I still remember his "the door buttons are now activated" which he announced at every stop. I always wondered who he was as nobody ever found out his name. I wonder if he was a professional voiceover artist? Or maybe he was just a SWT staff member who volunteered to record them?Unknown Male also known as Juniper Man. There was something vaguely sinister about his voice.
Great to hear that they are finally entering passenger service. It will be interesting to take a ride on one and see what has changed. When are they entering service next week? Is it from Monday that they enter service?
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I am amazed they are not cleared to operate via Richmond too. What happens if there is a points failure at Barnes or Feltham and the loop can't be accessed? Whole job stopped on the Windsor side until it's fixed?
They are cleared via Richmond… They are scheduled to run on the Hounslow loop services.
Thanks - makes sense for them to be cleared that way anyway although that is not what the post I quoted says.
Thanks for posting this.I knew the refurb 458s would re-enter service on the Metro side, there's just not enough 701s in service to cascade them to the Portsmouth line.
SWR deny there's a rolling stock shortage, despite I've seen several 4 vice 8/10 in the past few days. This is obviously to counter the shortage.
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Yes, given Royal Ascot has been in the dirary for a while the refurbished 458's would have been more useful entering service this week. But this is SWR...
Au contraire I would imagine having a ‘new’ stock introduced at the same time when the Windsor Lines need absolute reliability for Royal Ascot is bonkers. The last thing you need from the operator’s perspective this week is to have a 458/4 breaking down en route due to some teething issues. Introducing them one week later, although stretching the fleet to its most, removes this uncertainty.
.. and sod the passengers stuck on 4 coach trains
It’s just what you’d expect from SWR’s inept management to get 458/4s into traffic the week after Royal Ascot finishes.
There was some overhauled electronics separate to the conversion fitted this week.
I am afraid the desire to avoid risk overcomes practicalities again !. That is as in not wanting a new/rejigged train more liable to fail out on the network any where near the extra services for Royal Ascot. Probably prudent but frustrating.
They’ve had the 458/4s for months now and done nothing but bury their heads in the sand about the fleet crisis. Customer comes last, as is all too common on the railway.
Especially if they'll only be used for a few months on metro routes, until the 701s are finally ready.All in all, £25 million for the disposal of the fifth coach, replacing the seat covers, repainting the exterior, and retractioning to 100mph running?
What a bargain
I'm very surprised they decided to touch the TMS. That thing's built like a Jenga Tower
I suppose just reverting the TMS back to the original 4car version might have undone any problems not yet resolved in the 5car version ?.
This does indicate to me that SWR have no incentive to do the best they can. Realistically they are forced to realise they are not in it for the long term even if they might have wanted to be. Nationalisation or just running it for DfT mean they need to save money for themselves where they can and do the minimum to get what DfT want and will pay for. So SWR are going to stick to simple and avoid investment where they can.
It's a period of change and confusion for all of the railway it seems
No worse than what it's been over the past few years!
Reverting to software at least a decade old risks losing other essential fixes.
