Why should an email be sent to Geoff Marshall?
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Northern Class 195: Construction/Introduction Updates
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Why should an email be sent to Geoff Marshall?
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RailUK Forums
I believe four 195s are booked for service on Sundays, all on Barrow/Windermere (none on Liverpool). I'm not saying that there has been a Sunday when four have been out, but there has certainly been at least one when three have been. I'm not aware that there has been a Sunday when only one has been out, but I'll stand corrected on that, of course.
When geoff Marshall attempted to have a ride only one unit was in service
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Still not sure of the relevance, sorry.
The relevance is that he was expecting more 195 units to be in service that day and also that there's supposed to really be more running units running
Well indeed, aren't we all expecting more to be in service? It's just that you seemed to suggest to another poster that it was poor for him to expect them to be in service.
Xenophon PCDGS
Veteran Member
Look at the title of this YouTube offering as ask yourself, if the number of the Class 195/0 and 195/1 units ordered are replacing the total number of Class 142 units currently in service, noting the number of cars in total of the Class 195 units, surely there is a shortage ordered to enable all the Class 142 units to be replaced.
Xenophon PCDGS
Veteran Member
In what official capacity does Geoff Marshall act, if any? Is he one of those self-important and opinionated beings that unfortunately are given free will to pontificate to their hearts delight?
In a way they weren't ordered to "totally" replace 142s. Here in Leeds they'll be displacing 158s on York to Blackpool services. As for Leeds to Chester, the 195s are replacing what ever unit is operating that service (AKA the random unit generator)which has seen some Pacers too.
Now let's all play nicely. @Harvey B 's light-hearted response to my post was perfectly okay with me, (especially since I had yet to watch the video, cheers Harvey).
The relevance is that there's been a seriously limited number of the supposedly introduced 195s been in service for a number of days now and that, I would suggest pretty obviously, is a concern.
Bertie the bus
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Well, your guess is wrong. Northern have numerous units. Some are supposed to be in passenger service, some are being used for crew training and some are going through the acceptance process. There is no need to use the units that are supposed to be in service for crew training and as far as I'm aware it simply doesn't happen.
No problem, anytime
So what you're saying is, those designated as being for crew training are, for the time being at least, going to do just that and nothing else, and it doesn't matter how many units might be missing from the advertised public service.
I think a combination of reasons really as you say.
The 195s do have a fair share of teething problems. Doors, software for the screens, air con faults etc. It is now the summer holidays and Northern appear short-staffed to cope with the additional holidays that it brings - particularly on the new units where there is a limited pool of qualified staff to operate them so this problem is magnified.
I said a few days ago I would be amazed if we saw any new 195s until late September/early October. Pushing more into service in August doesn't seem a prudent move given there are faults that need to be ironed out and not enough staff to operate them reliably.
As it's an unwise move - Northern will probably try for no good reason. I do have concerns that introducing the 195s, 331s & TPE's 3 new classes pretty much at the same time is going to cause problems as they will all experience teething problems and are centered through Manchester and the Airport which is a real bottleneck.
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No, Geoff Marshall only saw one in service, and he presumed that, therefore, it must have been the only one actually in service.
Well, for a start, the 1241 Manchester Airport to Barrow, which is booked for a 195, was, on Sunday, cancelled between the Airport and Preston (and between Preston and the Airport on the inbound working). That particular unit would not have been back at the Airport while Mr Marshall was still around, so we don't know whether the unit was a 195, as booked, or not.
The next train on the circuit, the 1334 Airport to Barrow, is also booked a 195. This, Mr Marshall, on his late-running 1248 Airport to Liverpool train, should have crossed at Gatley - and neither train was scheduled to stop there. Was Mr Marshall looking out for 195s going the other way? Answer, probably not, he was preoccupied with getting to Warrington to look for 195s there.
The 1733 Airport to Windermere train is booked a 195. This should have been coming in to Platform 1 at Oxford Road (in order to leave Platform 2 free for a Virgin to pass through) just as his own 195 was entering Platform 3 heading for the Airport. Would he have noticed if the train pulling into P1 was a 195 or not? Answer, not necessarily, if he was preoccupied with catching the 195 he had been waiting all day for.
