Class 205 thumper

[class37418stag]

Hello everyone

 

Class 205 demu has coupled class 419 ?

 

Class 205 has running up north or anywhere UK ?

 

Thank you

[Ian J.]

The class 205 was a Southern region unit, so wouldn't have gone off Southern / South Western / Western metals in any normal timetabled service. I think there might have been railtours towards the end of their working life that went off-region, possibly even as far as Scotland, but I'm not sure about that.

 

As far as connecting up to other units, I don't think it happened very often, except to others of similar class like other 205s, or 207s.

[GordonC]

There was a railtour that took 205s up the West Coast Mainline to Carlisle I think it was.

 

They couldn't work in multiple with 419s

[SRman]

Agreeing with Gordon here, the control jumper wiring differed between the electric units and the DEMUs. One Thumper, 205 101 (ex-1111) was refurbished and was capable of being easily reconfigured to work in multiple with the electric units, but to the best of my knowledge, this never actually occurred.

It is possible that a class 419 could have towed a dead Thumper but there would have been no control from the remote cabs.and, again, I don't think this has ever occurred in reality either.

[GordonC]

I'd expect they could probably be wired up enough to be able to release brakes on any unit being dragged in case of failure, but not to operate the power controls

[royaloak]

Didnt thumpers (not sure what class) work to Bristol and Cardiff during the 1970s?

 

Edit-

Yes to Bristol, no to Cardiff, thanks for the correction Gwiwer.

Edited April 22, 2016 by royaloak

[Gwiwer]

Class 205 units have not worked to Scotland.  Of the SR DEMU types only the hybrid Hastings class 201 unit in preservation has done so.  The farthest north those well-travelled units reached in BR service was Carlisle on the SEG's "Long Thin Drag" railtour which despite hopes at an early planning stage could not be stretched to reach any further.  1001's original motor coaches S60000/1 were included in that 14-car formation.

 

Class 205 units worked almost exclusively on the SR though with some diagrammed trips onto WR metals.  Notably they were employed for a short time on Portsmouth - Bristol workings but not to Cardiff.  Their absence of through gangways means they were prohibited from conveying passengers through the Severn Tunnel.  They have also run at times on Westbury - Weymouth and Salisbury - Yeovil turns and reached Reading General on what were then SR duties from Salisbury, Basingstoke or Portsmouth and occasionally from Tonbridge or Redhill.  Railtours have also taken them around some parts of London which technically fell under LMR and ER management.  One reached Paddington from Reading in service as I recall which I believe was the result of some WR industrial action or possibly severe rolling stock displacement after an incident.

Edited April 22, 2016 by Gwiwer

[RFS]

Didnt thumpers (not sure what class) work to Bristol and Cardiff during the 1970s?

 

Indeed they did and here's a picture of a class 205 at Bristol TM in 1976. 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robertcwp/5250165526/in/album-72157603648710190/

 

Also a 6-car formation

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robertcwp/4846399787/in/album-72157603648710190/

Edited April 22, 2016 by RFS

[SRman]

I'd expect they could probably be wired up enough to be able to release brakes on any unit being dragged in case of failure, but not to operate the power controls

 

The high level air pipe connections were the same on all of the 1951/57/63 types on the Southern Region, it was only the DEMU 27-way jumpers that were set up differently. The brakes would therefore have been operable as straight air brakes, but not in electro-pneumatic mode.

[brushman47544]

 One reached Paddington from Reading in service as I recall which I believe was the result of some WR industrial action or possibly severe rolling stock displacement after an incident.

I remember something like that, although my recollection was of a Tadpole being half-inched by Reading rather than a 205. Never seen a photo so no idea whether I'm right or wrong.

[ColinK]

Please please please can we have a tour using the Hastings unit starting in the North West?

[Downendian]

 

Class 205 units worked almost exclusively on the SR though with some diagrammed trips onto WR metals.  Notably they were employed for a short time on Portsmouth - Bristol workings but not to Cardiff.  Their absence of through gangways means they were prohibited from conveying passengers through the Severn Tunnel.  .

I'm not so sure about this. I vividly remember them on at least one occasion (must have been around 1974/5) working through Filton junction heading West on the South Wales route. Admittedly very uncommon but a 3H was coupled to a class 207, my first sighting of one. If I hadn't have seen it with my own eyes I wouldn't have believed it. I have also seen Brian ( Br2975) reporting a 205 working a Pompey-Cardiff in 1970.

