Mark 5, By Accurascale

[rembrow]

Was reading in Modern Railways the other night, that Chiltern has submitted a requirement to dft for replacement of their Mk3 stock used on London to Birmingham services. They have apparently stated replacement can be dmu or loco hauled. The article stated that Chiltern are interested in the Mk 5  stock, and would want to take all sets, which are a greater number than existing Mk3 sets, so presumably planning some expansion, possibly for the Oxford to Bletchley service, and later to Milton Keynes on the East West line,which is not being electrified.

Edited April 24 by rembrow
correction

[nightstar.train]

Chiltern's Mk3 sets are 6 coaches + DVT, so there has been some end of platform wibble about the Mk5 sets being reformed. Chiltern currently have 6 Mk3 sets. The Mk5 fleet is 13 sets plus a spare DT. So if you disbanded 3 sets you get 9 spare centre coaches, so could make 9 sets of 6 coaches and one of 5. Tremendous waste of the spare end coaches and DTs though. CAF might be willing to make you a few more coaches if you ask nicely, and have wheelbarrows full of cash.

 

Chiltern might do a Virgin and run more frequent, shorter trains. Or maybe they don't have sufficient loadings to justify the 6 car sets. 

 

I hope, from a purely selfish modelling perspective, that Chiltern get a new livery if they get the Mk5s. I really don't like their grey with extra grey, much preferred the original blue and white. 

[rembrow]

21 minutes ago, nightstar.train said:

Chiltern's Mk3 sets are 6 coaches + DVT, so there has been some end of platform wibble about the Mk5 sets being reformed. Chiltern currently have 6 Mk3 sets. The Mk5 fleet is 13 sets plus a spare DT. So if you disbanded 3 sets you get 9 spare centre coaches, so could make 9 sets of 6 coaches and one of 5. Tremendous waste of the spare end coaches and DTs though. CAF might be willing to make you a few more coaches if you ask nicely, and have wheelbarrows full of cash.

 

Chiltern might do a Virgin and run more frequent, shorter trains. Or maybe they don't have sufficient loadings to justify the 6 car sets. 

 

I hope, from a purely selfish modelling perspective, that Chiltern get a new livery if they get the Mk5s. I really don't like their grey with extra grey, much preferred the original blue and white. 

As I mentioned, the added factor is the start of services on the 1st section of the east/west route, from Oxford to Bletchley. Track laying is completed and it is expected that the infrastructure at the Bletchley section will be handed over to Network Rail later this year, for services to commence, extending to Milton Keynes in 2025. Chiltern is the passenger service operator. As east/west will be an evolving route, as the next stage from Milton Keynes to Cambridge is constructed, they may be looking at using currently available stock in the interim, for the truncated first part of the route.

[adb968008]

I thought I read elsewhere Chiltern ditched the mk5 idea and are going to refurb the mk3’s to save money ?

 

(Admittedly ive no idea if its true or not).

 

 

[Roy Langridge]

1 hour ago, adb968008 said:

I thought I read elsewhere Chiltern ditched the mk5 idea and are going to refurb the mk3’s to save money ?

 

(Admittedly ive no idea if its true or not).

 

 

There will probably be some political pressure through the DfT to take the Mk5s thus avoiding bad news as we run towards a general election. 
 

Roy

[rembrow]

13 hours ago, adb968008 said:

I thought I read elsewhere Chiltern ditched the mk5 idea and are going to refurb the mk3’s to save money ?

 

(Admittedly ive no idea if its true or not).

 

 

Modern Railways stated that Chiltern put out to tender in Jan this year, for replacement of their Mk3 sets by other loco hauled coaches or dmu.

The tender also requires the sets to be available for staff training in 2024 and enter scheduled service in 2025, so clearly can't be new build.

Edited April 25 by rembrow
Address info

[Roy Langridge]

On 19/04/2024 at 11:49, Accurascale Fran said:

Hi folks,

 

We have teamed up with our friends at DCC Concepts who have developed a decoder with an attached stay alive capacitor specifically for our TPE Mark 5 Driving Trailer.

 

 

Zen decoder software has always been smooth, clever and easy to use but the new BLACK decoder range takes this to a new level, with extended and improved automatic braking and shuttle abilities, simple-to-use ONE step locomotive set-up and advanced brown-out protection.

 

All DCC Concepts decoders are tested at least 3 times before they package them for sale, so they know that they all work perfectly when sold and you can be quite confident that reliability is assured.

 

Decoder features:

• 1.1 Amps peak power
• 750mA continuous power
• 4 functions at 100mA each
• 2 additional “logic” functions
• 22mm x 16.5mm
• 21-pin direct, 8-pin & harness
• One-Step Loco Setup
• Shuttle mode (requires ABC boards for this to function)
• Stay-Alive connection

Decoder Programming:

• F0 – Head/tail lights
• F1 – Cab interior lights
• F2 – Destination boards
• F3 – Destination mode

This decoder is now in stock and can be bought exclusively via the Accurascale website right here: https://www.accurascale.com/products/transpennine-express-mk5a-dt-decoder-stayalive

 

Cheers!

 

Fran 

Anybody received their’s yet? 
 

Thanks,

 

Roy

[NIRCLASS80]

11 hours ago, Roy Langridge said:

Anybody received their’s yet? 
 

Thanks,

 

Roy

Ordered after a couple of hours of release and still heard nothing. 

[Roy Langridge]

2 hours ago, NIRCLASS80 said:

Ordered after a couple of hours of release and still heard nothing. 

Ok, not just me then. Will drop a message on Monday. Thanks. 

 

Roy

[DIRTY DIESEL]

1 hour ago, Roy Langridge said:

Ok, not just me then. Will drop a message on Monday. Thanks. 

 

Roy

I asked support a week last Friday and they said they’d not received all the chips they thought they were getting so there’d be a roughly 10 day delay, so should be incoming I’d of guessed…

[NIRCLASS80]

Just had a dispatched email so things are moving 

[ERIC ALLTORQUE]

Got my two today so they are up and running with these.