Can confirm. 2x Pacers this morning (again) on Wilmslow to Liverpool.
How well are the Pacers coping capacity-wise?
Can confirm. 2x Pacers this morning (again) on Wilmslow to Liverpool.
It was 195001l was on it17:16 from Liverpool to Man Airport was a 2 coach 195 - I believe it may have been 195001 or 003. It was packed upto Piccadilly and the air conditioning had failed. Northern seem to be having problems with the 195s. Not to mention the rolling stock shortage is being excerbated with problems with the 319s as well - Pacers/150s are frequently having to cover on these routes.
Also, only a single 195/1 working 1O42 0709 LIV-MCO in place of the booked 2x 195/0s.
That was indeed 195001. The Aircon was problematic, I reset it earlier in the day at Manchester Airport, it obviously gave up again. Not good enough especially considering how busy that unit was yesterday.It was 195001l was on it
The performance of 1F90 0551 Manchester Airport to Liverpool Lime Street is not robust enough for an early train. If 5F90 from Newton Heath runs, there is only five minutes for the coupling process at the Airport so no slack at all. Even if 5F90 runs early, the 0544 to Blackpool is on top of the waiting 195 off 1H40 in the platform at the Airport. It seems to be dependent on what is at Liverpool overnight and gets sent to the Airport on 1H40. There doesn't seem to be any information for the traincrew of 1F90 as to whether and when 5F90 is coming.
Out of interest, why does it give up do you know?That was indeed 195001. The Aircon was problematic, I reset it earlier in the day at Manchester Airport, it obviously gave up again. Not good enough especially considering how busy that unit was yesterday.
Is a single 195/0 covering for a 195/1 on the 0816/1116, etc (as yesterday), or not?
This will leave a single 142 to work the diagram from 0916 until to 1502, when they recouple at Lime St for the 1516 departure.
Nope, as booked, a 195/1 operating the 0816/1116 LIV-MIA circuit, it seems one of only a few diagrams operating using the booked stock today.
Same as yesterday, 2x 142s working 1H99 0613 LIV-WML, and return working 1F92 0748 WML-LIV, in place of the booked 2x 195 allocation.
This will leave a single 142 to work the diagram from 0916 until to 1502, when they recouple at Lime St for the 1516 departure.
Scrap that, the 2x 142s remained coupled for the entirety of the day to give the capacity required, unsurprisingly.
Thanks very much. I managed to catch a 195 from Lancaster to Preston. And a 331 return Preston to Wigan. Great passenger trains compared to what they are replacing...195's lacking grunt - and disappointing on the mainline stretches ..even if they do get to 100 mph slightly quicker than a 170.. While the 3-car 331s are a revelation - the fastest accelerating UK EMU i have recorded to date - uphill too! Astonishing acceleration!I've started the search period a shade early, the reason being that the unit working the 1344 to Barrow isn't scheduled to get back to Preston until 2018. If you see this one you should catch all the 195s in use on the Barrow/Windermere services (should be seven), in fact four should be through twice. I'll give scheduled platform numbers, but, believe me, these are subject to alteration.
1344 Barrow (P3)
1408 Manchester Airport (ex-Windermere) (P4)
1445 Barrow (P4)
1509 Manchester Airport (ex-Barrow) (P4)
1545 Windermere (P4)
1608 Manchester Airport (ex-Barrow) (P4)
1645 Barrow (P4)
1708 Manchester Airport (ex-Windermere) (P6)
1745 Barrow (P4)
1808 Manchester Airport (ex-Barrow) (P4)
1908 Windermere (P5 - arrives 1843)
The unit working the 1408 to Manchester Airport should be back at 1645, 1445 Barrow at 1808, 1509 Airport at 1745, 1608 Airport at 1843.
Cancellations are always a risk, but these are less likely on a Thursday than some other days. All the same, there have been some bad Thursdays. When trains do get cancelled it's usually either north of Preston only (there's often a crew change at Preston), or south of Preston only. It's less common for a train to be cancelled throughout.
I see that there are indeed some training runs scheduled for tomorrow, but these will not necessarily run, if they do run it won't necessarily be at the booked time, and I wouldn't be able to tell if they're intended to be 195s or not. If you want to keep track of those the best way to do it would be via the 'Realtime Trains' website.
