Future of EMR's 158s

[HamworthyGoods]

Is 158889 stopping permanently at EMR? Are there any plans to send it back to SWR eventually?

158889 is leased directly to EMR from the ROSCO

After losing the Bristol extensions & the Weymouth route via Yeovil not coming back, do they need any?

The 158s could transfer to SWR and run alongside the 158s/159s to extend the lengths of the West of England line services, having been on some that were formed of 2 or 3 coaches, but that would be wishful thinking for me.

Indeed why do SWR need any more diesels?

Near on everything West of Salisbury is 6 cars, they’ve removed the Bristol services and transferred the Axminster peak working to GWR. The second Salisbury service only runs to Basingstoke due to cost constraints and overall peak demand has dropped. Doesn’t seem anything here that implies they need more diesel stock.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

158889 is leased directly to EMR from the ROSCO

That unit was always a treat with the declassified first class section, at least if it wasn't too busy. It's been a while since I've been down that way, does it still have the SWT interior or has it now been standardised with the rest of the EMR fleet?

 

[Failed Unit]

That unit was always a treat with the declassified first class section, at least if it wasn't too busy. It's been a while since I've been down that way, does it still have the SWT interior or has it now been standardised with the rest of the EMR fleet?

Still the same ex-SWT interior. Looking a little tired now.

 

[LowLevel]

Still the same ex-SWT interior. Looking a little tired now.

It does look tired but thats probably not helped by the lack of spares. It did get an interior refresh at the same time as the early SWT refurbishment just before SWR came into being.

 

[paulmch]

Genuinely, what demand is there from Warrington to Peterborough? Or are you just listing two stops and assuming that there must Be a lot of demand between them?

Probably not much, but then if you add the demand for Warrington - Cambridge/Ipswich/Thetford/Stansted/Stevenage, plus all of those again from Chesterfield, Stockport, Alfreton etc. on top of those flows from the more major cities on the route, it adds up to something valuable. In my guard days working through Peterborough I saw an awful lot of tickets from somewhere in the Midlands/North West to somewhere in East Anglia, and not all of them were cheap!

 

[Killingworth]

Last time I used the route before Covid there was quite a large party aboard from the Manchester area heading for Grantham and the Woodland Trust's Head Office. Apparently it was a regular journey for them.

A former colleague of mine in Sheffield who then worked for Norwich Union took a train to Doncaster and then down the ECML, possibly picking up the same EMR train at Peterborough.

Time, convenience and price all come into the route decision.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Still the same ex-SWT interior. Looking a little tired now.

In that case, tired or not it's still the unit to hope for if you're travelling on EMR Regional. Even if the first class section is full, the standard section will still be far superior compared to the standard mostly airline arrangement of the rest of the fleet.

 

[HamworthyGoods]

In that case, tired or not it's still the unit to hope for if you're travelling on EMR Regional. Even if the first class section is full, the standard section will still be far superior compared to the standard mostly airline arrangement of the rest of the fleet.

In this post covid world I think many travellers would find an airline seat superior to sitting opposite a stranger in a bay of four!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

In this post covid world I think many travellers would find an airline seat superior to sitting opposite a stranger in a bay of four!

Which is quite ridiculous in my opinion. At this point Covid is essentially a bad cold or a mild flu, and not worth worrying about unless you have a medical condition that would exacerbate the effects.

Even that I'm a bit on the fence about:- at one point I was told to shield due to a medical condition (Type 1 diabetes), but being cut off from human contact did far more damage to my mental health. I sought a second opinion and was told "your sugars are well controlled, don't bother shielding if it's making you miserable".

 

[Kneedown]

100% in agreement. Bring back Dr Death and his trolley on the 0552 from Norwich!

He's currently plying his trade out of Chester with TfW. What a legend!

 

[dk1]

SWRs diesel fleet planned to be replaced 2029-2032 according to Novembers MR magazine.

 

[Mag_seven]

Just a reminder that this thread is to discuss the future of EMR Class 158s

If anyone wants to discuss anything else then they are welcome to start a new thread.

 

[Adam Evans]

Wasn't there talk not too long ago about scrapping the Liverpool end, and instead terminating in Piccadilly main shed to avoid the Castlefield issue? What happened to that idea in the end? I'd got it in my head that the changes to TPE's Cleethorpes (running through to Liverpool instead of the airport) were to compensate for the loss of the EMR service.

The new Liverpool-Cleethorpes service will replace the Northern semi-fast Liverpool-Manchester Airport service which is being scrapped entirely. That service was introduced in May 2018 to replace TPE's Liverpool-Scarborough service which was re-routed through Chat Moss. My assumption is that they want to free up some space on the Styal Line to allow local stations along that route a more regular stopping service which has been catered for (at least partially) by the new timetable with the slow Liverpool-Crewe service being cut back to the Airport and a new Piccadilly-Crewe via Airport service being inserted in place. It also frees up extra space in the main shed at Piccadilly since it will no longer terminate there on platforms 9 or 10.

Rerouting the Cleethorpes service is a smart move in my opinion as it kills multiple birds with one stone. My only issue with it is that the new Cleethorpes service should not be a replacement for two Liverpool-MCO stopping services per hour on the CLC route which they do have space for alongside two express services.

EMR's express along the CLC isn't being touched as far as I know.

 

[170UTD]

I noticed recently that 158770 has been debranded. Does anyone know why? I know there was apparently talk/rumors of dropping 1 Class 158 from the fleet, so is that why or has it been like that for ages and I just haven't noticed?

 

[tsyxa]

and the fact that they don’t like a stop-start working pattern (as demonstrated when they’ve run on the Ivanhoe line stopper service).

When did this happen?

 

[QSK19]

When did this happen?

Here is an example of a EMT 222-operated Ivanhoe service:

I’ve seen a 222 operate the Ivanhoe service from Leicester several times (one time, rather annoyingly, I missed it by 1 minute after finishing jury service for the day. Oh why the judge didn’t let us out just a tad sooner! ).