GWR Class 769 information. (Units no longer with GWR - Off Lease March 23)

[Class319&373]

Can anyone confirm if this is a 769 test today or a 387 ecs?

Realtime Trains - 518T 1133 Reading Traincare Depot to Reading Traincare Depot

Realtime Trains provides live realtime running information for the Great British railway network using open data.

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[FGW_DID]

Can anyone confirm if this is a 769 test today or a 387 ecs?

Realtime Trains - 518T 1133 Reading Traincare Depot to Reading Traincare Depot

Realtime Trains provides live realtime running information for the Great British railway network using open data.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

769943 in the usual 5Q10 path.

The MWFO 1133 TCD -TCD trip is the 769 FFR trip.

 

[Class319&373]

769943 in the usual 5Q10 path.

OK many thanks, interesting that it says it will venture down to Swindon

 

[Jamesrob637]

So did no GWR units enter service on Monday with the timetable change?

 

[JonathanH]

So did no GWR units enter service on Monday with the timetable change?

No. They weren't expected to enter service.

They (and that is Colas rather than GWR) are still doing fault free running with the units. They (GWR) aren't yet onto staff training until that is completed (although the fault free running gives the opportunity to train the trainers). Lots of posts in this thread have indicated they won't be in service with GWR before the autumn.

 

[RobShipway]

No. They weren't expected to enter service.

They (and that is Colas rather than GWR) are still doing fault free running with the units. They (GWR) aren't yet onto staff training until that is completed (although the fault free running gives the opportunity to train the trainers). Lots of posts in this thread have indicated they won't be in service with GWR before the autumn.

I will probably be quite rightly corrected by FGW_DID, but I am beginning to doubt that the GWR class 769's will enter service this year. This is due to issues recently seen and the need for all class 769 units to have sufficient fault free running before introduction.

 

[JonathanH]

the need for all class 769 units to have sufficient fault free running before introduction

I'm sure I will also be corrected by someone who knows what they are talking about as well but...

...there was never an intention for a 'big-bang' introduction of the fleet. It was originally planned for February 2019 to December 2019 and, more recently in the direct award, between September 2020 and May 2021 - see https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...mation-discussion.174866/page-15#post-4819236 - with a unit introduced roughly every two weeks.

A large number of the relevant diagrams are out and back from Reading depot so it is easier to make a gradual introduction with this fleet than it is with many others.

That would imply that you don't need all the 769s to have fault free running before the first members of the fleet are introduced into passenger service.

 

[FGW_DID]

One of the Turbo N. Downs diagrams that was introduced in the last timetable was so it would be an easy swap for a 769. IIRC it was the the 166 Diagram (RG401) that just ran ECS Shalford and then in service back to Reading before dropping back onto the TCD. Currently the working is a 165 diagram so presumably the idea still is an easy convert to a 769 diagram once a couple more 769 have accumulated their FFR.

The end of the month may see a 769 on the North Downs, apparently there is a bridge in the Guildford area that has had some work done or being done and that a gauging test is needed with the 769s. Don’t really know any more details about it other than the test has been touted for around the end of the month.

 

[swt_passenger]

So did no GWR units enter service on Monday with the timetable change?

To be fair, introduction of significant sized fleets coincident with a timetable change is quite unusual. (Eg EMR 360s.). If you don’t especially need 769s to make the timetable work, what would be the point of aiming for a timetable change date anyway?.

 

[Wyrleybart]

No. They weren't expected to enter service.

They (and that is Colas rather than GWR) are still doing fault free running with the units. They (GWR) aren't yet onto staff training until that is completed (although the fault free running gives the opportunity to train the trainers). Lots of posts in this thread have indicated they won't be in service with GWR before the autumn.

I imagine part of it depends on how resources can be committed toi FFR for the class. Over in Wales once again no 769s in passenger service today but two units are planned to be out on 5Zxx trips today. UInsure if that is FFR or crew training though.

 

[3973EXL]

One from 21/05

5Q98 Realtime Trains - 555T 1201 Loughborough Brush to Burton Ot Wetmore Sidings

769939

 

[FGW_DID]

During today’s outing 769943 was put into Platform 6 at Reading to test its DC systems.

 

[JonathanH]

Looks like a longer excursion for a 769 tomorrow, with a 0724 start from Reading Traincare Depot - still just Swindon to Maidenhead trips though - but the planned 238 miles is a good total and the same on Friday by the looks of things.

Realtime Trains - 516W 0724 Reading Traincare Depot to Reading Traincare Depot

Realtime Trains provides live realtime running information for the Great British railway network using open data.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[fgwrich]

Looks like a longer excursion for a 769 tomorrow, with a 0724 start from Reading Traincare Depot - still just Swindon to Maidenhead trips though - but the planned 238 miles is a good total and the same on Friday by the looks of things.

