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End of Virgin loco-hauled service?

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bengolding

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I've made a few journeys between Euston and Birmingham during the past week, on services that were previously run by the silver loco-hauled refurbished train. A VT TM later told me that the loco-hauled train is no longer in service anymore on the West Midlands route (apart from on the single Fridays Euston-Preston), as VT now have the full Pendolinos available.

Any truth to this?
 
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MCR247

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As a reserve, and they want to hire them out for Railtours
 
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87015

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Supposed to be coming back out daily "soon" as another Pendojunk needs withdrawing for damage repairs. I think its the one that had an argument with a DRS liner a few months back, was patched up for the summer but needs proper work doing on it now, could be wrong though.

NR payed for the refurb as the set is 390033 replacement so thats why the money was spent as I understand it...
 
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Lampshade

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Speaking of which, does the FO relief service show up on the LDB? I looked on NRE and the only services from EUS - PRE are the 18:30 and the 19:30 :???:
 
37401

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87015 said:
NR payed for the refurb as the set is 390033 replacement so thats why the money was spent as I understand it...
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..and the MD of NXEC wishes his brown HST was damaged "accidentally" :lol:

NR: "Free refurb with every derailment we cause ask in-store for more info or call 0800-oops"
 
Broken Viking

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37401 said:
NR: "Free refurb with every derailment we cause ask in-store for more info or call 0800-oops"
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:lol::lol::lol:
Maybe an interesting suggestion for anybody who's annoyed with the Merseyrail's 142s?... ;)

87015 said:
Supposed to be coming back out daily "soon" as another Pendojunk needs withdrawing for damage repairs...
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If I may ask, why do so many people dislike Pendolinos? :?

Personally, I like them quite a bit (Although I class more or less as unit veg, I suppose) and I've always enjoyed travelling on them. Granted, they are a bit on the painfully slow side...But all that's needed to solve that problem is to fit them out with TVM-900! 8)

Besides...IMO, the WCML should've been outfitted with TVM and had it's speed limits upped years ago. The APT-P managed to hit a fairly nice 162mph in testing, but if a decent in-cab system had been installed at the time, it'd have achived at least three times that... <D
 
Broken Viking

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87015 said:
Oh diddums. Feel free to moan when I next use duff or skoda aswell, because I can't see it stopping any time soon.
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I had a Skoda as my first car after passing my driving test. Granted, the steering rack was virtually seized in the forward position and the brakes felt like they were off of a Fischer Price scooter...But looking back it was one of the be(a)st cars I've ever had! :D

(Translation: I like my Skodas, but I can't remember for the life of me what class that nickname has been assigned to. :? )
 
37401

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death said:
(translation: I like my skodas, but i can't remember for the life of me what class that nickname has been assigned to. :? )
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90, given the name because of a crap skoda out in 1990, 91`s are knowen as Super-Skodas too
 
MCR247

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No actually, I have travelled on lots of trains around the UK, probably between 30 - 40 class of trains ;)
 
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class377man

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I have never heard a non-rail enthusiast say a bad word about the Pendolinos. I strongly suspect the dislike is due to what they aren't (loco-hauled stock or class 43 HST) rather than what they are.
 
Daimler

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class377man said:
I have never heard a non-rail enthusiast say a bad word about the Pendolinos. I strongly suspect the dislike is due to what they aren't (loco-hauled stock or class 43 HST) rather than what they are.
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According to an official survey (can't remember who it was by, Passenger Focus or something - it was in Rail magazine a while back) which asked a wide variety of passengers travelling on intercity trains (almost invariably non-enthusiasts, I'd wager), the Pendolinos are the worst intercity trains in service in the UK today - worse than Voyagers, Meridians, Desiros (444s), HSTs, 91s, you name it.

In terms of passenger comfort, compared not only to what came before but also to other modern trains - such as Meridians, for example (they won the aforementioned survey) - they are awful. Rattly, cramped, claustrophobic and frequently smelly.
 
MCR247

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I rate meridians, excellent trains :D v2 of the vomiter!
 
Drsatan

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Virgin should really be placing their own passengers first rather than those of charter companies. If they've paid for those two Mk3 rakes to be refurbished, then it would make sense to make use of them rather than leasing them. I suspect a lot of people here would find a Mk3 more comfortable than a Pendolino.
 
Daimler

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Drsatan said:
Virgin should really be placing their own passengers first rather than those of charter companies. If they've paid for those two Mk3 rakes to be refurbished, then it would make sense to make use of them rather than leasing them. I suspect a lot of people here would find a Mk3 more comfortable than a Pendolino.
Click to expand...

Perhaps, but in all fairness to the loathsome Pendolinos, the Mk3 set struggles to keep time with Virgin's schedules.
 
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