Can the Thameslink Class 700s run at 110mph as well, or be uprated to do so?
Not at the moment. Whether it would be considered worth it to modify the fleet for the sake of 3 seconds a mile over a relatively short distance is another matter.
They always get stuck behind a Thameslink. EMR lost out when they recast the MML timetable to favour Thameslink, and many EMR paths have allowances to accommodate Thameslink timings.
Good to hear, thanks.
A bit of both! There might even have been some south of Syston if memory serves.
The 810 were iirc designed with enough diesel power to perform as well as a 221 (ie accelerate to 125mph). So until the 1980s 100mph wiring is tensioned correctly from Mill Hill to Bedford for 125mph operation the only way the 810s can fit in the timetable is by running on diesel where it is expected speeds will exceed 100mph. The re-tensioning etc is in hand.
That makes me wonder why the re-tensioning from Mill Hill to Bedford is needed ?.
To be fair though , it's not always behind the Thameslink and if the Emr service is a bit late and the Thameslink is way ahead then you can have recovery time. Also most of the time the Thameslink is out of the way at Harpenden and the Emr can stretch its legs.
Greater resilience, as the re-tensioned weights are now 'anti-fall'.
Ah - is that a weakness of the current tensioning weights ?.
Yes - MkIII and earlier had no ratchet supports to "catch" the weights in the event of a dewirement. It wasn't until the 2000s that Siemens' Anti-Fall wheels were added to the UK1 design range for West Coast Route Modernisation work.
Yes they will be kept for the foreseeable future. But they are 110mph capable so should benefit (slightly) from faster running on the old OLE south of Bedford. They won't go on the slows north of Bedford as they are, well, too slow compared to the fasts.
Extra 7-8 minutes on the slow between Bedford and Wellingborough. Also it goes from 4 aspect to 3 aspect signalling on the fast at Wellingborough and that slows things down a fair bit if trains are close together.
) it will be a long time, I guess, before freights can be electrically hauled on this section so seems a real lost opportunity to not make them more suitable for the Corby trains. When the work was being carried out I assumed that was the aim.I have never really timed it from Sharnbrook although I have been taken that way on the up from Wellingborough a couple of times recently . Problem with Sharnbrook is getting checked down as it's 20 over from 110 linespeed so not a great deal quicker.
I think the OLE changes make it better in fact. The 360s will be able to do 110mph instead of 100mph for a significant part of their journey south of Bedford (assuming the timetable doesn't catch them up with a Thameslink, and even if it did they could use the speed to recover from an earlier delay). The 810s will only gain whatever the difference is between their diesel and electric timings, which is likely to be a smaller figure considering they were specified to match 222 performance on diesel.
There are wooden pegs at Leicester station, took a photo of one between platforms 2 & 3 at the London Road bridge end. It has some numbers written on them, presumably a location or mast number.
That's really to good to see movement in the section between Syston and Wigston. Am I right to assume that pegs marked like that means the designers have now planned where the masts will be?
Not sure how they normally label masts tbh. The peg in my photo is marked '159 394 DF'. It was located near the main stairs onto the platforms so not too far from London Road bridge
