Ok, thanks
Ok, thanks.
Pre Covid the idea was two diagrams (see approximate times below), one stabling in Cardiff and the other at Holyhead. I'd imagine that is still ultimately the plan. The sets need to rotate for maintenance. It would be possible to lose the 0700 and 1650 runs and swap one with the spare set during the Canton layover. Note I have no idea when the services might start. Keep an eye on RTT.
Very little likelihood of Crewe being used in the short term. There's a set based there at present for training Crewe drivers and Shrewsbury guards but with the originally planned services 2 sets will overnight in Canton (one being the spare set) and the 3rd in Holyhead. The last I heard this plan hadn't changed.
Swapping the sets is easy enough with two sets on Canton every night, and with the Holyhead overnighter changing alternating each day, I'm not sure why you'd need to lose a trip to make it happen?
There is no rumour about it. TfW have acquired 7 x 5+DVT sets.
I don't recall reading that in any magazines, but of course that doesn't mean it hasn't happened! Have they also bought an extra three vehicles to extend the current 4-car rakes? I'm guessing that this is the Grand Central sets, plus some from storage?
Yes, it’s the three existing sets, plus the four GC sets, plus three TODs to bring the three existing sets to the same formation and three spare vehicles. Ownership has transferred on the national vehicle register.
The GC sets are 6-car aren't they? Doesn't that leave four spare vehicles, if they're being reduced to 5-car?
They are/were 6 including DVT.
Ah ok, thanks!
I was going to ask for a source but the national vehicle register is pretty comprehensive. I was wary of posting about the extra MKIVs until there was a publicly accessible source since TfW haven't made any official announcements as yet and I didn't want to be in breach of any social media rules.
Looking at those schedules - if they do indeed end up as the services, they are not exactly user friendly for capturing the main tourist market for day trips between the 2 major centres where tourists and locals might want to do a day trip return = Cardiff & Chester. 7am from Cardiff is not going to get many leisure travellers wanting to start so early and I guess the 5.32am from Holyhead will also be rather early when departing southward from Chester. Only the 17.15 from Cardiff seems too be an ideal time for the leisure travellers doing a day trip return.
I'm pretty sure it'll be Holyhead-Cardiff only. Of course, I may be totally wrong (and have no inside knowledge or anything)!
To be fair, I'm not sure that tourists were ever the number one target for this service. That said, the middle of the day services should be a big bonus for leisure travel over the old one round trip per day timetable.
Those are pretty much the only routes they can be used on. But given TfW still haven't publicly confirmed the acquisition of the extra sets don't expect them to announce where they're going any time soon either. Whichever option they go with is going to require a lot of training so it'll be a while before any thing happens.
I've had a little dig through the 19/20 timetable, and the exact timetable as implemented needed just over 5 diagrams. A purely 2-hourly service could be done with 5, but somme odd intervals (like 0430 and 0530 departures from Holyhead both going to Cardiff) mean you'd need an extra rake.
I think that's an important fact that people often forget, both when discussing the MKIVs and even more so with the 197s. People are making assumptions over what can happen based on the old timetable, when things may be very different after the recast.
I was thinking in terms of train crew availability, or potential lack of crew.
Ah fair enough.
As I mentioned earlier, there was always going to be a massive recast anyway. All that's changed with the arrival of the extra sets is that the planners have some extra trains to play with (albeit trains that are a little more restrictive than the CAF units in terms of where they can be used).