Class 373 Eurostar withdrawals

[TheEdge]

This isn't a silly suggestion, but as the DPRK likes to buy older stock to replace even older stuff, I wonder if they've looked into getting a set or two for proposed services to the South...? Overhead line equipment would be of no issue and the DPRK line to the south is standard gauge - be cool to see that happening

And with that fine suggestion I hand you the "RUK Crown of Most Ridiculous Rolling Stock Reuse Proposal" with no chance of it being removed from you until the apes retake the Earth.

 

[BestWestern]

Do these carriages export excretion onto the track? Won't charter services in the future require replacement carriages with air conditional and so forth?

I'm only commenting as an observer and some of the things i've read on this forum state the carriage stock needs to meet new standards by 2018-2020 or something like that. Here we are cutting 100's of carriages up.

When these trains go up for sale are all potential buyers aware and are all potential avenues explored about refitting, refurbishing and re-purposing?

I'm assuming the carriages themselves are fit to run on our network since to deliver them to Kingsbury you have videos online showing a GBRF 66 hauling them there.

'Carriages', of the sort that require a locomotive to shift them about, are deeply unpopular. There has been something of a resurgence of late only because some operators are short of anything else. Going forwards, pretty much all current loco-hauled coaching stock will be replaced with dull but favourable multiple units, with a few specialist exceptions such as sleeper services.

As for charter outfits, they prefer well established stock like MK2 and, very probably before too long MK3 coaches, which are well proven in use behind pretty much any sort of loco you like. I've absolutely no idea what would be required to make Class 373 trailers work with conventional locos, but it would certainly cost millions to achieve. They'd need to be gutted and totally reconfigured electrically, maintenance systems would need to be put in place, gauge-clearance acquired for each and every route you wanted to run them on, and whole host of other issues attended to. Probably far easier, and quite possibly cheaper, to acquire MK3s and do the required work to make them suitable. They also have at least some sort of heritage angle, whereas a 373 really doesn't.

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

And with that fine suggestion I hand you the "RUK Crown of Most Ridiculous Rolling Stock Reuse Proposal" with no chance of it being removed from you until the apes retake the Earth.

I could have suggested a certain unit type in the Class 4xx range

 

[BestWestern]

I could have suggested a certain unit type in the Class 4xx range

The same ones about to undergo refurbishment and being weighed up as possible LHCS, you mean...?

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

The same ones about to undergo refurbishment and being weighed up as possible LHCS, you mean...?

I believe that is the same, yes...

Joking aside, they'd be ideal for a shortened set on fast expresses

 

[BestWestern]

I believe that is the same, yes...

Joking aside, they'd be ideal for a shortened set on fast expresses

What, through the Channel Tunnel??!

 

[Harbornite]

I believe that is the same, yes...

Joking aside, they'd be ideal for a shortened set on fast expresses

No they wouldn't (apart from on HS1/CTRL where they aren't needed).

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

What, through the Channel Tunnel??!

*shrugs*

Sure - London to Brussels non stop

 

[RichmondCommu]

If I need apples it doesn't matter how many oranges are going spare.

Give citrus fruit a try, I did and never looked back.

 

[philthetube]

373's could replace the Parry People Mover, no traction needed, just board at the front walk through and leave at the rear.

 

[TheEdge]

373's could replace the Parry People Mover, no traction needed, just board at the front walk through and leave at the rear.

Best suggestion yet.

 

[Townsend Hook]

373's could replace the Parry People Mover, no traction needed, just board at the front walk through and leave at the rear.

There is a cheaper alternative, known as a footpath.

 

[TRAX]

No because you have to build the footpath.

 

[Please Explain]

Does anyone know if they've started work to cut up 3005/3006 yet at Kingsbury?

 

[adc82140]

From what I saw from pictures and videos, it looks as if the set sent for scrap was fully fitted out in the passenger area

I last travelled on E* 5 years ago, and even then the interiors were looking a bit shabby. I doubt that anything in there is worth re-using. Any parts robbed for other units I would think are less visible.

 

[RobShipway]

There is a cheaper alternative, known as a footpath.

There is a quicker option than either a footpath or the Parry People Mover, it is called using a cycle and is good exercise!

 

[D365]

There is a quicker option than either a footpath or the Parry People Mover, it is called using a cycle and is good exercise!

A bicycle usually needs a footpath and isn't accessible to some people

However it wouldn't do well for London to the continent...

 

[CosherB]

When I said I can't believe the train is worth more as scrap than as a train, you guys basically just said it back to me.

So are we saying there is no buyer for the train? The train has no routes it can work anymore? Its a garbage train that sputters and conks out?

If these trains that are getting scrapped can still maintain a top speed of 200mph or whatever it is. I am shocked to see it go for scrap. In some records these trains are the 10th fastest train in the world.


The railway industry is surely a rare breed. On this very forum we have threads crying out for carriage stock whilst another thread shows a 1/4 mile train getting turned into washing machines.

I suppose the logical extension of that argument is that Mallard should still be pounding up and down the ECML at 125 mph ..... :roll:

 

[DarloRich]

From what I saw from pictures and videos, it looks as if the set sent for scrap was fully fitted out in the passenger area

I don't mean seats and carpet. I mean mechanical gubbins and gizmos.

