Harbon 1
Member
I hate to be boring but my money is on the family/order name of IEPs :P
That's a bit better than Goochie, which rhymes with coochie, but that isn't saying much.
What about some nicknames for these trains?
Virgin have gone for Azuma and we already have Voyagers, Pendolinos etc!
What about 5 car 800's as Goochies (as named 800004 GWR loco Engineer)
Maybe 9-car 801's as Churchwardionians or Colletts and maybe the 802s for the west as Pasties!
Well, they'll gain a nickname sooner or later!
I hate to be boring but my money is on the family/order name of IEPs :P
Also, the naming thing seems to be a Virgin Trains speciality, the Voyagers, Super Voyagers, Pendalino, Azuma... The Meridian was a bit of a copy cat thing by National Express to humanise new trains... I'm struggling to think of any other modern day train operator that has done the same marketing twist... Others use terms such as "new" or the class number and manufacturers branding only in a loose link.
Also, the naming thing seems to be a Virgin Trains speciality, the Voyagers, Super Voyagers, Pendalino, Azuma... The Meridian was a bit of a copy cat thing by National Express to humanise new trains... I'm struggling to think of any other modern day train operator that has done the same marketing twist... Others use terms such as "new" or the class number and manufacturers branding only in a loose link.
Being pedantic, Azuma, Voyager and Pendolino are all brand names for the trains, adopted by Virgin and used in their official publicity material, not nicknames.
Also, the naming thing seems to be a Virgin Trains speciality, the Voyagers, Super Voyagers, Pendalino, Azuma... The Meridian was a bit of a copy cat thing by National Express to humanise new trains... I'm struggling to think of any other modern day train operator that has done the same marketing twist... Others use terms such as "new" or the class number and manufacturers branding only in a loose link.
Being pedantic, Azuma, Voyager and Pendolino are all brand names for the trains, adopted by Virgin and used in their official publicity material, not nicknames.
Voyager and Pendolino were official names from the manufacturers though. Azuma isn't.
well in other news....
A class 800, most likely either 800001/800002 or 800101, will be operating a test service to test the ole between reading and didcot.
Rtt link: http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/k97549/2016/07/16/advanced
a class 68 hauled (68005 & 68001) nr ole inspection train will run with it overnight tonight into tomorrow morning.
68005 + 975091 (mentor) + 72631 (plpr) + 977997 (rsc3) + 9523 + 68001
I know this may shock some of you but I'm actually warming to these trains. Saw some footage from the inside of one the other day and the seats look far more comfortable than I expected, the legroom looks great and the windows look a lot bigger than I thought. The high floors don't look to be an issue either so yes I was wrong I admit it.
Still no fan of the whole bi-mode thing. They simply don't have enough power on diesel mode. Remains to be seen how the AT300 will cope with the gradients it will encounter even with the slight power increase.
But as far as passenger comfort is concerned I am impressed and happy to admit I think I was wrong.
One hopes they get the diagraming correct and have ample seats throughout the day for passengers.
That's good to hear, people don't always like admitting they are wrong online. I think the horsepower on diesel of these machines should be ok and although it is a shame that they can't reach 125mph off the wires, there won't be much of a need for this.
Forgive me if it's posted somewhere obvious, I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere. Has it actually been stated what the power output of the traction motors is on electric mode? i.e. how much more powerful are these units under the wires?
I still think that with distributed traction, five powered vehicles on a 9-coach train rather than two for what would be an 11-vehicle formation in the equivalent 2+9, 3750hp vs. 4500 isn't likely to make much difference except in the early days of the Great Western routes, given how much of the ECML is already wired and how much of the GW will be. I'm not sure how much of the route that is 125mph capable will remain unelectrified beyond the early 2020s. In an ideal world I would sooner the electrification area be extended than have to specify additional or more powerful diesel units, but a man can dream :P
The interior comfort will always be subjective. The seats didn't 'look' comfortable but that isn't exactly a good indication. People routinely complain about the seating on the East Coast Mk IVs when I find them particularly comfortable so if similar people complain about the 800 seating, it doesn't necessarily mean that I would have any complaints, even with my back problems.
As I said on a different thread I have heard from someone who is loosely involved in the whole project that the SRT's on diesel mode aren't good due to the drag coefficient at higher speeds. On the wires they will be very fast which is where the gains are going to be noticed. I believe the all electric versions are going to be a very nice train. Not really sure the point in them having one diesel engine unless NR expect dewirements to be a common thing. Maybe Philip can comment on that.
We don't expect de-wirements to be common, though they will be operating on the ECML, so manage your expectations down the way accordingly.
It's just a way to add some additional flexibility, not needing to use shunters, ability to work around isolated OLE where damage may have occurred or may be suspected, OLE power failures and isolations for safety purposes (lineside fires, that sort of thing), ability to use platforms which have had OLE removed for re-modelling, all sorts of things really.
The ability to get themselves out of a dewirement and work through a dewirement once the debris is cleared is going to be very useful but on a very, very, very infrequent basis.
Forgive me if it's posted somewhere obvious, I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere. Has it actually been stated what the power output of the traction motors is on electric mode? i.e. how much more powerful are these units under the wires?
I still think that with distributed traction, five powered vehicles on a 9-coach train rather than two for what would be an 11-vehicle formation in the equivalent 2+9, 3750hp vs. 4500 isn't likely to make much difference except in the early days of the Great Western routes, given how much of the ECML is already wired and how much of the GW will be. I'm not sure how much of the route that is 125mph capable will remain unelectrified beyond the early 2020s. In an ideal world I would sooner the electrification area be extended than have to specify additional or more powerful diesel units, but a man can dream :P
The interior comfort will always be subjective. The seats didn't 'look' comfortable but that isn't exactly a good indication. People routinely complain about the seating on the East Coast Mk IVs when I find them particularly comfortable so if similar people complain about the 800 seating, it doesn't necessarily mean that I would have any complaints, even with my back problems.
I know this may shock some of you but I'm actually warming to these trains. Saw some footage from the inside of one the other day and the seats look far more comfortable than I expected, the legroom looks great and the windows look a lot bigger than I thought. The high floors don't look to be an issue either so yes I was wrong I admit it.
Still no fan of the whole bi-mode thing. They simply don't have enough power on diesel mode. Remains to be seen how the AT300 will cope with the gradients it will encounter even with the slight power increase.
Well there are many many things like that could happen on the railway in various different forms that are deemed to be used so rarely that they don't get implemented as the cost of maintaining them isn't worth it as the circumstances happen so rarely. Why aren't all EMU's being fitted with a diesel engine if it's such a vital thing to have?
I see what you did there.Again, see how things pan out...
Is it the same engine as used in the bi-modes? If so, then they are almost 'free' as the packaging will have been sorted out for the bi-modes, and they can form part of the common pool of engine modules.Why aren't all EMU's being fitted with a diesel engine if it's such a vital thing to have?
:roll::roll::roll::roll::roll::roll::roll::roll::roll::roll::roll::roll::roll::roll: ad infinitumI know this may shock some of you but I'm actually warming to these trains. Saw some footage from the inside of one the other day and the seats look far more comfortable than I expected, the legroom looks great and the windows look a lot bigger than I thought. The high floors don't look to be an issue either so yes I was wrong I admit it.
Still no fan of the whole bi-mode thing. They simply don't have enough power on diesel mode. Remains to be seen how the AT300 will cope with the gradients it will encounter even with the slight power increase.
One hopes they get the diagraming correct and have ample seats throughout the day for passengers.