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dirty exterior

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badassunicorn

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How comes some trains are so thoroughly filthy on the outside and some aren't? The trains on my TOC go through a washer plant nearly every day but they come out the other side looking the same, grubby and dirty- just wetter then before. Its a real shame seeing freshly painted units looking like crap a few months afterwards. Is there some special chemical that is normally used?
 
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depablo

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Used to watch the cleaners doing a heavy clean. Basically buckets of detergent and mops, walk up the side of the train washing the sides as you go, rinse off with hose.
 

ninjazx6r

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The Settle & Carlisle is promoted as a line worth visiting by tourists however the stock Northern use has generally got filthy windows taking away the full experience of viewing the magnificent scenery from the train window.
 

Hairy Bear

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If there not washed regually and slowly through the wash plant then it slowly builds up and ingrains the paintwork. Handbashing the sides removes most of it. This time of the year though, washplants will shutdown automatically prior to them being washed due to the freezing temperatures or some of them will be outstationed overnight somewhere where theres no access to a washplant.
 

dk1

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Will take a while to get them all back to an acceptable condition. You seem to find those with vinyl wallpaper are the worst as it gets ingrained. Washer plants will not sort that out.
 

fgwrich

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Will take a while to get them all back to an acceptable condition. You seem to find those with vinyl wallpaper are the worst as it gets ingrained. Washer plants will not sort that out.

Unfortunatly it'll take a while on some units. As much as i like my local TOC, the 444s are starting to look rather filthy even when clean, especially around the end of each coach, partially proving that large white bodysides are not a good idea.
 

wintonian

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The state most Northern trains are in it would seem that they are going for a general all over grubbiness as their new corporate colouring!

I don't know, I found a lovely and clean ex FGW pacer last time I was in Middlesbrough. ;)
 

Geeves

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As said when its very cold the washplant will not work. Also I believe to remove that really stubborn brown leaf crap/Brake dust the train has to go through an acid wash! So probably not wanting to be using that too many times on Northerns lovely painted stock.
 

noddy1878

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Down here in Devon the FGW HSTs a normally very clean. I see them nightly going through the washer and at Old Oak when I go to London. But I never see the units FGW have go through and they are filthy!
 

BuhSnarf

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Definitely some TOCs are better than others... Virgin for example very rarely are caked in mud, EMT on the other hand...

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
 

fgwrich

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Definitely some TOCs are better than others... Virgin for example very rarely are caked in mud, EMT on the other hand...

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

Dirty windows (and trains) used to be a Crown Point special too, on my last visit over that way back in 2009 i had a 153 with brown tinted windows that you almost couldnt see out of and a 156 Which had the appearance of being washed in the River Yare - Green and white slime on the front end of the unit wasn't the most presenting sight! :roll:
 

387star

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Dirty windows (and trains) used to be a Crown Point special too, on my last visit over that way back in 2009 i had a 153 with brown tinted windows that you almost couldnt see out of and a 156 Which had the appearance of being washed in the River Yare - Green and white slime on the front end of the unit wasn't the most presenting sight! :roll:


I was thinking how horrible local lines livery looks compared to painted blue eg hsts would love a fgw 158 in painted blue!!
 

142094

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Need to be getting the stuff through a wash every few days to take off the traffic film. Soon as it gets left on for a while, automatic washes are normally useless. There are some decent chemicals on the market but they are quite strong (i.e. without PPE it will burn down to the bone even if a small drop gets onto the skin).
 

ginger

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The state most Northern trains are in it would seem that they are going for a general all over grubbiness as their new corporate colouring!

Corprate Abellio filth as one twitter user on Greater Anglia keeps posting......first thing Abellio do is cut costs on train cleaning.......GAs ENTIRE fleet is an absolute disgrace!
 

LE Greys

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I reckon a lot of it is down to base colour. GNER were always excellent at it, I used to get a regular view of the Britannia washing plant at Aberdeen. NXEC always put their stock through the exact same treatment, yet because of the white base colour (or 'undercoat livery' as I called it) it showed the dirt a lot. I think it comes from many companies trying to imitate Eurostar, whose trains operate on an all-electric railway and tend to get a lot more cleaning than normal. The 'White Stripes' units stayed looking fairly good, although the stripe used to get a bit grubby. Currently, EC seem to have managed to stay fairly clean, possibly by enhancing their cleaning processes, although I don't really know.
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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The Settle & Carlisle is promoted as a line worth visiting by tourists however the stock Northern use has generally got filthy windows taking away the full experience of viewing the magnificent scenery from the train window.

Have Northern Rail ever made any official comment about this matter on this line noting its tourist potential ?
 

Haydn1971

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As said when its very cold the washplant will not work.

I really can't see this as an excuse - there are ways and means around this, comes back to zero investment - again !

Also I believe to remove that really stubborn brown leaf crap/Brake dust the train has to go through an acid wash! So probably not wanting to be using that too many times on Northerns lovely painted stock.

