Travelled from St Pancras to St Albans yesterday evening on 9T50 Ex Brighton on unit 700133. In my experience all the 700s I've ever been on handle the worst bits of the MML fasts around Hendon to Mill Hill pretty well even at 100mph, but last night there were a couple of quite severe sideways lurches, that I've not experienced since the Electrostars did most of the fast services. Does anybody here know either whether there is a new defect in the track (maybe around the Brent Cross station works), or is this just a unit that is overdue a maintenance action on its suspension?
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Poor class 700 ride on MML yesterday.
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RailUK Forums
OK thanks. It certainly felt worse that I've experienced for some time and I'd just travelled from Lille on a 374 which was as expected pretty smooth. I'll keep a watch the next time I'm travelling back from the core.
Just as a slight aside, the worst ride I ever had on a British line was on the MML in the 70s somewhere in the Leicester area, returning from a spotting trip to Derby on a Peak-hauled service train at around 90-100mph. The SO I was in next to the buffet car was hunting so badly that everyone in the coach was seriously scared that it would derail. B1 bogies not well maintained gave an awful ride. The coach number was easy to remember - M4444.
A rough riding Mark 1 buffet on continental bogies could create an alarming ride in the adjacent saloons.
If by "continental" you mean, 'Commonwealth' which was an American proprietary design used to upgrade key MKI coaches in the '60s before the B4 was commonly available, my experience of them was class 309 EMUs on the GEML, (another not particularly good permanent way). They were quite successful in heavy service, regularly running at 100mph for over 30 miles per trip. Their ride was better than the functionally equivalent 4-BIG/CIG units supplied to the Brighton and Portsmouth mainlines which were fitted with B4 motor bogies and B5 (S) trailers, although the (S) I presume, indicates a Southern Region variant which probably constrained suspension excursions to comply with the more limited Southern loading gauge.
The MKIs thought were rubbish at much over 70mph especially on indifferent track, which is why they were replaced with better types on the fastest inter-city routes.
Yes, of course, you are quite right. I meant Commomwealth. Senior moment! And yes, they were much better than the original Mark 1 bogies. They could make an adjacent Mark 2D bounce around if they were riding rough though. I remember encountering some engineers (from Derby?) with a clever box of tricks sitting on the floor of a RBR monitoring the problem.
RailWonderer
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I’ve just had a very bad ride up the MML on a class 180. It was shaking to the point I couldn’t walk the aisle without sliding and tripping up. The Meridians ride much better. Ride was worst between St Albans and Bedford.
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