The best rolling stock subsitutions you have experienced?

Halish Railway · 18 Jul 2020

I saw some suggestions on the worst substitutions thread for this thread so I’ll kick off - Before it was usual, it was always great when a 158 would stand in for a Pacer around Yorkshire. Another one that I would cherish was the morning train that I took pre-COVID in which the booked decrepit Dusty Bin would be substituted with a 333 (I’ve never had a 331 stand in place).

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CW2 · 18 Jul 2020

I made my way to Nottingham via Derby once, to pick up a class 40 that was working a return charter to Lancaster (or somewhere thereabouts). As I passed through Derby I noted the 40 on the stock in Etches Park carriage sidings, waiting to run ECS to Nottingham. I got to Nottingham in good time, not trusting a +10 off the later DMU. Obviously they were short of DMUs that evening, as the train from Derby ran in with the class 40 and stock. The 40 ran round quickly at Nottingham, and we got away more or less on time. I never did have a 40 Derby to Nottingham.

xotGD · 18 Jul 2020

Well the answer is the reverse of the other thread - when loco and stock rocks up in place of a unit. When 37s on sets of Mark 1s were working Carlisle Line and Durham Coast services - happy days!

Or 26s on the Edinburgh - Kirkcaldy locals.

I never did the top and tail 20s on the Matlock branch. That was rather large.

CW2 · 18 Jul 2020

The Summer 2 weeks' Annual Leave of the Newton Heath DMU fitters was always good for a laugh. After a few days the DMU fleet would begin to crumble, and various combinations of hauled DMUs or short rakes of stock would trundle around the Rochdale Loop, 25s, 31s, 40s, peaks, and 47s all being used at one time or another. Alas I never got to sample them myself.

Richard Scott · 18 Jul 2020

xotGD said:
Well the answer is the reverse of the other thread - when loco and stock rocks up in place of a unit. When 37s on sets of Mark 1s were working Carlisle Line and Durham Coast services - happy days!

Or 26s on the Edinburgh - Kirkcaldy locals.

I never did the top and tail 20s on the Matlock branch. That was rather large.

Did manage 20s on the Matlock branch but sure they were a pair when I did it and they ran them round. Think it was 20048+20070, would that be correct or wibble? I'd have to check my notes, when I find them!! Had lots of loco substitutions one of the most amusing was 31407 vice 47 on a Bristol Newcastle train, Lickey was interesting as no banker provided. Think I could have walked it quicker.

CW2 · 18 Jul 2020

I arrived at Perth with a 37 on the 18:03 ex Queen Street and was expecting to return with the same loco. However the 19:40 DMU to Edinburgh was sitting in the bay totally dead, with (required) 27003 attached to it. I abandoned the 37 for the unusual prospect of a loco-hauled DMU.

I know that from time to time the DMUs on the Carlisle - Barrow route would get hauled, by a 25, 26 or 27. Never managed it myself. The one occasion when I did have a DMU fail on me, the crew got out a watering ca and watered the engines, and off we went again.

Jamesrob637 · 19 Jul 2020

FS compartment stock instead of SBB centre-corridor stock on a train from Montreux to somewhere in the Rhône Valley in the 90s! Pity the ride wasn't too long.

rower40 · 19 Jul 2020

When Her Majesty had an appointment in Matlock, East Midlands Trains diagrammed a Meridian on the Derby to Matlock shuttle in place of the class 156. There wasn't enough capacity on the branch to allow the Royal Train to run, without cancelling several scheduled services, so the queen and her entourage took over the First class coach of the Meridian.

mightyena · 19 Jul 2020

As a student with lots of luggage, I was always very happy when a 450 turned up on the Poole stopper in place of a 444.

hexagon789 · 19 Jul 2020

First class-fitted 170 on a Standard only service or one booked for a grotty HA 158

fairysdad · 19 Jul 2020

Can't find a link to the details, but wasn't there a moment a few years back during heavy snow (I think it was during the Beast from the East, but might have been earlier) where a chartered steam train effectively stood in for a regular commuter EMU service?

mrcheek · 19 Jul 2020

Waiting for the late night train from Temple Meads to Weston-super-Mare. I was expecting a 150, but instead we had an IET. So a 1st class carriage all to myself!

Grumpy Git · 22 Jul 2020

An ageing 104 DMU with a 37 pulling us from Whaley Bridge to Buxton due to slippery rails.

Mitchell Hurd · 22 Jul 2020

mrcheek said:
Waiting for the late night train from Temple Meads to Weston-super-Mare. I was expecting a 150, but instead we had an IET. So a 1st class carriage all to myself!

That's a transformation and a half then - 5 coach IET I'm assuming?

Mitchell Hurd · 22 Jul 2020

fairysdad said:
Can't find a link to the details, but wasn't there a moment a few years back during heavy snow (I think it was during the Beast from the East, but might have been earlier) where a chartered steam train effectively stood in for a regular commuter EMU service?

