Class 334 on the Sunday Argyle Line services.

[LT02 NVV]

Yesterday, I went into Glasgow Central to do some Sunday shopping, on the way back home, I got the 2S65 (1442 Motherwell to Balloch service) at Central, it was running 6 minutes late.

When the train arrived at Central, I was surprised to see a 6-car 334 formation, because I was expecting to see the usual 6-car 318/320 sets.

What’s even stranger was that the 334 units had taken over the duties of a 320 unit, so is there a reason why that happened yesterday?

(The two images attached show the 334 units that would also run the rest of the services after 2S65, and the prior 2C64 service with the 320 unit that they took over for some reason).

 

[louis97]

The service was not booked a pair of 334s, it should have been a pair of 318s. There was no swap at Motherwell, the inward trip was incorrectly displaying 320317 (it is showing the pair of 334s on TRUST, so some sort of error feeding to RTT). 320317 was allocated another departure from Milngavie half hour before. If you look at the inward trip of 2C64 at Milngavie, it is showing the same 334s.

As to why it was a pair of 334s vice 318s, could be for various reasons.

 

[LT02 NVV]

The service was not booked a pair of 334s, it should have been a pair of 318s. There was no swap at Motherwell, the inward trip was incorrectly displaying 320317 (it is showing the pair of 334s on TRUST, so some sort of error feeding to RTT). 320317 was allocated another departure from Milngavie half hour before. If you look at the inward trip of 2C64 at Milngavie, it is showing the same 334s.

As to why it was a pair of 334s vice 318s, could be for various reasons.

I could think of two reasons myself, one could of been a fault with the 318 units.
The other one could of been the amount of 318s & 320s that were in use that Sunday meant that there were not as much spare units to be used (I saw a lot of more of them be used on the Central High Level services that Sunday on trains to Newton, Neilston, Paisley Canal, and Motherwell than I’ve usually seen on other Sundays).

The fault option seems likely as a few weeks ago, a single 334 unit (I think it was 334 039 or 019) took over for a pair of 320s because there was a fault with one of the 320 units in the set.

I’d imagine that the single 334 was packed full during the peak time Larkhall/Motherwell - Dalmuir services that day, as passengers would have expected their usual 6 car train.

 

[Blindtraveler]

Out of curiosity how is 318 and 320 reliability these days

 

[LT02 NVV]

Out of curiosity how is 318 and 320 reliability these days

Not too sure actually, though I have noticed a lot of them seem to be a bit slower at building up speed than I remember them being 5 years ago. I think by 2027/8 at the earliest, they will be gone.

But the 334s are probably going to last a little bit longer till 2035 possibly (when ScotRail will have them all replaced by then), thanks to the new improvement upgrades the fleet will be getting soon (plus another possible overhaul in 2029).

 

[SC318250]

Class 334 cover on Sunday. Might have been due to quite a few 318s I believe at Shields on Sunday (250/252/270 definitely there) also a few 320(321 for sure) there may have been others.
There are some service Mon-Fri booked for Class 334 on Argyle line

334s must be coming up for a repaint soon.
Also with no tender yet for 318/320 replacement (as I think it was just the legal stuff), then 2027/28 might be a push for replacements.
320 will probably need another TBox by 2025/26 and the 318 a year or so later

 

[LT02 NVV]

Class 334 cover on Sunday. Might have been due to quite a few 318s I believe at Shields on Sunday (250/252/270 definitely there) also a few 320(321 for sure) there may have been others.
There are some service Mon-Fri booked for Class 334 on Argyle line

334s must be coming up for a repaint soon.
Also with no tender yet for 318/320 replacement (as I think it was just the legal stuff), then 2027/28 might be a push for replacements.
320 will probably need another TBox by 2025/26 and the 318 a year or so later

Yeah, I know one is usually on the Motherwell Via Whifflet (a few terminating at Whifflet) services, with it being a 6-car set on Saturdays.

Though it has been a 318/320 on some occasions.

My next reply goes into more detail about what I said in italics here.

 

[route101]

I use the line fairly regularly and don't come across class 334s very often. The service is usually reliable, but one problem at Partick for example takes out the whole service.

 

[LT02 NVV]

I use the line fairly regularly and don't come across class 334s very often. The service is usually reliable, but one problem at Partick for example takes out the whole service.

Well, I might as well go into more detail about it here.

That’s because usually there’s one unit on the Argyle Line weekday services normally (the first two services it runs being 2R08 & 2S11 [and so on from there], and on Saturday services, it’s a 6-car set with two units), until the late-evenings, when a few more 334s (maybe another 318/320 unit as well, depending on the day) come from the Milngavie branch after the Springburn services are done for the day.

 

[LT02 NVV]

Looks like it happened again today, another 6-car 334 set (334 023 & 010) ran today instead of the usual 318/320 sets that normally would run that service:

 

[SC318250]

Today was down to the closure of the line at Hyndland last night, so the pair of 334s ended up spending the night at Motherwell TMD
Someone was pushed on to the track

 

[LT02 NVV]

Today was down to the closure of the line at Hyndland last night, so the pair of 334s ended up spending the night at Motherwell TMD
Someone was pushed on to the track

Oh, I’ve just read about it there, happened on Saturday, apparently the guy’s being charged with attempted murder for it.

On a brighter note, it was still nice to see Class 334s run to Larkhall again.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Someone was pushed on to the track

Oh, I’ve just read about it there, happened on Saturday, apparently the guy’s being charged with attempted murder for it.

Chilling.