NSE
Established Member
- Joined
- 3 Mar 2010
- Messages
- 1,728
Hey guys,
I recently had a day out on a Cheshire Day Ranger (which you guys recommended me too, so thank you for that) and had a lovely afternoon. I just thought I would share a couple of thoughts that struck me and see what you guys think.
Firstly, I started at Port Sunlight. This is my first experience of MerseyRail in any form. Firstly, the lady had no idea what the Cheshire Day Ranger was, but was most helpful finding out and selling me one, so nothing but positives there. After jumping on a 508 to Liverpool I was most impressed. I've been on plenty of 313's and 315's and the refurb of the 508's was pretty good. I'm aware the sometimes its cheaper to buy new trains rather than fixing the old ones in the long term, but I saw the Southern 313's a few days after, and couldn't help but think that its a waste scrapping trains that have been refurbed well. I don't know, maybe its just the secret green in me coming out, after all, they could be a pig to maintain mechanically, but from a comfort and aesthetic level they seemed fine. I also thought the MerseyRail brand was quite strong and like LO it (I assume from my one journey) works well. With LO taking over more routes and bodies like WYPTE and TFGM seemingly becoming more active, is it possible that most major cities will begin to have a MerseyRail/LO type operation?
From Liverpool Lime Street I headed to Crewe on a LM 350, been on these units before, so nothing new there, however I did stop at Liverpool South Parkway and I can see what people mean about it being a white elephant. Virtually no one got on or off my service. At Crewe I quickly hopped onto a ATW 150 to Chester. Not much to add about the 150. However I couldn't help notice the electrification leaves Crewe and carries on beyond the junction to a sort of depot (I don't know its name, but I saw a 325 there) and couldn't help think that electrification to Chester would be pretty easy compared to a lot of other diesel islands. I know some diagrams work beyond to Wrexham and Holyhead/Bangor so it wouldn't solve the problem completely. But it could at least get some Pendo's on peaks or something, I don't know, just my own random thoughts, but it seems like such a small distance to fill in.
From Chester, I then jumped onto a ATW 175 to Manchester Piccadilly. First time on these units and I was pleasantly surprised. They were comfortable and just generally nice. My thoughts were that a four or five car variant would be a good fit for a lot of diesel lines. People talk about using Voyagers on routes like Liverpool/Norwich or Stanstead/Birmingham etc, but to me this seems a waste of a Voyagers 125 Mph capabilities. But the 175 with an extra one or two cars, including a First Class section, would be pretty good for routes like those mentioned above and for other, comparable-to-intercity-in-terms-of-journey-timewise-but-not-really-an-out-and-out-intercity-journey like Cardiff-Penzance, Or Cardiff-Brighton or some of the TPEX journeys. The doors were at the end so could keep out the drafts at stops, but seemed quite airy and pleasant. The windows lined up with seats, and I just thought they were really nice units.
Anyway, these were just a couple of thoughts I wanted to share. There might be obvious answers to them, but I'm not from the area so if there are them please feel free to explain :P
I recently had a day out on a Cheshire Day Ranger (which you guys recommended me too, so thank you for that) and had a lovely afternoon. I just thought I would share a couple of thoughts that struck me and see what you guys think.
Firstly, I started at Port Sunlight. This is my first experience of MerseyRail in any form. Firstly, the lady had no idea what the Cheshire Day Ranger was, but was most helpful finding out and selling me one, so nothing but positives there. After jumping on a 508 to Liverpool I was most impressed. I've been on plenty of 313's and 315's and the refurb of the 508's was pretty good. I'm aware the sometimes its cheaper to buy new trains rather than fixing the old ones in the long term, but I saw the Southern 313's a few days after, and couldn't help but think that its a waste scrapping trains that have been refurbed well. I don't know, maybe its just the secret green in me coming out, after all, they could be a pig to maintain mechanically, but from a comfort and aesthetic level they seemed fine. I also thought the MerseyRail brand was quite strong and like LO it (I assume from my one journey) works well. With LO taking over more routes and bodies like WYPTE and TFGM seemingly becoming more active, is it possible that most major cities will begin to have a MerseyRail/LO type operation?
From Liverpool Lime Street I headed to Crewe on a LM 350, been on these units before, so nothing new there, however I did stop at Liverpool South Parkway and I can see what people mean about it being a white elephant. Virtually no one got on or off my service. At Crewe I quickly hopped onto a ATW 150 to Chester. Not much to add about the 150. However I couldn't help notice the electrification leaves Crewe and carries on beyond the junction to a sort of depot (I don't know its name, but I saw a 325 there) and couldn't help think that electrification to Chester would be pretty easy compared to a lot of other diesel islands. I know some diagrams work beyond to Wrexham and Holyhead/Bangor so it wouldn't solve the problem completely. But it could at least get some Pendo's on peaks or something, I don't know, just my own random thoughts, but it seems like such a small distance to fill in.
From Chester, I then jumped onto a ATW 175 to Manchester Piccadilly. First time on these units and I was pleasantly surprised. They were comfortable and just generally nice. My thoughts were that a four or five car variant would be a good fit for a lot of diesel lines. People talk about using Voyagers on routes like Liverpool/Norwich or Stanstead/Birmingham etc, but to me this seems a waste of a Voyagers 125 Mph capabilities. But the 175 with an extra one or two cars, including a First Class section, would be pretty good for routes like those mentioned above and for other, comparable-to-intercity-in-terms-of-journey-timewise-but-not-really-an-out-and-out-intercity-journey like Cardiff-Penzance, Or Cardiff-Brighton or some of the TPEX journeys. The doors were at the end so could keep out the drafts at stops, but seemed quite airy and pleasant. The windows lined up with seats, and I just thought they were really nice units.
Anyway, these were just a couple of thoughts I wanted to share. There might be obvious answers to them, but I'm not from the area so if there are them please feel free to explain :P