Hit the nail there - it's more likely that the paint job what's not up to the job of being put through the washplant - isn't it about time there was a push to a standard cohesive look across all franchises - rather than a mix of exterior colours, seat covers, carpets, interiors etc - during the life of a unit, several francises will maintain, each with different ideas, different specifications... Surely the TOC's would prefer a consistent look and spec to enable easier moves between franchises ?
 

Drsatan

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How frequently a train will be run through the train wash depends on whether the train will end up at a depot with a wash plant, and how intensively the train is used.

This would explain why FGW's fleet of 158s appears to be dirtier than SWT's fleet (the vinyl transfers on FGW's fleet don't help too since, as other posters have suggested, dirt becomes engrained more easily in vinyl). IIRC, most of SWT's 158/159 fleet returns to Salisbury, with only a few stationed elsewhere overnight, meaning the fleet goes through the trainwash at Salisbury on a more regular basis. Compare this with FGW's fleet of 158s, which are used more intensively and therefore can't use the trainwash at St Phillip's Marsh that frequently.

To the best of my knowledge, XC (pre Operation Princess), Central Trains, and Connex South East were known for the unkempt condition of their fleet, so lack of cleanliness is not a new issue.
 

LE Greys

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How frequently a train will be run through the train wash depends on whether the train will end up at a depot with a wash plant, and how intensively the train is used.

This would explain why FGW's fleet of 158s appears to be dirtier than SWT's fleet (the vinyl transfers on FGW's fleet don't help too since, as other posters have suggested, dirt becomes engrained more easily in vinyl). IIRC, most of SWT's 158/159 fleet returns to Salisbury, with only a few stationed elsewhere overnight, meaning the fleet goes through the trainwash at Salisbury on a more regular basis. Compare this with FGW's fleet of 158s, which are used more intensively and therefore can't use the trainwash at St Phillip's Marsh that frequently.

To the best of my knowledge, XC (pre Operation Princess), Central Trains, and Connex South East were known for the unkempt condition of their fleet, so lack of cleanliness is not a new issue.

I think it goes back farther than that, BR were not exactly known for keeping their stock in pristine condition, and I don't just mean steam locomotives. Rail blue didn't help much, it tended to show the dirt a lot (although I don't know why) and the grey on coaching stock tended to look horrible. I seem to remember every BR 31 I've ever seen being filthy, and pretty much every hauled MkI. EMUs tended to vary a lot more, although once NSE took over, I think they intensified the cleaning regime.
 

PHILIPE

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How frequently a train will be run through the train wash depends on whether the train will end up at a depot with a wash plant, and how intensively the train is used.

This would explain why FGW's fleet of 158s appears to be dirtier than SWT's fleet (the vinyl transfers on FGW's fleet don't help too since, as other posters have suggested, dirt becomes engrained more easily in vinyl). IIRC, most of SWT's 158/159 fleet returns to Salisbury, with only a few stationed elsewhere overnight, meaning the fleet goes through the trainwash at Salisbury on a more regular basis. Compare this with FGW's fleet of 158s, which are used more intensively and therefore can't use the trainwash at St Phillip's Marsh that frequently.

To the best of my knowledge, XC (pre Operation Princess), Central Trains, and Connex South East were known for the unkempt condition of their fleet, so lack of cleanliness is not a new issue.
In addition to St Philips Marsh FGW 158s are stabled at Fratton (3) and Canton (1) overnight and should be washed. There are just 2 at Westbury and 1 at Gloucester not due to be washed.
 

SETCommuter

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To the best of my knowledge, XC (pre Operation Princess), Central Trains, and Connex South East were known for the unkempt condition of their fleet, so lack of cleanliness is not a new issue.

It wasn't just in the Connex days - Southeastern trains are very grubby (maybe to do with the white livery) but they generally are very dirty.
 

michael769

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Hit the nail there - it's more likely that the paint job what's not up to the job of being put through the washplant - isn't it about time there was a push to a standard cohesive look across all franchises - rather than a mix of exterior colours, seat covers, carpets, interiors etc - during the life of a unit, several francises will maintain, each with different ideas, different specifications... Surely the TOC's would prefer a consistent look and spec to enable easier moves between franchises ?

Or you the DfT could go down the road Transport Scotland has gone with a mandated single livery and strong brand that remains the same even if the franchise changes, All the ToC gets is a small (cheap to change) logo on the doors.
 

sprinterguy

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Have Northern Rail ever made any official comment about this matter on this line noting its tourist potential ?
They certainly have one specially vinyled class 156 unit celebrating the Settle & Carlisle line. Regional Railways, Northern Spirit and I think Arriva Trains Northern all used to publish dedicated leaflets extolling the scenic virtues of the Settle & Carlisle line - I couldn't say though whether Northern Rail have continued in this tradition or not.
 
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