FGW may get "NEW" stock for Bristol area

[whole diary]

[G.Uard]

Rumour in the north of the area is that we are to get several 150/1 (non front gangwayed ) units.  Anyone travelling frequently in the Brizzle area will already have experienced these as we currently have 2 or 3 in service, (green and blue paint job with a slam crew door).

Although the current units have 3+2 seating, a refurb could render the 'new' stock similar to existing 150/2s.  From a guard's point of view, they have nice big cabs, but can only be worked from cab ends, which would be a PIA with 3 car configuration on busy trains.

fGW have 2 150/1s, 150121 & 150127.

Aspley Annie and Silverlink Sally. The former though, is a pile of Charlie Romeo Alpha Papa.  I had heard that there was another hiding out at Landore, but that was only a rumour.

[Sprog]

Aspley Annie and Silverlink Sally. The former though, is a pile of Charlie Romeo Alpha Papa.  I had heard that there was another hiding out at Landore, but that was only a rumour.

  Saw the 'MAX SPEED 75MPH' adaptation the first day she arrived at SPM^▸ (St Philip's Marsh (Bristol depot)), along with some rather worrying Burning smells in one of the saloons which turned out to be an underfloor heater that had been switched on for the first time in several years so it seemed!!

It would appear that somebody has got their wires crossed somewhere, as there is definitely not anything hiding in Landore!!

The remaining LORL (Silverlink) 150/1s are the following:

150120  LO  WN      52120         57120    'Gospel Oak - Barking 2000'
150123  LO  WN      52123         57123    'Willesden TMD^▸ (Traction Maintenance Depot)'
150128  LO  WN      52128         57128    'Bedford-Bamberg 30'
150129  LO  WN      52129         57129    'Marston Vale'
150130  LO  WN      52130         57130    'Bedford - Bletchley 150'
150131  LO  WN      52131         57131    'LESLIE CRABBE'

As far as i know, we are to receive all of them when LORL get their new-build Class 172s later this year.

As 'smithy' says the 150/1 indeed to not have intermediate door controls, as where they currently operate this has never been a requirement due to the guards rarely leaving their 'back cabs'. I don't blame them either 

[smithy]

Rumour in the north of the area is that we are to get several 150/1 (non front gangwayed ) units.  Anyone travelling frequently in the Brizzle area will already have experienced these as we currently have 2 or 3 in service, (green and blue paint job with a slam crew door).

Although the current units have 3+2 seating, a refurb could render the 'new' stock similar to existing 150/2s.  From a guard's point of view, they have nice big cabs, but can only be worked from cab ends, which would be a PIA with 3 car configuration on busy trains.

fGW have 2 150/1s, 150121 & 150127.

Been informed that both, plus any other we recieve from London Midland and LORL (formerly Silverlink), are to be 'refreshed' soon, possibly in-house to a simlar standard to the fGW 150/2s.

The Class 143s, once refreshed, are going to be allocated to Exeter depot once the short-term lease 142s are returned, so that the 'pacer' fleet has a dedicated home depot (proved by the excellent work they have done on the 142 fleet, which are no reaching 6,500 MPC^▸ (Miles Per Casualty)! - better than ANY od the DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) classes in the Wessex Trains era.). In turn, SPM^▸ (St Philip's Marsh (Bristol depot)) will be allocated half of Exters 150s to lighten their already high workload.

The eventual plan is to use the 150/1s on the Bristol local services etc, whilst keeping the 142/143s in Devon.

sprog

no offence intended but i would check your info as i am sure in wessex days the mpc was far better than now,although saying that things do appear to be finally improving.one thing i would say though is the mpc figure for the 150 fleet has nose dived over the past 12 months the only explanation is since the majority of the work is now done on spm and not exeter.


on another note i see you work at spm? as train crew i find it really annoying when defects that are booked either get next exam attention or team leader informed put in the book,it is things like this that cause failiures as crew see this and then think if the depot cannot be bothered then neither can we and fail the train.there has been times when it has turned out to be something stupid causing the fault that took a couple of minutes to sort out by station or mobile fitters yet on depot nothing has been done.
are you able to give us an insight in to what happens on depot and why seemingly simple repairs are constantly left?

