Mk2 air con central door locks

[MikeJT]

Hi all,

 

Apologies if this has been asked before but I'm struggling to find answers if so and my brain can't now recall the info from back in the day!

 

When were central door locks fitted to the Western Region Mk2 air con fleet operating Paddington - Penzance services and Mk2 air con Inter Regional NE - SW services?

 

What livery were the coaches in at the time of fitting (blue/grey, IC executive or Swallow)?

 

How was the process organised, i.e was it done a rake at a time, or as individual coaches were due exam?

I also can't remember if rakes operated in traffic with some vehicles CDL fitted and other vehicles still awaiting fitment. Any thoughts?

 

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks in advance,

 

Mike

[Davexoc]

The 1986 edition of Platform 5 doesn't show any vehicles with CDL, and Executive livery was being applied by then.

So, I think you can discount blue/grey with CDL.

[Phil R]

To the best of my knowledge the CDL fitting came in around 1994 which would be the Swallow livery with INTERCITY branding.

Don’t know about WR fleet but by this time many of the Intercity Cross Country (NE-SW) shorter distance services were in the hands of 47/8 and a fixed formation of BSO, 5 TSO, RFO.

 

Regards

 

Phil

Edited December 28, 2021 by Phil R
Clarity

[phil-b259]

22 hours ago, MikeJT said:

Hi all,

 

Apologies if this has been asked before but I'm struggling to find answers if so and my brain can't now recall the info from back in the day!

 

When were central door locks fitted to the Western Region Mk2 air con fleet operating Paddington - Penzance services and Mk2 air con Inter Regional NE - SW services?

 

What livery were the coaches in at the time of fitting (blue/grey, IC executive or Swallow)?

 

How was the process organised, i.e was it done a rake at a time, or as individual coaches were due exam?

I also can't remember if rakes operated in traffic with some vehicles CDL fitted and other vehicles still awaiting fitment. Any thoughts?

 

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks in advance,

 

Mike

 

CDL was only fitted in the early 1990s in reaction to a couple of nasty incidents plus the fact that with the widespread introduction of sliding doors to the MK4, Pacer / Sprinter and 1980s onwards EMU fleets meant familiarity with slam doors by travellers was reducing.

 

CDL also coincided with InterCity focusing its operations around fixed sets rather than rakes of stock that got shuffled about frequently so its most likely that whole rakes were done at once rather than CDL stock being sprinkled throught the rakes - not least because the CDL system wouldn't be operative*.

 

* CDL requires the conductor to release the all train doors from the Gauards / conductors office and a non CDL fitted coach plonked in the middle of the rake would render said conductor / guard unable to control the CDL system on half of the train.

 

The CDL system would have had an override of some description of course - but if a coach fitted with it, but not in use was involved in an incident then I imagine the repercussions would be significant

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Flood]

Harris states that the contract for secondary door locking was awarded to ABB in 1993 and completed by mid 1995. Only "live" InterCity vehicles were to be modified, thus rendering any stored vehicles as virtually obsolete. Some Mk2D high density TSOs were modified but most of the Mk2 stock older than Mk2E were not.

[EddieK]

I worked in InterCity HQ at the time and by 1993, everything was supposedly in fixed set formations. There was usually a week allowed at each location to fit CDL, and complete, planned sets were sent for conversion, occasionally with an odd "spare" vehicle thrown in as well.

[45125]

17 hours ago, EddieK said:

I worked in InterCity HQ at the time and by 1993, everything was supposedly in fixed set formations. There was usually a week allowed at each location to fit CDL, and complete, planned sets were sent for conversion, occasionally with an odd "spare" vehicle thrown in as well.

I joined the  Inter City training department around the time the contract for CDL was awarded to ABB, this was mid 93. Various locations did the fitment, with LHCS going as sets with the odd spare going too, testing was carried before release. HST set went in loco hauled with barrier, testing done before release. However when power cars were attached to some sets problems started as some of the existing cabling had been damaged when fitting the CDL looms.

