Class 442s - Now at the end of the road and to be withdrawn permanently

MikePJ · 25 Oct 2018

Wychwood93 said:
The 'luggage' areas were there when initially introduced - BR had parcel traffic in those days. Sadly, perhaps, bums made more money than parcels. It was a 'guards van' by any other name.

When I was a schoolboy in Portsmouth (1991-1996), there used to be regular express freight carried on the London expresses (via Guildford) - it was wet garlic, which was produced on the Isle of Wight and shipped in big polystyrene boxes via the passenger ferry to Portsmouth Harbour station. Station staff would bring an electric tractor and a trolley up the ramp from the ferry dock onto the platform and load it onto the train. It went to restaurants in London who wanted it as fresh as possible. I suspect the traffic stopped sometime after privatisation, but I'm 90% sure that it did get carried on the 442s.

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doctorf5 · 25 Oct 2018

2402 & 2419 went back to Bournemouth from Eastleigh Works today, minus their motor coaches.

Western Sunset · 25 Oct 2018

Understand that the motor coaches aren't in a fit state to travel, being heavily robbed of parts.

swt_passenger · 26 Oct 2018

Western Sunset said:
Understand that the motor coaches aren't in a fit state to travel, being heavily robbed of parts.

It’s possible they’re “beyond the point of no return” in the currently deferred traction conversion process; which is subtly different to robbery?

Western Sunset · 26 Oct 2018

2408 (in full SWR livery) + 2404 (in grey basecoat with no branding, except for vehicle/unit numbering)
worked 5Q42 1012 BM TRSMD - EH Arlington this morning.

K.o.R · 26 Oct 2018

swt_passenger said:
It’s possible they’re “beyond the point of no return” in the currently deferred traction conversion process; which is subtly different to robbery?

They are "currently" incapable of use?

dan bennett · 26 Oct 2018

swt_passenger said:
It’s possible they’re “beyond the point of no return” in the currently deferred traction conversion process; which is subtly different to robbery?

Correct

physics34 · 27 Oct 2018

https://twitter.com/Suburban_Jogger/status/1055906169523453952?s=07

Full livery. Needs a dark roof though IMO

Bletchleyite · 27 Oct 2018

physics34 said:
https://twitter.com/Suburban_Jogger/status/1055906169523453952?s=07

Full livery. Needs a dark roof though IMO

That and a window band. It looks as bare and nasty as the first iteration of the new VTWC livery.

Also, it's overbranded - the big "SW<thing>R" is not needed.

Goldfish62 · 27 Oct 2018

physics34 said:
https://twitter.com/Suburban_Jogger/status/1055906169523453952?s=07

Full livery. Needs a dark roof though IMO

It's not quite the final livery. The yellow stripe at skirt level as applied to another unit is missing.

swt_passenger · 27 Oct 2018

Full marks though for going for a yellow stripe at cantrail level to denote first. (Seen in earlier images.)

moley · 27 Oct 2018

From driving past, fairly sure a set has returned to Fratton.

dan bennett · 27 Oct 2018

2414 is at Fratton in full livery as of this morning

387star · 27 Oct 2018

Trying to like it but that looks awful
It is an unbelievably cold livery

Bletchleyite · 27 Oct 2018

387star said:
Trying to like it but that looks awful
It is an unbelievably cold livery

There seem to be 2 versions of it out there. The one with the diagonal stripes looks reasonable, but the white-based one looks a bit rubbish, including on a 159 where I saw it this afternoon.

The large...

SW
#R

...device looks utterly awful anywhere, though, and would be best left off. Putting any form of the brand on the same vehicle twice just looks overbranded (something FirstGroup seem to do to excess all the time).

387star · 27 Oct 2018

Bletchleyite said:
There seem to be 2 versions of it out there. The one with the diagonal stripes looks reasonable, but the white-based one looks a bit rubbish, including on a 159 where I saw it this afternoon.

The large...

SW
#R

...device looks utterly awful anywhere, though, and would be best left off. Putting any form of the brand on the same vehicle twice just looks overbranded (something FirstGroup seem to do to excess all the time).

SWR is a weird brand name anyway

The logo is tacky in my opinion. The blue doesn't fit in well

Jars with the neighbouring GWR brand as well

winks · 27 Oct 2018

im Sure the company has stated the stripey design is the official livery so expect to see it applied when they have more time I guess.

