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Future use for LO 172s

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adrock1976

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What's it called? It's called Cumbernauld
Apologies if there is another thread on a similar topic.

A thought came into my mind regarding when the Gospel Oak - Barking line is eventually wired up.

The 8 172s could perhaps be transferred to Canton Depot, Cardiff for use on the Bay shuttle and the Coryton - Radyr via Ninian Park services. One single unit to be used on the Bay shuttle, with the three diagrams for the Coryton - Radyr being coupled up, which would leave one unit spare.

I believe Canton Depot already has experience of the XC 170s, which are similar units. Furthermore, as the LO 172s are most likely geared for low speed use with stations every 2 or 3 minutes apart, with Gospel Oak - Barking being a roughly half hour short run similar to Coryton - Radyr, this would be a handy place initially for the LO 172s to be cascaded to until the Valley Lines network receives wires.

After when the Valley Lines network is wired, perhaps the LO 172s could then be transferred to either Laira, Plymouth or Long Rock, Penzance. One unit could operate the St Ives branch, two for Truro - Falmouth, and one for Liskeard - Looe. This would give some flexibility of these routes to operate with units coupled up when need be, although if all the above three services were coupled up, this would mean that all 8 units are in use during the day with none spare.

Any other thoughts as regarding suitable locations and routes for the LO 172s to be transferred to?

In peace

Adam
 
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Domh245

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Indeed. They will almost certainly go to chiltern to work with the sister class 172/1s. By this point, they will have also received the TPE 170s which should allow longer trains/replacement of LHCS.

By transferring to chiltern, the fitters and maintenance people have all got experience, the drivers are already trained on them, and they are interoperable with the stock there.

Transferring to ATW would mean doing official training for the fitter and maintenance people, as well as driver training for what would be a bit of a micro-fleet
 

SprinterMan

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Indeed. They will almost certainly go to chiltern to work with the sister class 172/1s. By this point, they will have also received the TPE 170s which should allow longer trains/replacement of LHCS.

By transferring to chiltern, the fitters and maintenance people have all got experience, the drivers are already trained on them, and they are interoperable with the stock there.

Transferring to ATW would mean doing official training for the fitter and maintenance people, as well as driver training for what would be a bit of a micro-fleet

LHCS replacement? The amount of money CH have poured into the Silver trains makes their withdrawal extremely unlikely. I can see us losing the Banbury commuter rake in the next few years though :(

Adam :D
 

Bletchleyite

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LHCS replacement? The amount of money CH have poured into the Silver trains makes their withdrawal extremely unlikely. I can see us losing the Banbury commuter rake in the next few years though :(

I've looked at riding that, but it strikes me that while it's called the Banbury commuter train, it arrives at London far too late to be a commuter train - certainly a 9am start in the City would be impossible.
 

fgwrich

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Indeed. They will almost certainly go to chiltern to work with the sister class 172/1s. By this point, they will have also received the TPE 170s which should allow longer trains/replacement of LHCS.

By transferring to chiltern, the fitters and maintenance people have all got experience, the drivers are already trained on them, and they are interoperable with the stock there.

Transferring to ATW would mean doing official training for the fitter and maintenance people, as well as driver training for what would be a bit of a micro-fleet

Interestingly - Although Chiltern does carry out some maintenance on them, LOROL seem to carry out a fair bit of it too at Willesden.

Can't see them replacing LHCS, but maybe moving on to someone like London Midland, with the Chiltern ones, if any of FGWs Turbos become available or electrification on the Chiltern.
 

PHILIPE

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Apologies if there is another thread on a similar topic.

A thought came into my mind regarding when the Gospel Oak - Barking line is eventually wired up.

The 8 172s could perhaps be transferred to Canton Depot, Cardiff for use on the Bay shuttle and the Coryton - Radyr via Ninian Park services. One single unit to be used on the Bay shuttle, with the three diagrams for the Coryton - Radyr being coupled up, which would leave one unit spare.

