Happy New Year,
I know I keep saying this, but I really must devote some more time to keeping this more up to date .... then again does anybody actually read it?
The 15 minute service to Chester started and within a week, it disintegrated to due to bad weather.
After the ice and snow cleared Merseyrail continued to only guarantee to provide and reduced service and the passengers asked why ... The snow has gone etc,. was their grievance, with over crowded trains at quite a busy time of year.
The snow and ice play havoc with the motors that power the train, they are not designed to work in such extreme temperatures and it caused all sorts of problems, Alternators blowing, heaters failing and other things. The shoes that collect the electricity from the 3rd rail were being clogged up with ice and freezing to the rails, they then had to be cut free and as they couldnt then collect energy had to be rescued and pushed by another train.
Thankfully, between then and new year the majority of the trains were brought back into service after being repaired and things are back to normal (touch wood).
