158950 on hire to TfW

[Anonymous10]

Don’t forget Cardiff crews take GWR cl158s on and off Canton each weekend so will still sign 158s.

wouldn't that only be a limited amount of drivers and no conductors which also need to sign the stock for passenger working

 

[HamworthyGoods]

wouldn't that only be a limited amount of drivers and no conductors which also need to sign the stock for passenger working

It’ll all depend how the drivers end up being linked. Conductors would be more challenging..

 

[Caaardiff]

Don’t forget Cardiff crews take GWR cl158s on and off Canton each weekend so will still sign 158s.

Wouldn't it be better for GWR to just stop using Canton to stable a couple of trains each weekend and get them back to another Depot?

 

[HamworthyGoods]

Wouldn't it be better for GWR to just stop using Canton to stable a couple of trains each weekend and get them back to another Depot?

GWR don’t stable at Canton by choice. Network Rail engineering work on Saturday nights precludes the units continuing onto Swansea or returning towards Newport thus it’s leave the units at Canton or don’t run the services.

 

[anamyd]

J.m train spotting's videos of this train (the train first mentioned in post #21) at Neath and Port Talbot Parkway:

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Nearly 100% 5 cars on all London GWR services between Cardiff and Swansea a couple of days ago. That pair of 158s would have offered far more space.

 

[northernbelle]

Nearly 100% 5 cars on all London GWR services between Cardiff and Swansea a couple of days ago. That pair of 158s would have offered far more space.

70 more seats on a 6-car 158/9 formation over a 5-car IET.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

70 more seats on a 6-car 158/9 formation over a 5-car IET.

Quite so, not forgetting only 3.5 carriages in the latter for standard ticket holders.

 

[fgwrich]

Nearly 100% 5 cars on all London GWR services between Cardiff and Swansea a couple of days ago. That pair of 158s would have offered far more space.

Depressingly I’ve seen quite a few 5 car IETs on the Cardiffs recently. Leaving Paddington and Reading full and standing, which having done it in the past, is not a fun experience.

 

[Pete_uk]

They short of five and nice car trains?

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

They short of five and nice car trains?

Well, some need transferring to Eastleigh at some point for damage repairs, and others are still long term out of use. There were also no less than Four 9-80x being used on Plymouth Newquay shuttles for Boardmasters Festival last week, with six Newquay Paddington services on the Monday, which presumably ate up a lot of them hence the day of solely 5-80x to Swansea.

 

[HamworthyGoods]

Well, some need transferring to Eastleigh at some point for damage repairs, and others are still long term out of use. There were also no less than Four 9-80x being used on Plymouth Newquay shuttles for Boardmasters Festival last week, with six Newquay Paddington services on the Monday, which presumably ate up a lot of them hence the day of solely 5-80x to Swansea.

I believe the only long term out of use 80x is the one currently at Eastleigh for repairs. @Clarence Yard might be able to confirm if this isn’t the case.

Readjusting formations to cater for Boardmasters at Newquay sounds the far more likely reason.

 

[Bayum]

Ahhh I see, so they were originally 2 cars, split up and added to another 2 car to make 3

Yep. First Transpennine Express did this with a number of their 158s pre 185 introduction to boost capacity.

 

[northernbelle]

Well, some need transferring to Eastleigh at some point for damage repairs, and others are still long term out of use. There were also no less than Four 9-80x being used on Plymouth Newquay shuttles for Boardmasters Festival last week, with six Newquay Paddington services on the Monday, which presumably ate up a lot of them hence the day of solely 5-80x to Swansea.

Unfortunately something has to give when having to uplift capacity elsewhere. The same used to happen when HSTs were borrowed for Glastonbury shuttles - generally the Pad/Cardiffs were knocked on the head altogether to provide the necessary sets - at least with 5 car sets it's possible to maintain the frequency even if a few trains end up being cosier than ideal.

 

[HamworthyGoods]

Unfortunately something has to give when having to uplift capacity elsewhere. The same used to happen when HSTs were borrowed for Glastonbury shuttles - generally the Pad/Cardiffs were knocked on the head altogether to provide the necessary sets - at least with 5 car sets it's possible to maintain the frequency even if a few trains end up being cosier than ideal.

Indeed the railway has a long history of doing this for both events and seasonal demand.

If you look at the Summer Saturday timetable along the Dawlish sea wall in the early 1990s you see how the local service was decimated to provide paths and crews for all the long distance extras.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Unfortunately something has to give when having to uplift capacity elsewhere. The same used to happen when HSTs were borrowed for Glastonbury shuttles - generally the Pad/Cardiffs were knocked on the head altogether to provide the necessary sets - at least with 5 car sets it's possible to maintain the frequency even if a few trains end up being cosier than ideal.

I’m not complaining about it. Just stating that the 6 carriage 158 formation as mentioned here would have been an increase in capacity!

 

[craigybagel]

Don’t forget Cardiff crews take GWR cl158s on and off Canton each weekend so will still sign 158s.

I'd be amazed if that lasted for much longer. GWR have a brand new drivers depot at Cardiff - AFAIK the initial drivers there don't sign 158s but I can't see that lasting for long (indeed, the original plans for the depot I was given did show the drivers signing 158s).

TfW have already stopped working GWR services to Bristol in recent times. I'm sure this will go the same way when Cardiff no longer sees TfW 158s.

 

[Energy]

Unfortunately something has to give when having to uplift capacity elsewhere. The same used to happen when HSTs were borrowed for Glastonbury shuttles - generally the Pad/Cardiffs were knocked on the head altogether to provide the necessary sets - at least with 5 car sets it's possible to maintain the frequency even if a few trains end up being cosier than ideal.

Hopefully with the 80Xs being so ubiquitous we can see operators hiring in units when extra trains are needed.

 

[fgwrich]

I believe the only long term out of use 80x is the one currently at Eastleigh for repairs. @Clarence Yard might be able to confirm if this isn’t the case.

Readjusting formations to cater for Boardmasters at Newquay sounds the far more likely reason.

I believe so, so far Eastleigh is currently resident to 800026 (currently split across the works and last used in late March 2021) and 802003 which arrived first and is currently on the Hitachi road.