Scotrail Class 385 Discussion

[absolutelymilk]

Hitachi has started building the final 385 for Scotrail! Wonder how long it will be before they are all in service....
https://twitter.com/HitachiRailEU/status/1075445301429895168

Our team at Newton Aycliffe has started building the final new electric #Class385 train for Scotland

 

[anthannan]

Seem to be several deliveries next week, but I don't suppose all will run.

Any sign of anything happening tonight?

 

[Cletus]

In Geoff & Vicki's latest video from the Italian Hitachi factory, at 8mins13 there's a glimpse of carriage number 442101 that according to the Abrail website is part of 385101.

 

[Chrism20]

Just a quick observation, it may just be me but I’d be interested to hear others thoughts.

I done a quick hop from Waverley to Haymarket on the way home earlier and the first service going out was a 385.

Walking along the platform at Haymarket to the stairs the gap from the platform to the train seemed huge. I do the short trip a couple of times a week (easier to change on to the tram at Haymarket) and can’t say I’ve notice the gap being as big on the usual 156/158/170 etc

 

[Stopper]

Just a quick observation, it may just be me but I’d be interested to hear others thoughts.

I done a quick hop from Waverley to Haymarket on the way home earlier and the first service going out was a 385.

Walking along the platform at Haymarket to the stairs the gap from the platform to the train seemed huge. I do the short trip a couple of times a week (easier to change on to the tram at Haymarket) and can’t say I’ve notice the gap being as big on the usual 156/158/170 etc

I thought that myself about 2 months ago. The gap does seem bigger than normal when alighting a Class 385. Overall I’m a big fan of the unit though, almost perfect for commuter routes. It’s just down to reliability and technical issues whether it becomes a success or not.

 

[HankyuDentetsu]

I've noticed this too, at Queen Street actually. Seems like a higher step into the car compared to the 170. Not a problem for most, but perhaps trickier now for those less mobile?

 

[92002]

Who eyes? The Glasgow - SDA timetable barely changed, a minute or two difference here and there. SDA to Edinburgh may be better but the promise from Scotrail was for all services not just a couple.

Last time I checked there were no plans to change SDA train times, since the stops are still the same. They do benefit from faster acceleration and deceleration with electric trains.

The headline change was for journey time improvements on the E&G trains which has been delivered. This is the most used part within EGIP with many more passengers benefitting on the flagship service.

To be quite correct SDA was not part of the EGIP programme and was funded separately.

 

[mcmad]

No, SDA was also billed extensively as faster longer greener trains, none of which has so far been delivered for Dunblane - Glasgow despite all the happy clapping

 

[NotATrainspott]

I imagine the timetable will be changed more once the EMUs have settled in and they're never substituted for DMUs. If they speed the timetable up now, it means there'd be chaos if one of the 170s had to step in.

 

[anthannan]

No, SDA was also billed extensively as faster longer greener trains, none of which has so far been delivered for Dunblane - Glasgow despite all the happy clapping

Wait for the next timetable change. Mixing the 385's with slower diesels would cause issues!

 

[Typhoon_93]

Hitachi has started building the final 385 for Scotrail! Wonder how long it will be before they are all in service....
https://twitter.com/HitachiRailEU/status/1075445301429895168

The final 385 entered production 4/5 weeks ago and was due out of production tomorrow 21/12/18.

 

[kilonewton]

Well, the Alloa timetable used platform 6 at Stirling both up and down pretty much exclusively before the timetable change. Much more use of platform 9 now, so there’s been at least some adjustments.

Speaking of which, had my first chance to sample 1st class (declassified) on a 385 this afternoon. Aside from the boring bloke banging on about getting a rover ticket, or the fact that he couldn’t get one, I’d hate to be paying for the “privilege”. The seats were similar to standard, the recline feature not enough to make much of a difference. Also, there was a significant amount of rattling from the 2 seats opposite my single, something I’ve never noticed in standard, including as I write this.

 

[youngac]

Had a look at first class on 385117 today and have to agree that it seemed very underwhelming, although it’s probably quite luxurious compared with some of the first class offerings down south that seem to only consist of some different branding and a slightly fatter armrest.

 

[GLC]

Sitting on my very first 385 as I type this. A bit of an odd smell when you first walk in, but so far seems very nice. Sitting in front of a bit cupboard covered in electricity warning stickers, don’t recall seeing anything like that on any other EMU before? Overall though I’m impressed! The trolley service makes it feel like a proper train, and not a daft wee commuter service

One other curiosity, not related to it being a 385, I’m on the 14:45 GLQ To EDB service, but it’s terminating at Haymarket due to staff? What staff issue would mean that the train could get as far as Haymarket, but not make it Waverley?

 

[Highlandspring]

There’s no driver for the next out-and-back workings (1R83 1545 Edinburgh - Queen St and 1R92 1645 Queen St - Edinburgh) so sticking it in Haymarket platform 0 allows the set to stable out of the way until it picks up the diagram again on 1R03 1746 Edinburgh - Queen St. There isn’t sufficent platform capacity in the Waverley to accomodate the set for 2 hours and there’s no driver to run it off to the sheds.

 

[route101]

Are any 385s doing Edinburgh/Glasgow to Dunblane ?

 

[GW43125]

There’s no driver for the next out-and-back workings (1R83 1545 Edinburgh - Queen St and 1R92 1645 Queen St - Edinburgh) so sticking it in Haymarket platform 0 allows the set to stable out of the way until it picks up the diagram again on 1R03 1746 Edinburgh - Queen St. There isn’t sufficent platform capacity in the Waverley to accomodate the set for 2 hours and there’s no driver to run it off to the sheds.

