Public Transport in your particular part of the region

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Ebeneezer Scrooge
Posts: 326
Joined: Tue 23 Sep, 2003 13.53
Location: Scrooge Towers

Not my region, but Google News likes to tell me a lot about trains in Wales...

This popped up in my news feed the other day. Out of interest, I went to watch the video...
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north- ... y-15256289

Marvel at the camera work at the start of the video and be amazed at the "photographer's" positioning as they manage to completely silhouette the train as it enters the station, hiding all of the branding they were attempting to highlight.

I didn't get any further than the second shot.
Snarky
Whataday
Posts: 361
Joined: Fri 22 Aug, 2003 00.08
Location: Cardiff
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This it what it should look like:

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Bit odd to have a T for a logo as normally we'd have a variation involving a W for Wales or most likely a C for Cymru (because we all speak Welsh in Wales you see) However, the new franchise is the first to be overseen by the Welsh Assembly and TfW is to cover other forms of transport too such as bus links and (eventually) trams which is probably why they're focussing on T for Transport. No explanation as to why that T looks like it could be off a 1980s telephone directory though.

Anyway as tends to happen with these things, we haven't quite got the new livery yet:

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Amusingly, customers organised a party in Cardiff Central Station to celebrate the last night of Arriva Trains Wales. Thousands signed up on Facebook, and a sizeable amount turned up but security were waiting at the entrance and refused them entry.
steveboswell
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed 23 Apr, 2008 12.55
Location: Sheffield
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The much-delayed Sheffield to Rotherham "tram-train" extension started running its first public services this morning... until mid-afternoon, when a truck crashed into one of the new units on a crossroads, derailed it, and suspended the line. 🤦‍♂️
Alexia
Posts: 2999
Joined: Sat 01 Oct, 2005 17.50

Whataday wrote: Thu 25 Oct, 2018 18.11 This it what it should look like:

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And this is what it *does* look like on the Class 175. Note to London Overground - THIS is how you do a black-out of windows to make a train look good.
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No explanation as to why that T looks like it could be off a 1980s telephone directory though.
Brand design was done by a Welsh agency called Smorgasbord http://www.smorgasbordstudio.com. Very reminiscient of Transrail, one of the privatised freight operators which existed briefly in the 1990s.
Anyway as tends to happen with these things, we haven't quite got the new livery yet:
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See above for 175.... Pacers won't be getting it. 158s will eventually, only 5 years after their major interior refresh. No word on the Gerald set, or the 150s.
Amusingly, customers organised a party in Cardiff Central Station to celebrate the last night of Arriva Trains Wales. Thousands signed up on Facebook, and a sizeable amount turned up but security were waiting at the entrance and refused them entry.
It was a farce. Never advertise a spontaneous gathering of disgruntled drunken idiots who think something magical is going to happen overnight to improve the service on Facebook and expect to get away with it.
thegeek
Posts: 858
Joined: Sat 04 Jun, 2005 12.35

So the London Overground 710 testing has stalled somewhat... but a second 172 has now gone off-lease, and they've now only got 6 units for the 6 diagram GOBLIN service. Two were out of service for maintenance today. It's my local line, but I'm glad I don't have to rely on it because it's going to be an unpredictable shambles over the next few weeks.
Martin Phillp
Posts: 1469
Joined: Wed 11 May, 2011 01.28

I went on a refurbished 378 on the East London Line. The livery looks awful, but the moquette looks a lot better to the human eye, while the seats are no longer hard as rock.
TVF's London Lite.
thegeek
Posts: 858
Joined: Sat 04 Jun, 2005 12.35

Maybe not such a crazy idea, given the road network in that part of the world: https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/ne ... per-train/
cwathen
Posts: 1309
Joined: Fri 15 Aug, 2003 17.28

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-s ... e-49323007

Can't say this is particularly surprising...but despite being told that Pacers absolutely, 100%, must go by the end of 2019, DDA regs mandate it and all that, Northern are still going to be using some of them into 2020 after all. How many 'some' might be is unclear...Northern claim 'a small number' however given that less than 4 months before withdrawal is supposed to be complete they only have a total of 7 out of 102 units replaced I would suggest 'quite a lot' might be closer to the truth.

They're not being scrapped upon withdrawal either. The Pacers will be stored so they can be made available 'in exceptional circumstances'.

Also, the vast majority of GWR's 'Castle Set' short-formed HSTs which are supposed to be full refurbishments with electric plug doors and retention toilets to comply with new legislation are so far nothing more than FGW-liveried HST stock shortened to 4 carriages but otherwise unchanged from their last refurb in 2006-2008. Are they on track to achieve full refurb of the stock they'll be keeping by the end of the year? I doubt it.
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Pete
Posts: 7589
Joined: Fri 15 Aug, 2003 13.36
Location: Dundee

cwathen wrote: Tue 13 Aug, 2019 20.49Also, the vast majority of GWR's 'Castle Set' short-formed HSTs which are supposed to be full refurbishments with electric plug doors and retention toilets to comply with new legislation are so far nothing more than FGW-liveried HST stock shortened to 4 carriages but otherwise unchanged from their last refurb in 2006-2008. Are they on track to achieve full refurb of the stock they'll be keeping by the end of the year? I doubt it.
I believe the same company is doing the refurbs of these and the ScotRail Inter7City sets. And they're running massively behind, blaming higher than expected levels of corrosion and the fact they were all hand built in the 70s for the delays.

Which incidentally is the same set of excuses they trotted out when they took ages refurbing the Tyne and Wear Metros between 2010-2015.

More likely, they give unrealistic timescales.

Also the habit of not having prototypes really is backfiring. The 800/801/802s being threatened with withdrawal if they don't come up with a fix for the intercar connectors being basically ladders onto the roof. The Sleeper Mk 5's having endless software problems. The 710s being late due to issues with commissioning, the new Northern stock from CAF also being late. The ScotRail 385s(?) with their curved windscreens that had to all be replaced...

Build a prototype, fix the bugs on there, then build the fleet. Instead the modern method of build the entire fleet and then pay loads and spend ages fixing them when in service.
"He has to be larger than bacon"
all new Phil
Posts: 1965
Joined: Sun 13 Feb, 2005 00.04
Location: Next door to Hell

They regularly use Pacers on the line that stops near me and, I don’t know, they seem alright to me 🤷‍♂️ They get from A to B and are just as reliable than any others, if not more so. Wheelchairs can get on and off. Just.
bilky asko
Posts: 1400
Joined: Sat 08 Nov, 2008 19.48

all new Phil wrote: Wed 14 Aug, 2019 00.18 They regularly use Pacers on the line that stops near me and, I don’t know, they seem alright to me 🤷‍♂️ They get from A to B and are just as reliable than any others, if not more so. Wheelchairs can get on and off. Just.
They make an awful squealing noise when on the slightest curvature or when braking, they're not crash safe, the ride quality is awful, at least one I've been on had some issue with the doors at every station meaning long waits to alight or board... they're significantly worse than Sprinters, and look even worse when they've decided to bring in the Pacers onto our local service, and then add in some Class 170s.

Though, to be honest, the local buses show up the Pacers.
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