• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

5x Class 153 conversion to bike and baggage vans for Scotrail

Status
Not open for further replies.
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

InOban

Established Member
Joined
12 Mar 2017
Messages
4,208

Let me know if that works!
 
Last edited:

fgwrich

Established Member
Joined
15 Apr 2009
Messages
9,252
Location
Between Edinburgh and Exeter

InOban

Established Member
Joined
12 Mar 2017
Messages
4,208
Finally!

BTW, the reason for today's trip was to check clearances with a 5 coach train. When they are able to attach a 153 to a FW/Mallaig train (which will need a new timetable ) these could / would be 5 coaches. So they've checked the route as far as Crianlarich today. They'll do the rest when they need to.
 

Killingworth

Established Member
Joined
30 May 2018
Messages
4,812
Location
Sheffield
Sods Law. We were driving towards Oban this afternoon and as we crossed over the line at Taynuilt a train passed beneath us. All I saw was a roof, but expressed surprise as I thought there were no services on Sundays due to strike action.
 

InOban

Established Member
Joined
12 Mar 2017
Messages
4,208
They've been taking advantage of the absence of services to run these test trains which have extended dwell times while they check the clearances
 

scotraildriver

Established Member
Joined
15 Jun 2009
Messages
1,627
How is the testing of these units going, are they on course to launch any before August on the Oban runs?
They are breaking down constantly and plagued with faults. Noisy and rattly. The train programme is in tatters due to unreliable units.
 

LowLevel

Established Member
Joined
26 Oct 2013
Messages
7,543
They are breaking down constantly and plagued with faults. Noisy and rattly. The train programme is in tatters due to unreliable units.

The Western units were always bloody awful. They'd have been far better starting with some of the ex Central Trains ones which were reputed to be in by far the best condition of any of the 153s. Nothing that was maintained by Cardiff Canton in the horror days of the 2000s ever seems to properly recover.
 

fgwrich

Established Member
Joined
15 Apr 2009
Messages
9,252
Location
Between Edinburgh and Exeter
The Western units were always bloody awful. They'd have been far better starting with some of the ex Central Trains ones which were reputed to be in by far the best condition of any of the 153s. Nothing that was maintained by Cardiff Canton in the horror days of the 2000s ever seems to properly recover.

The Welsh Canton ones maybe, but at least the Exeter maintained ex GW ones should be a little better - one of the best moves of the early FGW franchise (2007) was pulling out of Cardiff Canton and moving Sprinter maintenance back in house to either Bristol (in the former Tamper shed) or Exeter TMD. Unfortunately it'd be too late to pick up any of the off lease ex LM / Tyseley batch now.

Shame to hear reliability isn't great yet, I was hoping to sample one in Mid August, from the sounds of that it's looking a little less likely now.
 

craigybagel

Established Member
Joined
25 Oct 2012
Messages
5,061
The Western units were always bloody awful. They'd have been far better starting with some of the ex Central Trains ones which were reputed to be in by far the best condition of any of the 153s. Nothing that was maintained by Cardiff Canton in the horror days of the 2000s ever seems to properly recover.

The Welsh Canton ones maybe, but at least the Exeter maintained ex GW ones should be a little better - one of the best moves of the early FGW franchise (2007) was pulling out of Cardiff Canton and moving Sprinter maintenance back in house to either Bristol (in the former Tamper shed) or Exeter TMD. Unfortunately it'd be too late to pick up any of the off lease ex LM / Tyseley batch now.

Shame to hear reliability isn't great yet, I was hoping to sample one in Mid August, from the sounds of that it's looking a little less likely now.
One of the stranger aspects of life at TfW at the moment is that we're currently working with 153s that until very recently were either at GWR, EMR or Greater Anglia, on top of our existing legacy fleet - and it's pretty easy to compare and contrast the 4 fleets.

As I've mentioned before on other threads, the EX EMR units are by far the best. They seem to have avoided most of the issues that plague regular 153s (Drafts, rattles, slow hair release, that weird musty smell) and they're even noticeably quicker off the mark.

I can imagine for the folks at ScotRail the 153s have probably come as something of a shock....
 

LowLevel

Established Member
Joined
26 Oct 2013
Messages
7,543
The Welsh Canton ones maybe, but at least the Exeter maintained ex GW ones should be a little better - one of the best moves of the early FGW franchise (2007) was pulling out of Cardiff Canton and moving Sprinter maintenance back in house to either Bristol (in the former Tamper shed) or Exeter TMD. Unfortunately it'd be too late to pick up any of the off lease ex LM / Tyseley batch now.

