Class 230 into revenue service

[Mike_Walker]

Several points to clear up here.

 

The TfW 230s were purchased outright by TfW but their maintenance is being undertaken by Stadler at Birkenhead North under contract to TfW not by the latter "in house".  The Marston Vale units were being maintained by Vivarail directly and the administrators took the decision not to support this activity leaving LNR with no way of using them.

 

A friend took a ride on 230010 yesterday and was quite impressed (and he's hard to impress!) with the quality of the unit; well finished internally with no rattles.  Time keeping has been an issue so far but we think this is a matter of the drivers getting used to them.  They are still driving them like a DMU rather than a EMU and being slightly over cautious stopping at stations with 3 cars rather than the 2 car 150s.  A colleague who drove many of the early test runs on the line reported they take off like a rocket if you aren't careful (I've seen video that confirms this) and had no difficulty in maintaining or bettering the sectional running times.  In fact on some sections it was a challenge to hold them back.  Two trips yesterday had one of the instructors at the controls and had no difficulty in keeping to time which suggests that things will improve in the coming days.

 

GWR wished to protect the ability to conduct the battery trial on the Greenford branch and therefore, with the support and financial backing of the DfT,  approached the Vivarail administrators to secure the future of 230001, the rapid charging equipment and associated kit.   According to the GWR MD they were offered "the mother of all bog-of deals" - basically "have the lot", or words to that effect.  So as things stand GWR do indeed now also own the stored D78 cars at Long Marston and the lease on the VR works near Southam plus contents.  As Mark Hopwood points out this does in theory give GWR the capacity to "build" trains but it ain't gonna happen anytime soon.  The nine VR employees taken on by GWR are specialist engineers who can contribute to the technical challenges that lie ahead during the Greenford trial.  They could possibly also offer assistance and guidance to TfW/Stadler - at a price of course!

 

The start of the trial has been delayed by the inability of the grid to be able to provide a suitable supply for the rapid charger at West Ealing (or for any other new power-hungry project in the area)  and, err, Spanish customs playing silly b*****s and the B***** card to sit on some vital components (storage batteries for the charger) which are stuck in two containers on a Spanish dockside!

 

The GWR 769s were taken off lease from 31 March for the reasons stated above.  In addition, the TfW 769s are also going off lease.  Two have already moved to Long Marston for storage (joining the GWR ones by the way) whilst the remainder will follow in the coming weeks as more of the new Class 231s enter service.  They have been extremely unreliable in service with barely a day going by with the full diagrams being met.  I spoke to one driver who admitted he was viewed as a freak by his peers as he was the only one at his depot who'd not had one fail on him in traffic!  Northern's were also very unreliable at first but have improved of late although are still nothing to shout about.  I understand that when their leases expire at the end of the year (I think) they too will be withdrawn.

[Mike_Walker]

Update.  After working reasonably well (apart for a compressor issue on Tuesday) 230010 failed with a brakes problem early yesterday afternoon resulting in buses providing the remainder of the service and until at least midday today.  Whilst they also have 008 available it can't be used as a second serviceable unit has to be on standby as a Thunderbird should the service train need rescuing - a 230 can only couple to another 230, typical of today's MTDR (Modern Dynamic Thrusting Railway).

[The Stationmaster]

48 minutes ago, Mike_Walker said:

Update.  After working reasonably well (apart for a compressor issue on Tuesday) 230010 failed with a brakes problem early yesterday afternoon resulting in buses providing the remainder of the service and until at least midday today.  Whilst they also have 008 available it can't be used as a second serviceable unit has to be on standby as a Thunderbird should the service train need rescuing - a 230 can only couple to another 230, typical of today's MTDR (Modern Dynamic Thrusting Railway).

I din't know why anyone is persevering with the things?  Their manufacturer has gine out of business and there are unlikely to be any more of them.

[Mike_Walker]

14 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

I din't know why anyone is persevering with the things?  Their manufacturer has gine out of business and there are unlikely to be any more of them.

Except that GWR now "own" 80 odd of the D78 cars and all Vivarail's IP and assembly capacity...   As a result of what Mark Hopwood describes as the "mother of all bog-of deals.  I only went to buy 230001, the charger and associated kit/IP and the administrators said 'take the lot'".

 

Note that both the issues that have befallen 230010 this week have not involved the hybrid drive system which is the novelty part of these units.

[phil-b259]

21 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

I din't know why anyone is persevering with the things?  Their manufacturer has gine out of business and there are unlikely to be any more of them.

 

In the case of the 230s Probably because the only alternative is long term bus substitution until various TfW stock cascades have happened (which is what the Marston Vale line is having to put up with)