The planned Cotswold Line moves in the first two weeks of December were for 'shakedown running' of 230001 prior to it moving down to Reading depot (under it's own power, distance c. 66 miles), but they're likely to be postponed to the New Year now, due to a fault with the WSP system (Wheel Slide Protection) which requires a software patch that may only be available in January. The shakedown running / mileage accumulation is necessary due to the fact that the train has hardly turned a wheel for over a year (because of the Vivarail administration) so it needs to get some fault-free miles on the clock up to max speed (60mph) before putting it anywhere near Reading depot. Unlike the old commercial arrangements where Vivarail were contractually obliged to achieve a certain fault-free mileage before getting paid by the customer, this time round the train is now owned and maintained by GWR so as much time as necessary will be taken to achieve a reliable train; the team are acutely aware that an unreliable battery train could be the death of this project, even if the performance of the batteries / charging system as such are fine. The train is being thoroughly prepared at Long Marston by the GWR battery train team and some Reading techs on secondment to the team with a view to it being as good as possible before it moves to Reading. This time has also helped the Reading guys become familiar with maintaining the train. 'Phase 1' testing with the train on the Fast Charge system has nearly concluded at Long Marston, with about another week left to do.I'd guess for Long Marston - Evesham - Moreton in the Marsh and back a couple of times a day
Calculations suggest that West Ealing to Reading will be fine as long as the train is charged up at West Ealing before it departs. It will be re-charged at Reading via slower 'depot chargers' (plug in) before it returns to West Ealing. Time on depot will be allowed for this.Isn't West Ealing to Reading only around 30 miles?
If the battery can't do half its capacity that's surely a problem
Mileage accumulation on the Cotswold Line will also provide validation of the performance calcs.
It's not as many as 17.....it's more like 13......limited by the number of surviving Driving Motor cars.If we do see more battery trains created out of ex D78 Stock cars. Will GWR convert them, and will they be still designated Class 230s as apparently in the December edition of Todays Railways their are still enough D78 bodyshells to create at least seventeen three car units for branch line utilisation.
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