'Last' trip from Southport to SP is ECS. Other services also delayed in that area around that time.
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Porterbrook Cl.769 'Flex' trains from 319s, initially for Northern
- Thread starter northwichcat
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GhostManDN91
Member
From what I've read, it seems like "slippery rails" are a factor for the delay this evening. Also affecting the 22:27 from Manchester Oxford Road to Wigan Wallgate service.
Aye, the rails between parbold, appley bridge and gathurst seem to cause bad wheelslip even at high speed, its a wonder the mpvs dont even make it better
Its behaved quite well to be very honest, though its friend 421 decides to have temper tantrums every time it goes out 452 has genuinely been very pleasant to ride
pokemonsuper9
Established Member
How much would the team at Springs Branch be able to do? Allerton is their main base so I imagine most of the knowledge is there.
452 is out again today (and has been for several days). Unfortunately plenty of its 'mates' (including 421!) are playing up again, so there are 4 out in total with the two 769 sets that start at AN being formed of 2 car 150's - more shortforms.
Leyland Bus
Established Member
Must be a 769 down as the 1725 from Bolton to Stalyvegas is 150130, complete with graffiti between the two carriages...
thealexweb
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The Spring Branch team do overnight maintenance on the 769s. What work does that work actually consist of?
Cleaning on the 323/331/769's. Cleaning and fuelling on the DMU's.
pokemonsuper9
Established Member
Are the 769s only fuelled at Allerton then?
Depends what you class as a 'straight' DMU, or a hybrid. Of course they will fuel the 769's, of which 3 are now stabled overnight at SP.
childwallblues
Established Member
How many 769s stable at Southport overnight?
pokemonsuper9
Established Member
None.
Diagrams as per this FOI request.
Diagram Number - Start points - End Points
AN 291 - Allerton (coupled to AN 295) - Newton Heath
AN 292 - Springs Branch - Springs Branch
AN 293 - Springs Branch - Springs Branch
AN 294 - Springs Branch - Allerton
AN 295 - Allerton (coupled to AN 291) - Springs Branch
AN 296 - Newton Heath - Allerton
AN 297 and 298 are exam at Allerton.
297 and 298 are still 769s just ones that are only scheduled to stop on the depot that day.
Diagram 291 and 295 often end up coming from Lime to Victoria together in the morning due what ever issues. To be fair I don't know why they are penciled in as two separate empty stock moves (from Lime St to Vic) anyway 5J01 + 5J02.
Diagram 291 and 295 often end up coming from Lime to Victoria together in the morning due what ever issues. To be fair I don't know why they are penciled in as two separate empty stock moves (from Lime St to Vic) anyway 5J01 + 5J02.
childwallblues
Established Member
Thank you for that. Do any units stable at Southport?
The_Train
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First post in this thread in 2 weeks so I guess there hasn't been anything to moan about recently?
Do you think that 769 reliability is the only issue on the railways? I read in one of the TfW threads that there were lots of short forms and cancellations in Wales yesterday and they have one of the newest fleets of trains going. They also regularly replace 5 carriage diagrams with 2 car units travelling from Manchester to Cardiff. LNR seem to have plenty of shortforms on Crewe-Euston services (and presumably other Euston services as well), SWR seem to have shortforms occurring regularly - it is happening all over the place
thealexweb
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There has been a lot of short forming recently. Today is just worse than usual. If availability is above four I don't people flag it any more.
TfW is a timely mention. They have 158s going off lease next year. A very suitable replacement (already cleared to Southport/all Wigan/Manchester crews trained).
Wyrleybart
Established Member
To be fair to "Gricer99" Northern should be delivering the taxpayers and farepayers with a timetabled service. I am guessing that involves deploying six four car trains everyday - twenty four vehicles. Anything less than that is a fail - which has been ongoing for years.
AIUI TfW managed to put their 769s into traffic and after some years of pain were actually mostly delivering the timetable - on diesel only. If the exact same trains cannot deliver the service using both modes then it is either the AC mode switchovers are an issue, or the fleet maintenance cannot deliver against specification.
The_Train
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I don't think it is fair when people only post in here when there are issues though. If you scoured this thread without taking note of the dates posts were made, you would just think that there are issues daily because every post made is a seemingly a negative one but there are often large gaps between posts when there isn't much to moan about. I have no issue in people reporting on the negatives when they happen but ultimately, to provide a fair assessment, those people doing that should really be reporting back when things are running ok as well if they want to give such updates.
thealexweb
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We can most often if you like to highlight the near-daily problems? E.g. the last four return journeys I have done to/from Moses Gate has been a single 150. That does not match up the supposed six of eight diagrams being 769s.
The rail industry rightly makes a big deal out of the golden spanners awards. It seems realistic that 769s would be last place with the highest faults per passenger mile by some margin.
The rail industry rightly makes a big deal out of the golden spanners awards. It seems realistic that 769s would be last place with the highest faults per passenger mile by some margin.
There are issues daily.
Over the past 2 weeks (6 diagrams per day out of 9 or 10 units that 'could' be available) have had 6,5,5,5,4,4, 4,5,4,4,3 starting the day, but not necessarily finishing the day. 769421 has worked 3 days since its first appearance in late July and failed every day. 769431 (one of the overhauled ones) has been missing for over a month.
Every replacement in the last two weeks has been a 2 car short-form (other than 1 today) with persistent severe over-crowding, particularly the units that work in/out of Manchester Oxford Road.
Whilst I appreciate that there are problems all over, I defy you to come up with a set of services that has had so many problems over the past 2 years or so with little seemingly management comment or intervention. The fact that reports aren't on here every day is probably because it would be so repetitive.
Edit:- looks like the 3 out today are reducing to 2 shortly with 769450 retreating to SP in a bit.............with plenty shuffling around and further cancellations later today.
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