Vivarail files intention to appoint administrators

[adb968008]

39 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

... and the BBC

Ive noticed since the BBC went to Manchester its been much less Waitrose / M&S and much more “how to live a week off a penny”. Stuart Rose must be really missing his appearance fees.

 

The move north has really changed BBC from glass half full to glass half empty reporting. It can be very depressing watching BBC.

 

You may have nothing in your pocket, but its still more inspiring to look at a cloud in a blue sky, then looking down for weeds on a grey pavement.

 

 

Edited December 5, 2022 by adb968008

[adb968008]

On 26/11/2022 at 10:52, Mike_Walker said:

Hopefully, the administrators will be able to find a good home for the IP of the battery trains and charging system as they do seem to work.  For some time I've thought that VivaRail would be better off working with one of the big boys to provide equipment packages for new build trains rather than going down the rebuild path.

Cynic in me thinks a good home for the IP of the battery trains was found before the administrators was called in.

 

We Brits are very good at doing the hard work for American companies to capitalise on.

Edited December 5, 2022 by adb968008

[Michael Hodgson]

1 hour ago, adb968008 said:

You may have nothing in your pocket, but its still more inspiring to look at a cloud in a blue sky, then looking down for weeds on a grey pavement.

I don't think the Mancunian artist Lowry got much practice at painting blue skies.

Perhaps he should have gone to Liverpool?

 

[John M Upton]

2 hours ago, adb968008 said:

The south doesnt do “hand me downs”

 

Stuff doesnt go south, because the stuff up north is closer to the scrap yard, in more ways than one… Where is the DfTs offices again ?

 

Ahem...

🤣

[Nearholmer]

There was a GWR auto train based at the Chinnor line, not sure if it’s still there, but that would be perfect for the job and I can’t imagine that adding coaling and watering facilities would be that complex. ;-)

[APOLLO]

3 hours ago, adb968008 said:

 

I wonder how many lines will now become very uneconomical with a 195.

Ive done the Bolton line with a 142 dozens of times, for dozens of years, nothing wrong with them.

 

Your quite strong on this, why dont you pay for it ?

I suspect most taxpayers will want to pay their electric bill before someone elses trains.

 

We all pay for overseas aid, a % of GDP. I've nothing against that though I would like to see a thorough audit trail of where the money goes. (Brown cash filled envelopes to iffy leaders included !!).

IF a proportion of that money was spent on sourcing items MADE (etc) IN THE UK that are needed by countries hit by natural disasters, poverty  etc that would be a win win situation. (and this applies not just to trains)

 

As to Pacers, EVERYTHING is wrong with them. Cheap and very nasty, horrible ride etc. An insult to the paying public and to the nation that gave birth to railways. Soo glad they have gone.

 

At last we have decent trains here up north.

 

Brit15

[Steven B]

22 minutes ago, APOLLO said:

As to Pacers, EVERYTHING is wrong with them.

Not true. The view from them was second to none - you never found yourself in a seat with no window on a Pacer.

 

Steven B

[frobisher]

1 hour ago, John M Upton said:

 

Ahem...

🤣

Those were a "loaner" in any case 😉

[Wheatley]

3 hours ago, Mike_Walker said:

The Marston Vale line is pretty much restricted to 2-car 20m units, i.e. 150s.  This is due to a combination of short platforms in many cases immediately after a level crossing and the position of signals so longer units with SDO are not really a viable option.

I'm sure Northern would swap their ex WMR 150s back for a  couple more 170s if they were asked nicely. 

 

[APOLLO]

24 minutes ago, Steven B said:

Not true. The view from them was second to none - you never found yourself in a seat with no window on a Pacer.

 

Steven B

 

You sometimes did when travelling from Kirkby Liverpool !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Brit15

[Bucoops]

33 minutes ago, Steven B said:

Not true. The view from them was second to none - you never found yourself in a seat with no window on a Pacer.

 

Steven B

 

They had to invent the steady-cam to see anything clearly though.