Shame to hear reliability isn't great yet, I was hoping to sample one in Mid August, from the sounds of that it's looking a little less likely now.

I had the "pleasure" of working with 318/368/372/382 ex GW for a while before they shuffled off to store/Wales and they were horrendous compared to the native units.

EM always had a mixed fleet of trains and the ex Western Region units (including the former Central 158s that spent time at Canton before coming back) have always been the worst of the lot - as I say, they don't ever seem to properly get better no matter what you do with them and I am sure Exeter/Bristol had the same struggles in that regard.

They were far better having been re-seated from the broken ex 158 stage but the bodywork was full of holes and the cabs had to be seen to be believed.
 

47827

Member
Joined
3 Mar 2020
Messages
591
Location
Middleport
That musty smell. Sick/smelly socks/damp (or a combination of)! Recall it in the late 90s on the ones working routes like Preston to Ormskirk and can't imagine it'll have gone by now.

Shame it's not just a bit of lethargy on the 153s, which would be almost hidden by the fact they are not running by themselves. Let's hope it improves as a lot appears to have been put into the project.
 

northernbelle

Member
Joined
10 Oct 2018
Messages
679
They are breaking down constantly and plagued with faults. Noisy and rattly. The train programme is in tatters due to unreliable units.
Sounds pretty standard. Pretty glad to be shot of them in the GWR region to be honest - their day has passed for front line service. Full credit to Scotrail for finding an innovative use for them though.
 

Anonymous10

Established Member
Joined
19 Dec 2019
Messages
2,043
Location
wales
Sounds pretty standard. Pretty glad to be shot of them in the GWR region to be honest - their day has passed for front line service. Full credit to Scotrail for finding an innovative use for them though.
makes one wonder how reliable the tfw units may be but thats for a different thread
 

adamedwards

Member
Joined
4 Apr 2016
Messages
796
If the units are as bad as claimed, that suggests ScotRail should never have accepted them and/or the refurbishment has been done very badly. Is there any evidence to confirm this and explain why?
 

InOban

Established Member
Joined
12 Mar 2017
Messages
4,208
I guess that the contract work by Brodies in Kilmarnock was all above the solebar.
 

scotraildriver

Established Member
Joined
15 Jun 2009
Messages
1,627
If the units are as bad as claimed, that suggests ScotRail should never have accepted them and/or the refurbishment has been done very badly. Is there any evidence to confirm this and explain why?
It all just seems a bit random. The units are fine one day then the next the doors don't work, things trip, loss of power etc. But overall they are just incredibly noisy and rattly possibly due to no carpets and the ride is mostly bouncy. Lots of noise and no power. I'm not looking forward to a 3.5 hour journey driving one. Plus the One socket for charging electric bikes is definitely going to cause conflict. But as long as the cyclists are happy and all that.

I guess that the contract work by Brodies in Kilmarnock was all above the solebar.
No all the engines and gearboxes are new.
 

LowLevel

Established Member
Joined
26 Oct 2013
Messages
7,543
It all just seems a bit random. The units are fine one day then the next the doors don't work, things trip, loss of power etc. But overall they are just incredibly noisy and rattly possibly due to no carpets and the ride is mostly bouncy. Lots of noise and no power. I'm not looking forward to a 3.5 hour journey driving one. Plus the One socket for charging electric bikes is definitely going to cause conflict. But as long as the cyclists are happy and all that.


No all the engines and gearboxes are new.

Sadly you've described a 153 as they've been for the last 28 or so years. Random electrical faults, noisy, bouncy etc etc etc
 

scotraildriver

Established Member
Joined
15 Jun 2009
Messages
1,627
Sadly you've described a 153 as they've been for the last 28 or so years. Random electrical faults, noisy, bouncy etc etc etc
Yes. I kinda gathered that. Just the way they are. I just wonder if there is a backup plan when 20 bikes are on the platform and the 153 fails.
 

47827

Member
Joined
3 Mar 2020
Messages
591
Location
Middleport
Yes. I kinda gathered that. Just the way they are. I just wonder if there is a backup plan when 20 bikes are on the platform and the 153 fails.

As long as the brakes etc don't fail I'm guessing dragging it to the destination and trying to batter it or dump it would be the idea (or maybe they simply haven't got a plan and will improvise). Cue some struggling/late services whenever one shuts down and won't restart as a 3 car dmu with only 2 working engines wouldn't enjoy that route (good job the 156s were very reliable really). There's no way you can get shut of the vehicle en route though without riots breaking out with the cyclists being turfed off or told to dump their bikes. At least in the old days it was just another carriage dragged by a loco and had to be in the consist. OK so long as it didn't fail.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top