DarloRich
Veteran Member
It's certainly a lot easier with a 230 than most stock, though you would need to design a new raft for it.
not a 5 minute job!
It's certainly a lot easier with a 230 than most stock, though you would need to design a new raft for it.
Ah OK, thanksNo, it's a mix of issues. The door issues are the most surprising, as the door mechanisms are the originals which have worked reliably on LUL for years. That said, they have been "throttled" to slow them down - but they need speeding back up!
http://railtube.info/2019/05/battery-genset-and-new-engine-on-display-vivarail/I seem to remember someone from Vivarail saying the Ford engine used was the biggest that could be squeezed into the available space. I'm not familiar with the Cat engine being talked about here but I'd have thought there'd be something suitable in Volvo's Penta marine engine range.
Battery, genset and new engine on display.(Vivarail)
Peter LewisMay 13, 2019News, UK Railway News
(Vivarail Image)
Come and visit us on Stand P84,Railtex,NEC Birmingham 14-16th May 2019.
At this year’s Railtex exhibition Vivarail will showcase two of its most innovative modules designed to help de-carbonise the UK’s railways.
Visit us on Stand P84 to see:
Vivarail is pioneering the design of high-tech state-of-the-art power systems that will help de-carbonise the UK’s railways. It has the country’s only modern production battery train which was launched in 2018 and has already been sold to the US.
- The zero emission battery module
- The ultra-low emission genset with Caterpillar’s NRMM Stage V compliant engine
The genset with the CAT engine was shown at a show a few days ago, apparently.because you can just grab a new engine type of the shelf and plumb it in just like that!
there must be a good reason Vivarail are trialling a new engine. More reliabie? Cleaner emissions? Better fuel consumption? Lighter weight? Higher power output? It obviously fits the raft.The genset with the CAT engine was shown at a show a few days ago, apparently.
Especially more reliable...? Just to be clear a single Caterpillar would replace two Fords.there must be a good reason Vivarail are trialling a new engine. More reliabie? Cleaner emissions? Better fuel consumption? Lighter weight? Higher power output? It obviously fits the raft.
The genset with the CAT engine was shown at a show a few days ago, apparently.
one big raft instead of two little ones?Especially more reliable...? Just to be clear a single Caterpillar would replace two Fords.
Well... Do you mean cheap in appearance or cheap in terms of cost ?.
I would expect it to be cheap in cost terms as it IS secondhand. It appears, from plenty of eyewitness accounts, that it is nice, comfortable and new looking.
You'd be better off asking Vivarail, not meOk. That is great. Have they an operable design to fit it to the train? Has it been accepted for service?
I suggest you ask Vivarailone big raft instead of two little ones?
Especially more reliable...? Just to be clear a single Caterpillar would replace two Fords.
Already sold to the US? I hadn't heard anything about that (and can't see anything relevant from a glance at Vivarail's news page).It has the country’s only modern production battery train which was launched in 2018 and has already been sold to the US.
Acceptance testing and real life in service environments are often different. The stop/start, doors open and closed, people on and off, flushing the toilet, pressing the buttons real life use will drive out different and often unknown snags. As long as they taper off quite quickly i think they are normal teething troubles.
I seem to remember someone from Vivarail saying the Ford engine used was the biggest that could be squeezed into the available space. I'm not familiar with the Cat engine being talked about here but I'd have thought there'd be something suitable in Volvo's Penta marine engine range.
plus you have half the amount of cooling systems to deal with....and 1* 6.5-7L block takes up way less than half the space of 2*3.2L blocks.If you have half the number of engines, the probability of a failure (caused by an independent factor) halves, though the impact is greater.
I think a mix of all of the above.there must be a good reason Vivarail are trialling a new engine. More reliabie? Cleaner emissions? Better fuel consumption? Lighter weight? Higher power output? It obviously fits the raft.
you've never been involved with military acceptance testing then!
it's about as brutal as it gets.
With good reason.If something gets deployed it is expected to work.
I would have thought so.Marine engines are meant for long durations at high stress.
(I did recommend something like cummins L9 for a super-pacer,and b6.7 for a not-so-super but functional branch line runaround. I would think caterpillar,volvo,mtu/rolls can conjour up a similar block.)
plus you have half the amount of cooling systems to deal with....and 1* 6.5-7L block takes up way less than half the space of 2*3.2L blocks.
just run it at about 2/3 peak RPM rating and you're in the sweet spot for fuel consumption,BHP and torque.That will give you a decent engine lifespan and optimised maintainance schedule.
you can still run something like d stock on 1*300bhp...sprinters and pacers can both still limp on with one engine isolated, which is more than can be said for a 153.
you've never been involved with military acceptance testing then!
it's about as brutal as it gets.
With good reason.If something gets deployed it is expected to work.
you can still run something like d stock on 1*300bhp...sprinters and pacers can both still limp on with one engine isolated, which is more than can be said for a 153.
@DarloRich I have to ask, because for the life of me I can't understand it, why are you so angry that I am criticising them? I see them for what they are, old LU stock tarted up and given new traction for a few years before being sent to the scrapyard.
Already sold to the US? I hadn't heard anything about that (and can't see anything relevant from a glance at Vivarail's news page).
I'll link you to the article(s) when I get back home later this evening
I had dinner a few Sundays ago with Henry Posner III, cofounder (with Bob Pietrandrea) and chairman of Railroad Development Corp. RDC owns a bevy of things, including Iowa Interstate Railroad (Chicago-Council Bluffs, Iowa) and various rail ventures in Europe and Latin America. Henry was aglow in the company of his daughter and coworker Ida and their plans to demonstrate “Pop-Up Metro” in spring 2020 on a 2.3-mile Iowa Interstate branch line in Altoona, Iowa, just west of Des Moines. Pop-Up Metro is a creation of RDC subsidiary Vivarail, which owns former London Underground rolling stock that has been converted to battery power. The cars have a 60-mile range and completely recharge in 10 minutes from mobile charging stations placed at stations. A flyer he handed me across the dinner table says this is an “opportunity to test and evaluate potential rail transit operations” over existing light-duty freight lines “for less than the cost of a consultant study.” I got a laugh out of that, but Henry is serious. The ex-Underground cars will carry potential customers on an as-needed basis
Some shenanigans yesterday evening: 1653 from Blethcley was cancelled due to a train failure. Buses ordered. at about 1720 it was announced the 1653 would run but non stop to Bedford. It left about 5 minutes before the 1731! 230004 & 230005 were involved.
It is to be hoped that the Marston Vale regular passengers are fully understanding of the current operational hiccups/cancellations, but they must be made to realise that train commuting for the passengers on this line is only to be viewed as only second to the more and far reaching needs of Vivarail's new Class 230 line fleet teething problems.
You love an opportunity to have a snidey little dig at things you dont like! I wonder why you cant just express your views without hiding behind verbosity.
I am indeed most grateful for Vivarail to allow me such free rein to indulge myself in verbosity, by their seemingly problem-ridden trains on your line that gives me opportunity to let my imagination run riot. It is not since the days when Sid and Eddie were scriptwriters to Morecambe and Wise, that such opportunities have arisen....
sigh. This is tiresome and tedious.
As I have now said many times: These problems are no worse than the aged 150 & particularly the 153 that ran our service until recently. Clearly and really rather obviously these teething issues with the class 230 trains need to start tapering off quite soon.
It will be a conversion of 230001, with the diesels swapped for battery packs.