[Sprog]

are you able to give us an insight in to what happens on depot and why seemingly simple repairs are constantly left?

Where do i start!?

Materials, Time, Man power, Facilities

I have not got time to give a comprehensive reply to the rest of your post right now 'smithy', but i will in due course.

[The SprinterMeister]

no offence intended but i would check your info as i am sure in wessex days the mpc was far better than now,although saying that things do appear to be finally improving.one thing i would say though is the mpc figure for the 150 fleet has nose dived over the past 12 months the only explanation is since the majority of the work is now done on spm and not exeter.

Wrong....

The MPC^▸ (Miles Per Casualty) under Wessex was always poor. I don't think any class of unit ever achieved over 4500mpc consistently for any measurable period of time. Most of this was down to issues at Canton. Exeter only ever did FPX, 'A' exams and reblocking on 15x except 153's. All other major exams were undertaken at 'Canton Car Sheds'.

[qwerty]

no offence intended but i would check your info as i am sure in wessex days the mpc was far better than now,although saying that things do appear to be finally improving.one thing i would say though is the mpc figure for the 150 fleet has nose dived over the past 12 months the only explanation is since the majority of the work is now done on spm and not exeter.

Wrong....

The MPC^▸ (Miles Per Casualty) under Wessex was always poor. I don't think any class of unit ever achieved over 4500mpc consistently for any measurable period of time. Most of this was down to issues at Canton. Exeter only ever did FPX, 'A' exams and reblocking on 15x except 153's. All other major exams were undertaken at 'Canton Car Sheds'.

Agreed...

Wessex never had a chance in that direction. One only has to look at SWT^▸ (South West Trains) and Salisbury to see the benefit of having an in-house depot and dedicated allocation of units.

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have been plesantly surprised that 142's at Exeter have responded in the same way. Considering how unpromising the condition of the units was at the start.

[The SprinterMeister]

no offence intended but i would check your info as i am sure in wessex days the mpc was far better than now,although saying that things do appear to be finally improving.one thing i would say though is the mpc figure for the 150 fleet has nose dived over the past 12 months the only explanation is since the majority of the work is now done on spm and not exeter.

Wrong....

The MPC^▸ (Miles Per Casualty) under Wessex was always poor. I don't think any class of unit ever achieved over 4500mpc consistently for any measurable period of time. Most of this was down to issues at Canton. Exeter only ever did FPX, 'A' exams and reblocking on 15x except 153's. All other major exams were undertaken at 'Canton Car Sheds'.

Agreed...

Wessex never had a chance in that direction. One only has to look at SWT^▸ (South West Trains) and Salisbury to see the benefit of having an in-house depot and dedicated allocation of units.

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have been plesantly surprised that 142's at Exeter have responded in the same way. Considering how unpromising the condition of the units was at the start.

Indeed. The 142's have been turning out around 6500mpc, which bearing in mind the failure rate was measured in yards rather than miles during the first week of squadron service last December is no mean achievement and a tribute to the fitting staff at Exeter depot. As you say 'Mini-Salisbury' effect. The Exeter crews seem to have mastered the occasional irritating faults very well too and can usually overcome minor problems without undue delay. Whether it might be termed 'esprit de corps' or 'comrades in adversity' the 142 operation has surprised many (including it has to be said, me!).

It should be remembered that as well as being the principle DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) depot on FGW, SPM^▸ (St Philip's Marsh (Bristol depot)) also has a key role in the delivery of the HST^▸ (High Speed Train) service as well. It should also be remembered that a lot of the more irritating faults on 14x/15x that occur out on the road never seem to manifest themselves on the depot, thus giving the impression that nothing has been done on the depot overnight. There are now however several travelling technicians riding around on the units to overcome this issue. There are of course only limited hours to do the various exams of safety critical equipment, thus sometimes items are deferred until a more major exam (requiring a day or more out of service) fall due, thus making best use of the limited resource that is known as FGW West rolling stock. It should be remembered that the 150/2's are still undergoing refurbishment, this I suspect is due to the condition into which they had been allowed to deteriorate by the previous franchise holder.