I believe Canton Depot already has experience of the XC 170s, which are similar units. Furthermore, as the LO 172s are most likely geared for low speed use with stations every 2 or 3 minutes apart, with Gospel Oak - Barking being a roughly half hour short run similar to Coryton - Radyr, this would be a handy place initially for the LO 172s to be cascaded to until the Valley Lines network receives wires.

After when the Valley Lines network is wired, perhaps the LO 172s could then be transferred to either Laira, Plymouth or Long Rock, Penzance. One unit could operate the St Ives branch, two for Truro - Falmouth, and one for Liskeard - Looe. This would give some flexibility of these routes to operate with units coupled up when need be, although if all the above three services were coupled up, this would mean that all 8 units are in use during the day with none spare.

Any other thoughts as regarding suitable locations and routes for the LO 172s to be transferred to?

In peace

Adam

You don't need 2 Cars on the Cardiff Bay which is due for electrification anyway. As it is only a small fleet involved, they would probably go to Chiltern. Although LO had the 8, small fleets are not normally sent on their own to another Depot.
 

route:oxford

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LHCS replacement? The amount of money CH have poured into the Silver trains makes their withdrawal extremely unlikely. I can see us losing the Banbury commuter rake in the next few years though :(

Adam :D

I suspect that would only be for a short period whilst they had power-doors installed.
 

RobShipway

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I think that there is one thing that everyone is over looking. I think they will go to Chiltern, but be used for the service between Bedford, Milton Keynes and Oxford. I do not think that any of the LHCS services will be replaced with multiple unit stock.
 

Bletchleyite

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I think that there is one thing that everyone is over looking. I think they will go to Chiltern, but be used for the service between Bedford, Milton Keynes and Oxford. I do not think that any of the LHCS services will be replaced with multiple unit stock.

Are they really being so short-sighted as to build East West Rail without wires from day one? Silly, IMO.
 

RobShipway

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Are they really being so short-sighted as to build East West Rail without wires from day one? Silly, IMO.

Any videos for East West Rail show overhead electrification, however I have not seen that in any details for the route so I will stand corrected, but I believe the route is being built with the ability to put the wires in later, but will initially be run with DMU's.
 

adrock1976

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What's it called? It's called Cumbernauld
I think that there is one thing that everyone is over looking. I think they will go to Chiltern, but be used for the service between Bedford, Milton Keynes and Oxford. I do not think that any of the LHCS services will be replaced with multiple unit stock.

I would be slightly concerned if they ended up on the East - West route as the journey time as it presently stands between Bletchley and Bedford Midland is around 45 - 50 minutes straight away, and also remember that there are no toilets fitted on board the LO 172s. This in my view would rule out long distance regional runs of more than an hour.

Regarding the possibility of Chiltern having the 172s, they could be used for the long - awaited Ruislip metro services, and just be kept to that and nothing else, depending if 8 units are enough to do so.

Furthermore, another place that has come into my mind is Nottingham, as the crew and depot staff already know the 170s. They could be used on the Nottingham - Mansfield Woodhouse/Worksop route and nothing else, as I believe if I've worked it out right, 3 diagrams are used, meaning that the units could be coupled up and leave 2 spare at the depot. I would not send them any further north than the Midlands, as with the exception of the TPE Hull route, there are no other places north where they would be handy for short hop runs where the depot staff and traincrew already know similar classes to the 172s.

In peace

Adam
 

Aictos

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Probably be a safe bet they end up on the Chilterns to increase capacity, that said by 2040 I expect Chiltern or their successor to have a all electric fleet.
 

edwin_m

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I think that there is one thing that everyone is over looking. I think they will go to Chiltern, but be used for the service between Bedford, Milton Keynes and Oxford. I do not think that any of the LHCS services will be replaced with multiple unit stock.

Perhaps more likely the extra stock needed to extend the Aylesbury to High Wycombe trains to MK, as these use the Chiltern line "proper" which has no plans for electrification. They would probably be retro-fitted with toilets, which should be possible as the 172s in the Midlands have them.
 