Units used on training runs are usually ones which haven't yet seen passenger service.
I don't know if you're interested in 'electric' 195s (i.e. 331s), but there should be at least two of those in use on the Liverpool - Blackpool service, and any units coming through on training runs are more likely to be 331s than 195s.
Can confirm. Was on the 07:48 from WIL-LIV & 18:16 from LIV-MIA. Both services the same doubled up Pacers.Scrap that, the 2x 142s remained coupled for the entirety of the day to give the capacity required, unsurprisingly.
Is this use of Pacers on the LIV-MIA route out of choice or neccessity? For instance could they just run a 3-coach 195 instead of 6 which they have done previously? Or are Northern so short of 195s that they're having to bring in doubled up Pacers/150s to plug the gap?
Is a single 195/0 covering for a 195/1 on the 0816/1116, etc (as yesterday), or not?
Nope, as booked, a 195/1 operating the 0816/1116 LIV-MIA circuit, it seems one of only a few diagrams operating using the booked stock today.
Not to mention the rolling stock shortage is being excerbated with problems with the 319s as well - Pacers/150s are frequently having to cover on these routes.
How well are the Pacers coping capacity-wise?
When I got off the unit the passenger counting system was already showing that there were 109 passengers in the DMS vehicle and 70-odd in the DMSL, and that was with a platform full waiting to get on at Oxford Rd bound for Liverpool.
Was on the 07:48 from WIL-LIV & 18:16 from LIV-MIA. Both services the same doubled up Pacers.
323s aren't infallible - the 1721 Piccadilly - Stoke was covered by a Pacer this evening (= full), and that's diagrammed for a 323.
323s aren't infallible - the 1721 Piccadilly - Stoke was covered by a Pacer this evening (= full), and that's diagrammed for a 323.
I saw the Northern JourneyCheck formation update stating that this was 2 coaches instead of 4 yesterday (Where it got 4 from I don't know).
However I passed it at Kidsgrove (I was on 1756 SOT-CNG) and it was actually a 323.
As I understand it it is all done by sensors, I assume infra-red. It's pretty accurate and responsive, you can see when people are walking through the unit from one coach to another too as the numbers shown in the passenger counting system (PCS) decrease & increase respectively.Interesting. I've not heard of this before. How does this work please?
I, too, saw the 2 coaches versus 4 on 'Journey Check' and when I saw the rather full 142 departing I took it to be the Stoke, although I was stood on P13/14 myself at the time, and my view was obscured by a train arriving in P13. Checking back on RTT, I see that the 1721 was formed from the stock which would normally do 1701 Picc-Crewe, and the 1701 from whatever had been stood in P12 all day. I remember hearing a platform change announcement in respect of the Stoke, with the benefit of hiindsight I suppose that should have set alarm bells ringing, but of course it didn't. I can only think that I heard the platform change announcement (presumably at, or slightly before, 1700) then saw the Pacer emerging from the throat of P9-P12 and assumed it to be the Stoke, without checking what the time was.
Of course, the foregoing doesn't alter the fact that a 142 was covering for a 323, or that the 142, whatever journey it might have been covering for, was rather full!
Unusually diagram 6 (the six-coacher) was formed of 5 coaches today - 1no. /0 & 1no. /1. You really do get something new everyday on this diagram.The double 195/0 diagram is showing on 'Journey Check' as being short-formed at three carriages, so presumably a single 195/1 again. Nothing else is showing up of 195 relevance, but it doesn't always do, I'm afraid. Also, updates can be deleted very quickly - once a journey is mobile, any reference to it can be deleted, that seems to be the rule.
I wonder if the passenger counting info Llama referenced gives the guard (as well as the driver) more visibility of uneven crowding across both units? Although it's probably obvious to experienced guards without the extra info.Since the 195s have been introduced, on multiple ocassions the guard has announced this and encouraged passengers to move down the train where there are seats available.
To be honest access to the CCTV probably gives the guard a better view of crowding on the train. The passenger counters on the 195s and 331s is not very reliable.I wonder if the passenger counting info Llama referenced gives the guard (as well as the driver) more visibility of uneven crowding across both units? Although it's probably obvious to experienced guards without the extra info.
Is 195007 in operation today please info appreciated