RichmondCommu
Established Member
Just a though; could the class 91's perhaps follow the class 87's / class 56's / class 92's and head overseas? Perhaps that would be their best bet.
During the daytime on weekdays, the xx46 LM fast service off Euston, 110mph max, no tilt 350, departs Rugby at xx42, thats a start-start time of just 56 minutes (and thats with a stop at MK). At peak times its a little longer as they get caught up in the peak hour extras.
The few northbound pendos that call at Rugby do start-start of 75, 50, 50, 50, 54, 55 and 62 minutes. The ones that do 50 and 54 mins have no intermediate stops. If they did have one stop, they'd barely do it faster than a 350. The others have one or more stops.
Lack of tilt on this section I put it to you has little effect. More surprising is the tiny effect that the combination of tilt and pendos higher speed has on timings.
I believe the intention, such as it was as this was all rather blue sky, was to deploy IC225s on the Sheffield and Nottingham fasts which only have around three intermediate stops.
How many MK4s could East Midlands Parkway take including the 91 and DVT?
And yet they would have still struggled to get away from the numerous curves at anything like the rate that a Meridian does.
Certainly I'm far from convinced by the case for taking the 91s and using them on the MML but I wonder how a modern electric locomotive like an 88 would manage with a rake of Mk4s?
Why East Midlands Parkway and not any other station?
The potential short-term work that I can see for Mark 4s is for them to be combined with cascaded class 90s from East Anglia to operate the proposed Basingstoke to Manchester `Cross Country' service via East West Rail until HS2 displaces enough Pendolinos to operate the service. Cascaded Pendolinos might also be useful for the Manchester to Scotland TPE route.
Could DC capability easily be added to a class 91? If it is physically possible, would a 3rd rail power supply be able to handle the power drawn by a class 91?
Could DC capability easily be added to a class 91? If it is physically possible, would a 3rd rail power supply be able to handle the power drawn by a class 91?
How fast can a class 88 go? Assuming that it can operate at 125 mph I would be interested to know how its acceleration would compare to an 125 mph EMU with distributed traction.
Just a though; could the class 91's perhaps follow the class 87's / class 56's / class 92's and head overseas? Perhaps that would be their best bet.
I believe the intention, such as it was as this was all rather blue sky, was to deploy IC225s on the Sheffield and Nottingham fasts which only have around three intermediate stops.
Except.......
1. Mk 4,s out of guage south of wigston.
2. MML is RA5 if you want to run at 125 due to weak underbridges.
3. would be unable to maintain meridian timings due to worse power/weight ratio than a hst.
The potential short-term work that I can see for Mark 4s is for them to be combined with cascaded class 90s from East Anglia to operate the proposed Basingstoke to Manchester 'Cross Country' service via East West Rail until HS2 displaces enough Pendolinos to operate the service. Cascaded Pendolinos might also be useful for the Manchester to Scotland TPE route.
Could DC capability easily be added to a class 91? If it is physically possible, would a 3rd rail power supply be able to handle the power drawn by a class 91?
It is amazing when this country is so much in debt and severely lacking enough trains that we are contemplating scrapping stock. If they are most suited to work on the ECML makes you wonder why the DFT ordered the IEP's for the EC and not other lines which are crying out for more stock.
Enthusiasts can't seem to accept that the IC225s are in fact ageing, and that there is far less Mk4 coaching stock to cannibalise post-IEP.
The potential short-term work that I can see for Mark 4s is for them to be combined with cascaded class 90s from East Anglia to operate the proposed Basingstoke to Manchester `Cross Country' service via East West Rail until HS2 displaces enough Pendolinos to operate the service. Cascaded Pendolinos might also be useful for the Manchester to Scotland TPE route.
DarloRich said:
Western Route Study pp125-126 said:C2: Additional cross-country service
The Western Route Study 2019 ITSS anticipates an additional crosscountry service on the Reading – Basingstoke Route Section to create 3tph. This service is anticipated to run between Basingstoke and Manchester Piccadilly via the East West Rail route, offering a significant improvement in journey time between Reading, Oxford and Manchester. However, it would further add to capacity utilisation between Southcote Junction and Oxford Road Junction and at Reading Station.
In order to make best use of system capacity, this proposed additional cross-country service per hour in the 2019 ITSS should be included in the optimisation of train paths on this route. The proposed additional service parallels existing services between Basingstoke and Reading and would bring forward the point at which an infrastructure intervention is required. Starting this additional cross-country service from Reading or a location to the east would avoid the inefficient use of capacity at Reading Station and also between Southcote Junction and Oxford Road Junction, while potentially creating new connectivity choices. Possible locations to start the service from include Heathrow Airport and Old Oak Common to support the Cross-Boundary Conditional Outputs.
It is amazing when this country is so much in debt and severely lacking enough trains that we are contemplating scrapping stock. If they are most suited to work on the ECML makes you wonder why the DFT ordered the IEP's for the EC and not other lines which are crying out for more stock.
Hence VTEC are looking at retaining a few sets for their additional services. The Class 91 was only designed for a 30 year lifespan, keeping the full fleet in service will require some serious attention.
Couldn't the 91's be re-geared from 140mph top speed down to 125 or even 110mph depending on proposed work to improve low end acceleration bearing in mind they would assumably undergo a big overhaul before being redeployed anyway?
Hence VTEC are looking at retaining a few sets for their additional services. The Class 91 was only designed for a 30 year lifespan, keeping the full fleet in service will require some serious attention.