"Open Train Times" website - detailed train times online at last!

It seems really silly that this has happened.. all the fun simply gone and usefull information.. but hey if its what needed to be done.. so be it, it cant be helped!

 

I’m going to put my head on the block here – but I do have my customer service hat on.

What additional info are you looking for? If you are a passenger and want to confirm if there is going to be a diesel on the back, ask the tour operator. If you are a passenger on a VT train, we will tell you everything we know about that train at that time.

What am I missing here?

 

It wasnt just usefull for railtour times tho.. freights Aswell! Thats why everyone is quite 'Gutted'

 

I have had nothing to say or do with freight. Can’t string me up for that one – sorry.

 

A shame the freight times have gone but the info is still available if you wish to pay Freightmaster prices or join the myriad of gen groups that post all manner of timings - freight, test trains, railtours etc. on a umpteen times a day basis. By persuading OTT not to display the info it won't stop it being posted elsewhere.

 

What if you're simply a photographer, or dare I say, a 'trainspotter', and simply want to know what time the steam engine (etc) passes?

 

More from a linesiding point of view it was useful for knowing whether the train would be running on the Fast or Slow line. As well as for knowing scheduled platform for a train arriving.

A real shame the freights have gone as well now. Really defeats the object of the whole site. What a shame.

 

Google the following words.... steam train times uk

I think you will find what you are looking for as the first result.

Glad to be of assistance.

 

Let's look at it from the enthusiast's (must be 1000s of them) side of the fence. There at last was a site that told them the booked paths of freight trains, regular and special passenger trains, and even what line and platform they were booked to use. But there was tour company in the midlands who did not like anyone else to know this much information. so they started bleating about it, and eventually sent out emails to the site providers, and within a few hours the information that sight provided was taken away from those enthusiasts who relied upon it. I myself only watch the steam ones so UKsteam does me ok, but I know a great many who who would stand along freight only lines with the knowledge that there was a least a booked path at a certain time for a train, they could photograph or video if it actually ran.
Not only has the said tour provider put an end to the enjoyment of 1000s, but also had to take the P**s out of the site that provided the info with jokes/jibes about OTT on this board (the ones about Mr Tarrant, and an adult Tiswas etc), and still wants us to respect him, well I don't & I hope the many others who do not like what has gone on vote with their feet & their wallets, not all tours have to come out of Tyseley, there are others.

 

Taking the pi** like this of enthusiasts, in public don't half make you look like you should be watching programmes like "Tiswas" that you mentioned earlier, and not be the public face of a company that relies on the public.

 

Assuming that last post was meant for me, and I pretty sure it was….I am flattered that you would think that I have enough clout to effect the entire OTT site.

I might be able to get VT’s trains hidden, but to get them to hide freight as well? Why on earth would I care?

As for accusing me of taking the p**s out of enthusiasts – I don’t think so. I might have an “interesting” sense of humor / nostalgia for 80's TV, but that’s it.

You are barking at the wrong person “morrie_Greenberg”. Of that I can be sure. It wasn’t me or anyone else at Vintage Trains!

PS – Relied on the site? It was only up for a week or so!

 

Rather than everyone attacking Ben, I think some posters on here are to blame for the retraction of certain information on Open Train Times by showing a lack of understanding of how TRUST/timings work, I remember the other month someone cited seeing a light engine WCRC path in the system which at the time was unfinished schedules/timings, not knowing this, the poster rushed to inform us wrongly that WCRC were going to stick a Diesel on the back of a charter (which never happened) and WCRC got a bit of grief as a result over something they never intended to do.

Long story short, I think the unjustified grief WCRC got over some unfinished/unrelated timings/path largely contributed to WCRC requesting the removal of their trains from OTT so they don't get a repeat of people panicking/arguing over nothing.

Sghooting yourself in the foot is the term i believe.

 

This seems to be getting a bit heated.I don't particually like the use of expleatives even when the person uses the asterix.Its childish to say the least.

The problem I have with this is as follows,I do not like the last minuate or what seems to be last minuate changes that occur and the customer just have to put up with it.Vintage trains do not offer cash refunds even when they do not provide what was originally advertised.That to me is wrong.To hide behind the TOC is no excuse.
I think also that the loss of info from Open Train Times is very disappointing.The TOC can just hide late changes again and the customer has to put up with it.I don't think that david1984 has the order of events completely correct as I believe that word about the CME's had got about before OTT was on the internet.
Finally I have become very unhappy with the way all of this is going and I believe that there are better ways of spending at least GBP80 and not getting what was originally offered.I will not be booking anything until I know exactly what is being finally offered.If I miss something special so be it.The chances of being surprised are becoming very rair indeed.

 

Personally, I wouldn't use the "Open Train Times" website to decide if I was going on a particular railtour. I would rely much more on the information provided by the railtour operator, which unfortunately may not be finalised until a few days before.

If you do a bit of Googling, you will find that there is discussion about whether the railway working timetable data should actually be available to the "Public" at all. There are commercial, operational, safety and other reasons why it was previously not available publicly. For example, should the operating information about nuclear flask trains be published online? You may have a mate in the business who can tell you the details "on the quiet", but that doesn't mean that it should be published online.

Richard

 

It's not what the information contains, it's how the information is displayed.
I also have access so this system, and full database. And I am looking carefully at how this data is used, moderated, and digested.

 

The wonderful thing about this forum is the opportunity to provide a rebuff and offer corrections when appropriate. Not targeted at anyone in particular. So, a couple of things….

1: No-one at Vintage Trains asked the good folks at OTT to remove anything. I sent them an email with my concerns. Nothing more. Until you know the facts, I suggest you stop making accusations.

2: What some people do not understand is that we REQUEST a route and times from NetRail through our TOC. We then receive an offer shortly thereafter. We can request it to be reworked, but in NetRail’s defence, they do a very good job of giving us the best times and paths that are available. I am not hiding anything – I am simply stating the facts.

Maybe I should do a survey:
Run the excursion with a revised route as best we can OR cancel it altogether?

While we are at it, here’s another one:
Run excursions on the mainline with diesels on the back OR nothing?

 

No don't do a survey - they have both been done on this site as far as I remember and both issues have been debated till some of us are sick of it. I'm sure you guys at VT are doing your best.

 

Ben,
You have not answered the question about cash refunds for altered routes.
If you advertise Miles Platting and don't go that way then you should offer a cash refund and not a credit note.
Please advise.

 

Well I think for a VT trip coming up they've changed the route to include Miles Platting when it wasn't included originally. Would you demand a refund then?

Its all in the T&Cs anyway we've been over this a million times before. It tour companies offered refunds for any alterations then a bad run over just a few trips (eg no steam because of fire risk, very likely this spring by the looks of it) then they would soon run into trouble.