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Creation of class 230 DEMUs from ex-LU D78s by Vivarail

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YorkshireBear

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craigybagel said:
I came to try out the 230 today. On closer inspection it appears to be closer in appearance to a road going coach then an ex London Underground unit, and I have my doubts as to its suitability for meeting PRM requirements

IMG_20190503_135248019

IMG_20190503_135248019

230005 at Bletchley

The provision of seat belts was also a rather unusual sight, which doesn't suggest much of a vote of confidence in the ride characteristics. However, to Network Rail's credit, despite being a rather little known backwater the ride on their A421 line was actually rather smooth.

IMG_20190503_135944005_HDR

IMG_20190503_135944005_HDR

Great visibility

One big positive was the all round visibility, a very nice throwback to the DMUs of yore.

As a conductor, I was a little worried that LNWR seem to have snuck in some DOO operations on the quiet, and whilst the driver was extremely friendly, no effort was made to check my ticket.

So overall, I'd suggest a rather mixed bag, but I'll be interested to see how it pans out on other routes.
Click to expand...

Fantastic review... :)
 
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R

RailUK Forums

185

185

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craigybagel said:
I came to try out the 230 today. On closer inspection it appears to be closer in appearance to a road going coach then an ex London Underground unit, and I have my doubts as to its suitability for meeting PRM requirements

.
.
.

So overall, I'd suggest a rather mixed bag, but I'll be interested to see how it pans out on other routes.
Click to expand...

This post was being shared about an hour ago, and had rather a few colleagues in stitches. Excellent ;)
 
anamyd

anamyd

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craigybagel said:
I came to try out the 230 today. On closer inspection it appears to be closer in appearance to a road going coach then an ex London Underground unit, and I have my doubts as to its suitability for meeting PRM requirements

IMG_20190503_135248019

IMG_20190503_135248019

230005 at Bletchley

The provision of seat belts was also a rather unusual sight, which doesn't suggest much of a vote of confidence in the ride characteristics. However, to Network Rail's credit, despite being a rather little known backwater the ride on their A421 line was actually rather smooth.

IMG_20190503_135944005_HDR

IMG_20190503_135944005_HDR

Great visibility

One big positive was the all round visibility, a very nice throwback to the DMUs of yore.

As a conductor, I was a little worried that LNWR seem to have snuck in some DOO operations on the quiet, and whilst the driver was extremely friendly, no effort was made to check my ticket.

So overall, I'd suggest a rather mixed bag, but I'll be interested to see how it pans out on other routes.
Click to expand...
love it :lol:
 
C

craigybagel

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Thanks to everyone who appreciated my review - at least the time and money I spent getting down to Bletchley today wasn't entirely wasted :lol:

From what I've heard, it was a door fault on whichever unit that was out this morning that caused the cancellations. Why neither of the other two sets could be pressed into service for so long is a mystery to me however.

But these things happen. Every unit has teething problems I guess. At least LNWR put on both a fast bus and an all stops mini bus so I didn't lose any time on what was a rather right timetable for me today. I'll probably just have to wait for the TFW units to arrive before I travel on one.
 
D

driver_m

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Sorry @craigybagel for completely ruining your journey. I couldn’t have jinxed it any better with my words for Shooter. Sack him now he’s rubbish!!!! I bet a certain resident of the Cheshire Set on here is having a good chuckle at my expense!!
 
H

HLE

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Bletchleyite said:
Yeah, I actually laughed out loud at that.

I guess a serious issue must have been discovered that affects all three 230s - anyone know what?

FWIW the 1736 appears to have operated but I don't know if that was just a second 153.
Click to expand...

And the dogbox just soldiers on.
 
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craigybagel

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driver_m said:
Sorry @craigybagel for completely ruining your journey. I couldn’t have jinxed it any better with my words for Shooter. Sack him now he’s rubbish!!!! I bet a certain resident of the Cheshire Set on here is having a good chuckle at my expense!!
Click to expand...

I must admit your praise did come to mind alright a few times today :lol:

It's one of those things. I've been a fan of the project from Day 1 (my fears about using them on Crewe - Chester aside) and I don't want to cast too negative a view, especially with people like our mutual Cheshire friend in mind. The amount of praise these units have been receiving here suggests Vivarail have got it right, it's just unfortunate that my spur of the moment trip (when I woke up this morning my day off was going to be spent in Manchester!) coincided with the first, and hopefully last period of zero availability for the new fleet.
 
D

driver_m

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craigybagel said:
I must admit your praise did come to mind alright a few times today :lol:

It's one of those things. I've been a fan of the project from Day 1 (my fears about using them on Crewe - Chester aside) and I don't want to cast too negative a view, especially with people like our mutual Cheshire friend in mind. The amount of praise these units have been receiving here suggests Vivarail have got it right, it's just unfortunate that my spur of the moment trip (when I woke up this morning my day off was going to be spent in Manchester!) coincided with the first, and hopefully last period of zero availability for the new fleet.
Click to expand...

When I went past Bletchley before, I could have swore I saw one in 6. So did they get them working in the end?

