Class 231: engines

[Tom williams]

Hi all,

I was train spotting in Newport today, and saw a few class 231's running through. Was just wondering what brand of diesel engine they had? Was also wondering how many cylinders they have.

Thanks.

Tom.

 

[ac6000cw]

AFAIK - they have four 645hp/480kW Deutz V8, 16-litre diesel engines in the power car (same as the 755/4 units)

 

[Richard Scott]

AFAIK - they have four 645hp/480kW Deutz V8, 16-litre diesel engines in the power car (same as the 755/4 units)

Bit of overkill power wise? How does the fuel consumption compare to other units e.g. 172 or 195?

 

[Energy]

Bit of overkill power wise? How does the fuel consumption compare to other units e.g. 172 or 195?

Presumably its better for fuel economy and maintanence to have bigger engines but you don't need to run them at 100%?

 

[ac6000cw]

Bit of overkill power wise?

From what was said on the 755 thread in the past, my understanding is the FLIRTS run as many engines as are needed for power at the time. They have electric traction, and each diesel 'genset' contributes power to a common power bus within the unit, and the control system balances out the engine hours across all four engines.

The upcoming class 756 FLIRTS for TfW will be tri-mode (OHLE/battery/diesel) so the centre 'power pack' car - I assume - will have a mixture of batteries and diesel engines installed (the electric traction equipment is installed in the other cars, with just the bogies nearest the cabs motored).

I was slightly surprised that the 231's were not built as diesel-battery hybrids, to allow energy recovery during braking etc. - but maybe that was deemed too expensive or not available as an option at the time (versus the delivery schedule)?

 

[randyrippley]

How tight is the spacing for the engines? Having a vee-engine mounted underfloor seems counterintuitive.

 

[150249]

Hi all,

I was train spotting in Newport today, and saw a few class 231's running through. Was just wondering what brand of diesel engine they had? Was also wondering how many cylinders they have.

Thanks.

Tom.

Was it 231007 and 231010?

 

[ac6000cw]

How tight is the spacing for the engines? Having a vee-engine mounted underfloor seems counterintuitive.

The 231s are Stadler FLIRTs with the engines above floor level in a separate 'powerpack' car, same as the 755s.

 

[randyrippley]

The 231s are Stadler FLIRTs with the engines above floor level in a separate 'powerpack' car, same as the 755s.

Ah! Thanks, hadn't realised

 

[anamyd]

How tight is the spacing for the engines? Having a vee-engine mounted underfloor seems counterintuitive.

It's been done before in other train types (such as the 80x units that are fitted with V12 MTUs underfloor).