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Class 171 and 377 compatibility

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Class455

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Was just interested to know, since the Class 171's have Dellner couplers has there been any record or any pictures of a Class 171 coupled to a Class 377, or when one has had to rescue the other in an emergency?
 
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swt_passenger

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Was just interested to know, since the Class 171's have Dellner couplers has there been any record or any pictures of a Class 171 coupled to a Class 377, or when one has had to rescue the other in an emergency?
I’m sure it’s only designed as an emergency coupling for hauling a dead train, so there’s no possibility of anything other than a rescue working; so if that has never happened outside testing there’s unlikely to be photos.
 

Class455

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I’m sure it’s only designed as an emergency coupling for hauling a dead train, so there’s no possibility of anything other than a rescue working; so if that has never happened outside testing there’s unlikely to be photos.
Has there been any record of such a rescue working before?
 

RichardKing

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Was just interested to know, since the Class 171's have Dellner couplers has there been any record or any pictures of a Class 171 coupled to a Class 377, or when one has had to rescue the other in an emergency?

I'm sure I've seen it mentioned on here somewhere that a 377 was rescued by a 171 after being caught up in a landslip/major snowfall event (or something along those lines) on the BML many years ago. I don't recall seeing any photos though.
 

king_walnut

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Last winter during the 'beast from the east' cold snap, I was an OBS on a 377 between Brighton and Eastbourne. The ice on the third rail meant we got stuck somewhere between Glynde and Berwick. They sent another 377 to rescue us from Eastbourne which also got stuck about 100 yards away from us. Eventually they had to send a 171 and drag both units one by one to Berwick, where they could continue under their own power. Took about 5 hours in total.
 

pompeyfan

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Last winter during the 'beast from the east' cold snap, I was an OBS on a 377 between Brighton and Eastbourne. The ice on the third rail meant we got stuck somewhere between Glynde and Berwick. They sent another 377 to rescue us from Eastbourne which also got stuck about 100 yards away from us. Eventually they had to send a 171 and drag both units one by one to Berwick, where they could continue under their own power. Took about 5 hours in total.


Out of interest, and without politicising this and without getting yourself in trouble (after all I’d imagine you’d be reasonably easy to identify) did you find being an OBS rather than a safety critical guard/conductor hindered the situation? I appreciate you weren’t going to go out there and push the unit, but during SWRs new forest incident the guards on all 3 trains were constantly out on track assisting the driver and MOM.
 

RichardKing

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Last winter during the 'beast from the east' cold snap, I was an OBS on a 377 between Brighton and Eastbourne. The ice on the third rail meant we got stuck somewhere between Glynde and Berwick. They sent another 377 to rescue us from Eastbourne which also got stuck about 100 yards away from us. Eventually they had to send a 171 and drag both units one by one to Berwick, where they could continue under their own power. Took about 5 hours in total.

Ah yes. I remember that morning well! I got stuck somewhere between Balcombe and Three Bridges for the same reason on one of the first London-bound services of the day from Eastbourne...somehow, it managed to get through the icy rails between Glynde and Berwick, and also managed to climb the gradient at Plumpton!
 

gsnedders

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I’m sure it’s only designed as an emergency coupling for hauling a dead train, so there’s no possibility of anything other than a rescue working; so if that has never happened outside testing there’s unlikely to be photos.
And I expect there's no electrical connection and therefore no ability to control brakes in the other unit, hence it'll be limited to 5mph.
 

king_walnut

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Out of interest, and without politicising this and without getting yourself in trouble (after all I’d imagine you’d be reasonably easy to identify) did you find being an OBS rather than a safety critical guard/conductor hindered the situation? I appreciate you weren’t going to go out there and push the unit, but during SWRs new forest incident the guards on all 3 trains were constantly out on track assisting the driver and MOM.

I didn't feel that my non-safety critical status hindered the situation really. We were simply stranded, and it wasn't an emergency in terms of risk to anyone's safety or welfare (though I did give someone my coat, as obviously without power there is no heating).

I was never a conductor so I can't say what extra things I could have done if I was, though I imagine not much because it was simply a case of waiting. My job was to keep passengers informed. It was all fun and games until the first rescue train also got stuck, then people started to get a bit tetchy. Understandably tbh.

Sending an electric train to another electric train that can't draw power due to thick ice on the third rail ... I'm astonished that nobody involved thought "this might not be a good idea"
 

pompeyfan

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Sending an electric train to another electric train that can't draw power due to thick ice on the third rail ... I'm astonished that nobody involved thought "this might not be a good idea"

Your lot aren’t the only ones who have made similar mistakes, trust me on that one.

Thanks for your response in general though, much appreciated.
 
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I did hear that Selhurst attempted to fully couple a 171 to a 377 a couple of years ago.... and that it didn't end well. The 171 was apparently alright again after uncoupling and a couple of hard reboots, but the 377 wouldn't start back up and needed a complete reflash of the firmware before it was able to move again. Moral of the story: mechanically couple in emergencies only.

What did interest me is that the 375s and 376s work with each other. They occasionally couple them electronically when they need to run a 376 down to Ramsgate for maintenance. SDO won't function correctly, but it's good enough for ECS runs.

I'm also told that 375+377 will work in multiple if needed, provided the 377s are running the correct firmware. I've not seen SE run a 375+377 in service yet, though.
 

Sunset route

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The Merstham 8 car 377 victim was rescued by a 171 formation, I believe there was a RAIB investigation into the landslide and derailment. Was in duty that afternoon but not on the panel concerned.
 
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