387star · 28 Oct 2018

winks said:
im Sure the company has stated the stripey design is the official livery so expect to see it applied when they have more time I guess.

It has been dropped as evidenced by the 159 refurb
A year on and currently things are a mess with no clear brand identity

What's become of the 444 refurbishment... a unit has been released?

Bletchleyite · 28 Oct 2018

387star said:
A year on and currently things are a mess with no clear brand identity

Sounds like First through and through!

TEW · 28 Oct 2018

winks said:
im Sure the company has stated the stripey design is the official livery so expect to see it applied when they have more time I guess.

Stripes are out, the cheaper plain livery is in.

TEW · 28 Oct 2018

387star said:
It has been dropped as evidenced by the 159 refurb
A year on and currently things are a mess with no clear brand identity

What's become of the 444 refurbishment... a unit has been released?

First fully refurbished desiros are due to be inspected by union reps next week apparently.

fgwrich · 28 Oct 2018

Bletchleyite said:
Sounds like First through and through!

Exactly. First, Since it looked at itself in the mirror and became spooked of it's own identity has spiralled into some sort of incohesive mess in my opinion. As I've covered before, the bus side cant decide if it's going to stick with the modernised version of it's own 2012 "Olympia" livery or branch out to localised versions of it or just bin it off all together (See BOS & FK), GWR and remains a frankly drab mess SWR just shows that First seems to be on the verge of binning it off.

SWR from it's interception has always seemed cold to me, the scheme on the 159s sits awkwardly alongside the far more colourful versions of the SWT scheme, and given that 111 remains the only Desiro to be delivered into a now non existent version of SWR scheme, it doesn't exactly give an impression of a franchise in control. And it's still laughable that the fictional SWR loco was smarter than the end result, which frankly looks like it deserves to sit on a remote Ski Chalet in the Alps than across a major franchise covering the South West!

I've tried to like it, but the plainness and the bizarre placing of the logos on the 442s has just hit the final nail in the coffin for me. Im still unsure and to be honest a little underwhelmed by the interior scheme as well, there's just far too much dark grey. Why oh Why did First not just stay with the much smarter Lambie Nairn designed "Dynamic / City Lines"?

pompeyfan · 28 Oct 2018

TEW said:
First fully refurbished desiros are due to be inspected by union reps next week apparently.

My understanding is that both units are in Northam having exams and should go straight into traffic this week, probably the back end. Personally the longer the units stay as they are, the better.

Goldfish62 · 28 Oct 2018

TEW said:
Stripes are out, the cheaper plain livery is in.

I actually find it an improvement / less bad. I'm not a lover of vinyl liveries. Apart from the tendency to get worn by carriage washes, you can get corrosion issues due to water being trapped in the joins.

theironroad · 28 Oct 2018

TEW said:
First fully refurbished desiros are due to be inspected by union reps next week apparently.

pompeyfan said:
My understanding is that both units are in Northam having exams and should go straight into traffic this week, probably the back end. Personally the longer the units stay as they are, the better.

So is the final, final refurb?

Does this mean the cycle spaces have been reduced, 1st reduced in size and converted to 2+2 and the buffet and guards office removed?

pompeyfan · 28 Oct 2018

theironroad said:
So is the final, final refurb?

Does this mean the cycle spaces have been reduced, 1st reduced in size and converted to 2+2 and the buffet and guards office removed?

From what I understand, yes to all of the above.

theironroad · 28 Oct 2018

pompeyfan said:
From what I understand, yes to all of the above.

Oh dear, going to be some upset cyclists, 1st passengers and guards in the coming months I guess.

MotorcycleAlan · 28 Oct 2018

Can someone point me to a 442 discussion please?

TT-ONR-NRN · 28 Oct 2018

MotorcycleAlan said:
Can someone point me to a 442 discussion please?

No need for sarcasm...

theironroad said:
So is the final, final refurb?

Does this mean the cycle spaces have been reduced, 1st reduced in size and converted to 2+2 and the buffet and guards office removed?

I should be interested to know how similar the 442s and 444s look internally following the refurbishment. It’s weird that they’re getting rid of some of the cycle storage on 444s yet dedicating that large guard compartment to it on 442s.

Western Sunset · 28 Oct 2018

Thought this was it.....

Class 442s - Now at the end of the road and to be withdrawn permanently

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