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Class 373 Eurostar withdrawals

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AnonymousUser1

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QueensCurve said:
It seems criminal to break up trains that are fast and comfortable and which are only about half way through their life.
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they are not 'half way through their life' , they are life expired having been worked extremely hard , at very high speeds fo their design life ... they were also nearly obselete in termso f tgv tech when introduced becasue of the prolonged process of gettign them ceritifcated for the tunnel
 
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59CosG95

59CosG95

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Please Explain said:
Can we expect pics of the TMST's in the scrappers yard surfacing on the internet any time soon?
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Nope, EMR Kingsbury have the sight under very strict surveillance IIRC. The scrapping's all done behind that massive row of containers that your can see from a passing train.
 
birchesgreen

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You can see them passing Kingsbury on a train but its a split second before something gets in the way.
 
fredk

fredk

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I would love to see some pictures of the scrapping, it's quite an historic moment as 373s are the first channel tunnel sets. I don't agree with the French culture of scrapping in private to protect their branding. Drone sounds like a superb idea, hope someone can catch some action.
 
Peter Mugridge

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Or hire a light aircraft with pilot* and take a camera with a nice big zoom lens up with you.

*Doesn't cost an awful lot...
 
ChilternTurbo

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Would it not be worth sending an e-mail to EMR to see if they would be willing to allow a supervised visit to capture the scrapping of these units?

http://uk.emrgroup.com/contact-us.php

I passed the site just before Christmas and could see one of the units (intact) from the main entrance. It did seem a bit surreal and sad seeing such a modern train, especially a Class 373, sitting in a Midlands scrap yard! Sadly it sounds like they have reached the end of their useful lives...
 
najaB

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Peter Mugridge said:
Or hire a light aircraft with pilot* and take a camera with a nice big zoom lens up with you.
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This isn't without precedent as the attached photo of Nimrod MRA4 being scrapped attests:
Nimrods_being_scrapped.jpg

(Picture from Wikipedia).
 
bramling

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59CosG95 said:
Nope, EMR Kingsbury have the sight under very strict surveillance IIRC. The scrapping's all done behind that massive row of containers that your can see from a passing train.
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I really don't understand this secrecy about scrapping. Surely a headline along the lines of "old trains scrapped after being replaced by shiny new trains" is *good* publicity? I'm sure most "normals" would still think 25 years is old, when compared to the lifetime of the average family car.

I recently had a guest given to me to take for a cab ride, he was very surprised to see a maker's plate which referred to the 1990s and asked if it was normal to be running "such old trains". He was absolutely shocked when I replied that the train concerned wasn't even at half life, and that there are still trains quite happily in regular service which date back to the 1970s (notwithstanding the Isle of Wight!).
 
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TheEdge

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I think the design life for a lot of stuff now is a lot lower than trains so people can be shocked how "old" trains are. Home electronics might only be expected to last a few years at most, cars are 10-15 years, even something as expensive as an aircraft is not expected to get much beyond 20 years.
 
najaB

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TheEdge said:
...even something as expensive as an aircraft is not expected to get much beyond 20 years.
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Mandatory pedantry: aircraft lifespans are based on use rather than age. Though, you are correct that most airlines would be lucky to get 20 years out of a modern short-haul airliner based on typical usage patterns.
 
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Roast Veg

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najaB said:
This isn't without precedent as the attached photo of Nimrod MRA4 being scrapped attests
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OT: Had the pleasure of seeing the (only?) front end of an MRA4 at Cranfield, certainly something not many can attest to.

I am glad there is at least a power car at the NRM, they were one of the biggest compromises and combinations in technology in railway history ever, with all their power supplies and signalling systems.
 
TheEdge

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najaB said:
Mandatory pedantry: aircraft lifespans are based on use rather than age. Though, you are correct that most airlines would be lucky to get 20 years out of a modern short-haul airliner based on typical usage patterns.
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Yes I know technically aircraft age is limited by rotations and fatigue hours but still a modern pressurised airliner is unlikely to pass 20. And many, at least Western, airlines will pass them on sooner than that.
 
gimmea50anyday

gimmea50anyday

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Aloha Air 243 is a classic example of what happens when the cabin suffers from a fatigue failure.

wikipedia said:
While the airframe had only accumulated 35,496 flight hours prior to the accident, those hours were over 89,680 flight cycles
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The aircraft was only 19 years old, however:-

wikipedia said:
Under current FAA regulations for the Boeing 737 (line number 291 and prior) established in the 2010s, this airframe would have had to be permanently withdrawn from service after 34,000 flight cycles or 34,000 hours, whichever came first. The nearly 90,000 flight cycles exceeded the "lifetime of validity" of the 737-100/200 under the new rules.
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tellytype

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najaB said:
As long as it's flown more than 50m from any person or structure I can't see why it would be illegal.
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If someone can find a friendly landowner or public right of way in the area, and find a spare £50 or so to cover the fuel, they could PM a certain permit holding drone operator on this board who holds the appropriate permissions to overfly congested areas :) perfectly legal to get the sort of shots you guys want, if we can find a friendly landowner :)
 
Jordeh

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I forgot to ask at the time... How come when the Eurostars go for scrapping they go via the ECML and not MML? (except for a short section on the MML!)

On Google Maps it looks like there is a connection between the HS1 at St Pancras and MML.
 
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gsnedders

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Jordeh said:
I forgot to ask at the time... How come when the Eurostars go for scrapping they go via the ECML and not MML? (except for a short section on the MML!)

On Google Maps it looks like there is a connection between the HS1 at St Pancras and MML.
Click to expand...

Gauging, perhaps? The Eurostars have previously been cleared on the ECML, after all. That is but a guess, though!
 
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