DailyCommuter
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- Joined
- 14 May 2019
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- 29
On any given day when GWR are short of units, are Control really going to cancel other trains to protect the Greenford standby unit or will it be pressed into service elsewhere though?
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GWR Class 230 Information, Movements & Discussion.
- Thread starter FGW_DID
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R
RailUK Forums
SWT_USER
Member
Time will tell... I thought the same as you but was assured by the people on here who would know that it will remain as a standby for Greenford.
Indeed, GWR has lost service on busier lines with far worse alternatives. Given it is an area was served by buses, adding 20-30 minutes to journey time at worst, it might be more sensible to keep an extra turbo allocated at Reading as a spare, and just send it to Greenford if there’s an issue. If problems become frequent that unit could easily be diagrammed back into the branch.
Right now it's all a bit academic anyway. Because of the general situation with ASLEF and industrial relations, I'm led to believe that GWR drivers won't be driving the battery train any time soon. Not because they're specifically anti-battery train, just because they won't take on any 'new work', or something like that. No GWR drivers = no passengers can be carried on the battery train. It is perfectly possible at this point that the battery train trial may indeed commence and continue without them, the train shuttling back and forth ECS between Greenford and West Ealing (in between the normal Turbo-operated service) being operated by contract drivers (from Rail Adventure) without carrying a single fare-paying passenger!
I'd say Greenford travellers would be buggered if the Central line simultaneously suffered disruption, which these days seem a daily occurrence.
That's not entirely true. Yes, the IR situation is pretty fraught at the moment, but a proposal for driver training has been submitted to ASLEF and is to be discussed soon. It's obviously not cut and dried yet, but it's certainly not the case that it's been ruled out altogether.
Ah ok my apologies. That's reasonably positive news then.
If train drivers can refuse to drive trains that are already in use elsewhere on a line they already drive along then the railway may as well just give up.
fodphil
Member
They wont be driving it because they havnt got the spare drivers to release to be trained on it.
class ep-09
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- Joined
- 5 Sep 2013
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- 525
Not sure if single Turbo can help very much for the number of people travelling on Central Line , which also goes far beyond Greenford . Even if some passengers get to Greenford on the Turbo , what next?
But I am going off topic.
twpsaesneg
Member
- Joined
- 21 Jul 2009
- Messages
- 418
Isn't this exactly what happened with GWRs 769s? ASLEF wanted mods to the cabs over and above the Northern and TfW spec if I recall correctly.
Obviously made moot by the units withdrawal from service completely.
I think it should be made clear that at this current point, no one is refusing anything, no driver training has started or even been given a timeline for when it will start, just the proposal for driver training has been submitted to ASLEF. Due to the way the links work at Paddington, it will be around 90-100 drivers that will need to be trained, possibly less as there is talk of 1 link losing Greenford
Trainbike46
Established Member
That seems like a lot of drivers for a single test unit
12LDA28C
Established Member
Assume that is the number of drivers required to be trained who have the Greenford work in their link, if and when the 230 is in regular passenger service.
Correct
Peter Sarf
Established Member
Thanks for posting @tnxrail.
Shows nicely what look like DOO cameras and the two door centre car vs the three door driving cars. Looks very neat.
Shows nicely what look like DOO cameras and the two door centre car vs the three door driving cars. Looks very neat.
4 doors on the driving vehicles, but the leading and trailing doors are isolated from the door control circuits (and vinyled in green instead of silvery-grey) so as to be unavailable for public use, as the unit is too long for some of the platforms on the Greenford branch, and isn't fitted with SDO.
Peter Sarf
Established Member
I had not noticed the green painted door nearest the front/rear you refer to (with no button) plus of course the driving cab door. I can see there would be four aside originally (also on the centre car). Makes sense not all are required now its not hoovering up people on the London Underground.
So she's running purely on batteries?
It is, yes.
Platform length constraints on the Greenford branch.
230001 was back out on the Cotswold Line today, running purely on battery power.
114km on a single charge was recorded (just over 70 miles) and there was still some energy left in the batteries at the end of the day.
For info the train is 98 tonnes.
If all goes to plan, she will be back out again Friday 9th, Monday 12th and Wednesday 14th, before being driven down to Reading depot on Friday 16th February.
The days in between are being used to recharge the train via a plug-in shore supply and battery chargers in the shed at Long Marston because the Fast Charge equipment has now been taken to West Ealing, and also to finish off some interior fitting and tidying up work.