This isn't a silly suggestion, but as the DPRK likes to buy older stock to replace even older stuff, I wonder if they've looked into getting a set or two for proposed services to the South...? Overhead line equipment would be of no issue and the DPRK line to the south is standard gauge - be cool to see that happening

It is a fairly silly suggestion................

My emotional response is one founded on a wasted train and has nothing to do with me being a spotter (Which I am not, the last time I took numbers I was 16).

Tell me where you think this train can run on our network and who is going to pay for the infrastructure modifications needed to run the trains

The economics question should be done from the perspective that billions of pounds was spent on new stock whilst the old stock still worked. Considering each train probably got washed once or twice in their 30 year lifespan I'm surprised they upgraded the trains at all.

What on earth are you talking about :roll: Things like depreciation clearly pass you by. Also passing you by is that the trains will have returned the initial investment over their lifetime.

Essentially the investment has been repaid and the asset can now be disposed of in the most economically advantageous manner for the owner. This really is simple stuff.

Do these carriages export excretion onto the track? Won't charter services in the future require replacement carriages with air conditional and so forth?

I'm only commenting as an observer and some of the things i've read on this forum state the carriage stock needs to meet new standards by 2018-2020 or something like that. Here we are cutting 100's of carriages up.

They are articulated units which would be very hard to break up into individual units. I cant see them rocking up on WCRC trains any time soon...............

When these trains go up for sale are all potential buyers aware and are all potential avenues explored about refitting, refurbishing and re-purposing?

It is up to the buyer to look into any such options not the seller. The seller simply offers them for sale as redundant assets.

I'm assuming the carriages themselves are fit to run on our network since to deliver them to Kingsbury you have videos online showing a GBRF 66 hauling them there.

They run in the dead of night at low speed on an out of gauge head code (X?) So yeah dead good for our crowded network. When used by GNER they were limited to Leeds/York - Kings Cross services and only in such a manner as they didn't blow up the electrical supply system!

 

[Steve14]

Could the eurostar coaches be loco-hauled to use on something like the night riviera?

 

[gsnedders]

When it comes to future use in France, SNCF (the controlling interest in Eurostar, after all!) have an interest in rolling stock not being cheaply obtainable for anyone wanting to compete on the LGV—and it's obvious they don't want them, given they scrapped their domestic sets two years ago.

 

[richieb1971]

They run in the dead of night at low speed on an out of gauge head code (X?) So yeah dead good for our crowded network. When used by GNER they were limited to Leeds/York - Kings Cross services and only in such a manner as they didn't blow up the electrical supply system!

I'm talking about the carriage stock which you already answered.

I know 30 years is a long time (has it been that long?). The railways like shooting themselves in the foot with all these specific standards for which line train runs on, its gauging properties and so forth.

I'm sure someone will tell me its all been done in the best way possible (There is always that one person on here)..

 

[D365]

The railways like shooting themselves in the foot with all these specific standards for which line train runs on, its gauging properties and so forth.

What do you suggest instead. Gauge clearing every line for every kind of rolling stock that might run on it in the future?

 

[CosherB]

I'm sure someone will tell me its all been done in the best way possible (There is always that one person on here)..

Oh yes.

 

[DarloRich]

I'm talking about the carriage stock which you already answered.

I know 30 years is a long time (has it been that long?). The railways like shooting themselves in the foot with all these specific standards for which line train runs on, its gauging properties and so forth.

I'm sure someone will tell me its all been done in the best way possible (There is always that one person on here)..

The "carriage stock" is a semi permanently coupled articulated train able to draw from 3/4 power sources and fitted with 5 different signalling systems. They are over 1000ft long and aren't really suitable for other uses.

The stuff about shooting itself in the foot simply shows up your ignorance. These trains are fantastic at long distance, cross border, high speed travel. We don't have much of that in the UK.

As far as the shareholders are concerned it has all been done in the best way possible!

 

[rebmcr]

The railways like shooting themselves in the foot with all these specific standards for which line train runs on, its gauging properties and so forth.

Yeah, those meddling bureaucrats must be rubbing their hands together with glee, at the thought of preventing all of the benefits of running trains into signalposts, tunnel walls, and platform edges.

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

Did anybody answer a previous question from someone else regarding if they had started cutting up

 

[richieb1971]

Yeah, those meddling bureaucrats must be rubbing their hands together with glee, at the thought of preventing all of the benefits of running trains into signalposts, tunnel walls, and platform edges.

Well past all the sarcasm, I can see the answers I'm looking for.


I'll go and hide for 30 years and see whats improved by then.

 

[CosherB]

Well past all the sarcasm, I can see the answers I'm looking for.


I'll go and hide for 30 years and see whats improved by then.

30 years? That's about the time when the Class 374 Velaros will be cut up!

 

[DarloRich]

Well past all the sarcasm, I can see the answers I'm looking for.


I'll go and hide for 30 years and see whats improved by then.

I agree with the general point that we see many areas of the country needing extra capacity and yet are cutting up trains.

However, I understand the economic reasons for doing this and more importantly note that the available stock has to be suitbale for reuse. I don't think Eurostars are, at least on our network,