Blue Pullman power cars - windows to grills

[Furrball]

Had not seen anything on this...

What was the reasoning for the modifications to replace windows in power car luggage area with grills?

 

[Speed43125]

Purely aesthetically this feels like a bad move, taking away the illusion of cab vehicles having seating like the original Blue Pullman sets. Presumably they had a decent reason for it though.

 

[43096]

View attachment 99522
Had not seen anything on this...

What was the reasoning for the modifications to replace windows in power car luggage area with grills?

Genset fitted to power kitchen equipment.

 

[ExRes]

I'm here ready and waiting to be proved wrong, but I believe I read somewhere that the grilles have been fitted to assist airflow to the additional generators fitted to supply power for the increased kitchen facilities

 

[fgwrich]

Genset fitted to power kitchen equipment.

A fairly hefty INMESOL genset at that.

What needs to be remembered is that, as 40802 is now a full kitchen (and has a subsequently large walk in fridge to match), it’s power needs are considerably greater than a standard 2+8 set as it was with Great Western. The other buffet, 40801, uses less power as it is still effectively a buffet / cocktail bar.

 

[DB]

Has anyone seen the set recently to see how they have managed to make this work electrically? i.e. is there an additional set of jumpers running along the train? I would assume it will be 3-phase as industrial kitchen equipment is likely to need that, and 3-phase connections are pretty large and should be easily visible.

 

[edwin_m]

Has anyone seen the set recently to see how they have managed to make this work electrically? i.e. is there an additional set of jumpers running along the train? I would assume it will be 3-phase as industrial kitchen equipment is likely to need that, and 3-phase connections are pretty large and should be easily visible.

Could maybe use the existing jumpers with each power car feeding part of the train rather than one feeding all of it as I believe used to be the case?

 

[Speed43125]

Could maybe use the existing jumpers with each power car feeding part of the train rather than one feeding all of it as I believe used to be the case?

'Normally,' the rear power car just feeds the entire train yes.

 

[DB]

Could maybe use the existing jumpers with each power car feeding part of the train rather than one feeding all of it as I believe used to be the case?

That would mean that they couldn't use the power car ETS at all - would only work if the generators have a significantly higher power output than the power car ETS (which seems improbable given the weight restrictions).

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Purely aesthetically this feels like a bad move, taking away the illusion of cab vehicles having seating like the original Blue Pullman sets. Presumably they had a decent reason for it though.

Could they not just paint the window areas there black or very dark grey to retain the appearance?

 

[DB]

Could they not just paint the window areas there black or very dark grey to retain the appearance?

The generator will need airflow.

And they don't look anything likem the original blue pullman sets anyway - it's very clear that there is no seating in HST power cars.

 

[43096]

A fairly hefty INMESOL genset at that.

What needs to be remembered is that, as 40802 is now a full kitchen (and has a subsequently large walk in fridge to match), it’s power needs are considerably greater than a standard 2+8 set as it was with Great Western. The other buffet, 40801, uses less power as it is still effectively a buffet / cocktail bar.

Another question is how they have fitted the gensets within the luggage van load limits (0.8 tonnes for power cars with Brush coolers, as these have).

 

[ExRes]

And they don't look anything likem the original blue pullman sets anyway

Exactly, they are a modern(ish) train presented in a way to tempt people with leisure time, and the finances, to travel on them in a bit of retro style, they are not and never will be the same as the Blue Pullman and as far as I can tell there's only a small group of people who think/wish they were

 

[Peter Mugridge]

The generator will need airflow.

Why would painting a fake window around the vents affect the airflow?

 

[Deepgreen]

Purely aesthetically this feels like a bad move, taking away the illusion of cab vehicles having seating like the original Blue Pullman sets. Presumably they had a decent reason for it though.

Could have made the grilles black, of course, for that reason. Are there grilles to vent the grills in the catering cars, I wonder?

 

[Furrball]

My thinking was the grilles (damn auto correct!) to be black would look better

Of course if the grills were blaxk(ened) then there maybe some bigger issues!

 

[hexagon789]

Another question is how they have fitted the gensets within the luggage van load limits (0.8 tonnes for power cars with Brush coolers, as these have).

I don't know how much the gensets weigh themselves but I believe the data panels now read 75 tonnes for these power cars rather than the more usual 70.25-73 tonnes.

 

[Wyrleybart]

Given 40802 has had a rather large walk-in fridge installed, how does this work when the set is stabled between jobs ? Has it been given a shore supply on a dedicate siding at Crewe ?
MTU powered sets were normally plugged in overnight to keep the MTUs warm and avoid costly hour reduction penalties on the engines. Not sure the VP185s were plugged in to the same degree, but presume that big ole fridge needs keeping cold, unless one of the power car gensets is left runnng. Or do the kitchen staff simply destock the fridge at the end of each run ?

 

[superjohn]

Or do the kitchen staff simply destock the fridge at the end of each run ?

Given the frequency of the tours I would expect this to be the case. Looking at the web page there looks to be at least a week between tours and often more than that.

If they have been clever the genset will be able to preheat the MTU engines as well. Would the MTU engines still be under warranty? Even the latest installs will be more than ten years old now. Obviously preheating is good practice regardless.

 

[Rob F]

These power cars have VP185 engines.

 

[pdeaves]

I don't know how much the genders weigh themselves but I believe the data panels now read 75 tonnes for these power cars rather than the more usual 70.25-73 tonnes.

Presumably you meant 'gensets'?

 

[hexagon789]

Presumably you meant 'gensets'?

Yes, of course!

I caught two of the autocorrects in my post but missed that one unfortunately.