Spare Passenger Units

[Jordeh]

Hi long-time lurker here, apologies if my railway knowledge isn't quite up to it atm or if this has been posted before.

Just been wondering especially with all the over-crowding on certain services these days which spare passenger units there are in storage yet other members of the class are in service?

To kick things off aren't there some LO 508's in storage after being rejected by Merseyrail?

 

[anthony263]

I am sure that southeastern have some class 508's in store. Dont know why south west trains dont take 1 or 2 for the Lymington service and then lease the class 158 which is currently used on weekdays to FGW to boost capcity

 

[WillPS]

It's criminal that they don't really. There's certainly no shortage of Third Rail stock whereas there is a dire shortage of DMUs

 

[Fincra5]

Yes that has always confused me. Take 3x 508 units form Southeastern, 2 for regular service and one for spare. Make use of the 3rd rail. The 158 could deffinately be used elsewhere.

 

[LE Greys]

Exactly! Good idea! Besides, diesel on an electrified branch? Wouldn't it be cheaper to turn the power off unless it's needed?

 

[sprinterguy]

Using 508s on the Lymington line actually sounds like a really good idea.

On the topic of the original post, there are two class 180s, initially earmarked for East Coast, out of the fleet of 14 that are doing nothing. I can't think of any other DMUs that aren't in service.

 

[jopsuk]

as has been previouslyt discussed, creating a micro-fleet of 508s for SWT isn't all that simple- or desirable.

 

[swt_passenger]

Hi long-time lurker here, apologies if my railway knowledge isn't quite up to it atm or if this has been posted before.

Just been wondering especially with all the over-crowding on certain services these days which spare passenger units there are in storage yet other members of the class are in service?

To kick things off aren't there some LO 508's in storage after being rejected by Merseyrail?

That's all there is really, AFAICS.

The suggestion that there's much spare EMU stock about just doesn't hold up when you get into the details.

As we are already discussing in the 458 thread, the GatEx 460s, 8 x 8 car are off lease by December. If they don't go to SWT they'll be spare but as DC only 8 car sets there's a limit to be where they can be used.

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

... Wouldn't it be cheaper to turn the power off unless it's needed?

As you probably knew before you wrote that, the power is needed at the weekends...

 

[LE Greys]

Wouldn't it be cheaper to turn the power off unless it's needed?

As you probably knew before you wrote that, the power is needed at the weekends...

Hence the last bit of my post. Someone turns the switch off last thing on Sunday night and turns it back on again first thing on Saturday morning. I imagine it's not as simple as de-energising my old model railway, but surely keeping a conductor rail energised all week for no reason must use a lot of power.