Apologies for digressing, when was Haymarket 0 electrified? I remember a bit of a farce a year or so ago of a 385 ending up in the (then) non-electrified bay.

 

[Ginaro]

Apologies for digressing, when was Haymarket 0 electrified? I remember a bit of a farce a year or so ago of a 385 ending up in the (then) non-electrified bay.

Don't know, but I found a picture taken in 2013 in which there seems to be OHLE at platform 0? https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3424524

 

[Chuggington21]

Apologies for digressing, when was Haymarket 0 electrified? I remember a bit of a farce a year or so ago of a 385 ending up in the (then) non-electrified bay.

If I remember correctly it wasn't 0 it was the through sidingz

 

[snookertam]

Apologies for digressing, when was Haymarket 0 electrified? I remember a bit of a farce a year or so ago of a 385 ending up in the (then) non-electrified bay.

Several years ago, possibly as far back as 2011 IIRC.

 

[route101]

Don't know, but I found a picture taken in 2013 in which there seems to be OHLE at platform 0? https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3424524

Seen 365 on Dunblane service last month in platform 0

 

[gsnedders]

Apologies for digressing, when was Haymarket 0 electrified? I remember a bit of a farce a year or so ago of a 385 ending up in the (then) non-electrified bay.

Platform 0 was built in 2006 for capacity relief during works at Waverley; it was electrified along with platform 1/2 as part of the Airdrie–Bathgate reopening in 2010.

 

[Highlandspring]

Apologies for digressing, when was Haymarket 0 electrified? I remember a bit of a farce a year or so ago of a 385 ending up in the (then) non-electrified bay.

It was 380109 on 29/12/16 and it had been stabled for most of the day in platform 0, which was electrified in 2010, because of disruption to the North Berwick services. The unit ended up in the Through Siding having been signalled towards the North Goods Loop as an ad hoc empty run off. No one told the signaller it was a leccy and the driver didn’t question the route. It was hauled into the depot(!) by a 170 and moved back under the wires on New Year’s Day 2017. Caused a bit of a bùrach at the time after it got into the media...

 

[GW43125]

It was 380109 on 29/12/16 and it had been stabled for most of the day in platform 0, which was electrified in 2010, because of disruption to the North Berwick services. The unit ended up in the Through Siding having been signalled towards the North Goods Loop as an ad hoc empty run off. No one told the signaller it was a leccy and the driver didn’t question the route. It was hauled into the depot(!) by a 170 and moved back under the wires on New Year’s Day 2017. Caused a bit of a bùrach at the time after it got into the media...

My apologies, I thought it got stranded in 0. Thanks for the correction

 

[Bungle965]

1700 Queen Street - Edinburgh found itself in a spot of bother at Falkirk High this evening with door problems.
Luckily the problems were not that severe and it was on it's way within 10 minutes or so, I seem to remember there being problems with the door's a few posts back but I was under the impression that the snag was at Croy not Falkirk. Is anyone at liberty to divulge what the issue is with the doors that is causing the issues?
Sam

 

[380101]

1700 Queen Street - Edinburgh found itself in a spot of bother at Falkirk High this evening with door problems.
Luckily the problems were not that severe and it was on it's way within 10 minutes or so, I seem to remember there being problems with the door's a few posts back but I was under the impression that the snag was at Croy not Falkirk. Is anyone at liberty to divulge what the issue is with the doors that is causing the issues?
Sam

From whats been said about it further up the thread they'd been having issues at both Falkirk High and Croy with doors due to the cant of the track. No other class of units ie; 158,170, 365 or 380 have had door problems at theses stations because of the cant

 

[VioletEclipse]

From whats been said about it further up the thread they'd been having issues at both Falkirk High and Croy with doors due to the cant of the track. No other class of units ie; 158,170, 365 or 380 have had door problems at theses stations because of the cant

One that I was on had door problems at Haymarket.

 

[Mingulay]

One that I was on had door problems at Haymarket.

It seems the 385s may yet have issues to resolve and who knows new problems may arisewhich could ground them . I'm a fan of the 365 now on Dunblane . Spartan but roomy. Warm and you can open windows if too warm . Given Scotrail s propensity for calamity and the current unfolding shambles if I were them I would retain the 365s for at least a year and lease the others I understand are still available. Given the issues of insufficient trains just now If they return them in may and find they have 385 failures they will look even more incompetent than they do now. So the wise thing to do is grab as many functioning tried and tested trains that do work and hold them in reserve in anticipation that there are more banana skins down the track. Sensible contingency planning which no doubt Scotrail will not do !

 

[GLC]

It was 380109 on 29/12/16 and it had been stabled for most of the day in platform 0, which was electrified in 2010, because of disruption to the North Berwick services. The unit ended up in the Through Siding having been signalled towards the North Goods Loop as an ad hoc empty run off. No one told the signaller it was a leccy and the driver didn’t question the route. It was hauled into the depot(!) by a 170 and moved back under the wires on New Year’s Day 2017. Caused a bit of a bùrach at the time after it got into the media...

It doesn’t seem worth making a whole thread for this, but if this is misplaced my apologies: How serious is it to have an electric train fall off the wires like this, atleast when moving under its own power like it was? It is more or less as simple as dragging it back under wires, and away you go (almost like putting a scalectrix car back on!)? Or is there a lot of damage that can occur due to unexpected traction power loss etc?

 

[Highlandspring]

At a basic level the pantograph raises as it runs off the wires, once the pan reaches its upper limit the ADD activates and drops it. Things can get messy if the pan gets tangled in the OLE as it drops. The pan can be damaged by going overheight and the ADD needs to be reset so a unit that runs off the wires always needs to be examined by fitters before any attempt is made to pan up again once it’s recovered.