No, it's definitely not been instigated by TfW.
197104
I've heard may quoted for a couple of services to switch over but nothing confirmed on which yet.
Yesterdays failed 6Q98. 70002 came le to Donnington then 70002 took it to crewe this morning then took it to wolverton afterward for work/mods. 197104 the unit in question.
May 2023 tfw were hoping to get some class 197s into service on the swanline services. Plans can change of course
www.realtimetrains.co.uk
www.realtimetrains.co.uk
Quite agree, wouldn't be too hard to continue with what was planned! The 197s were always going to have a lower quality FC offering than the Mk4s, but this is a shock. At seat ordering is good however. I know 197113 has been delivered to Donnington so maybe we'll soon see what they have actually gone with.
197018 was there at lunchtime today.
Interesting. I thought the timings were getting increased through reduced stops rather than increased performance?
I would assume 196s have it, given 195s and 197s do. It keeps the unit in lower gears for longer, instead of changing gear as early as possible, giving better acceleration at the cost of greater diesel and adblue consumption.Super power mode? When I hear this I imagine the driver pressing a big red button which injects nitrous oxide into the fuel.
What is this actually though, do the sister 196 units have the same fast and furious feature?
I've heard similar but I don't believe it's been released publicly yet.
Does it say in the full article that they're going for 2+2 in 1st?
I couldn't see the full article, but that was what was implied. I suppose we'll have to wait and see, it was just an assumption on our part though.
First services on the Marches is planned to be some point in April (last I heard) which lines up nicely with that.
So no mention of 2+2 seating at all then.....
They've really ramped up the 197 training at Crewe and Shrewsbury over the last few weeks which would tie in with that. I'll be very pleasantly surprised if they have enough traincrew ready for an April introduction though, especially as training at Cardiff has barely started.
Very interesting, thanks for this.
If they are ramping up training for Shrewsbury then they must have plans for the Marches soon as the other routes Shrewbury sign like Shrewsbury to Birmingham won't be having 197s for a good while yet or HOWL possibly not at all. So can't think what else other than Cardiff to Chester (Holyhead) or Cardiff to Manchester. Fingers crossed if Swanline is just Cardiff train crew and doesn't involve Carmarthen, enough may be trained for at least some diagrams for Swanline for the TT change in May.
There's a reason they're keeping 8 153s and it's the Heart of Wales line
197s have been working training runs to Carmarthen over the last few weeks, and also between Cardiff and Swansea. Usually 2 sets at a time on 2 diagrams.
Hopefully April for the Marches! Unsure on what services though.
I believe 153s are not long term though. I think it was said that eventually (after a reasonable period of time) that other stock would operate the services down there. Probably 197s.
They're getting a timetable and capacity increase, and most of the regular passengers don't even have to pay to travel for a large part of the year. Under the circumstances they're doing pretty well
May seems more realistic. They can use the timetable change to fiddle with diagrams to make them easier to cover with 197s whilst the numbers of staff who sign them are still limited.
I don't think a timeline was ever specifically mentioned. I suspect the decision will be made if/when the 67s and MKIVs are replaced - a sufficiently large order to replace them could also be enough to cascade 197s to HOWL. But who knows?
I don't think it's been confirmed yet. I do know that 175 withdrawals will begin once the 15th 197 enters service, due to be 017 once it moves from Crewe to Chester for entry into service work.
