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really? Because for all my "an Aventra is just a Networker" thing (it is!) a class 170 really, really is just a class 168, and the main body didn't change between the 168/0 and 168/1. Were they really considering compatibility for the 158 routes when designing the 168/0?

isn't the cross-section of an Aventra- especially the profile of the sides- more or less the same as that of the original Networkers, with everything in between being a slightly stretched (longitudinally) and/or slightly narrowed version of essentially the same bodyshell? God some engineering...

let's set one thing straight- although it is very slight, the sides of a mark 3 coach do in fact taper from the "waist" towards the roof- there's details in this pdf (linked, don't actually know the best way to fully comply with forum rules here?)

been a long standing issue (long before the current gen- 158s had problems) with disc braked stock that if there's contamination on the wheels the lack of a tread brake means there's nothing to remove it- with 158s this more caused track circuit detection failures until modifications (a brush I...

yes and no. Whilst the class 720 interior is maybe not ideal, what they don't need is the class 710 or 345 interior. Similarly, the 710 and 345 don't want anything like the current or a better 720 interior- because they're for different jobs. Perhaps the 710 and 345 being identical (with 345s as...

it's definitely not so simple- class 345 are 22.5m intermediate vehicles, with a nine car set clocking in at 204m. class 720s meanwhile come in at 122m for a five vehicle set

Got it in one! They had a single rake that were repainted but not converted, they were used for a while on services to Banbury I think

the original plan was to have the bulk of the fleet (working both west anglia and great eastern as 89 5 car 720/5, with 22 10 car 720/1 that would have worked on appropriate diagrams on the great eastern. But for various operational reasons it was later decided to make the 720/1 44 units but...

cycling over the Carter bridge at Cambridge this evening there was a 720 parked next to coupled pair of 317s. Really brought home how much longer the coaches are, demonstrated that they really are effectively "six cars" long compared to the old stock

yeah good luck with that, why would ASLEF anglia undermine their comrades at SWR like that?

Some part of the explanation has been given; but there's also the issue that I would have thought this has come from the local ASLEF representatives rather than head office. THus, it is entirely possible for ASLEF at GA to be OK with something that ASLEF at SWR are not OK with

for coal wagons, one issue was axle load. One of the benefits with re-opening the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine was that coal trains to Longannet could switch to bogie wagons, which due to axle weight were banned from the Forth Bridge. On the capacity/empty weight/axle weight optimisation four wheel...

Much as I'd like this too, what would the economic impetus be? The reality is that it would be a huge amount of cost for (as far as I can see) no return other than "making things neater for enthusiasts"

TOPS has always had odd stuff floating around, and class numbers reused, and is basically all a mess anyway. There's been no Class 99 ship in almost 38 years (they went off the system when Sealink was sold).

I do wonder if, on the pre-pandemic thinking, the idea was that the LTS would not be their forever-home? That the 357s were first introduced 22 years ago, and thoughts may turn to replacing them say 2030 onwards, at which point it may have been though that GA could do with a fleet expansion...

when they were first introduced they were mainly south of the Clyde on Ayrshire and Inverclyde services

I'm not sure where you get that idea. Before the pandemic (and thus also before the introduction of 745s and 720s) 379s were extensively used on Cambridge services off-peak, with (in my experience) at least half of weekend services to Cambridge being 379s

the Stansted Express and the Cambridge services are "West Anglia" line services, other than very occasional use they've only ever operated on the West Anglia (and never, I'm pretty sure, in service on Great Eastern Main Line services out of Liverpool Street). They were on the line for many years...

there was a pair - didn't note numbers, but one had red doors and the other blue - on Ely/Cambridge to Stansted services today (with Ely-Norwich shut)

We don't know the numbers Because the entire fleet plan was based around replacing four classes of EMU, a fleet of loco hauled carriages and three classes of DMU with two classes of EMU and one class of Hybrid MU