Creation of class 230 DEMUs from ex-LU D78s by Vivarail

[samuelmorris]

It mainly looks so odd because of what look like large plastic googly eyes where the headlights should be! With the proper lights fitted I don't think it'll be quite so bad.

 

[47802]

Oh my good lord ! Has April 1st arrived early ?

Indeed having just seen the photo's I have been unable to stop laughing for the last tens minutes, truly amazing, amazingly bad that is.

Possibly it could compete with the American Talgo Train driving trailers for the title of the worlds worst looking train

 

[Chris125]

Is it just me, or do the trains look higher off the ground now?

Rail Technology Magazine

"Taking me under the carriage, Rowell explained that the body height of the units is being lifted by 73mm to achieve the required gauging. This is being achieved through the use of suspension rubber on the centre pivot and on the vertical dampeners"

 

[jopsuk]

Indeed having just seen the photo's I have been unable to stop laughing for the last tens minutes, truly amazing, amazingly bad that is.

Possibly it could compete with the American Talgo Train driving trailers for the title of the worlds worst looking train

you mean these monsters, yes?

 

[47802]

you mean these monsters, yes?

Indeed

 

[Peter Mugridge]

you mean these monsters, yes?

It's a squished TGV!

 

[Clip]

Its that green that makes it look terrible - one would hope they have sacked the bod that was responsible for that.

 

[jopsuk]

(off topic) the older generation sets use old locomotives with the power units stripped out

 

[47802]

OK this may only be a prototype but its not exactly doing themselves any favours its just looks amateurish, like something that been knocked up in a garden shed.

 

[hibtastic]

Gotta say, I am very disappointed with this. I was expecting something that looked a lot better and not like an underground train in a different paint scheme. Very very amateur looking. :cry:

 

[Clip]

Gotta say, I am very disappointed with this. I was expecting something that looked a lot better and not like an underground train in a different paint scheme. Very very amateur looking. :cry:

Hopefully that mock up will be just the start to show something or other - though did you expect much other than an underground train body on it?

Though the impression on their site did give a different front end

 

[hibtastic]

Hopefully that mock up will be just the start to show something or other - though did you expect much other than an underground train body on it?

Though the impression on their site did give a different front end

I was expecting something along the lines of the rendering they gave on their site that you just provided which looks infinitely better IMHO.

 

[Clip]

fingers crossed this demonstrator is just showing it works and they redo the front end. shame if they didn't. Maybe scaling it back till they have firm orders??

 

[507021]

I'm not a big fan of that at all unfortunately although as it's early days I'll reserve my full judgement on it until the first unit has been completed. If it looks like the rendering that Clip has shared then I think it'll look much better. I really don't think the green does it any favours though

 

[asylumxl]

I don't think they look that bad. Certainly they look more modern than they did pre-conversion.

Also, regarding the front end, chances are they will add some kind of nosecone like seen on the electric Junipers.

 

[Philip C]

I don't think they look that bad. Certainly they look more modern than they did pre-conversion.

In their original state D Stock didn't look "modern" it looked functional. Much urban stock has/had a functional look and can be accepted as such. Then in later years the D Stock fell foul of whichever Primary School was commissioned to provide the colour scheme for LU stock. In a way it fitted with the red, white and blue mentality of the Reception Class palette no worse than most underground stock but, to my eyes, it looked, and still looks, what a five year old would paint a train as being. For my money the pre-grouping railways, the big four and British Railways, for most of its existence, knew how to paint rolling stock properly, five year olds don't.

This latest joke offering is not the product of function or of childish perception, but the product of either a troubled mind or of a manager who fancied having a go him/herself. From a commercial perspective it may simply be 'too bad to ignore' - along the lines of 'all advertising is good advertising'; perhaps this is a third and least condemnatory explanation?

 

[Chris125]

I suspect it looks weird because it's got small, fake headlights and there's nothing below the cab which emphasises it's width - once that has been addressed they should look much more conventional as shown in the render posted previously.