 

Al Taylor

[pb_devon]

I might be confused in my old age, but wasn’t it Mk3 stock that was fitted with CDL?

One of the locations where the work was done was Devonport Dockyard by the dockyard operator (Devonport Management Ltd). I was in charge of the dockyard railway then. All the WR plus Cross Country fleets were done there on a weekly cycle with changeover on a Friday evening. A complete rake was hauled from Laira by a cl47, with an 08 in tow (sometimes sent in advance) for the propelling move down the dockyard branch. There were two barrier vehicles as well, which made the whole lot too long for the loop so a complicated shunt release was necessary to release the locos. Given that this was done twice each Friday (once for the completed set, then the incoming new one) it made it a long evenings work! 
 

[njee20]

Both. All the mk3s, plus the remaining mk2 air cons, as per the question. None of the mk2 A/B/C were fitted though. 

[45125]

4 hours ago, pb_devon said:

I might be confused in my old age, but wasn’t it Mk3 stock that was fitted with CDL?

One of the locations where the work was done was Devonport Dockyard by the dockyard operator (Devonport Management Ltd). I was in charge of the dockyard railway then. All the WR plus Cross Country fleets were done there on a weekly cycle with changeover on a Friday evening. A complete rake was hauled from Laira by a cl47, with an 08 in tow (sometimes sent in advance) for the propelling move down the dockyard branch. There were two barrier vehicles as well, which made the whole lot too long for the loop so a complicated shunt release was necessary to release the locos. Given that this was done twice each Friday (once for the completed set, then the incoming new one) it made it a long evenings work! 
 

Various locations did the work DML, Rosyth and several ADtranz locations.

 

[EddieK]

On 02/01/2022 at 08:28, pb_devon said:

I might be confused in my old age, but wasn’t it Mk3 stock that was fitted with CDL?

One of the locations where the work was done was Devonport Dockyard by the dockyard operator (Devonport Management Ltd). I was in charge of the dockyard railway then. All the WR plus Cross Country fleets were done there on a weekly cycle with changeover on a Friday evening. A complete rake was hauled from Laira by a cl47, with an 08 in tow (sometimes sent in advance) for the propelling move down the dockyard branch. There were two barrier vehicles as well, which made the whole lot too long for the loop so a complicated shunt release was necessary to release the locos. Given that this was done twice each Friday (once for the completed set, then the incoming new one) it made it a long evenings work! 
 

The complicated movements to get HST trailer car sets into Devonport Dockyard (and out again) were choreographed by Rod Fowkes, the Operations Manager for Laira Depot. 

As I recall, from being at Inter City HQ when the contract was awarded, of the four main contractors bidding for the job, three of them were proposing to use Devonport. The access into the site was considered as "difficult" but thanks to Mr Fowkes' dedication, it became possible. 

[SP Steve]

Funnily enough I've just been handed a pile of magazines with one, The Railway Magazine March 1994, containing an update on Central Door Locking.

 

It states that the project for CDL was awarded to ABB Transportation in July 1993 and covered approx. 1877 slam door carriages. The work was initially got underway at Crewe but later 'Gatwick Express' stock was done at Stewarts Lane and HST stock at DML Plymouth. Later Derby Litchurch Lane and Hunslet-Barclay, Kilmarnock were to play a part with the numbers eventually planned to be Crewe (699), Derby (365), Hunslet-Barclay (352), Stewarts Lane (84) and DML Plymouth (377).

 

36 vehicles at a time were to be modified with the work lasting approx 4-5 days and ABB staff were responsible for undertaking the work whilst using local facilities.

 

Towards the end of 1993 Crewe modified three vehicles Nos. 42005/016/7 on a trial basis and then used them for staff training. Early 1994 saw Nos. 40205/41011/2/42015/44002/5 modified so that a full set could be put into traffic on IC Great Western. Three unknown sleeper coaches were similarly treated in late 1993 whilst the first loco hauled rake of stock Nos. 10237/11020/1/8/12013/25/7/8/121/170 and DVT 82134 entered traffic in January 1994.