Revolution Trains announce Class 175 'Coradia' and Class 180 'Adelante' DMUs in N & OO Gauge.

[Ian Hargrave]

If you can access the BBC News App for Wales,you will see that the WAG has just pumped an extra £125 m into TFW…..for which it has understandably come into some flak.The minister responsible defends the decision with the declaration that this is not to be seen as a blank cheque. Maybe this puts into context the 175 units currently lying  expensively idle at Holyhead and Chester. A lot of new stock has come on stream with more to come.And then of course there’s the big one down South with Valleys rail transformation,the wires and battery powered Stadler trains which will hopefully transform the daily lives of many . If it succeeds it’ll be a marvel.It all goes into the mix. So £ 40m on the 175 units did someone say ,was it last year? 

Edited October 23, 2023 by Ian Hargrave
Amending figure

[woodenhead]

The 175s have an issue that requires modification as leaves and debris were getting caught up in the engines leading to fires.

 

There is a modification to resolve but it looks like the 197s were close enough to being available for TFW to deem the modification someone else's problem and withdraw them early.

 

They will find a new home and TFW have not spent more money on a train was soon to go back off lease.

[Ian Hargrave]

3 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

The 175s have an issue that requires modification as leaves and debris were getting caught up in the engines leading to fires.

 

There is a modification to resolve but it looks like the 197s were close enough to being available for TFW to deem the modification someone else's problem and withdraw them early.

 

They will find a new home and TFW have not spent more money on a train was soon to go back off lease.

So now we have 27 x 175 units in addition to all Avanti’s 221 and EMR’s 222 apparently seeking new TOC’s .Pardon me but where are all this lot bound  ?

[woodenhead]

1 minute ago, Ian Hargrave said:

So now we have 27 x 175 units in addition to all Avanti’s 221 and EMR’s 222 apparently seeking new TOC’s .Pardon me but where are all this lot bound  ?

Eh Gringo, you got any lowcos you wanna sell?

[woodenhead]

2 minutes ago, Ian Hargrave said:

So now we have 27 x 175 units in addition to all Avanti’s 221 and EMR’s 222 apparently seeking new TOC’s .Pardon me but where are all this lot bound  ?

Grand Central have/are taking 10 221s.

 

The 175s are going to be sought after, a 100mph unit that has recently seen refurbishment and will be fine once they mod the engine bays for debris dispersal.

 

For the EMR 222s there must be a couple of prospective uses - Cross Country or SWT, but maybe not, who knows in this new crazy world we inhabit.

[TomScrut]

2 hours ago, adb968008 said:

A good use of £40mn then..

 

https://news.tfw.wales/news/tfw-celebrate-completion-of-gbp-40m-class-175-refurbishment-work

 

So those seat covers and revinyls will be in the bin then?

 

It's crackers isn't it. Almost as bad as refurbishing the 442 then scrapping them.

[TomScrut]

23 minutes ago, Ian Hargrave said:

So now we have 27 x 175 units in addition to all Avanti’s 221 and EMR’s 222 apparently seeking new TOC’s .Pardon me but where are all this lot bound  ?

 

And some mk5a stock

[TomScrut]

19 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

For the EMR 222s there must be a couple of prospective uses - Cross Country or SWT, but maybe not, who knows in this new crazy world we inhabit.

 

Would be nice if they went to Scotland to supplement/replace (if there's enough of them) the HSTs. Going to Inverness on a 3 car 170 is ridiculous IMO.

Edited October 23, 2023 by TomScrut

[43055]

24 minutes ago, Ian Hargrave said:

So now we have 27 x 175 units in addition to all Avanti’s 221 and EMR’s 222 apparently seeking new TOC’s .Pardon me but where are all this lot bound  ?

Apparently the 175's are going to another TOC but it is not known where.

 

221's - 2 are already with Grand Central with 8 to follow, Cross Country are also getting 7 as HST replacements. 

[Ian Hargrave]

10 minutes ago, TomScrut said:

 

Would be nice if they went to Scotland to supplement/replace (if there's enough of them) the HSTs. Going to Inverness on a 3 car 170 is ridiculous IMO.

Yes the 170 though reasonably comfortable struggles with its capacity especially during the tourist season. Can’t see it happening though 

[Ian Hargrave]

5 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

Not many places need a 2 car 100mph unit without any gangways.

Point.But if one can apply the gentle art of logic here….what would they replace and where ?

[Ian Hargrave]

If guesswork is permissible ( no logic there ) I’d say the refurbished 175 could be a fit for Chiltern. 

[IMS]

Many of us who live on the Marches Line between Cardiff and Crewe are more concerned at the number of long distance trains still operated by 2 car 150s and 153s. These are hopelessly inadequate in capacity and, with 75mph max, are often incapable of maintaining schedules leading to trips being terminating before conclusion.

The 175s are nice, fast, and comfortable with more seats and toilets than the the new 197s, but they are hardly ever seen now. I actually abandoned a trip this week because the rush hour train was nearly always a 2 car 150.

