PHILIPE
Veteran Member
197001 was hauled back from Donnington to Crewe today
Thanks for the info, so that was the 'mystery' carriage spotted on the M5 then?197001 was hauled back from Donnington to Crewe today
Only 1 carriage of 197001 went back so could have been the 1 carriage or it was 003 leaving NewportThanks for the info, so that was the 'mystery' carriage spotted on the M5 then?
Only 1 carriage of 197001 went back so could have been the 1 carriage or it was 003 leaving Newport
Can confirm that the carriage with no issues remained at Donnington on it's own whilst it's other half went for repairsBoth carriages of 197001 were hauled from Donnington to Crewe today. The camera doesn't lie as the saying goes (Facebook). What probably happened was that both ran to Donnington with the good one staying there until the problem one came back from CAF.
Are 197s going to be in service on the Conwy Valley line? I had thought the plan was to use 230s. Did I miss something?
You will have to try and keep up with the evolving TFW franchise, since plan A things have changed a lot. The 170's have gone more mk4's have arrived, all 230's on the Wrexham-Bidston line.Are 197s going to be in service on the Conwy Valley line? I had thought the plan was to use 230s. Did I miss something?
The 230s were only meant to be temporary anyway - the plan was always for 197s in the end. Now they've skipped the introduction of 230s and are going straight for 197s, with the half hourly service on the Bidston line starting earlier than originally planned.
They were busy enough in summer. Enough to justify a three car 101 rather than a two car. Likewise the old junk on the main line was lengthened from four to five cars so it didn't put many people off.While a 197 is hardly a FLIRT, this really is a Greater-Anglia-esque upgrade for the line - I hope it goes well and it'll be interesting to see if it not being operated using whatever old rust-bucket* can be dredged up causes an increase in usage. Nice big windows for the scenery, too.
* OK, Class 101s were interesting to the enthusiast and I myself loved them, but for locals it was just old junk.
There's no TFW staff driving them as yet, the next phase of testing is TFW staff on the Chester to Liverpool Lime Street route.I needed to be in Llandudno this morning (second vaccination), so I took the opportunity to wander past the station first, as a 197 was due in on testing. Seeing the red front end on 197001 coming round the corner brought the words "tube train" to my mind, but this was my first time seeing one in the flesh.
I only took a brief glance as I walked along the train (from P2 as it was stood in P1) but it looked very new-train and shiny. All of the seats inside were still bagged, and a few orange-jacketed staff were sat inside. Here's a smattering of my thoughts:
When departing, the 197 accelerated away (after sounding its horn), but shortly came to a stand again. I didn't hang about any longer, as my appointment was due, but a look on Realtime Trains suggests it continued on time to the Junction, but didn't proceed to Blaenau as planned.
- The square air-con(?) boxes on the roof at either end of the train look rather odd side-on, as the curved profile of the roof breaks away abruptly either side of them.
- The maintenance labels (e.g. engine isolation switches) below the solebar are all written bilingually. This is definitely stock procured by Wales, for Wales. (There was a time when having Welsh and English signage inside 158 cabins was a novel thing, as I recall.)
- I certainly didn't expect it to sound like a steam engine! After it had come to a stop, there was a loud noise from below the far carriage (the DMS, if I remember the window layout correctly), much like a piston exhaust valve on a steam engine stood idle. While it sounded very unexpected, a quick visit to some youtube footage suggests it's common to other 197s too, so probably by design.
The Chester to Liverpool Lime Street route is self contained and the unit will be back in Chester within two hours if any problems occur.There's no TFW staff driving them as yet, the next phase of testing is TFW staff on the Chester to Liverpool Lime Street route.
They are planning to be in service later this year, but that plan looks to be delayed.
The RR power units have a distinctive sound to them, there's a lot of exposed parts under the sole bar compared to the 175's. I Suppose that's for ease of maintenance.
There's a large amount of jointed track being replaced, it's a big job by the amount of ballast and rails moving aboutSome pretty strange tracking of 3D03/04 on RTT:
Realtime Trains - 3D03 1107 Chester to Llandudno Junction
3D03 appears to have gone backwards!
