Title: Poll: Which stock is the best for local/stopping/commuter travel? Post by: Btline on February 21, 2008, 19:12:41 This one might be better.
Again, 2 votes. Title: Re: Poll: Which stock is the best for local/stopping/commuter travel? Post by: swlines on February 21, 2008, 19:13:58 442 is missing.... ;)
Title: Re: Poll: Which stock is the best for local/stopping/commuter travel? Post by: Btline on February 21, 2008, 19:15:34 442 is missing.... ;) it is up! i thought Wessex electrics were for long distance..... Title: Re: Poll: Which stock is the best for local/stopping/commuter travel? Post by: Mookiemoo on February 21, 2008, 19:18:18 Have no comment - i dont do local journeys
Title: Re: Poll: Which stock is the best for local/stopping/commuter travel? Post by: smithy on February 21, 2008, 19:23:24 local stuff like severn beach and around bristol then pacer wins,due to better acceleration and basically being designed for that work,not long distance like fgw use them for
Title: Re: Poll: Which stock is the best for local/stopping/commuter travel? Post by: Btline on February 21, 2008, 19:24:46 local stuff like severn beach and around bristol then pacer wins,due to better acceleration and basically being designed for that work,not long distance like fgw use them for a- it's local and commuter b- you have 2 votes Title: Re: Poll: Which stock is the best for local/stopping/commuter travel? Post by: swlines on February 21, 2008, 19:34:59 Quote from: Btline it is up! i thought Wessex electrics were for long distance..... 442s were very much both a local and long distance train! Weymouth to Poole all stations... they operated numerous Southampton area suburban services too.Title: Re: Poll: Which stock is the best for local/stopping/commuter travel? Post by: Btline on February 21, 2008, 22:02:30 Obviously, if the opinions of 10 people here are valid- it was a mistake for FGW to think that Mark 3s should be refurbed for commuter stock!
I am surprised about the popularity of the 150s! Title: Re: Poll: Which stock is the best for local/stopping/commuter travel? Post by: vacman on February 22, 2008, 00:12:35 My vote for "Sprinter" is purely for a 150, which are the best diesel commuter/general purpouse unit! second is a Turbo, which are laid out very similar to a 150, Pacers loose out by not having enough doors.
Title: Re: Poll: Which stock is the best for local/stopping/commuter travel? Post by: Conner on February 22, 2008, 07:54:54 My vote for "Sprinter" is purely for a 150, which are the best diesel commuter/general purpouse unit! second is a Turbo, which are laid out very similar to a 150, Pacers loose out by not having enough doors. I gave votes to 150 and 158 as 150 is the best commuter stock and 158's can do commuter stints but still do a long distance service.But as for Turbos. They definatly don't get my vote as they are uncomfortable and in an awful condition. Title: Re: Poll: Which stock is the best for local/stopping/commuter travel? Post by: devon_metro on February 22, 2008, 09:45:06 Obviously, if the opinions of 10 people here are valid- it was a mistake for FGW to think that Mark 3s should be refurbed for commuter stock! ahhh but a 150 from Reading - London would be silly ;) I voted sprinter/turbostar due to the door layout and acceleration. Pacer acceleration is awful down in Devon so they aren't suited anywhere!! Title: Re: Poll: Which stock is the best for local/stopping/commuter travel? Post by: Doctor Gideon Ceefax on February 22, 2008, 12:27:47 Mark III would be useless as it needs something to haul it ; )
Underfloored engines with wide centre doors win every time for this sort of work. 170 variants are by far the most suitable, although to be fair for short distance stop start stuff, electric units win every time. Title: Re: Poll: Which stock is the best for local/stopping/commuter travel? Post by: tramway on February 22, 2008, 15:38:17 Mark III would be useless as it needs something to haul it ; ) IIRC there were quite a few MKII/III's (?) exported to Ireland and Australia which were destined for conversion for urban use, extra doors etc etc. Loco hauled with a DVT The system here just doesn't seem to lend itself to to encouraging this sort innovation, which seems a pity. Too late now as they are all abroad. Title: Re: Poll: Which stock is the best for local/stopping/commuter travel? Post by: Andy W on February 22, 2008, 22:06:33 Mark III would be useless as it needs something to haul it ; ) Underfloored engines with wide centre doors win every time for this sort of work. 170 variants are by far the most suitable, although to be fair for short distance stop start stuff, electric units win every time. This is how it could be done (with HD refreshed Mk3 stock) for commuters http://www.wrexhamandshropshire.co.uk/livery.html Or even for longer distances - lots of room in DVT for bikes as well. Title: Re: Poll: Which stock is the best for local/stopping/commuter travel? Post by: vacman on February 22, 2008, 23:23:27 My vote for "Sprinter" is purely for a 150, which are the best diesel commuter/general purpouse unit! second is a Turbo, which are laid out very similar to a 150, Pacers loose out by not having enough doors. I gave votes to 150 and 158 as 150 is the best commuter stock and 158's can do commuter stints but still do a long distance service.But as for Turbos. They definatly don't get my vote as they are uncomfortable and in an awful condition. Title: Re: Poll: Which stock is the best for local/stopping/commuter travel? Post by: Doctor Gideon Ceefax on February 23, 2008, 08:25:10 Mark III would be useless as it needs something to haul it ; ) Underfloored engines with wide centre doors win every time for this sort of work. 170 variants are by far the most suitable, although to be fair for short distance stop start stuff, electric units win every time. This is how it could be done (with HD refreshed Mk3 stock) for commuters http://www.wrexhamandshropshire.co.uk/livery.html Or even for longer distances - lots of room in DVT for bikes as well. Acceleration would be very poor, unless it was literally the four carriages + loco (which compared to a multiple unit is highly uneconmical - B.R. study recommended anything less than six carriages to be better off as a unit, anything more as hauled). And Wrexham and Shropshire are not proposing a local commuter stopping service anyway, in fact it appears from the timetable to set down only at Banbury and then run fast to London! For this stock to be suitable for local services, the loco would have to be re-geared and extra wider doors would be needed in the centre of the carriages. Time would still be lost opening up and closing the DVT, much like the power car bike situation. I certainly wouldn't want to see this sort of thing on Oxford to London stoppers, or whatever else counts as a commuter service. That said a DVT + loco and a few mark III's wouldn't be too bad for London - Bristol / Cardiff. HSTs, DVTs + Locos were never designed for commuter operations, and putting them on it doesn't work well. Equally using 150s on mainline express trains isn't acceptable. Title: Re: Poll: Which stock is the best for local/stopping/commuter travel? Post by: eightf48544 on February 23, 2008, 18:12:42 I'm not sure I can vote for any. Most are diesel so not suitable for local services which should be electric. Continental diesel units tend to have power packs rather than underfloor engines to give low floor units for disabled access. It also gives a quiter ride, Stadler have a number of units both electric and deisel with a an articlated power pack between two passenger coaches, with a passage way through the middle.