I believe it was back in 2009. I'm not sure where I read it but I believe it was a good few South Eastern EMU's that were dead in the snow because of a loss of power to the 3rd rail. Then I presume the steam charter train you mention came through some stations and the staff / driver very kindly rescued the passengers and dropped them off at stations along the way. I bet the charter was unsurprisingly or 9 coaches too. 1940's steam train it was.

Its incredible how a train from the 1940's can be capable of travelling through heavy snow and a modern EMU can't!

TT-ONR-NRN · 23 Jul 2020

Mitchell Hurd said:
I believe it was back in 2009. I'm not sure where I read it but I believe it was a good few South Eastern EMU's that were dead in the snow because of a loss of power to the 3rd rail. Then I presume the steam charter train you mention came through some stations and the staff / driver very kindly rescued the passengers and dropped them off at stations along the way. I bet the charter was unsurprisingly or 9 coaches too. 1940's steam train it was.

Its incredible how a train from the 1940's can be capable of travelling through heavy snow and a modern EMU can't!

I hope the charter passengers got a refund :lol:

imagine paying all that money only for your luxury venture to turn into the 18:00 additional stopper to Dartford via Bexleyheath :lol:

Mitchell Hurd · 23 Jul 2020

TT-ONR-NRN said:
I hope the charter passengers got a refund imagine paying all that money only for your luxury venture to turn into the 18:00 additional stopper to Dartford via Bexleyheath

Let me take you back to July 1st 2017 when I catching the train from Didcot Parkway to Totnes that left around 8:15am. Long story short, due to signalling issues near Bristol, we were stopped near Bath Spa for roughly 20 minutes. The HST reversed at Bath Spa and sort of stood in for the 09:36 Portsmouth service, in that when we left at around 9:35, between Bath Spa and Taunton we unfortunately had to make I think 4 additional stops. I think these were Freshford, Avoncliff, Trowbridge and Westbury instead of doing what would have been better - sale through the non-platform bit at Bristol Temple Meads.

So passengers who normally would catch a full 2-car 150 or a 3-car 158 or had an 8-coach HST instead.

Mitchell Hurd · 23 Jul 2020

On YouTube roughly a few years ago, I saw a 3-coach HST which was reported to have presumably stood in for a Class 165 or 166. I bet that would have been nice!

It was I believe in 2011 (read online a while back) when there was engineering works on some of the North Cotswolds line. I'm not sure if there weren't any Turbos available but GWR (when they were First Great Western) used a 2-coach HST (one of the coaches was a TGS) instead. I can imagine the acceleration on this HST

!

Huntergreed · 23 Jul 2020

On the GSW it's nice when we get a VT 221 diversion which stops at Kilmarnock to use between Glasgow/Carlisle as opposed to a 156, nicer trains (including a first class section!), a full shop and much comfier.

hexagon789 · 23 Jul 2020

Mitchell Hurd said:
On YouTube roughly a few years ago, I saw a 3-coach HST which was reported to have presumably stood in for a Class 165 or 166. I bet that would have been nice!

It was I believe in 2011 (read online a while back) when there was engineering works on some of the North Cotswolds line. I'm not sure if there weren't any Turbos available but GWR (when they were First Great Western) used a 2-coach HST (one of the coaches was a TGS) instead. I can imagine the acceleration on this HST !

Virgin used some two-car (2+2) HST sets, as a 158 substitute a few times in the late-1990s/early 2000s due to poor 158 availability. The acceleration would've been quite something!

Jamesrob637 · 23 Jul 2020

The ICE from Bonn to Köln on a Nordrhein-Westfalen day ticket back in 2007 when there were issues with the lines or something. Again not a long journey and I honestly can't remember what kind of ICE it was. Probably ICE1 or ICE2 as most ICE3 don't go down the Rheintal, stopping only in Siegburg/Bonn before shooting along the high-speed line to Frankfurt.

185143 · 24 Jul 2020

Off the top of my head:
-333 vice 158 vice 321 on a Leeds-Doncaster on a Sunday a few years back. Right farce that was!
-2+3 HST in Cornwall. Ok, that's just a Castle set minus a carriage. But the acceleration would have put plenty of EMUs to shame! Not to mention I was expecting a 150/0 when I saw the PIS displaying 3 coaches.
-Ok. This is pushing it a bit. July 2014 saw TPE charter in a pair of 47s and 8(?) Mk2s to run scheduled passenger services during the Tour De Yorkshire weekend. What a riot that was!
-A pair of Voyagers vice a HST was nice, especially when I found a carriage that "didn't exist" and shared it with just two other passengers on departure from Birmingham New Street.
-Back in March I had a 4 car 755 vice a 90+mk3 set on the last Norwich-Shenfield. It was swapped at Ipswich, where I alighted anyway. Can't be too many people that have boarded a 755 at Diss.
-Pair of 142s working a Leeds-Skipton stopper. (Though I know some jammy little **** who's had one on the S&C...)
-3 car 158 on the Penistone line back in the days of pacers being nailed onto it. 158 to Lincoln as well when that was rare.
-7 car 222 on a Liverpool diagram on Grand National day.