Anybody want something to be broke tomorrow? Get me to praise it and that’s it knackered guaranteed. I’m sure I said the 195/331s looked alright inside and then the coupler issue magically appeared!!
 
B

Bletchleyite

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craigybagel said:
But these things happen. Every unit has teething problems I guess. At least LNWR put on both a fast bus and an all stops mini bus so I didn't lose any time on what was a rather right timetable for me today. I'll probably just have to wait for the TFW units to arrive before I travel on one.
Click to expand...

FWIW that is the usual practice in the case of (not at all rare given the lack of reliability of the 153) bustitution, which actually relates back to the whole reason the line survived Beeching - United Counties couldn't resource a replacement operation, which must at least in part be because the stations are quite inconveniently located to serve by bus - not at all like the Conwy Valley (in the "basket case line" stakes) where a bus can maintain the same timetable.
 
B

Bletchleyite

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craigybagel said:
From what I've heard, it was a door fault on whichever unit that was out this morning that caused the cancellations. Why neither of the other two sets could be pressed into service for so long is a mystery to me however.
Click to expand...

I don't think 003 has appeared in passenger service at all yet, it's all been 004 and 005. Has it perhaps not been accepted yet?
 
simple simon

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Sorry to hear about the bustitution. I know what its like when 'due to unexpected issues' the trains that one expressly wanted to experience are suddenly withdrawn from traffic - its happened to me too.

driver_m said:
Now that they’re finally in service and seem to pretty well regarded on here by those who’ve used them, have to say that Adrian Shooter deserves quite a bit of praise for sticking with a project that could have badly damaged his reputation, especially after the unit catching fire. The fact he has seen it through and it still has huge potential with other sources of power is a credit to him. There haven’t been that many managers in the private era who have become well regarded. (Looking at you Corbett and Coucher!) so fair play for the work on Chiltern and Vivarail.
Click to expand...

I agree!


This is the second D-Stock / D-Train Comparison film. Non-stop journeys between stations. For the District line I was fortunate in that I had filmed a personal memento in the form of a high-ish speed run between East Ham and Barking stations - not a low speed crawl on the sections shared with Circle line trains!


As far as D-Trains are concerned, this is the last of my comparison films ... for now. Who knows what I might film in North Wales, when the time is right! I expect it to be different - different livery, more (all?) doors retained, bi-lingual...
 
P

philthetube

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craigybagel said:
Thanks to everyone who appreciated my review - at least the time and money I spent getting down to Bletchley today wasn't entirely wasted :lol:

From what I've heard, it was a door fault on whichever unit that was out this morning that caused the cancellations. Why neither of the other two sets could be pressed into service for so long is a mystery to me however.

But these things happen. Every unit has teething problems I guess. At least LNWR put on both a fast bus and an all stops mini bus so I didn't lose any time on what was a rather right timetable for me today. I'll probably just have to wait for the TFW units to arrive before I travel on one.
Click to expand...

Depending on the fault there may have been safety concerns, especially as it was a door problem, they may not have wanted to have any running until details wee known.
 
W

Welshman

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craigybagel said:
So overall, I'd suggest a rather mixed bag, but I'll be interested to see how it pans out on other routes.
Click to expand...

But you don't have to wait to see how it pans out!!!
Another company, with which you may be familiar, has been operating similar units up the Conwy Valley since 16th March:lol::lol:
 
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7

700007

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craigybagel said:
I came to try out the 230 today. On closer inspection it appears to be closer in appearance to a road going coach then an ex London Underground unit, and I have my doubts as to its suitability for meeting PRM requirements

IMG_20190503_135248019

IMG_20190503_135248019

230005 at Bletchley

The provision of seat belts was also a rather unusual sight, which doesn't suggest much of a vote of confidence in the ride characteristics. However, to Network Rail's credit, despite being a rather little known backwater the ride on their A421 line was actually rather smooth.

IMG_20190503_135944005_HDR

IMG_20190503_135944005_HDR

Great visibility

One big positive was the all round visibility, a very nice throwback to the DMUs of yore.

As a conductor, I was a little worried that LNWR seem to have snuck in some DOO operations on the quiet, and whilst the driver was extremely friendly, no effort was made to check my ticket.

So overall, I'd suggest a rather mixed bag, but I'll be interested to see how it pans out on other routes.
Click to expand...
Just saw this now, absolutely brilliant. Genuinely made me laugh and was better constructed and more thorough than @Bletchleyite one earlier upthread. :p:lol:
 
C

craigybagel

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Bletchleyite said:
Notably the new timetable says "all services are formed of 2 coaches" so they must be expecting both in service by then.
Click to expand...

True, although they could just put out a "sorry, this service is formed of only 1 car today" message like they did yesterday (the 153 ended up on the 2 car diagram as far as I could tell).

That said, there is a big shakeup of 153 diagrams taking place from the new timetable which has already been decided. Shrewsbury depot have already been told they won't need to sign them any more and I'd be surprised if Bletchley don't get told the same.

Welshman said:
But you don't have to wait to see how it pans out!!!
Another company, with which you may be familiar, has been operating similar units up the Conwy Valley since 16th March:lol::lol:
Click to expand...

I see what you did there <D
 
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