Northern 6 car units

[strange6]

I have never seen a Northern 6 car unit in Greater manchester around the rush hour. Do they exist?

 

[Jordy]

There is (or was) a 6 car Buxton train in the morning (just after peak) - presumably that has come off a peak time working. If there are any then there definitely aren't many! There are the Adelante diagrams (when they haven't caught fire...) which are 5 car of course.

 

[voyagerdude220]

Tuesday's 0917 Manchester Picc to Chester via Altrincham was a 6-car, unsurpisingly with the rear 2 OOU. (156+150/2+150+2) My first thought when it overtook my 185 as we approached Stockport, was Buxton like Jordy's post, but Nres confirmed it being a Chester run.

 

[strange6]

Tuesday's 0914? Manchester Picc to Chester via Altrincham was a 6-car, unsurpisingly with the rear 2 OOU. (156+150/2+150+2) My first thought when it overtook my 185 as we approached Stockport, was Buxton like Jordy's post, but Nres confirmed it being a Chester run.

Yeah, the 185's are generally quite long, but I have never seen a Northern standard stock 6 car unit. I suppose it comes down to Northern not having enough stock to introduce such a unit. And what i've seen in Manchester at peak hours, they do desperatly need such units.

 

[12CSVT]

Do Northern 323s ever run in pairs ?

 

[Anvil1984]

Quite a lot on the Man Utd Football ground trains

 

[Saxonia]

Even if we were able to muster enough units to run 6 car trains - & I am referring solely to dmu services here - our lamentable infrastructure would not allow for 6 cars to be in service on virtually every Northern route - indeed, we have an abundance of routes where we seriously struggle with 4 car units. Yes, I'm afraid that I am refering to the "long train, short platform" scenario, here - we have so many platforms, especially on the old L+Y area, where the operational length of the platforms has been halved, & worse - so, now that business is positively booming on the railways, even if we had an abundance of dmu's to string together, we are thwarted by miniscule platforms. One day, Network Rail might finally wake up to this, & restore platforms to worthwhile lengths, especially given that so many are simply buried under piles of undergrowth & vegetation, & would not cost the earth to reinstate - given the continued massive growth in passenger numbers, they WILL have to do something about it sooner or later, especially given that Northern will not be getting a fleet of units with selective door opening for many years to come, & we are therefore relegated to the farcical realms of "local door" operation at short platforms.

 

[strange6]

Even if we were able to muster enough units to run 6 car trains - & I am referring solely to dmu services here - our lamentable infrastructure would not allow for 6 cars to be in service on virtually every Northern route - indeed, we have an abundance of routes where we seriously struggle with 4 car units. Yes, I'm afraid that I am refering to the "long train, short platform" scenario, here - we have so many platforms, especially on the old L+Y area, where the operational length of the platforms has been halved, & worse - so, now that business is positively booming on the railways, even if we had an abundance of dmu's to string together, we are thwarted by miniscule platforms. One day, Network Rail might finally wake up to this, & restore platforms to worthwhile lengths, especially given that so many are simply buried under piles of undergrowth & vegetation, & would not cost the earth to reinstate - given the continued massive growth in passenger numbers, they WILL have to do something about it sooner or later, especially given that Northern will not be getting a fleet of units with selective door opening for many years to come, & we are therefore relegated to the farcical realms of "local door" operation at short platforms.

That point had crossed my mind actually and I do agree NR should be doing more in conjunction with the TOC's and the government to get this sorted ASAP

 

[Chapeltom]

8 car on the 0950 arrival into Buxton from Manchester yesterday...

2 x 156 and 2 x 150. It was a huge train.

 

[samj1]

I have seen 6 cars on the Blackpool line at weekends before. Last Sunday's 11.50 Blackpool-Liverpool was one.

 

[ANorthernGuard]

8 car on the 0950 arrival into Buxton from Manchester yesterday...

2 x 156 and 2 x 150. It was a huge train.

damn, glad I didn't work that one, done the 6 car a couple of times though

 

[ukrob]

I have seen 6 cars on the Blackpool line at weekends before. Last Sunday's 11.50 Blackpool-Liverpool was one.

The rear unit would be locked out of use though. On Sundays this train is a stopper and most platforms can't take six carriages.

 

[sprinterguy]

There is (or was) a 6 car Buxton train in the morning (just after peak) - presumably that has come off a peak time working.

I’m surprised that there’s enough demand on the Buxton line to warrant a six carriage train. Maybe introducing a half hourly service during the morning and evening peak might be feasible in that case, if there was enough rolling stock to cover it: Given that pathing between Stockport and Manchester would be a challenge, maybe it would be acceptable to make the second train an hour a Stockport terminator formed of two carriages, with the existing through trains to Manchester formed of four: Assuming that there would be two additional inbound trains in the morning and two additional outbound in the evening, the unit that forms the second additional inbound could stable at Stockport out of the way somewhere and then couple to the following through service half an hour later to give a six carriage train from Stockport to Manchester and cater for the Stockport to Manchester commuter flow (Bit of a digression I know but still related to the topic).

 

[driver9000]

The rear unit would be locked out of use though. On Sundays this train is a stopper and most platforms can't take six carriages.

On Weekday nights the last Blackpool North-Liverpool Lime Street sometimes loads to 8 coaches although it's booked for 6. This is used as a stock move with only the front 2 in passenger use. As you rightly say stations especially on the Saint Helens line cannot hold 6 coaches - some won't hold a 4 car 156, the rear door is left hanging off so the Sunday service is booked a 142+15x.

 

[142094]

Sometimes see a 6-8 car train in Newcastle but this is always ECS, biggest I've seen in revenue service has been 2x142 or 2x156.

 

[bluenoxid]

I’m surprised that there’s enough demand on the Buxton line to warrant a six carriage train. Maybe introducing a half hourly service during the morning and evening peak might be feasible in that case, if there was enough rolling stock to cover it: Given that pathing between Stockport and Manchester would be a challenge, maybe it would be acceptable to make the second train an hour a Stockport terminator formed of two carriages, with the existing through trains to Manchester formed of four: Assuming that there would be two additional inbound trains in the morning and two additional outbound in the evening, the unit that forms the second additional inbound could stable at Stockport out of the way somewhere and then couple to the following through service half an hour later to give a six carriage train from Stockport to Manchester and cater for the Stockport to Manchester commuter flow (Bit of a digression I know but still related to the topic).

There isn't. The train runs as a 6 car to Buxton because it gets the units out of the way. They come back late afternoon ready to help enhance rush hour capacity.