Edited October 27, 2023 by IMS
Words omitted

[PieGuyRob]

1 hour ago, IMS said:

Many of us who live on the Marches Line between Cardiff and Crewe are more concerned at the number of long distance trains still operated by 2 car 150s and 153s. These are hopelessly inadequate in capacity and, with 75mph max, are often incapable of maintaining schedules leading to trips being terminating before conclusion.

The 175s are nice, fast, and comfortable with more seats and toilets than the the new 197s, but they are hardly ever seen now. I actually abandoned a trip this week because the rush hour train was nearly always a 2 car 150.

I saw a 150 at Crewe on a Manchester to Cardiff service a couple of weeks ago. It looked cosy on board to say the least!

[IMS]

Yep, that's typical. At least we can have our very own 175 in due course! I've chosen the Arriva version for mine, the pinnacle of services on this line - until they were bought by DB who just sweated the assets. Not that you could blame them, there seems to be no longer any financial incentive to improve services.

[newbryford]

1 minute ago, adb968008 said:

at risk of being moaned at for talking about the real thing,  I travelled up to Doncaster on Thursday on a 175.. lovely units, acceleration and power at high speed is fantastic, very smooth to ride on, and having a buffet car rather than a trolley gives it a touch more class.

We touched 124 before Newark. Ive always liked these units… even when they were on FGW back in 2001.

 

 

one minor aspect that I hope reaches the model is printing the set number on the under part of the coupling… I dont know nay other unit like this (and appreciate its something that 

 

 

 

Funny looking 175....

[big jim]

2 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

at risk of being moaned at for talking about the real thing,  I travelled up to Doncaster on Thursday on a 175..

 

Just now, newbryford said:

 

Funny looking 175....

Beat me to it! 

[Robert Shrives]

221143 now at CZ for exam and staff training going well so hopefully 180s which have become a bit of a "laughing stock" will soon be razor blades having had from outset reliability problems, must have been a discounted lease for them to have stayed on so long. 

TfW work on 175 seems to have centered on engine bay issues but the cleaning out of debris was part of a scheduled exam due to engine design making an on top of engine oil leak trap. "skuttlebutt" has it that with CAF taking over Chester depot major exam - and hence engine block cleaning were reduced in frequency as sets about to be replaced by 197 units or if kept to frequency then some work put on concessions to a later date, but reality took over and back peddling required.. 

197s are rubbish and TfW have done the reputation of Welsh internal and international rail travel no good  with removing 175s to quickly and shortforimg/ cancelling services, but then it is not in Cardiff! 

Hopefully I will have retired by time 197 trash takes over Cambrian. 

What is sad is that 175 and 180 have some of the best 3rd gen sprinter interiors and knock the 22x fleet into a hat yet mechanically seem a total lottery. Being small fleets as TPE has shown introducing new or "new to you" fleets into service is still a bigger lottery and I cannot see a UK TOC taking the operational risk of bring 175/180s into service given how TOCs face DfT inference in industrial relations at this time.  

Robert  

[JackB95]

8 hours ago, newbryford said:

 

Funny looking 175....

 

Funny looking 185 too 😂 I'd love one of them in model form 😉 

[Erixtar1992]

Crossing fingers that they dont try to get too clever with the lighting after caroline. Doing funky things with the PCB has just seemed to cause problems.

 

in any case, im very much looking forward to these, although i missed the early bird offer annoyingly. 
 

for now i will have to play with my home built one 

[TomScrut]

29 minutes ago, Erixtar1992 said:

Doing funky things with the PCB has just seemed to cause problems.

 

I agree. Do it with switches for DC or the decoders instead for DCC. I don't like having logic on the boards at all.

 

The Hattons 66 was excellent in this regard. Had simple lighting setups for those who didn't want to put a 10 function decoder in there however if you opened all the switches you controlled each function directly with the decoder.

[Steven B]

Do the Coradia and Adelante's share a mechanism with the class 128?

 

SB.

[Kaput]

7 hours ago, Erixtar1992 said:

Crossing fingers that they dont try to get too clever with the lighting after caroline. Doing funky things with the PCB has just seemed to cause problems.

 

Very agreed, Revolution have made some odd choices with lighting on models lately.

 

The Class 320 had a big song and dance about the conductive couplers making it only need one decoder to control, sadly the interior lights weren't hooked up to said decoder and can only be worked by switches. Just to rub salt in the wound the switch for the powered coach is inside instead of on the bottom like the others so needs disassembled to access.

 

The Mk5's having the magnetic wand to turn off the lights has gotten some eyebrows raised, not actually 100% sure how they act on DCC.

 

Then Caroline's weird setup of needing the headlights on for any other directional lights to work meaning it has to have headlights on facing the loco so it can have tail lights on when being hauled, probably my only disappointment with the entire model.

[Erixtar1992]

Yep, keep it traditionally done and let the function mapping on the decoder do the work! 
 

[Steven B]

I think it's called progress - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't...

 

 

SB.