Easy nomination for the worst: Saturday lunchtime, Northern strike day. Rugby game in Edinburgh, Glasgow services either side cancelled due to earlier disruption. 3 car 185 vice 8 car 350. Thankfully I wasn't travelling on it, but it looked... cosy. It appeared to leave about 10 people behind, which was far less than I was expecting.

Jamesrob637 · 24 Jul 2020

185143 said:
Off the top of my head:
-333 vice 158 vice 321 on a Leeds-Doncaster on a Sunday a few years back. Right farce that was!
-2+3 HST in Cornwall. Ok, that's just a Castle set minus a carriage. But the acceleration would have put plenty of EMUs to shame! Not to mention I was expecting a 150/0 when I saw the PIS displaying 3 coaches.
-Ok. This is pushing it a bit. July 2014 saw TPE charter in a pair of 47s and 8(?) Mk2s to run scheduled passenger services during the Tour De Yorkshire weekend. What a riot that was!
-A pair of Voyagers vice a HST was nice, especially when I found a carriage that "didn't exist" and shared it with just two other passengers on departure from Birmingham New Street.
-Back in March I had a 4 car 755 vice a 90+mk3 set on the last Norwich-Shenfield. It was swapped at Ipswich, where I alighted anyway. Can't be too many people that have boarded a 755 at Diss.
-Pair of 142s working a Leeds-Skipton stopper. (Though I know some jammy little **** who's had one on the S&C...)
-3 car 158 on the Penistone line back in the days of pacers being nailed onto it. 158 to Lincoln as well when that was rare.
-7 car 222 on a Liverpool diagram on Grand National day.

Easy nomination for the worst: Saturday lunchtime, Northern strike day. Rugby game in Edinburgh, Glasgow services either side cancelled due to earlier disruption. 3 car 185 vice 8 car 350. Thankfully I wasn't travelling on it, but it looked... cosy. It appeared to leave about 10 people behind, which was far less than I was expecting.

Some great anecdotes there. Wonder how bad a single 397 would be on services previously booked for a double 350? Is the number of standard class seats not actually that much fewer? First is about the same so please TPE don't offer that many cheap Advance Singles in 1st! Mind you there hadn't been any booked 8-car workings since one set had an altercation with a horse in late-18.

james60059 · 24 Jul 2020

Surely the Class 37's and MKII's up to Rhymney has to be a good conternder?

43055 · 24 Jul 2020

Had 4 car 222 vice 1 or 2 car 15x a few times in the last year between Derby and Crewe.

Grumpy Git · 24 Jul 2020

43055 said:
Had 4 car 222 vice 1 or 2 car 15x a few times in the last year between Derby and Crewe.

Last time I travelled on that route towards Crewe, I saw what must have been a 222 going in the opposite direction? I couldn't work out what service it was, it never occurred to me it might be the regular Derby train!

43055 · 24 Jul 2020

Grumpy Git said:
Last time I travelled on that route towards Crewe, I saw what must have been a 222 going in the opposite direction? I couldn't work out what service it was, it never occurred to me it might be the regular Derby train!

Not all the time but it is possible as sometimes the only spare unit on Etches Park is the 4 car 'hot spare' 222 when a replacement train is needed. One or two 222's are normally sent out on the North Staff's when the midlands grand national is on at Uttoxeter which can even be a 5 car set.

Richard Scott · 24 Jul 2020

Jamesrob637 said:
The ICE from Bonn to Köln on a Nordrhein-Westfalen day ticket back in 2007 when there were issues with the lines or something. Again not a long journey and I honestly can't remember what kind of ICE it was. Probably ICE1 or ICE2 as most ICE3 don't go down the Rheintal, stopping only in Siegburg/Bonn before shooting along the high-speed line to Frankfurt.

Had a couple of those when a farce occurs or planned engineering works and the IC/ICE becomes valid on local tickets. Had an ICE once from Bonn down towards Mainz and a 234 from Friedrichshafen to Ulm. Used to get a few 218s on vice unit around Ulm too. Closer to home had a full 8 car HST on a Cardiff Taunton stopper a few years back. Do remember 20s on Derby Crewe trains and Derby Matlock trains around 1989/1990.

Non Multi · 24 Jul 2020

On one occasion in 2004/5? after some disruption there was a 180 doing the inner GWML relief line stopper to Paddington instead of the usual 3 car turbo during the morning rush hour. Quite an upgrade!

ValleyLines142 · 24 Jul 2020

Mitchell Hurd said:
That's a transformation and a half then - 5 coach IET I'm assuming?

Most likely. An 800 is booked on a Cardiff to Taunton diagram on a Saturday.

The best rolling stock subsitutions you have experienced?

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