Dunwich Dynamo 16th July 2022

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mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
Greater Anglia still pretending that some of their Ipswich trains (trains numbered 7451xx) don't have 18 bike spaces and refusing all bikes. https://www.greateranglia.co.uk/abo...ssues-travel-advice-dunwich-dynamo-cyclists-0

If they used those trains, they could carry 432 bikes towards London, about three-quarters as many towards Norwich, 84 towards Cambridge and about 40 towards Peterborough. Southwark's fine coaches would still take the vast majority but it would really help people returning not to London. But it seems rather than sell tickets, the British "can't do" attitude prevails! :sad:
 

Jenkins

Legendary Member
Location
Felixstowe
Greater Anglia still pretending that some of their Ipswich trains (trains numbered 7451xx) don't have 18 bike spaces and refusing all bikes. https://www.greateranglia.co.uk/abo...ssues-travel-advice-dunwich-dynamo-cyclists-0

If they used those trains, they could carry 432 bikes towards London, about three-quarters as many towards Norwich, 84 towards Cambridge and about 40 towards Peterborough. Southwark's fine coaches would still take the vast majority but it would really help people returning not to London. But it seems rather than sell tickets, the British "can't do" attitude prevails! :sad:

They don't have 18 spaces - they only have 6 spaces on the 3 or 4 coach trains used on that line. It's the same on the intercity service from Ipswich to London with just 1 coach (D) that has 6 spaces and booking necessary.
This is the bike space on the trains used on the Ipswich/Lowestoft line
Spa Elan (2).jpg
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
They don't have 18 spaces - they only have 6 spaces on the 3 or 4 coach trains used on that line. It's the same on the intercity service from Ipswich to London with just 1 coach (D) that has 6 spaces and booking necessary.
This is the bike space on the trains used on the Ipswich/Lowestoft line
View attachment 648624
No, I know the short ones only take 6, but there are two versions of the intercity trains. Ones numbered 7450xx have space for 6 bikes, but ones numbered 7451xx have the buffet replaced by space for another 12. The original plan was for the 18 bike version to work mostly Stansted and occasionally Ipswich and Norwich, but there's some doubt about it. In any case, the 18-bike trains could work Ipswich services for one day, if the company was minded to help not hinder.
 

Jenkins

Legendary Member
Location
Felixstowe
No, I know the short ones only take 6, but there are two versions of the intercity trains. Ones numbered 7450xx have space for 6 bikes, but ones numbered 7451xx have the buffet replaced by space for another 12. The original plan was for the 18 bike version to work mostly Stansted and occasionally Ipswich and Norwich, but there's some doubt about it. In any case, the 18-bike trains could work Ipswich services for one day, if the company was minded to help not hinder.

The only problem with trying to use the 12 coach, 18 bike space (Stanstead Express) units is that they would be about 3x longer than most of the platforms on the line. It woukd be easier to get hold of some of the old class 153s that used to run that line and have been converted for use as mass bike transport in Scotland
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
The only problem with trying to use the 12 coach, 18 bike space (Stanstead Express) units is that they would be about 3x longer than most of the platforms on the line.
They could run them on the Ipswich-London mainline. They do anyway, but it is currently seeming random which are 6 and which are 18.

But no, in true Netherlands Railways fashion, it is easier to ban all bikes than schedule particular stock and take bookings.

No hope of Lowestoft services taking bikes that day, but riding 30 miles to the mainline is much better than having to ride 100+ off their network. It is very bad service to fark the whole region's cyclists because of an event.
 

nonowt

Über Member
Location
London
I couldn't commit to doing the whole thing this year but didn't want to miss out totally, so I'm riding to The Bell in Great Bardfield for a pint and veggie burger and then heading back to London. Hope to be tucked up in bed by 4!
Enjoy the ride all!
 
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