159003/015 confuses me, anyone know why?

[andyb2706]

I'm just leaving Salisbury and noticed 159015 in one of the bay platforms....or so I thought. O closer inspection I noticed the unit number at one end was 159015 and the other 159003 with coaches 52887, 58732 and 57875. Does anyone know why?

 

[swt_passenger]

Short term reformation to make a good unit from two when individual vehicles have a fault. The unit numbers are not the primary means of identification of rolling stock - and therefore there is no formal necessity to alter them.

 

[starrymarkb]

57875 is the rogue vehicle, the rest of the unit is 015 . If there are vehicles out of service due to hitting an obstruction for example then there may be reformations to keep the maximum number of units in service

 

[David Goddard]

Short term reformation to make a good unit from two when individual vehicles have a fault. The unit numbers are not the primary means of identification of rolling stock - and therefore there is no formal necessity to alter them.

57875 is the rogue vehicle, the rest of the unit is 015 . If there are vehicles out of service due to hitting an obstruction for example then there may be reformations to keep the maximum number of units in service

Both true and I agree, however which unit number would be used against the diagram in TOPS? Likewise if the unit failed which unit number would the driver report?

 

[D6975]

Hybrid units usually have a temporary sign on the inside of the cab to inform the driver what the unit's number is.

 

[dk1]

Hybrid units usually have a temporary sign on the inside of the cab to inform the driver what the unit's number is.

Used to be a pain to make a hybrid up on the GEMINI computer system. Allways had to speak to the help desk. When reformed both units had to take the higher mileage for maintainence requirements.

 

[12CSVT]

Is there a specific requirement for units to revert to their origional formations ?

Apart from the Western Region, first generation DMUs rarely kept to fixed formations.