Good to see them out.
Off topic, but does anybody know what the engineering work is that has closed the Borderlands line this week?
Some pretty strange tracking of 3D03/04 on RTT:
Realtime Trains - 3D03 1107 Chester to Llandudno Junction
3D03 appears to have gone backwards!
Good to see them out.
Off topic, but does anybody know what the engineering work is that has closed the Borderlands line this week?
It’ll be nice to get on them197002 is in the hands of TFW staff now, it wasn't lucky on its first day but it's early days.
The only people who are very critical of the 197s are a few posters on here who seem to be slightly obsessed by the issue.Even though people are very critical of TFW ordering the CAF units.
It is not in appropriate to comment on some aspects of the fleet before they enter service. One example being that they are equipped with hydromechanical transmission, and the consensus appears to be that any future conversion to bi-mode / battery / electric power supply will be complex, and possibly not cost-effective over replacing the fleet. So it looks as though the railway will continue burning hydrocarbons for decades to come, and may become one of the most polluting types of transport - in an age that is likely to become ever more concerned about carbon emissions and other pollutants.The only people who are very critical of the 197s are a few posters on here who seem to be slightly obsessed by the issue.
Right thinking people will pass judgement on them once they're in service. Provided they're realiable and you can get a reasonably comfortable seat, I suspect the vast majority of passengers will be satisfied. People just don't care about things like the position of the doors and the alignement of windows and seats.
CAF do offer an hybrid RR MTU power unit that could possibly be used, TFW have a limited budget and new CAF DMU's that are one universal fleet make financial Sence in the long term.It is not in appropriate to comment on some aspects of the fleet before they enter service. One example being that they are equipped with hydromechanical transmission, and the consensus appears to be that any future conversion to bi-mode / battery / electric power supply will be complex, and possibly not cost-effective over replacing the fleet. So it looks as though the railway will continue burning hydrocarbons for decades to come, and may become one of the most polluting types of transport - in an age that is likely to become ever more concerned about carbon emissions and other pollutants.
Granted the 197s will serve some routes that are unlikely to be electrified during the expected lifetime of these units, but to purchase a fleet with no easy route to battery / bi-mode operation seems short-sighted - and it did at the time the decision was made - global warming, and its linkage to carbon emissions is hardly something that's arisen overnight!
Given that the carbon dioxide emissions from countries such as China and India are orders of magnitude higher (tens or hundreds of times higher) than those from the UK - and will be increasing for the next couple of decades at least as they continue to build coal-fired power stations - whether a few trains in Wales still run on diesel in the next few years will make no difference whatsoever to the level of global warming being experienced.It is not in appropriate to comment on some aspects of the fleet before they enter service. One example being that they are equipped with hydromechanical transmission, and the consensus appears to be that any future conversion to bi-mode / battery / electric power supply will be complex, and possibly not cost-effective over replacing the fleet. So it looks as though the railway will continue burning hydrocarbons for decades to come, and may become one of the most polluting types of transport - in an age that is likely to become ever more concerned about carbon emissions and other pollutants.
Granted the 197s will serve some routes that are unlikely to be electrified during the expected lifetime of these units, but to purchase a fleet with no easy route to battery / bi-mode operation seems short-sighted - and it did at the time the decision was made - global warming, and its linkage to carbon emissions is hardly something that's arisen overnight!
I've heard the 197's are equipped with ASDO but aslef are a fan of it due to issues there's been on northern 195'sThe issue with the 197s is that they are almost like for like replacing the 158s and 175s. Yes, there will be more of them, but replacing 2 and 3 car units with 2 and 3 car units is incredibly short sighted. Ok, Swansea to Manchester is meant to be run by 2 + 3 to give 5 car units. But all it will take is a period of disruption or more units than normal needing repairs, and it'll be too easy for a 2 or 3 vice 5 car set to turn up on a diagram.
And the Cambrian line is getting no capacity increase at all, with the same 2 + 2 car sets running to Machynlleth and then dividing to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli as now.
The 197s should have at least been ordered as 4 or 5 car trains with SDO for shorter platforms.