Kite159

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Retrofit the units with loos (I would imagine there is space underneath to put a tank), then they could be used along with the 4 Chiltern 172/1s on the Chiltern main line services.

Keep the fleet together, unless London Midland wants them to get rid of their remaining sprinters
 

D365

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Retrofit the units with loos (I would imagine there is space underneath to put a tank), then they could be used along with the 4 Chiltern 172/1s on the Chiltern main line services.

A retrofit shouldn't be too challenging bearing in mind the modular rolling stock design concept.

Keep the fleet together, unless London Midland wants them to get rid of their remaining sprinters

Should be taken care of by EWR and Coventry-Nuneaton enhancement. In fact, this might be where some of the demand for the additional DMUs will stem from.
 

61653 HTAFC

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Indeed. They will almost certainly go to chiltern to work with the sister class 172/1s. By this point, they will have also received the TPE 170s which should allow longer trains/replacement of LHCS.

By transferring to chiltern, the fitters and maintenance people have all got experience, the drivers are already trained on them, and they are interoperable with the stock there.

Transferring to ATW would mean doing official training for the fitter and maintenance people, as well as driver training for what would be a bit of a micro-fleet

Chiltern would seem the obvious place for them. However, coupled with the 9 TPE units which are also 2-car, leaves Chiltern with a surfeit of driving cars. The speculation on this forum suggests that Chiltern will create a uniform fleet of 3-car 168s, with one spare centre car (which could go to CrossCountry). If the 172s come in it might make the diagrams more complicated, even if toilets are fitted.

They could help to boost capacity (or frequency, paths permitting) on the admittedly small inner(ish)-suburban sector of the Chiltern line. In the past this line (and stations thereon) has seemed the 'Cinderella' of London's rail network. It's not my area so I have no idea if this has improved with the Gerrards Cross services, etc..
 

Old Hill Bank

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Fit them with loos and send them to LM along with the four from Chiltern. LM release the 153s and Chiltern take more Scotrail 170s. That removes some microfleets.
 

mr_jrt

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...there's also Southern to consider. They have the Marshlink and Uckfield lines, and have just received 4x3-car 170s from Scotrail to lengthen the Uckfield services to 10-cars.

If Southern got (the bulk of?) the 172s to use on Marshlink then they could move all their 171s to the Uckfield service...

...but have to say, Chiltern getting them for the proposed High Wycombe-West Ealing service seems the most likely.
 

pemma

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Northern bidders are allowed to propose use of any 15xs and 17xs which will be released by their current operators. That includes the following:
* All of the FGW 150/1s and 153s
* Some of the Scotrail 156s, 158s and 170s
* All of the LO 172s

Conversely TPE bidders aren't allowed to propose using any of the above.
 

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Haydn1971

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Split them to two and three car units, run them on TPE North with most passengers standing ;) haha
 

David Goddard

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OK, for what its worth from me:
LOROL eight move to Southern so the four Scottish 170s can return North.
Transpennine nine move to Anglia to enable the like number of 156s to go to Northern.
Chiltern over time to receive more Mk3s to enable the whole Birmingham operation to be so formed, releasing 168s for Oxford and Stratford trains.
 

jopsuk

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with the Greenford branch being cut back to West Ealing, if Chiltern were running a service from High Wycombe would it then make sense for them to take responsibility for the branch shuttle (seeing as TfL don't seem to want it) using the expanded 172 fleet?
 

387star

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Indeed. They will almost certainly go to chiltern to work with the sister class 172/1s. By this point, they will have also received the TPE 170s which should allow longer trains/replacement of LHCS.

By transferring to chiltern, the fitters and maintenance people have all got experience, the drivers are already trained on them, and they are interoperable with the stock there.


Transferring to ATW would mean doing official training for the fitter and maintenance people, as well as driver training for what would be a bit of a micro-fleet

At one point chiltern seemed to want rid of all turbostars in favour of locos not the case anymore? Corridor connections would surely be handy unless they chop units up to lengthen on yeah not really possible as they are only two coaches with a non gangway driving cab each end
 
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