[Reorte]

1 hour ago, Bucoops said:

 

They had to invent the steady-cam to see anything clearly though.

You'd sometimes see one on the Settle-Carlisle in the late 90s / early 00s, working with a 156. I occasionally thought of getting on the Pacer for the views on that line but always ended up on the 156 instead (it was usually easy enough to find a good table seat, at least when I was travelling south).

[Steven B]

I always found condensation on the inside of the window to be the biggest problem. Not unlike the Leyland Atlantean buses running around Greater Manchester around the same time. I wonder if the problem was linked....

 

It's a shame Vivarail couldn't make a go of re-working the LUL cars. I liked the idea. The class 442 (5-WES) managed a decent career running around with recovered components so the concept has some sound history.

 

Steve B.

[phil_sutters]

6 hours ago, John M Upton said:

 

Ahem...

🤣

This is when we knew we were in for a treat 

[melmoth]

9 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

... and the BBC

 

Are they 2 BBC or 4 BBC? I always get confused with these Southern EMUs

[009 micro modeller]

11 hours ago, adb968008 said:

a massive overcrowding problem, which post covid, London does not

While it does seem that Thameslink is now less crowded than previously (possibly thanks to capacity enhancements, from which the extra capacity created will now not be ‘filled up’ as quickly due to the reduction in commuter traffic caused by Covid), I’ve been on tube services within the last 2 weeks which were hugely overcrowded, and this wasn’t even during rush hour. Perhaps not coincidentally, one of these was on the Piccadilly line (i.e. one of the lines still using very old rolling stock). South Western Railway (which I don’t travel on very frequently, admittedly) seems to have an incredibly frequent service on some inner suburban lines, even when compared to other London commuter routes, with a mixture of newer and older stock. The problem I’ve noticed in the north (including major routes such as between Leeds and Manchester) is very short train formations, leading to overcrowding.

 

There’s a further aspect to this which is that most of the money spent in the south is spent either in London, or in ways that benefit London. For example, in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire the north-south rail links (to and from London) are generally excellent, but in a lot of places east-west transport links are either incredibly slow and infrequent or non-existent, and more usually bus rather than rail-based. It would be good to see Greater Manchester (for example) being given the funding and power to allow it to create a transport network of the same quality as that seen in London (for instance, I understand the creation of a similar joined-up bus network in Manchester is already being looked at), but I do worry that a similar situation could develop where slightly more rural areas just outside the boundary have noticeably worse public transport, and where the main transport links exclusively serve radial routes into city centres.

[009 micro modeller]

2 hours ago, phil_sutters said:

This is when we knew we were in for a treat 

I know there were a few complaints about the lack of toilets on 313s when they first moved to Southern. To be fair, they did operate some fairly long routes (at least in terms of journey time, if not distance) on the Great Northern, their replacements there don’t have toilets either, and neither do the similar Merseyrail, Scotrail and Great Eastern PEP units (314/315/507/508) built around the same time. Their age is another matter, although when that poster was published they were still in use on the GN, as were the 315s and Merseyrail units on their respective lines.

[phil-b259]

On 05/12/2022 at 16:28, Steven B said:

 

It's a shame Vivarail couldn't make a go of re-working the LUL cars. I liked the idea. The class 442 (5-WES) managed a decent career running around with recovered components so the concept has some sound history.

 

Steve B.

 

Quite

 

Something certain people on here tend to forget is that the principle of recycling trains is not new!

 

For its newly electrified commuter routes the Southern railway had absolutely no qualms about reusing ex 4 / 6 wheel compartment coaches on new underframe to create and proudly boasting about their 'new' electric trains.

 

Equally I don't recall an outcry when said underfames had their bodies stripped and underframes re-used in the BR built EPB fleet.

 

As for the 455s - a lot of their traction gear was reused from the 4-SUB units... (hence why the Southern region got the 508s initially so some 4SUBS could be withdrawn for component recovery.

