It would be nice to see the Mark 5A coaching stock join the Chiltern fleet.
The Class 68s that Chiltern Railways currently operate are noisy and powerful! It wouldn't make a difference to be quite honest.
They certainly are noisy, it always surprises me how you can hear them very loudly inside the Bullring Centre at the Selfridges end!
Hardly an effort, used to be able to hear 50s from home, 2.5 miles from the line!!!!
They sure are! When I sit on a bench at Birmingham Moor Street, I'm next to a 68 and, you can definitely feel the bench vibrate slightly from the soundwaves.
Especially considering how new they are compared to other quieter locos
Absolutely 100%! I did receive an email from Chiltern Railways, of which said "At this time our teams are still working with the Department for Transport with regards to acquiring additional rolling stock and currently nothing has yet been confirmed."
Yeah it’s been like a month since the last update. Obviously it’s more than just a scrawl at the bottom of a page but surely it can’t be taking this long?”. TPE stopped using them at least a year and a half ago now.
TPE parked them up a year and a half ago. The majority are still on lease to TPE today.
When do they come off lease? If I was Chiltern I’d have been working to be straight in there as soon as possible
See post #1357
Most of the 67 work is carried out locally at Crewe ETD - it's rare that they need to go to Toton. A lot of time and money has gone into the 67s, and there are no signs of any plans to replace them in the short term.
Probably would be good for ordering some brand new Mk5s (minimum 30 ish) to go behind them to further increase capacity, and possibly extend some stuff to Kidderminster or Worcester. Also would be especially useful to lessen the impact on Aylesburys when needing to provide extra Birmingham/Oxford services or something.
IIRC Don’t 67s have higher track access fees though? If they do then that would surely cancel out. I do agree though that 6 is not enough.
Fairs. I guess Chiltern would want something bi mode to prepare for if the CML ever gets electrified one day.
They stopped the 68s going to Kidderminster a few years back so that won't happen again soon.
Any particular reason? Was it just to reduce the empty mileage?
That was nothing specific to Class 68 movements. More to do with the change of service provision.
To provide better services i think. By the time the 68s got to Kidderminster they were empty anyway. Then they had to go back to Stourbridge to go into the Sidings. I rode one once from London to Kidderminster just to tick it off really.
Correct - a kneejerk Covid-related decision which supposedly reduced costs.
I regularly travelled on them both morning and evenings. Never travelled on an empty either to and from Kidderminster. Particularly in the AM peak when they provided much needed extra services between Birmingham and Kidderminster, as well as being useful for through service to Leamington / Banbury / London at all times.
Would be even more useful/busy if it went to Worcester surely?
And revenue probably too…
Is there a possibility that as the mk5a's come in. if the 68s are withdrawn alongside them 99's or 93's may be used instead. If I recall correctly both of them should be fitted properly for passenger workings. It should just be a matter of training.
The class 99 is only 75mph. Chiltern has no OHLE so there's no benefits over the 68s. It's expected that the Chiltern 68s will go back to DRS, and the mk5A fitted ex-TPE class 68s will head to Chiltern instead.
As I understand it, the 68s will be directly replaced with the new 68s as stipulated by the lease agreement. Additionally the new 68s have some additional features like SDO etc. which work with the mk5A sets, making the older ones incompatible.
