Anyone know if the Newbury shuttle is a c2c 387 today?
Yeah 387302 on Newburys today.
From tomorrow they are on their own set of diagrams, 2 diagrams for 3 units encompassing solely Newbury work; so subject to usual caveats expect them to be a permanent feature for the time being.
As to the various questions as to why they’re only allowed on Newburys - it’s down to the SDO implementation on the c2c sets. GWR/HEx went over to a Beacon system with GPS backup a couple of years ago. The leading unit in a multiple formation is the “master” for SDO release; so a set formed up 73xx+71xx, would not be able to make use of the beacons, so a GPS release would have to happen instead; which due to inaccuracies of GPS and the way the database is now set up after the adoption of the Beacon system would mean only doors on the front unit would be unlocked - unnecessarily restrictive on the 8/9+ coach platforms of the Thames Valley. The only self-contained 4 car diagrams for 387s are the Newbury shuttles; so the quick-and-dirty way of ensuring they stay on them has been to slap the Newburys only restriction on them. They are authorised by the company ECS wherever a 387 is already allowed to go, and they can also run in multiple with “Classic” 387s ECS only.
Whilst they are only on temporary loan, it is not for GWR to start modifying the trains to get around those restrictions. If the loan does become permanent as has been rumoured elsewhere, then it’s a different story and we’d likely see some vinyl and SDO mods.
Hopefully that can draw a line under the 387/3 discussion.
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Lots of 80x transfers back and forth today - some of the outstabled sets from when this all kicked off a week ago coming back to depot; and diagrams for tomorrow onward require 1x Hereford, 1x Worcester and 3x Oxford (good) outstablers. It’s been a tumultuous week; but there’s a degree of normality on the horizon; and good to see the Swindon 387s are likely to stay for at least another week.