Very rainy but despite lots of “low adhesion” warnings from the DTS there was only one ATO failure that left me switching into Manual half way into a platform. I was meant to finish my first half by tipping out at RUG and going into the depot but due to a shortage of trains I was told to take it onto WER where someone would take it off me.

On the subject of lack of trains we will be getting a new timetable in March with two trains less in the peak as they will all be refurbished for the Olympics. For some reason it has been decided to take 7 roster positions from HAI and 4 from LOU (or it could be the other way round) and transfer them to LES so having dropped into The Pool when the last timetable came in I will now be back on the roster. This means that I will know what I’m doing every day from now until the next timetable change which probably won’t be until they bring in the Olympic one.

My second half finished in HAI depot, two stablers on one duty, that’s a lot of walking. There was a notice on the 7-minute board when I booked on about the shed roads at HAI, each one now has a specific stopping mark and these were listed. Sadly when I noticed it I didn’t have enough time to make a note of them all and typically when the shunter called me up he directed me to a shed road, 61. I asked where he wanted me to stop and helpfully he told me to just draw up level with the train that was already on 60.

As I made my way into the yard I was trying to remember whether the shunter had instructed me to shut down the train or not and was about to call him up when I realised that the points had sent me onto 62. I thought I must have misheard his initial instruction but then he called me up to say that someone had set the points wrong and that I should leave the train just outside the shed while he sent someone to take it back over the points and put in onto the right road. Not a good way to end the night.

Something else I noticed today is that the siding at MAA is still “under possession”. We were closed between WHC and HOL at the weekend for engineering works at MAA and will be again this weekend and it would appear that whatever work they are doing it means that we can’t use that siding until they finish. I wonder if anyone realises that if we have a shutdown at HOL itself then we will have nothing between WHC and LIS. Fingers crossed……