many many months ahead. For example as soon as Tottenhams fixture list is published we used to add extra stops in EXISTING services passing through Northumberland Park Station.
( This and White Hart Lane are the main feeder stations for Spurs home games) These trains would normally pass through , in the case of Northumberland Park, at 90mph , so it’s relatively simple to stop the train . This adds 30 seconds to deceleration , 1minute to safely load ( A nightmare!) and 30 secs to get back to line speed. What we could never do is ADD an extra service as the paths across several junctions being crossed by other trains on the way to Cambridge about 40-50 miles away, which would mean chaos as they are so meticulously timed with a bit of leeway to catch up the lost time at Northumberland Park. The same applies to short notice European games. Additional stops at NPK are added to existing trains passing through .

It’s difficult to explain but simple it’s not.

 

In our case yes extra cars could be added and they were because it was “ off peak” and stock was available , less so on a Saturday , however 4 car trains were the norm at North Park at that time of the day and only once every hours from memory. Spare stock was added to form 8 car units. (2x4) ( Electric Units are in sets of 4 “ carriages “ . In my time the MAXIMUM the platform could hold was 8 carriages . I do believe this has been made longer and may be now 12 car platforms since the new ground was opened. I do believe Spurs paid for this extension , which isn’t as simple as it sounds because there is a level crossing at the end of the platform…..or there was ?

 

Was he out of contract in June?

 

Don’t know TBH, but I thought it was a surprising transfer.

 

He had a contract until June 2027

 

At least this one will be an easy 3 points.

These lot are rock bottom and 7 points adrift from safety, in complete free-fall down to non-league

 

That’s that sort of comment that comes back to bite you. However, an away win at Brunton Park is well overdue so let’s hope we can put that little stat to bed next Saturday.

 

A goal or three would be nice.

If my calculations are correct, we've scored twice in our last eight trips to Carlisle...

We've got some making up to do.