Class 80X series operation

[Philately]

Probably a stupid question:  LNER Azumas run on the front pantograph, but TransPennine trains of apparently similar ilk (but of 5 coaches only) on the line north of Newcastle don't use the wires though they appear to have pantographs.  Why?

 

 

[Stevebr]

It’s because the power supply has not been upgraded in time. There are a maximum no of trains/hour that can run on the overhead and all the allocation is taken by the LNER. Upgrades are apparently “in progress”

[DY444]

Probable that the upcoming IETs for the MML will have to run on diesel between London and Bedford too as the OLE is only good for 100mph and the upgrade shows no sign of happening for some time if at all.  

 

All hail the infinite wisdom of the DfT for whom running tens of thousands of diesel operated train miles per week on electrified railways, and following the twinkly rainbow towards hydrogen and other wholly unsuitable niche technologies, passes for logic. 

[Mike_Walker]

1 hour ago, DY444 said:

Probable that the upcoming IETs for the MML will have to run on diesel between London and Bedford too as the OLE is only good for 100mph and the upgrade shows no sign of happening for some time if at all.  

 

All hail the infinite wisdom of the DfT for whom running tens of thousands of diesel operated train miles per week on electrified railways, and following the twinkly rainbow towards hydrogen and other wholly unsuitable niche technologies, passes for logic. 

To say nothing of Bionic Duckweed - Roger Ford's preferred fuel source of the future !

[DY444]

32 minutes ago, Mike_Walker said:

To say nothing of Bionic Duckweed - Roger Ford's preferred fuel source of the future !

 

Indeed.  The re-emergence of bionic duckweed as official DfT policy is classic Sir Humphrey stuff.  There's an episode of Yes Minister where Sir Humphrey and Sir Arnold are explaining to Bernard that new ministers are always good news because the service can wipe the slate clean of anything it didn't like and re-present old stuff that previous ministers had kicked out.

 

That is exactly what is happening now.  The DfT went through this whole magic stardust/bionic duckweed energy sources nonsense in 2007 until it was overturned.  A few ministers later along comes wide eyed Shapps and here it all is again.

Edited February 24, 2021 by DY444

[The Stationmaster]

6 hours ago, Stevebr said:

It’s because the power supply has not been upgraded in time. There are a maximum no of trains/hour that can run on the overhead and all the allocation is taken by the LNER. Upgrades are apparently “in progress”

And so it goes on.  At Eurostar in the 1990s we were paying for power supply upgrades at the northern English end of the ECML and that work (mainly north of Newcastle) was allegedly completed.   Presumably we didn't pay enough?

[4630]

6 hours ago, Stevebr said:

It’s because the power supply has not been upgraded in time. There are a maximum no of trains/hour that can run on the overhead and all the allocation is taken by the LNER. Upgrades are apparently “in progress”

 

There's an update on the current position and timescale for completing 'Power Supply Upgrade 2' (the stretch of line from Doncaster to Edinburgh) on page 59 of the March issue of Modern Railways.  

 

The print issue should arrive on newsagent shelves on Thursday 25th February.  Sub copies should be on the way, mine arrived earlier than usual last weekend.

[Zomboid]

1 hour ago, The Stationmaster said:

And so it goes on.  At Eurostar in the 1990s we were paying for power supply upgrades at the northern English end of the ECML and that work (mainly north of Newcastle) was allegedly completed.   Presumably we didn't pay enough?

No idea what was done then, but the increase in electric load since then has been substantial, so any capacity which Eurostar bought will have long since been used up.

 

I think the biggest change is that the London to Newcastle service has been extended to Edinburgh, so it's 2tph all day, plus any HST activity is now an 800 on electric. Plus the Scotrail service is now much more electric - that's mostly west of Edinburgh, but still impacts the ECML power supply because of where the supply points are.

[Philately]

Many thanks gentlemen.  I had wondered whether TransPennine were quoted a price for electricity that was uneconomic.  Now I know it's a shortage of capacity in the OLE.  I must say that the new Trans-Pennine stock seems to run very quietly for diesel.