Recent content by hooverboy

What is the utility value of the loco? CL67 have poor tractive effort, poor route availabiltiy,and poor reliability. Scrap value(in working order) of a CL37 is higher ,because it can do a lot of stuff extra that a CL67 can't, even despite being 60 years old.

I wouldn't disagree. Northern looking at replacing the 150's/769's and prospectively old "pacer" routes, I would be having a wager on some 20m stock being ordered.End gangways as per 150/2, and powered centre cars if they decide to have them in a 3/4 car formation. With PRM,capacity is reduced...

The other bee in the bonnet is lack of production volume. Typically an order for some type of stock will be in the region of several tens or hundreds of units,so it's not like a car production line that will be rolling off hundreds per week. The lack of quantity generally means that iterations...

You want crazy then lets go nuclear!!!! Well,maybe not quite as crazy as it sounds, as some freight marine vessel companies are starting to take a look at the concept. If a less "reactive",lower yield,and less polluting source of fission can be conjoured up,then coupled to a battery for...

That is sort of yes,and no though, isn't it? A few of these microfleet hybrid projects have tried to incorporate additional engine management and traction systems,in what was a typically "no bells or whistles" vehicle,run on a budget,and come off much the worse. While touted as being a super...

The class 700 are mechanically very reliable.When they run,(more often than not the cause of cancellation is crew-related),they are robust and punctual. The main quirk with these units is the aesthetics and the interior,not the stuff that makes it go.

I'd certainly agree with some diesel/750v bimodes for SWR.Also needed on southern to replace the uckfield/oxted stock. There's not much point in doing micro-fleets,so an MU that can cover all those bases would be preferable. Stadler would seem like the obvious choice,but they need to put those...

That solution would make a lot of sense,if southern and SWR put in a joint tender for stock of that sort. I definitely think end gangways would be required though.There's quite a lot of split operation on SWR.I don't see any reason why Stadler could not make a unit like that. The DfT sanctioning...

Indeed. ESG scores in the business world are likely to become more important,so there is potentially more investor backing of companies that can do good green initiatives,or at least put out a good sales pitch that they are.

Indeed.There are several bits of very straight track on the anglia branches,however some of it is crossing some very soft ground with a lot of give underneath.Needless to say the speed and type of stock allowed is restricted. Case in point would be the incident with one of the GA flirts...

This is a lesson in how to make life difficult. Instead of all these loyalty schemes and advance tickets, just price monday to friday as either "off peak" or "weekend" rates,and do it for ALL fares.TVM included. Much easier for everyone to understand,and it only requires a tweak or two from...

Those transit engines nearly always did sound like they were being revved pretty hard.It's not exactly a surprise that they were giving up on such a frequent basis. With regard to the "failures", I was very much of the understanding that the defective ones were rotated out,but I think it...

if I was to be really pedantic,then why not trial a few new more efficient engines as a test case on that line. ROSCO and TOC have basically lost nothing as there's no service at all at the moment,and the previous vivarail service was always breaking down anyway! if they want to trial super...

probably a bit of a stretch,but what would be the issue with getting a couple of "spare" 156's, and retrofitting a sliding door with a t key at each of the drivers ends? lock the back door out of use on each trip,and then get the guard to announce only the front 3 in operation.(guard to dispense...

So if SWR ,for instance, wanted the 185's as 158/9 replacements, what would stop them from ordering several unpowered trailer carriages to work as intermediate coaches in such a consist? 5 car formations with the power output they presently have would work.The only let-down is the absence of...