TastyMaltesers
Member
Was 010 not destined to become a spares donor?
I believe 010 never actually went to Wolverton, and instead came down directly from Ely hauled by a couple of 37s.
From what I heard a few months ago it had still been untouched, not sure if that has changed now though?
There's only 18 ex GWR 769/9's remaining so might cover 9 or 10 diagrams a day if you base it on Northern's experience.They only require 19 (the 19 769s) to run a full service and release the 158s.
185's wouldn't be much good for the West, they're much heavier than anything we currently have and they guzzle fuel.The King in the North has authorised 29 new battery/electric 5 car trains to overcome severe overcrowding on Transpennine. If this releases 29 of 51 185s built for climbing gradients to replace the 150s (20 not all available) and 158s (18 only 5 of which are 3 car in use in the southwest) and with 26 175s eventually will cover all the diagrams.
And no pesky infrastructure costs. It would be too tempting for the Dft.
I bet the first battery electrics on GWR end up at Reading where they can probably justify the costs.
They might be heavy but so are battery trains. They have had modifications regarding fuel use.And it's a 2034 introduction... it was a 2022 introduction for the 197s, 2023 withdrawal for the 175s from TfW, and it's currently 2026 and GWR are barely getting one train out each day...
So we'd be looking at the trains being 30 years old before squadron service anyway, and that's before remembering they're inefficient fuel guzzlers and very heavy.
Okay fine, but my point was more about the age.They might be heavy but so are battery trains. They have had modifications regarding fuel use.
I wonder what the weight of a GWR battery 230 is compared to a 150 and a 150 becomes lighter as it uses fuel.