Carriages at Totton

[1018509]

Travelling to Southampton today I noticed, just beyond the London end of the down platform, on the right, an EWS train made up of close coupled modern coaches, no buffers and curvy ends in BR maroon (mk 2?) and a blue/grey earlier coach (mk 1?). How do they couple buffered stock to non-buffered. There was some lettering on the side which led me to believe it may be an EWS catering train - if this is so why would they want one or have I ballsed up my details? A bit of googling leads me to suspect that this is part of the EWS business train being sold by DB Shenker - any more details?

Also, still on the same line, has any one any idea why there is, permanently, a small rake of spine wagons left on a raised siding near the down end of the container terminal?

 

[Jonfun]

It'll be coupled together using a type of coupler called a Buckeye. When you couple coaches with a buckeye, you don't need buffers (they'll be retracted out of the way) as the gangway connection acts, essentially, as the buffer.

 

[sprinterguy]

This sounds like carriages from EWS' former charter rake of mark 2 vehicles, a number of which are stored at Fawley (Down the branch from the yard at Totton) and Eastleigh, so their location would make sense. If this is the case, then they do have buffers: The only passenger carriages in use on the network that do not have buffers are those that are used in semi-permanent fixed formations; The mark 3 carriages used in HST rakes and the mark 4s on the ECML (Except at the end of the train next to the class 91 loco).

This does not sound like the EWS/DB Schenker "Management Train", which is a completely different beast made up of mark 3 carriages and carrying a claret & silver "executive" livery. It can typically be found at Toton depot in the East Midlands.
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It'll be coupled together using a type of coupler called a Buckeye. When you couple coaches with a buckeye, you don't need buffers (they'll be retracted out of the way) as the gangway connection acts, essentially, as the buffer.

There is actually a rubbing plate beneath the gangway connection that takes the compressive forces when the carriages come together, rather than all the weight being on the gangway connections themselves.

 

[1018509]

This does not sound like the EWS/DB Schenker "Management Train", which is a completely different beast made up of mark 3 carriages and carrying a claret & silver "executive" livery. It can typically be found at Toton depot in the East Midlands.

Well it is at Totton, just too many T's.

 

[Boothby97]

The coaches were moved from Fawley to Totton around 12th July.
Those that were at Fawley are;
1658 - Kitchen Buffet - BR Blue & Grey
1696 - Kitchen Buffet - BR Green
3255 - Open First - EWS Maroon
3368 - Open First - EWS Maroon
5331 - Open Standard - EWS Maroon
5386 - Open Standard - EWS Maroon

Apparently four have been sold and two require repairs. They were/are owned by DB Schenker, and are former charter vehicles.

Thanks, Sam

 

[Ciderking]

You can just see the coaches from the road by the supermarket ,heres my picture of the kitchen car.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sparrowhawk7/9316634898/