Trip report - Potters Bar to Worcester Foregate Street, 22/2/10

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

As I said, FGW^▸ (First Great Western) were getting to grips with the Class 180 fleet's peccadillos just as they went hither and thither. Splitting the small fleet to the four winds no doubt compounded the remaining problems.

[inspector_blakey]

Perhaps I was just lucky, but I don't think in many, many journeys I was ever delayed due to a problem with an Adelante.

Arriva Trains Wales seems to have got to grips with the 175 fleet as well - fraught with teething problems but after 10 years they finally seem to have settled down and are giving pretty good service.

[ChrisB]

The Adelantes were also 3 times more expensive to run than a turbo, and dearer than an HST^▸ (High Speed Train).

[ChrisB]

Perhaps I was just lucky, but I don't think in many, many journeys I was ever delayed due to a problem with an Adelante.

Boy, you *were* lucky!

[Richard Fairhurst]

Perhaps I was just lucky, but I don't think in many, many journeys I was ever delayed due to a problem with an Adelante.

Same here, except for one journey when I was stranded at Foregate because FGW^▸ (First Great Western) had forgotten to fill it up with diesel - which could equally happen to an HST^▸ (High Speed Train) or Turbo!

[willc]

As I said, FGW^▸ (First Great Western) were getting to grips with the Class 180 fleet's peccadillos just as they went hither and thither. Splitting the small fleet to the four winds no doubt compounded the remaining problems.

No, what you said was

FGW got rid of them just as they started working properly

- not that they were getting to grips with them. Bit of a difference. And even if they were "getting to grips" with them, I would hardly regard that as a triumph after eight years of working with 180s. And the evidence of Hull Trains' experiences suggests that FGW were not getting to grips with them, just glad to be shot of them. HT^▸ (Hull Trains) should have reaped the benefit of trains that were "working properly".

ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)))'s experience with the 175s is hardly any more encouraging. Compare the 175/180s with any Turbostar, or the 220/221 fleet, in terms of mechanical reliability and it's clear that the Alstom products left a lot to be desired.

And when they broke down, it wasn't even always clear what was wrong with them. My breakdown experience came one evening just after leaving Charlbury, when we came to a halt with the fire alarm going. There was much stuff drifting up from underneath coach B which could have been smoke, so we were all moved to the rear of the train while firefighters were called. Eventually they and the driver decided it was steam from a broken hose, due to a cooling system fault, and we scuttled off to Moreton on the remaining engines, then the train was terminated.

I suspect that a large part of the inflated operating costs was down to the sheer amount of time being spent trying to keep them working. At least the 180s did deliver on the words of an FGW press release in December 2004 "delivering InterCity quality and comfort to the route throughout the day".

No danger of anyone accusing FGW of doing that now, with the steady march back to the pre-December 2004 situation, with the 166s back in force, also to the detriment of the Reading-Gatwick service, where the extra luggage space meant they were far more suitable than 165s. Quite how FGW has run short of HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) at times recently when several sets presumably acquired to cover Cotswold workings in place of 180s are no longer being used baffles me.

[ChrisB]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) are very glad to be shot of them.

The HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) suffered in the snow - although availability is getting back to 'normal' now.

[willc]

I know they suffered in the snow, but when FGW^▸ (First Great Western) already has 118 or so power cars with only 53 sets of HST^▸ (High Speed Train) coaches and several of those sets are no longer needed in service on a daily basis due to Turbo-isation on the Cotswold Line, never mind those sets routinely allocated for maintenance and as stand-bys, it suggests an alarmingly high casualty rate if they still couldn't get enough sets fit for duty each day.

[ChrisB]

I'm not so sure about the 'no longer needed' - they're all still in uise on a daily basis....

[willc]

Where? I haven't noticed anyone else getting extra HST^▸ (High Speed Train) services and I thought the whole point of Turbo-isation on the Cotswold Line was to cut operating costs, which presumably would mean not using those more expensive-to-run HSTs, full stop.

If you're saying FGW^▸ (First Great Western) is still paying to keep them working somewhere, day in, day out, then maybe we could have them back on the Cotswold Line, to give us that "InterCity quality and comfort throughout the day" that we were promised, at the very least on trains where the capacity would come in handy, like the 08.58 from Malvern, which continues to have an extra Turbo added at Oxford, even after the introduction of the 09.29 from Moreton.

[IndustryInsider]

There's a noticeable lack of 2+8 sets around at the moment.  Hopefully the fleet will be back to full strength in time for the summer crush...

[Worcester_Passenger]

Perhaps I was just lucky, but I don't think in many, many journeys I was ever delayed due to a problem with an Adelante.

Boy, you *were* lucky!

I agree with ChrisB - you must have been very lucky.

Nice interiors (much much better than the revamped HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train)), but it would've been nicer if they'd worked.

When they went wrong, it was so wonderfully difficult to access the bits that had failed. Attached are a couple of photos of one that's broken down at Moreton. First picture shows FGW^▸ (First Great Western) staff having a discussion outside. Eventually they managed to move it to outside the platform so that the driver could open the panels so as to get inside. That's him in the second picture. I didn't manage to get him while he was on his mobile to the Adelante breakdown centre, but that's obviously the 'trouble-shooting' section of the driver's manual alongside him, presumably kept in a glove compartment in the cab.

[Worcester_Passenger]

And there was the one that was disabled by a head-on collision with a pigeon.

[Mookiemoo]

And the one I was on whose doors flew open in a carriage whilst going through airport junction

However aparrt from that and some issues with air con and noise - I'd take them over a turbo!