I think your referring to the Diesel sprinter trains?
Which trains are you referring to? Pacers?
True true. Ironically, this lack of drive to purchase new stock will surely just create an even bigger issue as stock becomes older and more expensive to maintain. It's interesting to me how the North managed to get a replacement for the Pacers as a brand new order in the form of the 195s even if they were used to cascade the sprinters which, in turn replaced Pacers. Perhaps Northern only managed such an investment if there were no old units with another operator that could be used instead.
150s have been refurbished in several phases starting from 2016 - repainted inside/out, new flooring, new seat covers, accessibility upgrades including new toilet/lighting, new passenger information system, USB sockets for passengers as well as technical improvements.
That was actually politics working in favour of the railway (for once), under the aeigs of Patrick McLoughlin the then Secretary of State for Transport at the time of the awarding of the Northern franchise that started in April 2016.
This is a good point though currently the 150s and 156s are used interchangeably on a load of Greater Manchester diagrams with 156s having the same drawbacks (I'm assuming) as 158s due to carriage end doors. If the 150s were specifically allocated to routes because of their design then sure, no chance in 158s replacing these units but for routes that see a mixed bag of both sprinter classes, I don't really see a reason not to replace some of the 150s if 158s become available given how awful the latter class is to ride (particularly on longer journeys like the mid-Cheshire line)
Noisy, slow, smelly, polluting, dated stock with uncomfortable ride = pretty horrible in my book, and seems to be the opinion of most commuters forced to use 150/156s
Have you seen the condition of some of the ex-EMR 156s? Today I was on one, no heating, only 2 lights working in my carriage, engine isolated (other car and the 150 in the lead were running).
I haven't been on any unrefurbished 150/156 in Northern use for many years.Have you seen the condition of some of the ex-EMR 156s? Today I was on one, no heating, only 2 lights working in my carriage, engine isolated (other car and the 150 in the lead were running).
The seats are clearly worn down, with random stains left on them, and occasional blue seats mixed in with the reds (see attached picture)
Although might not exactly fit the comment I'm quoting since these weren't refurbished with the rest of Northern's fleet.
It was much darker, being winter and all, compared to what the photo looks like, the phone just did its job in getting light in.
They moved from EMR this year and EMR seem to have a reputation for leaving their trains in quite a state.
Noisy slow and polluting may be true of Northrns 150, 155, 156 but the new CAF units sound to be shaking them selves apart.
To be fair though, even with the drawbacks of the Civities regarding ride and seat quality, I'd still take one any day over 150-156 and that's mainly because of the air conditioning and low noise levels. The 195/331 ironing board seats really don't bother me much, even for the mid-length journeys (which I'd loosely define as between 45m to 1h30m) as they're higher up than the 156 seats so for me, someone who is quite tall, I don't get back aches sitting in the 195s.
For a bit one of the Wigan North Western - Leeds diagrams was a 195, and I much prefer the 195 to the 158s the whole route is now.
I suppose that makes a lot of sense tbf. The 158s are definitely stronger on longer distance journeys with few intermediate stops but you can't beat a 195 on a stopping diesel service compared to any of the sprinters for sure.
Also that the 3 car 158s are annoying to sit in, with quite low seats and little space to fit past the table's bar if you're trying to get in a window seat.
Ahh that's interesting. I don't think I've ever been on a 3-car 158 - might try and get one. Lets certainly hope they come sooner rather than later before the 150s implode and create a black hole at Newton Heath
Ahh that's interesting. I don't think I've ever been on a 3-car 158 - might try and get one. Lets certainly hope they come sooner rather than later before the 150s implode and create a black hole at Newton Heath
Seat reservations would be a crazy idea on trains that spend most of their days on local stopping services that are often overcrowded. In all probability, most passengers would probably ignore any reservations - and crews would be unable to get through the mass of standing passengers to try and enforce reservations. (Just as they are often unable to check tickets.)
Welcome to the EMR world of what we have to put up with day in day out across the whole fleet. The 156s are a mere taste of what we are experiencing over in EMR-land. Hopefully it gets sorted soon.
