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How many 15x units can be coupled into a train?  Can't recall seeing a train longer than 6 carriages - and that 6 carriage train wasn't exactly welcomed at Weymouth where the platforms had to be switched around.

In theory 12 cars is the limit for 15x.

Not strictly connected but I have seen a 16 car class 365 before (4 sets). The rear most set of 4 was LOU and ran as a Cambridge cruiser to Kings X. They routed it into the old Platform 1 at Kings X where it fouled the points. I believe they then sent the 8 car back to hornsey.

There's a video on YouTube of an 11 car 375 assisting a failed 12 car 375. A whopping 23 car formation!  Although 375s are limited to 12 car maximum in normal service.

Due to "Safety Checks" being made the 17 23 Portsmouth Hbr to Cardiff (3 Cars) and the 17 30 Weymouth to Bristol (4 Cars), the latter having been delayed at Westbury ran, in effect, as a combined train.

Well I responded to this post but for some reason it didn't register. Probably my mobile though as sent the post from that.

2C36 has been known on many occasions to run in a 7 or 8 Carriage Formation of various 15x units. It's certainly usually formed with a minimum of 5 Carraiges. Even with just a Guard and Driver the whole consist will continue to Frome ::) ;D

Usually it is the leading set that is used for Passenger seating however.

Also South West Trains regularly run Class 159's in 3 Unit formations totalling 9 Cars.

I have also seen 3x Class 444s run together in formation (15 Carriages)

I think the longest Domestic train in the UK is the ScotRail Caledonian Sleeper?

I have seen 2x3 car 159/1 + 2x2 car 159/8 (i.e 10 cars) on the Exeter to Waterloo service on a handful of occasions, although I cannot recollect the precise dates and services.

SWT run 10 car 158 and 159 combos on certain weekday peak services.

The Nov2013 Modern Railways has an article on the Nottingham resignalling project. This involved some positioning moves with lots of coupled sprinters. There's a picture of a test run with a class 153, two class 156s and two class 158s (five units, nine carriages). Similar topics on RailUK fourm suggest that the limit is the number of cabs. If that's correct, and the five units in MR was the maximum, you could probably run five class 159s in multiple which gives you a 15 coach train.

There is a maximum of 8 cabs (4 Units) applied to any formation which includes a Pacer/s.

At 16 coaches the Highland Sleepers are indeed the longest domestic passenger service - except last Monday when the northbound left a faulty coach behind at Crewe in the early hours of the following morning. (Oh and Wednesday night when they didn't run at all) >:(

Even on Saturdays - as seen in that famous youtube video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBBK2hjcPuA&feature=kp

Any excuse for a repeat...   ;D

Paul

Pacers have a maximum of 8-cabs.
15x's can run a maximum of 12-cabs.

Of course a 158/9 still has to be considered as 3-cabs and 158798 is only 2!!

So, true 3 car 158/159s can theoretically run as an 18 vehicle consist?

Whilst FGW's reformed 3 car 158/9s can only run as a 12 vehicle consist?

Have I got that right? I guess the same would be true of the 150/9s with their 3 cabs, if there were enough of them.

As I wrote above, the limit is 12 car for 15x.

The number of cabs is relevant, because of interactions with Pacers, which as phile says is limited for 8 cabs. So you could have a 158798 (a true 3 car 158) for example coupled to 3 class 143s to make a 9 car formation, but the other 158 hybrid 3 cars could only run coupled to 2 class 143s.

The reason for this limit in carriages and cabs is because of the limit of the electrical control systems.

Winter of 1963 32 COR on Haslemere bank. 3 Trains 2*12 (3*4)  + 8 (2*4). 16 cabs!

But then they were good old fashioned DC English Electric traction motors and no sophisticeted software.

Here's an even longer MerseyRail train ...

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/watch-biggest-merseyrail-train-ever-8468958?

The article doesn't state the number of carriages ... what do YOU make it?

18 which is 6 units.

Seconded.  ;D

Whilst watching Michael Portillo's 'Great British Railway Journeys' the other day (complete with shades to negate the effect of his gaudy jackets!) I noticed that while he was standing on a platform doing a bit of his narrating, a humungously long train pulled in behind him.  Didn't count the carriages but was fascinated to see an engine half way along the train, as well as the one at the front!  Must have a look again, on iplayer.  Can't remember the line he was travelling at the time, though he was on his way to Lindisfarne.

It was a Crosscountry Voyager, Cynthia, with just two units joined so not more than 10 coaches, but long for British trains these days. The lenses of TV cameras distort distances sometimes and it can be difficult to judge spatial relationships on the screen.

But an 'engine' (which I assume means 'locomotive') at the front and in the middle? Voyagers don't have locomotives.

The leading vehicle was a 5 car class 221, the rear I'd guess was probably the same (although could have been a 220 or a 4 car 221, not sure how many of these XC have now).

I think the front of the second unit was mistaken for a loco.

Ok, thanks folks.  By the way, what is the difference between an engine and a locomotive?  They both provide propulsion don't they?  Sorry, a bit of a girlie question, that.

A locomotive is a rail vehicle with just one purpose: to move the train along the tracks. That is, it provides the motive power for a train and has no payload capacity of its own (other than, perhaps, train crew). For example, a class 47 diesel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_47). The term 'engine' can be used to mean 'locomotive' but can also refer to an 'internal combustion engine' installed within a diesel locomotive to provide power or under the floor of a DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit) train. Multiple units (DMU and EMU) form most passenger trains in the UK these days and do not have a locomotive: the vehicle(s) which provide motive power in a multiple unit also have passenger carrying capacity (for example, see the class 220 'Voyager' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_220), every vehicle in the train has passenger windows.

The length of the word.

No, seriously - one is a long, technical, word with a well-defined meaning; the other is a common, non-technical, word with lots of rather vague meanings and idiomatic uses.

Thanks for these definitions.  Maybe the word engine is appropriate in a more historic context.   For example, I don't remember steam trains being driven by 'locomotive drivers', rather, 'engine drivers', but then that's me still living in the past.  You all knew what I meant by 'engine', anyway!

Ah, think about A.S.L.E.F - the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen!

Ok, Gordon the Blue Locomotive!  :D