 

 

Edited December 6, 2022 by phil-b259

[keefer]

36 minutes ago, phil-b259 said:

As for the 455s - a lot of their traction gear was reused from the 4-SUB units... (hence why the Southern region got the 508s initially so some 4SUBS could be withdrawn for component recovery.

with similar shenanigans when the REPs were progressively withdrawn to provide the 'traction package' for the 'brand-new' Mk3-based cl.442 5-WES units - cl.73s + TCs + REP trailers in various combinations vice 4REP + 4(or 8)TC.

(Or even, if needed to substitute, any available EPB/VEP/BIG/CIG/CEP/BEP units you have can be coupled and work together!)

Edited December 5, 2022 by keefer

[Nova Scotian]

Any 442s left unscrapped? Maybe some new third rail (despite the rule against doing so) along Marston Vale. Rejigged to a 3 car unit it'd fly!

 

You could even stick a diesel engine and generator in the front half of one of the driving cars - a la Class 210 - voila, a bi-mode and you don't need to worry about overhanging platforms anymore.

 

Paint it NSE though.

Edited December 6, 2022 by Nova Scotian

[Michael Hodgson]

4 hours ago, 009 micro modeller said:

I know there were a few complaints about the lack of toilets on 313s when they first moved to Southern. To be fair, they did operate some fairly long routes (at least in terms of journey time, if not distance) on the Great Northern, their replacements there don’t have toilets either, and neither do the similar Merseyrail, Scotrail and Great Eastern PEP units (314/315/507/508) built around the same time.

Well you'd expect that from them posh types south of the river.  Those of us who live north of Hatfield aren't used to inside toilets.  We still shout "Gardyloo" and chuck it out of the windows.

[Artless Bodger]

19 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Well you'd expect that from them posh types south of the river.  Those of us who live north of Hatfield aren't used to inside toilets.  We still shout "Gardyloo" and chuck it out of the windows.

455s? Waterloo to Earley on a Saturday evening, with a long walk home from the station, often had to refuse the last cup of tea at M&Ds before setting off back home. Margate to Victoria in a 4EPB one morning also comes to mind.

[adb968008]

3 hours ago, Artless Bodger said:

455s? Waterloo to Earley on a Saturday evening, with a long walk home from the station, often had to refuse the last cup of tea at M&Ds before setting off back home. Margate to Victoria in a 4EPB one morning also comes to mind.

Last may I did a railtour on a 455….

 

Victoria to Horsham, reverse to Three Bridges, down to Brighton, with stops in Horsham, Three Bridges, Haywards Heath, and Hove…

Followed by a reverse to Hove, Brighton, Lewes and London Bridge to Charing Cross before reversing to Blackfriars.

 

The number of people ready to burst by Blackfriars was positively funny… No one objected to the extra hour delay to er ahem, allow people to complete their abloutions… including the staff.

 

Who actually owns the class 230’s ?

 

Were they sold by vivarail or leased ?

 

Unfortunately I suspect its game over for the class 230, and the dozens of Met vehicles which have been in a scrapyard so long its visible on google maps.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 6, 2022 by adb968008

[John M Upton]

8 hours ago, adb968008 said:

Unfortunately I suspect its game over for the class 230, and the dozens of Met vehicles which have been in a scrapyard so long its visible on google maps.

 

District, not Met. 

 

D Stock (in my opinion, one of the worst of the 'Surface Stock' classes of rolling stock I ever had the misfortune to ride on the Underground) were District Line (and the odd Circle Line service) whilst Metropolitan stock was the far FAR superior A Stock which alas are all long gone.

[phil-b259]

4 hours ago, John M Upton said:

 

District, not Met. 

 

D Stock (in my opinion, one of the worst of the 'Surface Stock' classes of rolling stock I ever had the misfortune to ride on the Underground) were District Line (and the odd Circle Line service) whilst Metropolitan stock was the far FAR superior A Stock which alas are all long gone.

 

But was that the stock or the notoriously bad LU track? (the latter being the reason they got new bogies as the track was cracking the old ones like no tomorrow)

 

 

Edited December 7, 2022 by phil-b259