Reported 158796 on train going from Southport towards Manchester this afternoon.
That's an upgrade and a half from a 142 - I bet regular uses of this line are happy at not just a higher quality air-conditioned train but one with table seats which means you can use a laptop plus put coffees on the tables- even the seat-back trays in the airline seats!
769 supposed to be starting in March on the Alderley Edge services but the Stalybridge stopper likely to remain with 150's
Yep, no booked 158s from what I can see, even on Sundays when none work through to Alderley Edge.Southport line to loose all it's 158's at the start of the new timetable next week ?
150s & 156s yes. Mostly double sets, a few singles.
The diagrams are treated more like hopes and aspirations by traincrew, yes.
Atherton line to be mostly single units from next week
Atherton line to be mostly single units from next week
The Leeds trains only go to Wigan from the change so it's only going to be 150 and 156 for Southport passengers.Least some of those single units will likely be 3 car 158s so not entirely terrible. In addition if the timetable settles down the Atherton line will have alot more seats simply because trains will be stopping again after months and months of skip stopping to try and run a totally impossible timetable. Oh and the Kirkbys will be back all day.
150s and 156s for everything via either Atherton or Westhoughton, including the Leeds service
769 Flex to start in March from Southport to Alderley Edge and Stalybridge
Hope it's not late, as everything else is
The Leeds trains only go to Wigan from the change so it's only going to be 150 and 156 for Southport passengers.
An extra 70 tonnes? The engine rafts and associated modifications to the class 769s add an extra 7.5 tonnes to the weight of each driving car according to an article in Rail Engineer (https://www.railengineer.co.uk/2018/09/27/bi-mode-good-tri-mode-better/), which is a pretty typical figure for an underfloor diesel engine raft, alternator and exhaust system.These things are carrying an extra 70 tonnes. The 319 was not exactly fast from a standing start, what's it going to be like with all this added weight?
3 car 158 on the Stalybridge to Southport yesterday so its not set in stone by the looks of it. I was the same as you thinking Southport had lost its 158s but seems not to be the case.
The extra 70 tonnes comes from reinforcing the end coaches to carry the weight of the engines and all the other associated extra equipment. The end coaches were never designed to carry that much weight, and on the tests the coaches proved that they couldn't carry it without the underframe flexing.An extra 70 tonnes? The engine rafts and associated modifications to the class 769s add an extra 7.5 tonnes to the weight of each driving car according to an article in Rail Engineer (https://www.railengineer.co.uk/2018/09/27/bi-mode-good-tri-mode-better/), which is a pretty typical figure for an underfloor diesel engine raft, alternator and exhaust system.