I imagine this is more to do with driver traction knowledge
Journeycheck is saying "This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time" for most of the short-forms.
On the same day 43088 was dead and 43155 was doing all the work. I had 43016 at Exeter and they had managed to restart it.
Near enough 50% of the fleet. That is appalling.
More than 50% unavailable when you account for the ones at Doncaster too! Need to be replaced with TfW 158s asap.
Not sure that's a brilliant comparison, the 50's where 23 years old and had had large changes in 1990 compared to 66's that are 23 years old now and I am sure their availability is much better. Where the 50's really life expired in the 90's or middle aged.
Meanwhile, the 150's, still mechanically as built 35 years ago soldier on lol
You say that but they haven't exactly been reliable in Cornwall of late.....
Your forgetting that fact that the likes of 43188 and 43194 have been painted green for over 5 years now so if they been neglected them like they have it’s to be expected.
The Derby paints on 43005/041/187/188 were done earlier (2015 for 187/188 and 2016 for 005/041) to coincide with the paints on the two slam door sets so it's not surprising they are in poorer condition. I would also suggest they may have been done more quickly/cheaply as the long-term future of the fleet was unclear.
The better solution is getting something else that doesn't require all this down time to tackle corrosion - something Aluminium bodied such as a 158 for example!
Of course the problems with the 80xs are related to stress corrosion which I believe is a bit different to general bodywork corrosion which seems to be common across the HST fleet now.
I've been on that set several times over the past few months. I'm told it's the maximum length that fits in the siding at Par so is usually confined to a specific diagram.