Diagrams for Friday 9th are 5Q11, 5Q12, 5Q13 and 5Q14 but she has been generally running ahead of schedule (sometimes up to 30mins) so get there early if you want to see her come past. These runs will possibly be the last time that she'll be seen on the Cotswold Line.
The operator is Rail Adventure.
Diagrams for next week haven't been released yet but more than likely to be repeats of those above (except the trip to Reading).
I must say she does look good in her new livery, especially when sat next to the traditional GWR stations at Evesham and Moreton-in-Marsh
230001 consists of 2 x Driving Motor (DM) cars, with 8 doors each, and the middle car with only 4 doors (and a toilet).
Then when it came to adapting 230001 for the GWR Greenford branch, because the train is just too long for some of the platforms, but they wanted to keep the toilet, then the outermost passenger doors had to been removed from passenger service, in other words the normal door buttons have been removed and labels applied to say 'crew only door' etc, but having said that they can still be used for emergency escape.
If you were starting from scratch, you probably wouldn't design it that way. In fact you may not bother with a toilet on the train (runs for cover.....) and therefore only have a 2-car rather than a 3-car train. But it's all a bit academic because 230001 is what GWR have got and it's only a trial of the battery charging technology so it's not a total commitment to future 230s being like that (if that happens, which is not certain).
114km on a single charge was recorded (just over 70 miles) and there was still some energy left in the batteries at the end of the day.
For info the train is 98 tonnes.
If all goes to plan, she will be back out again Friday 9th, Monday 12th and Wednesday 14th, before being driven down to Reading depot on Friday 16th February.
The days in between are being used to recharge the train via a plug-in shore supply and battery chargers in the shed at Long Marston because the Fast Charge equipment has now been taken to West Ealing, and also to finish off some interior fitting and tidying up work.
Diagrams for Friday 9th are 5Q11, 5Q12, 5Q13 and 5Q14 but she has been generally running ahead of schedule (sometimes up to 30mins) so get there early if you want to see her come past. These runs will possibly be the last time that she'll be seen on the Cotswold Line.
The operator is Rail Adventure.
Diagrams for next week haven't been released yet but more than likely to be repeats of those above (except the trip to Reading).
I must say she does look good in her new livery, especially when sat next to the traditional GWR stations at Evesham and Moreton-in-Marsh
It's all a quirk of fate really. The 230 normally has 8 doors per car except if there's a toilet in one of the cars, in which case it's 7 doors per car (one of them is blocked up where the toilet module goes). The middle car of 230001 was built to demonstrate how you could, if you wanted to, block off 4 out of 8 doors to give more seating.
230001 consists of 2 x Driving Motor (DM) cars, with 8 doors each, and the middle car with only 4 doors (and a toilet).
Then when it came to adapting 230001 for the GWR Greenford branch, because the train is just too long for some of the platforms, but they wanted to keep the toilet, then the outermost passenger doors had to been removed from passenger service, in other words the normal door buttons have been removed and labels applied to say 'crew only door' etc, but having said that they can still be used for emergency escape.
If you were starting from scratch, you probably wouldn't design it that way. In fact you may not bother with a toilet on the train (runs for cover.....) and therefore only have a 2-car rather than a 3-car train. But it's all a bit academic because 230001 is what GWR have got and it's only a trial of the battery charging technology so it's not a total commitment to future 230s being like that (if that happens, which is not certain).
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norbitonflyer
Established Member
GWR livery is a bit drab. It's a pity modern GWR's trains are painted as if they were pre-nationalisation GWR locomotives, instead of coaching stock or DMUs.I must say she does look good in her new livery, especially when sat next to the traditional GWR stations at Evesham and Moreton-in-Marsh
nanstallon
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- Joined
- 18 Dec 2015
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- 752
Yes, a brighter image than Brunswick Green would be nice, but without being garish. We've had some pretty awful liveries since privatisation.GWR livery is a bit drab. It's a pity modern GWR's trains are painted as if they were pre-nationalisation GWR locomotives, instead of coaching stock or DMUs.
There are some photos of 230001 taken by Martin Loader at Moreton-in-Marsh on Monday on his website http://www.hondawanderer.com/Recent_Additions.htm
Brissle Girl
Established Member
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- 17 Jul 2018
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- 2,662
Is that with frequent stopping and starting that you would typically see on branch line use? If so, it's very encouraging (and much more impressive than both the quoted range and range that management say they will be comfortable with for the Class 777).
Trainbike46
Established Member
GWR posted a video on their youtube channel about the 230s
It's only 46 seconds long so don't expect more than a shot of a 230 running on test with some music under it!
It's only 46 seconds long so don't expect more than a shot of a 230 running on test with some music under it!