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... which will be of the order or 50 years old by then.   I'm personally in favour of using trains for their full economic life, and extending with refurbs as appropriate, but I'm not sure if the introduction of 50 year old units would meet the aspirations of the good people of Portishead.

Yet having raised that issue, I would be delighted to see 3 or 4 "A" or "C" stock units, with Class 33 push-pull power returned to main line condition, running an hourly TransWilts service from Swindon via Westbury from December 2013 for the next 10 years ;)

A very intersting idea probably cheaper than the 148 option.

However A stock is 50 years old so I would possibly buy new.

Now the 73s are being re-engined up to 1500 hp it shows that an ED of say 4000hp on electric 25KV O/H and up to 2500hp (HST MTU) should be possible. With some new articulated 4 car TC sets (120 tons) you would have go anywhere, avoid the engine change, train. It should  be capable 100 mph + on electric mainlines and 90 on diesel. An 873?

Now it seems likely that all lines West thereof and including  Basingstoke Southampton (Weymouth?) will be O/H electrification then you will have an ideal West of England loco and train.

Via Westbury to where Graham? (The World could be Melksham's oyster). 

My choice would be Exeter Central or Weymouth (the latter resurrecting an old railway company).



Edit note: Quote marks amended, for clarity. CfN.

Could I ask the mods please to move the last few posts as they are drifting off the subject!

Done - original topic continues (I hope) about Portishead at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=231.210

Any hopes of seeing A stock serve any lines will require a time machine as the entire fleet (bar one driving car (which is in the LT museum)) has now been scrapped.

Likewise, the C stock is now being scrapped.

As a regular C stock traveller, and an infrequent A stock traveller in the past, I think it is probably a good thing these units aren't being redeployed. I know it is hard to see through rose tinted glasses, but be rational for a moment. These units are/were leaky, draughty, rough riding and had no toilets.... almost like a Pacer!

Yep ... "being" not "been".


Ever been on a Faresaver bus  ;D

Fine, but where has my Q about trans wilts gone?   ;D

Is this it? It was stood looking lost and forlorn:


Via Westbury to where Graham? (The World could be Melksham's oyster). 

My choice would be Exeter Central or Weymouth (the latter resurrecting an old railway company).

I think the quoting was a bit mixed up (and that was before I split the thread) ... it was there, but it looked like someone else was being quoted.   I see while I've been out at the Bus Panel meeting this evening that CfN has clarified the original post, and the question has been clarified too.

OK ... I was intentionally vague. 

Leaving Westbury in a Southwesterly direction, there are a number of aspirations.   Firstly, you hit the only section of the Portsmouth to Cardiff route which is still only one train per hour much of the time, all be it with various services leaving Westbury headed for Brighton, Southampton, Warminster and Waterloo. Secondly, you have aspirations for an hourly service on the Heart of Wessex, again which is currently at 2 or 3 hourly internals, with some short workings to Frome.  Third, you have aspirations for trains to Radstock and to Yeovil Junction.

There are some real oddities in the current services in those parts, and adding in services arriving from the north and continuing on would give a number of options to sort those issues out for the benefit of many. If the stopper from Bristol arrived within a few minutes of the TransWilts train from Swindon, and there was two way crossplatform linkage there - platforms 0 and 1 southbound, 2 and 3 northbound, then it needs careful working out to decide which train is best to continue to where, and I would suspect that the result of that working out would be pretty evenly balanced.   I am of course aware that Platform 0 has been deemed expensive because of all the signal cables buried where the platform would need to go, but I wouldn't have thought that it would be too hard to put in a hollow platform with a bit of lateral thinking - either lifting floor panels, or something on pillars that can be accessed from the track if need be.

My original post was ... not exactly flippant, but certainly left-field.   But then stranger things have happened, especially where there's a will.  The next practical question is "where to we service this vintage stuff?" and that's where the choice would logically fall between Yeovil Junction, Salisbury, Didcot and St Philip's Marsh.  If it was one of the former two, that might tip the balance of the answer to your question, swrural - I'm not normally one to suggest an arrangement of service patterns for operational convenience, but in this particular case the balance before that consideration might be so close that you end up with trains based as Salisbury (so you have Salisbury - Swindon) or Yeovil (so you have Heart of Wessex - Swindon)

Interesting reply, thanks.  in fact I think I need to continue discussion on another thread about new /revised services in the Wessex Wilts area.  You make a lot of 'food for thought' points which are more to do with strategic links than what clapped out old stock should be used (or new clapped out......).

Will come back on this.  I hope others find these issues (planning issues really) interesting.

You asked a question which was more to do with strategic links ... ;D  ;D I had originally left these matters out of my suggestion as it took us even further off topic.

I have a similar topic at: http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10777.0 (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10777.0)

I think an express Swansea District Line service is key to competitiveness of the railway in south-west Wales, and ATW's use of class 150s on the Fishguard Express Boat Train and 2-car units on Manchester - south Wales services is, in my view, unacceptable unless they really is nothing that can be done about it. However, as far as I can see these issues can't currently be easily sorted soon apart from using run-down mark2 coaches on some services. A similar topic since it relates to a choice between a better service with older (and not great for disabled passengers) rolling stock or remaining with a poor service with more modern stock.