 

[southern442]

I suspect it looks weird because it's got small, fake headlights and there's nothing below the cab which emphasises it's width - once that has been addressed they should look much more conventional as shown in the render posted previously.

Agreed - it does look a bit silly with fake headlights, but I don't mind the design actually. When I was younger, I (very poorly) did a drawing of a D stock train, with a yellow front end and class 321-style headlights, and I think it looked quite good with the headlight clusters. Still, this isn't bad, and it is good to see some of my favourite LU trains get a new lease of life.

 

[asylumxl]

I thought I'd have a go at making it look a bit more like the "renderings", so added a deflector. I really don't think it looks all that bad at all.

 

[507021]

I thought I'd have a go at making it look a bit more like the "renderings", so added a deflector. I really don't think it looks all that bad at all.

That doesn't look too bad now but I think when the completely finished prototype unit is unveiled it will look better than this initial driving car prototype. I think that with the front shown on the rendering on the Vivarail website as well as the earlier suggestion of emphasised light clusters I think the Class 230 would look quite smart

It's still early days though so in hindsight I think that it's a good idea not to do too much with the initial prototype carriage. At least then Vivarail can take any feedback from potential customers on board to alter the design to suit customer needs if necessary

 

[Clip]

I thought I'd have a go at making it look a bit more like the "renderings", so added a deflector. I really don't think it looks all that bad at all.

Looks much better with that on it and i guess when at platform with it it will look far more normal.

 

[southern442]

Just a question, if the 'lights' on the front aren't real, is the same true for the display screen and headlight at the top? I thought that it surely would have to have some sort of light, to show that it was moving when it was being shunted into the platform, unless it is a mock-up purely for static purposes.

 

[Domh245]

I suspect that the LED display and top light are fakes, much like the main light clusters. I think that the single car that they were using (on a private test track) was more to do with proving that they have a way of making their train move, hence the unfinished exterior, and barely touched interior (the only change seeming to be the change of seat covering!).

And I don't think you would need a light to see that coming towards you, it's eye catching enough as it is with that livery!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

When a certain Mr A Shooter said that these units could be produced at a greatly reduced cost in comparison to new units, I wonder as to what was the bottom line in the costings involved.

Would new front ends, deflectors, etc, be seen as "optional extras" to be supplied at an additional cost to the stated base cost?

 

[SpacePhoenix]

I think it might have looked better of the yellow area was rectantular or if the entire end was yellow

 

[gazthomas]

It still looks better than a Pacer!

 

[Clip]

When a certain Mr A Shooter said that these units could be produced at a greatly reduced cost in comparison to new units, I wonder as to what was the bottom line in the costings involved.

Would new front ends, deflectors, etc, be seen as "optional extras" to be supplied at an additional cost to the stated base cost?

I doubt they would be an extra - cant be that much to fashion a bit of steel into a deflector and bolt it on can it?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I doubt they would be an extra - cant be that much to fashion a bit of steel into a deflector and bolt it on can it?

I am sure that you have seen this in a simplistic manner. How much do you feel such a fabrication would cost?

Would you also say the same about the cost of providing new front ends?

 

[swt_passenger]

I doubt they would be an extra - cant be that much to fashion a bit of steel into a deflector and bolt it on can it?

Obstacle deflectors and lifeguards are compulsory on new stock introduced since 1994, AIUI. If this is considered new stock to Network Rail it should get them as a matter of course.

 

[Clip]

I am sure that you have seen this in a simplistic manner. How much do you feel such a fabrication would cost?

Would you also say the same about the cost of providing new front ends?

I don't know I don't work in the field of steel fabrication on your second question im guessing that using less steel on a deflector than you would on a whole new front end with one attached would be cheaper. Again I am not a fabricator but logic tells you it would.

Obstacle deflectors and lifeguards are compulsory on new stock introduced since 1994, AIUI. If this is considered new stock to Network Rail it should get them as a matter of course.

That was my train of thinking on it too.