A proper continental Desiro/Talent (articulated) would be good as are the DB 424? EMUS these are four car units with wide doors plenty of standing room and 2 by 2 seating also wide corridor connections so you can see the length of the unit. They run the HAnover S Bahn services from the Airport. Title: Re: Poll: Which stock is the best for local/stopping/commuter travel? Post by: Btline on February 23, 2008, 18:59:12 The only reason I included Mark 3 refurbs was because I thought FGW wanted them to be commuter/local.
I, agree, though. DMUs with 1/3 2/3 doors are better. (I think some people are getting mixed up between Turbos (ie 165, 166) which have good acceleration and lots of seats; and a Turbostar (170) which have POOR acceleration and less seats!) I like 175s. Title: Re: Poll: Which stock is the best for local/stopping/commuter travel? Post by: devon_metro on February 23, 2008, 19:12:33 Turbostar acceleration is probably better than the sprinter varient.
At least according to the BVE train simulator: http://www.bverailnetwork.co.uk/download.htm#Trains Title: Re: Poll: Which stock is the best for local/stopping/commuter travel? Post by: dog box on February 23, 2008, 21:15:59 The Turbostar is a far superior unit to the turbo
Title: Re: Poll: Which stock is the best for local/stopping/commuter travel? Post by: Chris from Nailsea on February 23, 2008, 22:11:09 As with Btline's other poll on long distance travel, I considered my own commute from Nailsea to Bristol (ten minutes), and voted accordingly.
Well, I didn't, actually: due to my two-fingered typing (if you'll pardon the expression!) I made a mess of it and apparently voted for 150s and Pacers, when I meant to vote for 150s and 158s - sorry, Btlines! Among the trains that turn up for my daily commute are 150s and 158s - they're fine for the ten minutes it takes to get me into Bristol - even standing, due to crowding. Other trains that call at Nailsea are HSTs (Mk3 refresh), but they are not really suited to Nailsea - due to our short platform / SDO / bicycle-wielding passenger complications - from my commuter perspective, anyway! Also, we have a solitary Voyager service that calls at Nailsea, the 0846: while this does provide a useful additional service, it's not really suitable for such commuter work, due to SDO being used (even though all five carriages are well and truly platformed!) and similar bicycle-wielding passenger complications. Vacman, I take your point about 158s generally being slow to load/unload due to limited door access - but for me, on my particular commute, that's more of an issue with the HSTs and Voyagers using SDO! However, this is just my opinion, based on my daily commute: let the discussion (and the voting) continue! ;) Title: Re: Poll: Which stock is the best for local/stopping/commuter travel? Post by: Btline on February 24, 2008, 00:26:16 Turbostar acceleration is probably better than the sprinter varient. At least according to the BVE train simulator: http://www.bverailnetwork.co.uk/download.htm#Trains No. I know that Sprinters (and Thames Turbos) have better acceleration than 170 Turbostars. It is mentioned in many places, that 170s could not keep to local timetables when replacing sprinters (unless there was enough track above 75 mph to compensate). The new 172s for LM, Chiltern and LO are to have better acceleration than the 170s. Title: Re: Poll: Which stock is the best for local/stopping/commuter travel? Post by: tramway on February 27, 2008, 14:09:35 Mark III would be useless as it needs something to haul it ; ) IIRC there were quite a few MKII/III's (?) exported to Ireland and Australia which were destined for conversion for urban use, extra doors etc etc. Loco hauled with a DVT The system here just doesn't seem to lend itself to to encouraging this sort innovation, which seems a pity. Too late now as they are all abroad. Finally found this after much hunting, there have been something over 70 MkII's sent to New Zealand, and this is what they did with them. Pity similar efforts couldn't have been made here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:38522796_59f6c38d59.jpg Title: Re: Poll: Which stock is the best for local/stopping/commuter travel? Post by: Btline on March 02, 2008, 12:45:20 I have locked the voting.
Surprisingly (for me), the Sprinters are the wasy winners! Not surprisingly, Mark 3 refresh and Buses on rails are the least popular! Methinks FGW were wrong in thinking Mk3s could do local! But at least there are more seats. Thanks for voting. :) This page is printed from the "Coffee Shop" forum at http://gwr.passenger.chat which is provided by a customer of Great Western Railway. Views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that content provided contravenes our posting rules ( see http://railcustomer.info/1761 ). The forum is hosted by Well House Consultants - http://www.wellho.net |