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Third-Rail EMU Photos


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17 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

I still find it a little hard to think of the IoW without its trains of Standard stock.  7-cars in summer.  4-car in winter.  They have been gone for a long time now and while traffic levels continued to decline and the 1938 stock was only ever intended to run as 2-car and 4-car trains it hasn't been quite the same.  Two carriages trundling up Ryde Pier (one of which is locked out of use these days as the guard is not permitted to walk between them any more) seems almost an apology but the passenger numbers are simply not there.  Steamers no longer arrive from Portsmouth with several hundred passengers two or three times an hour.  The catamaran brings in a few tens on many crossings and a couple of hundred at most on a peak summer sailing.  Mostly once an hour though twice on peak days.  

 

This reflects the situation written about on other threads referring to the terminal decline of coastal termini like Stranraer and Fishguard.  Foot passengers simply don't travel overland between Britain and Ireland any more, low-cost airlines have taken the market, even of those who didn't see themselves as time-sensitive.  Likewise I suspect Isle of Wight traffic is overwhelmingly car-borne and goes via Cowes.

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The Pier Head is only served now by the usually hourly FastCat from Portsmouth Harbour which has been suspended a couple of  times this year and indeed gets cancelled frequently at the drop of a hat whenever it gets a bit breezy in the Solent. 

 

Nearby on the other side of Gunwharf Quays is the car ferry to Fishbourne which is far better frequented.

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1 minute ago, John M Upton said:

FastCat from Portsmouth Harbour which ..... gets cancelled frequently at the drop of a hat whenever it gets a bit breezy in the Solent. 

A problem afflicting all routes where "heavy" craft have been replaced with "lightweight" but often faster multihull vessels.  When the first catamarans (Our Lady Patricia and Our Lady Pamela) replaced the MVs Brading, Shanklin and Southsea it was a case of two-for-three and a capacity cut from around 1300 per crossing to 500.  The daily service for much of the year required both cats in service, or 100% availability in railway terms, which was remarkably managed most of the time.  Ryde Pier suffers from any wind in the northern quarter and from a strong easterly; while none of those are the most common it can also be very tricky coming alongside under certain conditions of wind and tide at any time.  The large boats didn't suffer in the same way simply because they were large and heavy and didn't bob around more or less on top of the water as a cat does.  The eastern landing stage alongside the railway pier has been used in emergency (indeed I have boarded there once or twice) but has been out of commission for many years now.  That was the one used when both the normal pier head berths were already in use by steamers and a third one arrived.  Yes, you could have three vessels alongside at Ryde all disgorging 1000-plus passengers at much the same time.  Not any more.  

 

46 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

I suspect Isle of Wight traffic is overwhelmingly car-borne and goes via Cowes.

I believe the split of vehicle traffic is approximately 50% Portsmouth - Fishbourne, 35%  Southampton - East Cowes with 15% on the Lymington - Yarmouth crossing which has always been much quieter.  Pedestrian traffic has the choice of Portsmouth - Ryde Pierhead (fast cat), Southsea - Ryde Esplanade (hovercraft), Southampton - West Cowes (Red Jet) and all of the car ferries though apart from Lymington - Yarmouth few foot passengers use those.  East Cowes requires a floating-bridge crossing to reach the main centre of West Cowes and Fishbourne is slightly remote and not served by any onward public transport.  

 

In common with the nationwide trend there has been a steady shift from public to private transport over many years.  Just compare the size of the car ferries which brought the Standard stock over in 1966 with those in use today and their double-deck loading ramps.  Even the "small" ferries still in use from Lymington are twice the size of their predecessors.  

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'Brand X' on one of the end cars there! Wonder what that was about.

 

Also, did the LT 'A' and 'D' end markings get removed with painting into NSE colours? The D is visible on S15 in the last pic, but no A or D on the NSE ones?

The A and D letters were something to do with the 'handedness' of the end cars for coupling weren't they?

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S15 was the spare car iirc. While it could only have been turned by crane the D-end marking might have been considered relevant if it migrated between units. 
 

Here’s an unusual moment. Not posted here until now as a gallery of spectators was not required. The electric 458 unit had derailed whilst making an empty-stock movement in Clapham Yard during Monday afternoon. On Tuesday morning a diesel 159 was coupled via an adaptor to act as tractor and brake force. The 458 was split with the derailed coach not rerailed until late in the day using the jack-and-pack method.  
 

The 159 removed four “good” coaches of the 458 before being shunted to the other end and removing the damaged coach. 

 

The red train is an up suburban working unrelated to the incident. 
 

96D7CA6C-6B96-4221-BBA2-CE48D1E34200.jpeg.4c8cc054e30966f040725a9c227edbfa.jpeg

Edited by Gwiwer
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6 hours ago, Metr0Land said:

I've now located my 1989 pics from IoW.  Unit 485.045 at Ryde Pier Head and Shanklin, and car S15 in blue-grey at Ryde St Johns.  The chalk marking on S15 says no brake.  With the impending arrival of 1938 stock, I doubt she ever ran again.

 

 

Super photos. The NSE livery sits really well on them.

 

 

 

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31 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

S15 was the spare car iirc. While it could only have been turned by crane the D-end marking might have been considered relevant if it migrated between units

 

1 hour ago, John M Upton said:

As there was no way of turning them around short of hiring a ruddy big road crane, I suspect the end markings were probably superfluous. 


And yet there are plenty of photos on the web of blue and blue/grey units running with A and D markings. As well as some without. As you say, probably superfluous once on the island but carried over from London practice. 
 

edit: and photos of some ex-1938 cars also carrying the A and D letters on the IOW. 

 

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On 28/11/2020 at 22:16, Chris116 said:

On both trips at least one of the guards went between the two carriages while the train was moving and at no time did the train have one carriage out of use. 

 

AFAIK that's not been allowed on the Island for some years now. 

 

They can move between carriages but only when stationary - after a year (?) of being stuck at the Ryde end of the train, every unit had a buzzer fitted in the other carriage so, after a year (?) of being stuck at the Ryde end of the train, they could complete door duties and switch carriages before giving the right away.

Edited by Christopher125
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From what turned out to be my final rides on 1938 tube stock back in 2016.  I have no chance in the few remaining days to get to the Island and there are precious few passenger ferry crossings between Portsmouth and Ryde anyway.  There are alternatives but all require rather more time than the direct train-to-train crossing.  

 

1.  The view up the former tramway with the railway on the left as the catamaran comes alongside at Ryde Pierhead.  This also shows that Ryde Pier is in fact three separate but linked structures.  
2.  "Mister Bond" 007 trundles up the pier to form the next train to Shanklin 

3.  The desolate - and derelict - condition of Ryde Pierhead station as seen from a doorway on 007

4.  The Island Line platform at Smallbrook Junction which is only served when IOWSR trains are operating as there is no other access.  

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

The start of the transfer of the Siemens Class 707 Desiro City units from SWR to SE Trains has started.

 

707004 and 707003 arrived at Grove Park Depot from Wimbledon Park Depot in the early hours of Saturday Morning, 9th January 2021.

 

There is an Onward movement to Hitachi's Ashford Depot booked for Sunday 10th January and a couple of test runs booked from Ashford to Sevenoaks and back for Wednesday 13th and Saturday 16th January 2021.

 

Meld

 

 

707004 a @ Grove Park Shed 09JAN21 MJC.jpg

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