GWR Class 230 Information, Movements & Discussion.

[Woods]

Sorry if I've missed it but is the booked Greenford shuttle not running between those hours? RTT suggests it is and on P5, so where would it go?

Permissive working; the 230 can be kept in Platform 5 whilst the normal Turbo can work into the platform 'on top' of it.

 

[Horizon22]

Permissive working

Ah of course, quite tight though?

 

[Woods]

Ah of course, quite tight though?

Yes potentially, but has been measured up. All to be checked on Thursday.

 

[norbitonflyer]

When Chiltern ran its once-a-week service to West Ealing, both Turbos fitted easily into the platform. The 230 is a bit longer than a Turbo (more, but shorter, carriages)

 

[12LDA28C]

When Chiltern ran its once-a-week service to West Ealing, both Turbos fitted easily into the platform. The 230 is a bit longer than a Turbo (more, but shorter, carriages)

Once a week? It used to run Mon-Fri for a long time.

 

[800301]

Realtime Trains | 5Q31 0837 West Ealing Emu Sidings to West Ealing | 29/02/2024

Real-time train running information for 5Q31 0837 departure from West Ealing Emu Sidings to West Ealing on 29/02/2024. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Realtime Trains | 5Q32 1528 West Ealing to West Ealing Emu Sidings | 29/02/2024

Real-time train running information for 5Q32 1528 departure from West Ealing to West Ealing Emu Sidings on 29/02/2024. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[norbitonflyer]

Permissive working; the 230 can be kept in Platform 5 whilst the normal Turbo can work into the platform 'on top' of it.

Where will the Turbo go when the 230 is running to and from Greenford? Is there room for them both in the bay at Greenford?

 

[John R]

Where will the Turbo go when the 230 is running to and from Greenford? Is there room for them both in the bay at Greenford?

Yes - answered in #361 above.

 

[ls2270]

Yes - answered in #361 above.

You won’t get them both in the bay at Greenford…that just holds a 2 car 165. It’s the bay at West Ealing that will hold both!

 

[John R]

You won’t get them both in the bay at Greenford…that just holds a 2 car 165. It’s the bay at West Ealing that will hold both!

Yes of course, I misread the question!

 

[norbitonflyer]

I see from RTT that the 230 will remain at West Ealing until 1528, and then do another run to Greenford, and then back to the sidings.

Whenever both units are at West Ealing, whichever arrived last must leave first, which means it will get back first (as they can't both be at Greenford at the same time) and they will then have swapped places.

 

[Melancholia]

I see from RTT that the 230 will remain at West Ealing until 1528, and then do another run to Greenford, and then back to the sidings.

It got graffitied last night, so it's being cleaned.

 

[Woods]

Where will the Turbo go when the 230 is running to and from Greenford? Is there room for them both in the bay at Greenford?

The 230 will basically just follow the Turbo around, up and down the branch, so when the 230 is going 'Up' the Turbo will be going 'Down'. This is necessary to discharge the batteries to a 'representative state' so that when it comes back into West Ealing, there is 'headroom' in the battery State of Charge to charge them up again.

The only time that it won't be going up and down the branch is when the 230 needs to sit in West Ealing Platform 5 in order to allow some 'static' time to commission the Fast Charge system. That's when permissive working will be in operation, to allow the Turbo to come in and out.

Today (Thursday) is all about the 'static' commissioning, ditto next Monday and Tuesday, albeit only checking that the charge rails, sensors etc are lined up in the correct places to match the train. Charge rails are not due to be live until next Wednesday at the earliest.

Tomorrow the train is going up and down the branch several times to do Platform Train Interface (PTI) checks.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Feb 2024 ==

It got graffitied last night, so it's being cleaned.

Credit to the GWR West Ealing guys for being out in force first thing this morning, starting to clean it off!

 

[12LDA28C]

I see from RTT that the 230 will remain at West Ealing until 1528, and then do another run to Greenford, and then back to the sidings.

Whenever both units are at West Ealing, whichever arrived last must leave first, which means it will get back first (as they can't both be at Greenford at the same time) and they will then have swapped places.

Not necessarily, either train could use Platform 4 at West Ealing if a 5-minute gap in traffic on the Up Relief can be found. The only train that would have to use the Bay Platform 5 is the 230 for charging purposes.