[eightf48544]

The SprinterMeister makes a very good point about the advantages of a dedicated depot looking after a single type of unit. If Exeter can keep up 6500mpc for their 142s, or even better it, then they should be in-line for one of Roger Ford's spanners he awards each year (December/January Modern Railways) for best performing depots.

The problem is that the "bus orientated bean counters" in First 's HQ^▸ (Headquarters) only look at overall costs of maintenance and small dedicated depots like Exeter are always likely to cost more per unit than large depots such as SPM^▸ (St Philip's Marsh (Bristol depot)). They are incapable of working out the "value" getting more mpc in terms of goodwill and even possibly attracting more passengers when the travelling public find that their train is more likely to run and reach its destination without failing.

[smithy]

no offence intended but i would check your info as i am sure in wessex days the mpc was far better than now,although saying that things do appear to be finally improving.one thing i would say though is the mpc figure for the 150 fleet has nose dived over the past 12 months the only explanation is since the majority of the work is now done on spm and not exeter.

Wrong....

The MPC^▸ (Miles Per Casualty) under Wessex was always poor. I don't think any class of unit ever achieved over 4500mpc consistently for any measurable period of time. Most of this was down to issues at Canton. Exeter only ever did FPX, 'A' exams and reblocking on 15x except 153's. All other major exams were undertaken at 'Canton Car Sheds'.

i stand corrected

maybe it seemed higher then as we had more stock in those days to replace knackered sets with?

there is still a long way to go before we are anywhere near as good as salisbury depot (i heard a rumour fgw want our 158's better than swt 159's) not possible in my opinion.when i have reported set faults control have said they will try to get set to exeter as it stands more chance of being repaired first time,make of that what you will.

[The SprinterMeister]

I stand corrected

maybe it seemed higher then as we had more stock in those days to replace knackered sets with?

there is still a long way to go before we are anywhere near as good as salisbury depot (i heard a rumour fgw want our 158's better than swt 159's) not possible in my opinion.when i have reported set faults control have said they will try to get set to exeter as it stands more chance of being repaired first time,make of that what you will.

Exeter was more likely to effect repairs than Canton during the Wessex era, it was always a distinct possibility that the unit would come off Canton with the initial fault fixed but several new faults to take its place.

We had rather more 150/2's in those days, personally I think whoever thought it was a winner to keep the 8 x 143 on FGW^▸ (First Great Western) and pack 8 perfectly operational and entirely serviceable ex-Wessex 150/2's off to South Wales for Valley Lines / Grumbly Gasworks services wants putting up a wall and shooting. The 8 143's should have gone, thus concentrating the entire class on Canton.

[Timmer]

(i heard a rumour fgw want our 158's better than swt 159's)

No chance. My reason for saying that is SWT^▸ (South West Trains) 159s were in much better condition to start with after lots of TLC^▸ (three letter code ) at Salisbury from the time they came into service back in the early 90s. The three car 158s which became 159s from TPX a couple of years back were given such a major refurb they came out almost as good as new. I think I'm right in saying that though FGW^▸ (First Great Western) 158s were refurbed to a good standard at wabtec, it wasn't as major a refurb as the 158s that SWT took from TPX received.

[devon_metro]

It was done to the same spec apart from First Class in SWT^▸ (South West Trains) varietys AFAIAA!

[Timmer]

We had rather more 150/2's in those days, personally I think whoever thought it was a winner to keep the 8 x 143 on FGW^▸ (First Great Western) and pack 8 perfectly operational and entirely serviceable ex-Wessex 150/2's off to South Wales for Valley Lines / Grumbly Gasworks services wants putting up a wall and shooting. The 8 143's should have gone, thus concentrating the entire class on Canton.

Yes it was a great shame that FGW let 8 of their 150/2s go, probably under orders from DaFT^» (Department for Transport - critical sounding abbreviation I discourage - about). Still we got 5 of them back whilst we wait for LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise) to let some 150/1s go.

[Timmer]

It was done to the same spec apart from First Class in SWT^▸ (South West Trains) varietys AFAIAA!

but not the air con!?!?!

[devon_metro]

I imagine the SWT^▸ (South West Trains) 158s had the German System where as most FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have the original BR^▸ (British Rail(ways))!!