Realtime Trains - 516W 0724 Reading Traincare Depot to Reading Traincare Depot

Realtime Trains provides live realtime running information for the Great British railway network using open data.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

I believe a 769 did a Swindon trip yesterday as well, so they’ve expanded out the range of testing from Swindon to Maidenhead.

 

[JonathanH]

I believe a 769 did a Swindon trip yesterday as well, so they’ve expanded out the range of testing from Swindon to Maidenhead.

Indeed. However, that only went out for four hours and covered 132 miles. Going out earlier seems to be a further step in the plan.

 

[Mintona]

During today’s outing 769943 was put into Platform 6 at Reading to test its DC systems.

I saw that there earlier, I wondered if it was heading out towards Wokingham. Obviously not just yet.

 

[Bessie]

What will be in active service first at Wokingham - a GWR class 769 or a SWR Class 701.

 

[3973EXL]

29/05 2256 Reading - Guildford Shalford shuttles 1230 Guildford - Reading

Realtime Trains - Departures from Guildford

 

[JonathanH]

29/05 2256 Reading - Guildford Shalford shuttles 1230 Guildford - Reading

Realtime Trains - Departures from Guildford

It would be interesting to understand what is being tested here. Is it g guaging measurements over the bridge at Shalford given the sedate timings between Shalford Junction and Shalford?

Reading to Guildford shut until lunchtime explains the delay to the return to the depot.

 

[FenMan]

Would it be correct to assume two units are heading to Shalford tonight? I was wondering what the plan would be if a unit failed, given the line closure north of Guildford.

 

[FGW_DID]

It would be interesting to understand what is being tested here. Is it g guaging measurements over the bridge at Shalford given the sedate timings between Shalford Junction and Shalford?

Reading to Guildford shut until lunchtime explains the delay to the return to the depot.

Yes, it is a gauging test on a particular bridge.

Would it be correct to assume two units are heading to Shalford tonight? I was wondering what the plan would be if a unit failed, given the line closure north of Guildford.

As far as I’m aware it’s just the one unit going (769943).

 

[KeithMcC]

Thought I might walk the dog down to Shalford station this morning but the 0808 seems to have gone back to Guildford at 0656, so maybe not! The return to Reading at 1230 is showing as 'at platform' so I suspect the planned 9am shuttle won't happen.

 

[Bob Price]

A picture here in a Tweet if 769943 at Guildford station. https://twitter.com/TheTransportHub/status/1398914771995475976?s=19

 

[JonathanH]

It would be interesting to know the points at which a 769 sits outside the kinematic envelope of a 165 - I guess the ends are more square than a Turbo but the carriages themselves are shorter.

I guess it is akin to the Mark 3 derived units not being cleared on the northernmost part of the Cumbrian Coast and through Oxted Tunnel.

 

[adc82140]

A picture here in a Tweet if 769943 at Guildford station. https://twitter.com/TheTransportHub/status/1398914771995475976?s=19

Is this the first time a 769 has visited the territory it would previously have worked on as a Thameslink 319?

 

[davetheguard]

Is this the first time a 769 has visited the territory it would previously have worked on as a Thameslink 319?

Interesting question - I'd forgotten that Thameslink used to operate to Guildford.

 

[JN114]

It would be interesting to know the points at which a 769 sits outside the kinematic envelope of a 165 - I guess the ends are more square than a Turbo but the carriages themselves are shorter.

I guess it is akin to the Mark 3 derived units not being cleared on the northernmost part of the Cumbrian Coast and through Oxted Tunnel.

As I understand the areas of concern are all below solebar, particularly shoebeams

 

[KeithMcC]

769 943 sat in Platform 8 at Guildford this morning. Discovered that the car park is now a Contractors yard so difficult to get close!
The testing finished early, so couldn't see what was being checked, but I assume it is the bridge over the Wey which is unballasted track on steel beams.

 

[Clarence Yard]

It is the Wey bridge. Although the units were officially cleared through the bridge, using the usual model against the NR database, NR were a little embarrassed to find out that there was a guard rail structure on the bridge that wasn’t on their database. Neither did it conform to current NR standards.

So NR had to do some work on it (it wasn’t in great condition either) and as the clearances from shoe beams to the guard rails were a bit suspect, a physical exercise was thought to be the best way of getting it cleared.

This was the last significant item that remained to be done by the (now disbanded) small NR/GWR DMU task force that has, over the past few years, successfully (and quietly) dealt with all the other GWR 16x and 769 clearance locations.

 

[southern442]

What will be in active service first at Wokingham - a GWR class 769 or a SWR Class 701.

Genuinely could be either one at this point. If everything goes as planned with 769 testing I'd say them, but if not then the 701's might get there first.