Jacob Porrett
Established Member
Where is that going please?Thought you’d heard the last of the GWR 769s?
The three remaining units at Reading are starting to be removed by road.
A colleagues photo from today:
View attachment 136430
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GWR Class 769 information. (Units no longer with GWR - Off Lease March 23)
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I think they will. Soon I'll need something new to shave my beard.
Techniquest
Veteran Member
A shame, I'd imagine one could easily make plenty of money selling tickets for those wanting the track and the chance to do a 769/9. I'd pay for it happily!
No idea of destination, presumably off to Long Marston to join the rest. As to their future, that's in Porterbrooks' hands, but like many I cant see these having a future. Who's going to want to take them on after all the various issues the TOCs have had with them?
The_Train
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Have all of the units moved off Reading or was it just a single unit move?
No, just two vehicles of one unit (769949) have been moved so far. 769930 & 769959 still to go
The_Train
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I don't suppose you know which carriages were moved?
Bessie
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A case of what might have been but do any photos exist of a Class 769 next to a Class 701 - ie: what could've been a common scene at Reading platforms 4/5
Wyrleybart
Established Member
IIRC the photo I saw was of a pantograph car so that might narrow it down a bitI don't suppose you know which carriages were moved?
Dohhh - yes look at piccie on previous page
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ShedBasher
New Member
Spotted 2 more carriages heading down Rose Kiln Lane in Reading towards the M4 at noon today. Sorry no idea of the unit numbers.
I don't suppose you know which carriages were moved?
Those were the last two vehicles from 769949.
769930 & 959 should both be gone by end of week.
TT-ONR-NRN
Veteran Member
The only chance to ever ride a GWR 769!
Which one, do we know?
Peter Mugridge
Veteran Member
No idea which one - they will at least have quite a large pool to choose from at that location!
The line being shut between Didcot and Oxford, and the trains not being route cleared for the diversionary route via Ashchurch
All (then) 4 were due to go by rail the day the bridge collapsed, indeed the one that made it was the very last train across the bridge.
Ah; thank you!
Plus they're due exams. If they weren't, it'd worth waiting another week for Nuneham to re-open.
davetheguard
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Steam?
No wonder they're complicated: 25Kv A.C.; 750v D.C.; diesel; and kettle power too!
heathrowrail
Member
Utter waste of money which everyone said at the time this project was announced.
Deepgreen
Established Member
It's the final ignominy that these vehicles are being transported by road to their fate. What a ludicrous episode in an increasingly-farcical rolling stock management situation on the railways.
What is it about these Mk3-based units that would pose a clearance problem on that route if hauled as a single 12 car move?
Melancholia
Member
I can only assume it's the DC equipment that might cause them to be out of gauge
something for everyone!Steam?
No wonder they're complicated: 25Kv A.C.; 750v D.C.; diesel; and kettle power too!
swt_passenger
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Steam?
No wonder they're complicated: 25Kv A.C.; 750v D.C.; diesel; and kettle power too!
I thought that but didn’t dare to post it - Boiler failed test or not yet fitted…
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Not really. The post upthread explained that running them by rail would waste even more money, as the examination would have been necessary.
I'm not sure that setting up a temporary scrapyard at Reading depot would have been a better approach.
I might be alone in this, but I find it a great shame these units weren't a success in GWRland. They're certainly a suitable stop gap and when they work, seem to work quite well.
Northerns units seem to have entered squadron service with little spectacle and appear to be reasonably well bedded in. On the handful of occasions I've tried to track them down, there always seems to be atleast 6 in service. It surprises me that there's this much variation in the fleet - clearly they were a disaster for TfW also.
Northerns units seem to have entered squadron service with little spectacle and appear to be reasonably well bedded in. On the handful of occasions I've tried to track them down, there always seems to be atleast 6 in service. It surprises me that there's this much variation in the fleet - clearly they were a disaster for TfW also.
Quite possibly nothing, but running rolling stock over a route for which the route clearance process hasn't been followed and just hoping for the best instead isn't the way these things are done.
Not if the shoe gear is strapped up.
Same here. An awful lot of work by a very talented (award winning, no less) team at GWR went into addressing the many challenges that the 769 fleet presented. Fixes to many of the technical issues had been identified and were being implemented to the extent that reliability had improved no end, the IR issues were close to resolution (and probably would have been resolved were it not for the wider IR dispute), and intro to service was looking tantalisingly close. So it was very disappointing when the plug was pulled, not because there was no hope of 769s entering service but because of the need for budget cuts.
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Bob Price
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There is a bridge in the Long Maston area which is out of guage. The TfW ones also had to be taken out by road.
Deepgreen
Established Member
I just find the modern railway's inability to move redundant stock by rail very frustrating - it shouldn't be so hard/expensive to use the railway for rail vehicles.
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