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GWR Class 769 information. (Units no longer with GWR - Off Lease March 23)

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Bletchleyite

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Removal of unnecessary diesel traction from the network is very much bottom of the agenda, below all other considerations.

And that attitude will mean, once there are mass rollouts of battery bus and coach fleets (and coaches are far easier to do than buses because of all that space underneath), it will be hard to justify keeping secondary railway lines open. The railway has to change its policy on this kind of thing - DMUs under the wires/over the third rail need to be abolished. Shore up power supplies, obtain suitable rolling stock or even split services if necessary.
 
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samuelmorris

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It's certainly a worry, but, even with electric cars, the juice has to be generated somehow. Will we actually get to a situation where, per passenger mile at, say, 50% rail and car occupancy, cars are more efficient/less unfriendly? Then there's the issues of road space, noise, safety, and so on. Rail will have to make sure it stays less harmful in all these areas to sustain itself.
Nah, even if the electricity used by the railway was entirely produced from natural gas (it isn't), that's still more efficient than locally producing the power with combustion engines. Electrification is undoubtedly the way to go.
 

Ladder23

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Noticed 319430 with another (unknown number) sitting in Wolverton in fresh new GWR colours. (Seen whilst working).
 

Ladder23

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These
 

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fgwrich

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My that’s boring! Couldn’t they have brought the yellow round the side a bit? Anything!

It's GWR Green, the whole livery is boring!

I cant make out if that's been touched inside yet too - the seats are covered, but the handrails by the door looks suspiciously like they're still in Rubine Red to me.
 

rebmcr

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I cant make out if that's been touched inside yet too - the seats are covered, but the handrails by the door looks suspiciously like they're still in Rubine Red to me.

They're also still numbered in the 319 series — certainly still a lot of work to be done.
 

fgwrich

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Have GWR got over their fixation with black roofs? Or is this mid-paintjob?

I'm not sure to be honest, they're does seem to be some inconsistency across in their livery (Turbo / 158 Matt Black Roof, Electrostar / Flexx White roof, Night Riviera / HST / 150 Gloss Black Roof, IET Green Roof).

Also, I wonder where the Air Cooling will be fitted?
 

northernbelle

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It's GWR Green, the whole livery is boring!

I cant make out if that's been touched inside yet too - the seats are covered, but the handrails by the door looks suspiciously like they're still in Rubine Red to me.
The grab handles are covered by an orange protective material to avoid damage.

Have GWR got over their fixation with black roofs? Or is this mid-paintjob?
EMUs have light grey roofs, diesel stock has black to hide the exhaust staining. The exception are the 80x which have roofs the same colour as the bodyshell as is standard with all Hitachi products in the UK.
 

coppercapped

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On the original GWR, dark green was only for locomotives. The livery for coaching stock (including multiple units) was chocolate and cream. Now that would look smart!
Mostly correct! There was a time before and during the First World War when all-over brown, and later crimson lake, was used for coaching stock as given in the GWR Modelling website <http://www.gwr.org.uk/index.html>. It states:
The two colours (chocolate and cream) lasted on coaching stock until the end of the company's existence, with the following exceptions: In 1908, an all-over brown livery was introduced, retaining lining but discarding the cream entirely. This rather austere livery was replaced in 1912 by a richer crimson lake colour, which lasted until 1922.
For more details see the web page here.

Even the GWR sometimes changed! (But I'm in danger of going too far off piste so I'll stop here!)
 

TT-ONR-NRN

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On the original GWR, dark green was only for locomotives. The livery for coaching stock (including multiple units) was chocolate and cream. Now that would look smart!
It would look disgusting. Brown. BROWN. For a train. o_O
Are these 769s going to work any other routes other than North Downs?
 

FenMan

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EMUs have light grey roofs, diesel stock has black to hide the exhaust staining. The exception are the 80x which have roofs the same colour as the bodyshell as is standard with all Hitachi products in the UK.

The flaw with this cunning plan is that 769s are intended to do a fair bit of running under diesel to and from Gatwick/Redhill. So sooty grey it is then. :)
 

HBUG

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It would look disgusting. Brown. BROWN. For a train. o_O
Are these 769s going to work any other routes other than North Downs?
GWR said about 18 months ago that they would be used on the Henley and Windsor Branch lines in order to release the 165s currently allocated for transfer to the west country. I don’t know if that is still the plan.
 

Domh245

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The 769 engines comply with Stage IIIB emissions requirements. So there should be no soot....

There still will be some - up to .025g/kWh - about 1 gram of soot for every 4 litres of diesel. It'll depend how thorough the cleaning regime is!
 

Clarence Yard

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GWR said about 18 months ago that they would be used on the Henley and Windsor Branch lines in order to release the 165s currently allocated for transfer to the west country. I don’t know if that is still the plan.

Slight change due to the 4th (peak) Basingstoke diagram so the Windsor is out for regular working. The diagrams will be as follows; 10 North Downs, 4 Basingstoke, 1 Henley and 1 Bourne End (peak).
 

cactustwirly

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Slight change due to the 4th (peak) Basingstoke diagram so the Windsor is out for regular working. The diagrams will be as follows; 10 North Downs, 4 Basingstoke, 1 Henley and 1 Bourne End (peak).

How come the Basingstoke services need 4 diagrams? It was 2 not so long ago
 

fgwrich

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How come the Basingstoke services need 4 diagrams? It was 2 not so long ago

Since last December's timetable change. Basingstoke - Reading all stops did have a rather simple 2tph service then, which has now changed to a 3tph service during the peaks. If there's one thing I understand the crews aren't fond of, it's the 15/20 minute waiting time at Basingstoke.
 

northernbelle

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Since last December's timetable change. Basingstoke - Reading all stops did have a rather simple 2tph service then, which has now changed to a 3tph service during the peaks. If there's one thing I understand the crews aren't fond of, it's the 15/20 minute waiting time at Basingstoke.
Passengers love it though - both because it's more frequent and more reliable than the very tight turnarounds of the old 2tph operation.
 

fgwrich

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Passengers love it though - both because it's more frequent and more reliable than the very tight turnarounds of the old 2tph operation.

Well, it's had a shaky start but has settled down now. Although I'm still not as keen with the idea of slotting it in almost directly behind the XX:52 XC service, as the XC isn't always the most reliable for holding that slot. Thankfully the padding in it means that if the XC is delayed but let in front of the GW, the GW Still makes it on time at Reading.
 

JN114

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Slight change due to the 4th (peak) Basingstoke diagram so the Windsor is out for regular working. The diagrams will be as follows; 10 North Downs, 4 Basingstoke, 1 Henley and 1 Bourne End (peak).

It also helps with crewing - had they done Windsors you’d probably have to teach bottom link Padd drivers 769s, as they still cover a fair number of trips. Aside from the odd Henleys worked by Swindon it’s now entirely Reading, albeit they’ll probably have to be taught to all 4 links
 

Clarence Yard

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Passengers love it though - both because it's more frequent and more reliable than the very tight turnarounds of the old 2tph operation.

The extended turnrounds were also designed to accommodate the (eventual) opening of Reading Green Park and the number of units you would have needed for a basic 2 TPH service. Now it can be opened anytime without having to fundamentally alter the service.
 
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