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GWR Class 800

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Suraggu

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Perhaps you need to consider why this might be.

There are significant numbers of people travelling from North East England to the Aberdeen area to work in the oil industry. This sustains flights to the likes of Leeds/Humberside/Teesside/Newcastle. Whilst most domestic flights in the UK seem to be full of the laptop carrying office boy brigade, I have noticed the flights from Aberdeen seem to have a higher portion of manual workers e.g. travelling home after a spell on the rigs.

If providing a through service attracts/keeps some of this market on rail at a profit then why not?

I have no idea how much of the Aberdeen through traffic has alighted by York-perhaps it would make more sense to run the Cross Country service to Aberdeen, rather than East Coast.

Plenty of Riggers live in Teeside/North Yorkshire/Tyne & Wear and use the East Coast/Cross Country Aberdeen services. So much so the 0952 Ex Aberdeen -KGX on Fridays alcohol is banned due to the antisocial behaviour problems from the riggers.
Yes plenty of flights to Aberdeen and I have spoken to riggers and most buy walk on tickets because flights cancelled or its just convenient because of the nature of their work. The Aberdeen trains make East Coast a lot of money per train and running the minimum of 3 per day to/from London and the 1 a day from Leeds is the bare minimum.

Their have been calls post IEP for a Middlesbrough -Aberdeen service once a day in each direction because of the Rigger traffic.
 
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DownSouth

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Their have been calls post IEP for a Middlesbrough -Aberdeen service once a day in each direction because of the Rigger traffic.
Could be a good opportunity for an open access operator to operate with a couple of superseded HST consists.
 

user15681

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Sorry to drag the thread up, but just seen this on RailwayGazette and thought some might like to see the first completed one...

Testing has begun at low speed in Japan.

RailwayGazette said:
tn_gb-Class_800_IEP_trainset_begins_testing_at_Kasado-Hitachi-crop.jpg

Credit to Railway Gazette

The first of three pre-series Class 800 intercity trainsets ordered under the Department for Transport’s Intercity Express Programme has begun low-speed running trials on the test track at Hitachi’s Kasado factory in Japan.

The first of the three bi-mode sets is expected to arrive in Britain early next year for trials on the East Coast Main Line, although Hitachi is discussing the possibility of using the Old Dalby test track.

A set of full-size vehicle mock-ups at industrial premises near Warwick has now been seen by more than 2 000 ‘stakeholders’ as the final part of an iterative process to finalise the design details well before the trains enter commercial service. Put together by DCA Design International, the mock-ups consist of a cab segment and sections of two cars with the interiors fashioned to replicate all the different areas of the TSI-compliant interior.

The cab is based on that of the Class 395 supplied by Hitachi for Southeastern services on High Speed 1, with some changes made following consultation with staff. Provision has also been made for driver-only operation.

The catering area is located at the outer end of one end car behind the cab and equipment area. A separate entrance and vestibule behind the cab is provided for catering staff. Hitachi says four catering levels are possible, but the DfT specification only covers Levels 1 and 4. Level 1 is a full galley, Level 2 would be a mix of a shop and buffet, Level 3 would be a larger shop, and Level 4 is a trolley.

A distinctive feature of the bi-mode trains will be the difference in floor heights between cars with and without diesel engines; the higher floor of cars with underfloor engines requires a transition slope at the end of the car, which may surprise passengers expecting a level passage between cars. A nine-car set will have five coaches with underfloor engines supplied by MTU, and a five-car will have three. The Class 801 electric trainsets will also have one underfloor diesel powerpack to provide emergency power instead of relying on back-up batteries.

http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/...ass-800-trainsets-begin-testing-in-japan.html
 

Chris125

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I find them surprising as well, surely they'll create extra wind noise at 125mph?

I believe they create an air tight seal - with the 395s and high speed trainsets in Japan using them this is proven technology.

Chris
 
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user15681

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I can explain it later when I'm not on my phone and rushed, but their is an airtight seal on the door to prevent noise or movement.
 

SpacePhoenix

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Sorry to drag the thread up, but just seen this on RailwayGazette and thought some might like to see the first completed one...

Testing has begun at low speed in Japan.

Just looking at the photo of the finished one, would they "fit" on 3rd rail territory without fouling the 3rd rail?
 

Techniquest

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The IEP Invasion is getting closer then!

And is it just me or does that look decent? Looks stylish and I'm rather keen to see what they look like in the flesh!
 

RichmondCommu

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The IEP Invasion is getting closer then!

And is it just me or does that look decent? Looks stylish and I'm rather keen to see what they look like in the flesh!

I've never understood why people think a train needs to look stylish, especially when it's being funded by the tax payer / rail travellers. My wife's posh shoes look stylish but that was her only reason for buying them!
 

sprinterguy

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And is it just me or does that look decent? Looks stylish and I'm rather keen to see what they look like in the flesh!
It's a stretched 395, as has been predicted by a few members here for at least a couple of years.

I'll withold a personal judgement on the trains until I can make a more practical assessment of the units.
 

Techniquest

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I've never understood why people think a train needs to look stylish, especially when it's being funded by the tax payer / rail travellers. My wife's posh shoes look stylish but that was her only reason for buying them!

Probably similiar reasons to your wife and her shoes, to show off! You've got to make your train look appealing to get people's attention, and let's face it a big project like IEP will be getting attention when it starts blasting along the line! People don't like plain and boring, even if that's what's sensible and logical, these days everything has to be 'sexy'. Quite why I'm not sure, but that's how everything seems to be!