So there could easily have been four 195s in use on Sunday.
As to whether there has ever been four 195s in use on a Sunday, I can tell you that there were indeed on Sunday 21/7/19 - 195117/9-21.
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Is this going to be like when you knew that 195's have never been used on services previously operated by a single pacer?
I'm amazed how many CAF units are on Edge Hill and in Allerton when they just aren't turning up on the services they are meant to be on. The double peak hour service service from the airport to Liverpool today was a single 156. I'll ask again does anyone know what is going on?
The ones on Edge Hill are for actual finishing off of things like corridor connections, steps and fault free running and such aren’t they? It’s a hell of a learning curve to go from a mostly fully mechanical unit to a highly computerised one and they are likely to be finding out the hard way any faults that are showing up. We had all this 15 years ago with pendos and that was arguably a simpler set of circumstances. Old staff needing conversion courses, new staff needing the full works, new methods of working to learn, for us it was tilt, for these it’ll be ASDO. They’ll get there, but they’re juggling several things at once.
Which bit are you doubting? I did go on (in post #2656) to give an example of a Sunday when there were four 195s out. I'll say which duties they were on, if you like.
I might add, on Saturday 27/7 there were at least three 195s in use on Airport-Barrow/Windermere (195115/9/21). There may have been four, I simply didn't see what was working the fourth 195 diagram, I wasn't in the right place at the right time.
Whether three or four, it seems unlikely that all bar one would be grounded only the very next day.
Mr Marshall would have done well to find out in advance where 195s were likely to be (simply by reading the 195 threads on this forum), rather than going on a wild goose chase.
EDIT: The above was not intended to be any sort of 'complaint' in respect of Mr Marshall, the point I was making was that if he had prepared properly he could have saved himself half a day of effort.
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I have absolutely no idea why Geoff Marshall is utterly divisive on this Forum but can we please leave it alone at this point. Some people seem to get very angry about him (for some reason) and others find his work to be quite interesting and enjoyable. In any event we certainly don't need half a dozen posts about his latest video on this thread and whether or not people are right or wrong to find it interesting or annoying.
Sleeperwaking
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Edge Hill is CAF's testing & commissioning base for the ARN fleets - as mentioned by driver_m, units on there will likely be undergoing routine tests (those that have just arrived as individual vehicles by road), fault free running, acceptance inspections, and potentially modifications (for mods that were identified too late to incorporate into units already on the production line). Edge Hill is run by Alstom, and is not an ARN depot. New units are being delivered at a very high rate, which generally means that Edge Hill is always full to bursting as it's a challenge getting the units already on site through all the required activities and handed over to ARN in time to clear space for the next arriving unit.
Allerton is ARN's main depot that will be handling Class 331s (and probably 195s while the new shed at Newton Heath is still under construction) - I will assume that makes Allerton an ideal base to undertake crew training (I don't know if this is the case). Either way, it would be a false economy to take units off training activities to supplant a short term availability issue - arranging the required days off for crews / drivers to undergo training is complicated, and if one of the underlying issues is a lack of trained crew, then it makes no sense to disrupt training activities.
superkev
Established Member
That shed at NH seems to have been under construction for a very long time. Is there a problem?
Is training of Manchester crews at Huddersfield still ongoing as I havent seen any 195s on the Calder Valley for a couple of weeks.
K
. As for internal fit out I would punt a guess its going to be December/January.195115
Yes the Newton Heath CAF shed has been a muddy hole in the ground for over a year now, although it has at last got some fabrication rising from it. Still a long way from completion yet.
Training at Huddersfield is still ongoing, as it is at Wigan. Preston is a possibility too (Croft Street sidings) subject to a few issues being sorted.
Stockport carriage sidings should be added to the list of training locations soon for 331s.
Training at Huddersfield is still ongoing, as it is at Wigan. Preston is a possibility too (Croft Street sidings) subject to a few issues being sorted.
Stockport carriage sidings should be added to the list of training locations soon for 331s.
Why would Preston and Stockport be training locations, when, to the best of my knowledge, no crews are based there?
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