 

[Benjwri]

Not necessarily, either train could use Platform 4 at West Ealing if a 5-minute gap in traffic on the Up Relief can be found. The only train that would have to use the Bay Platform 5 is the 230 for charging purposes.

With the EL frequency though, plus more than 5 minutes to account for actually setting the route, overlaps, and then setting the route back, it’s not going to be easy to find that. Even at Twyford they struggle to fit turning around the turbo.

 

[12LDA28C]

With the EL frequency though, plus more than 5 minutes to account for actually setting the route, overlaps, and then setting the route back, it’s not going to be easy to find that. Even at Twyford they struggle to fit turning around the turbo.

Indeed. It wouldn't be ideal but if the order of the two units needed to be reversed, it is an option.

 

[John R]

Looks like it is heading back to the sidings a bit early, as it’s currently on the main line waiting to reverse back into them.

Hopefully that means everything was done early, rather than there being a problem.

 

[The exile]

I see from RTT that the 230 will remain at West Ealing until 1528, and then do another run to Greenford, and then back to the sidings.

Whenever both units are at West Ealing, whichever arrived last must leave first, which means it will get back first (as they can't both be at Greenford at the same time) and they will then have swapped places.

They can’t be in the Greenford bay at once - but the 230 could presumably run onto the GW&GC line and reverse there (or is that no longer an option)

 

[45669]

The 230 will basically just follow the Turbo around, up and down the branch, so when the 230 is going 'Up' the Turbo will be going 'Down'. This is necessary to discharge the batteries to a 'representative state' so that when it comes back into West Ealing, there is 'headroom' in the battery State of Charge to charge them up again.

Tomorrow the train is going up and down the branch several times to do Platform Train Interface (PTI) checks.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Feb 2024 ==

I hope that there'll be a camera or three to record it for posterity. So far, I've only found one video of it en route from Reading to West Ealing:

 

[norbitonflyer]

Looks like it is heading back to the sidings a bit early, as it’s currently on the main line waiting to reverse back into them.

Hopefully that means everything was done early, rather than there being a problem.

That's odd - there's nothing on RTT suggesting any movement in or out of platform 5 at West Ealing, other than the Turbo coming and going every half hour.

 

[John R]

That's odd - there's nothing on RTT suggesting any movement in or out of platform 5 at West Ealing, other than the Turbo coming and going every half hour.

No, it wasn't showing on there, but definitely happened as I was following it on Open Train Times maps.

 

[45669]

Two more videos that I've found on YouTube:

 

[TurboMan]

They can’t be in the Greenford bay at once - but the 230 could presumably run onto the GW&GC line and reverse there (or is that no longer an option)

It's not route cleared for that, but it is cleared for Greenford East Curve so it can get off the branch and out of the way if necessary.

 

[Woods]

Looks like it is heading back to the sidings a bit early, as it’s currently on the main line waiting to reverse back into them.

Hopefully that means everything was done early, rather than there being a problem.

Gone back in early to try and get more graffiti cleaned off. May not be allowed back out tomorrow until the graffiti is fully cleaned (not a good corporate look etc...). Let's hope the 'artists' are not back again tonight.

 

[John R]

Gone back in early to try and get more graffiti cleaned off. May not be allowed back out tomorrow until the graffiti is fully cleaned (not a good corporate look etc...). Let's hope the 'artists' are not back again tonight.

Thanks for the info. That's awful. But if the unit continues to be stabled at West Ealing, what's to stop them keep coming back again and again?

 

[norbitonflyer]

Dioes that mean it went straight back to the sidings, rather than do the second round trip to Greenford, scheduled for around now?

 

[Woods]

Dioes that mean it went straight back to the sidings, rather than do the second round trip to Greenford, scheduled for around now?

I think that might have been the case yes, not entirely sure.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Feb 2024 ==

Thanks for the info. That's awful. But if the unit continues to be stabled at West Ealing, what's to stop them keep coming back again and again?

Two security guards, in theory!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Feb 2024 ==

Tomorrow's runs are cancelled (Friday 1st March) due to the graffiti.

 

[The exile]

It's not route cleared for that, but it is cleared for Greenford East Curve so it can get off the branch and out of the way if necessary.

Ok - same principle.

 

[mkrobins]

The side facing the running lines looked clean when we passed just now. The other side could still look like a Dali painting though...

 

[John R]

Does anyone (maybe @Woods) know what the schedule is for the test runs to start, once the graffiti has been removed?