A stretched 395 it may be, whether or not it's been predicted by forum members is of no interest to me, but it still looks good.
 

Goldfish62

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Those pocket doors seem so wrong for a long-distance vehicle.

Yep. And they take up interior space, resulting in some seats having no window or armrests.

The Japs have at last relented with the AT200 by having plug doors, but it's all too late for the class 800s.:(
 

RichmondCommu

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Probably similiar reasons to your wife and her shoes, to show off! You've got to make your train look appealing to get people's attention, and let's face it a big project like IEP will be getting attention when it starts blasting along the line! People don't like plain and boring, even if that's what's sensible and logical, these days everything has to be 'sexy'. Quite why I'm not sure, but that's how everything seems to be!

The difference being my wife pays for her shoes, not the state or other strangers! The vast majority of travellers i.e. non rail enthusiasts couldn't care less what the train looks like. There is no need for a train to attract someone's attention; it's either about to stop at their station or it's about to kill them. Either way it's design is of no consequence.

Unless an obejct belongs to an individual, plain and boring is absolutely fine for the vast majority of people. Not only that but plain and boring usually ends up being cheaper. Please lets stop from refering to trains as being sexy; please understand that comment is not specificaly aimed at yourself :)
 

user15681

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And it's safe to say that the system works.

Absolutely, the door seal technology has been in use for something like 40 years in Japan.

At a basic level, there are four pneumatic devices on the doors - one in each of the corners. The doors slide out of their pockets (which are where the seats have no window view next to the doors) when closing and lock shut. Once the train reaches a certain speed, the four devices on each corner of the door activate and push the door outwards, creating a pressure seal of the door. The door is therefore forcibly kept shut in position and even when passing another train at 140mph the doors do not move at all, not like plug doors do at 90mph.
 

Via Bank

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I've never understood why people think a train needs to look stylish, especially when it's being funded by the tax payer / rail travellers. My wife's posh shoes look stylish but that was her only reason for buying them!

Because why not? It's not being gold-plated and laced with diamonds, it's applying basic principles of aesthetics to the design, which, assuming it doesn't cause the unit not to meet its specifications, nominally costs nothing.

(Unless you think Hitachi are running a special 'ugly train' discount that'll knock something off the price if they instead produce a rolling carbuncle?)
 

RichmondCommu

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Yep. And they take up interior space, resulting in some seats having no window or armrests.

The Japs have at last relented with the AT200 by having plug doors, but it's all too late for the class 800s.:(

If what you say is true, how many seats would be affected?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Because why not? It's not being gold-plated and laced with diamonds, it's applying basic principles of aesthetics to the design, which, assuming it doesn't cause the unit not to meet its specifications, nominally costs nothing.

(Unless you think Hitachi are running a special 'ugly train' discount that'll knock something off the price if they instead produce a rolling carbuncle?)

Unless it affects its aero dynamics I would suggest that "why not" is no excuse! With reference to a piece of public infrastructure what are the basic principles of aesthetics?

Once again, a rolling carbuncle would be absolutely fine for the vast majority of rail travellers.
 

Techniquest

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The difference being my wife pays for her shoes, not the state or other strangers! The vast majority of travellers i.e. non rail enthusiasts couldn't care less what the train looks like. There is no need for a train to attract someone's attention; it's either about to stop at their station or it's about to kill them. Either way it's design is of no consequence.

I disagree, design is important.

Fair point regarding the difference though!

Unless an obejct belongs to an individual, plain and boring is absolutely fine for the vast majority of people. Not only that but plain and boring usually ends up being cheaper. Please lets stop from refering to trains as being sexy; please understand that comment is not specificaly aimed at yourself :)

It's not just trains, 'sexy' applies to almost everything. I really don't get why! People call their new phone 'sexy' because it's thinner and got different curves or whatever, cars get the same sort of thing, I've even heard it used for bottles before now...:roll:
 

user15681

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If what you say is true, how many seats would be affected?

The pocket doors affect 4 seats in each carriage and just give no view out (i.e one seat for every door), apart from driving cars where it is only 2 seats per carriage.

Saying that, though, some are replaced with luggage racks on the 395s. On a 6 car 395, it means no view for 16 20 seats out of around 350. The 800s may have features where the blocked view areas are, such as luggage racks, bike stores etc, so we'll have to wait until the inside of a full unit is seen.

Edit: striked through because I've just realised the luggage racks are on the opposite side of the doors - apologies.
 
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samuelmorris

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I actually think this looks better than I expected from the concept art. Keeps more of the 'bullet' style nose of the 395 than it originally looked like it would. Of course aesthetics are secondary to almost everything else, but if you're going to spend that amount of money on a project, you want it to make the right impression!
 

RichmondCommu

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I disagree, design is important.

Fair point regarding the difference though!

Ok, I of course respect your difference of opinion but why should the design of a train matter given that no one really cares?

It's not just trains, 'sexy' applies to almost everything. I really don't get why! People call their new phone 'sexy' because it's thinner and got different curves or whatever, cars get the same sort of thing, I've even heard it used for bottles before now...:roll:

I know people do odd things with phones but if what you say is true the world has gone mad! I get your point with curves but not on a phone!
 

SpacePhoenix

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Which part of the 800 do you think could foul the 3rd rail?

Might just be down to the angle the photo is taken from but it looks a bit like the underframe equipment sticks further out to the side then it does on a MK3
 
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