 

Neil

[Bristol_Rich]

I too remember 205's at Patchway on more than two occasions doing the run towards Cardiff via the Severn Tunnel...

Edited April 24, 2016 by rich_eason

[Nearholmer]

Not an answer to the question, but might add variety for ER modellers: Hastings units to go to Spalding every year in the late 60s and well into the 70s, taking people from Kent/Sussex to the Flower Festival.

 

K

[stadman]

Despite appearances DEMU's and EMU's were not compatible.

A discussion with a mechanic versed in such things one evening resulted in viewing some documentation to show as much.

[Geoff Endacott]

I once saw one running through Dingwall heading for Wick and Thurso...

 

...and then I woke up.

 

Geoff Endacott

[Downendian]

Well checked the records and although I have no dates, the class 207 seen at Filton heading to Cardiff was the now preserved 1302. It was coupled to a 3H which was one of the following 1101/2/5/24/25/27/29/32.

All these 205s were seen in the Bristol Parkway-Filton-Patchway triangle 1974-6, most were however operating the shuttle service from Stapleton road to Parkway when the Badminton route was shut for the HST upgrade.

Neil

[class37418stag]

I once saw one running through Dingwall heading for Wick and Thurso...

 

...and then I woke up.

 

Geoff Endacott

What date of year by class 205 been running Dingwall

[Andy Y]

What date of year by class 205 been running Dingwall

 

He was joking.

[acg5324]

A Class 207 got to Paddington during the ASLEF strikes in 1982

http://andygibbs.zenfolio.com/p645909106/h6eb34690#h6eb34690

 

The reverse of course was that a class 119 DMU reached Victoria after having worked from Brighton

http://andygibbs.zenfolio.com/p870637404/h6f471939#h6f471939

http://andygibbs.zenfolio.com/p870637404/h6efdc91f#h6efdc91f

[keefer]

Despite appearances DEMU's and EMU's were not compatible.

A discussion with a mechanic versed in such things one evening resulted in viewing some documentation to show as much.

It was in the Sec Appendix that DEMUs could multiple but MUST not be multiple connected to any loco or EMU

[Nearholmer]

They sometimes even had trouble with one another: a control-wiring error made at (a nameless depot near Hastings) resulted in one attempting to chug off in the opposite direction from its mate when they were coupled.

 

K

[Rail-Online]

Well checked the records and although I have no dates, the class 207 seen at Filton heading to Cardiff was the now preserved 1302. It was coupled to a 3H which was one of the following 1101/2/5/24/25/27/29/32.

All these 205s were seen in the Bristol Parkway-Filton-Patchway triangle 1974-6, most were however operating the shuttle service from Stapleton road to Parkway when the Badminton route was shut for the HST upgrade.

Neil

I saw a couple of Hastings units at Cardiff around 1976-8. I think there was a regular summer Sat working, never saw a Thumper though

 

Tony

[andy stroud]

I'm sure at least one thumper worked to Cardiff on a Portsmouth train in the late 1980s during that period after loco hauled had finished but they were still short of 155s. I seem to recall  it was mentioned on a Railscene video at the time. The commentry went something along the lines of 'unfortunately our cameraman missed it by only a few minutes. We rather suspect some of the passengers wished they had too...' It could also have been in the period after the 155s were withdrawn with door problems.

[acourtrail]

Re class 205s getting to Cardiff - if they were banned from the Severn Tunnel because they had no gangways, one unit could still have gone through there.  That unit was 205101, which was the experimental refurbished unit done around 1979.  It was given a new interior and gangways within the unit.  It didn't have any 1st class after refurbishment, so it was mostly kept on Hastings to Ashford duties.  While I don't know much about the unit and which routes it was used on, it was an oddball in the fleet, and would no doubt have been the unit foisted off to other depots when they needed to borrow a unit.  Maybe it could have been borrowed by Salisbury depot, and maybe it could have been put onto a Cardiff run?

 

While the "Hastings" class 201, 202, 203 units were more common west of Yeovil Junction (they worked the Saturdays only Brighton - Exeter service for a while in the 1970s), class 205s did occasionally get to Exeter St David's.  On the 6 March 1991, there was shortage of locomotives, so Network Southeast liveried 205033 worked the 07.45 Basingstoke - Exeter St David's and the 12.20 Exeter St David's - London Waterloo (as far as Salisbury).  A near exact repeat of this happened on the 5 April 1993, with the ill fated celebrity green liveried 205029 being used.