Class 395 "ears"

[Crossover]

The ribbed blocks either side of the coupler

I did wonder but I've always thought they were like a buffer replacement. Do most stock have them but hidden behind fibreglass?

 

[Nym]

I did wonder but I've always thought they were like a buffer replacement. Do most stock have them but hidden behind fibreglass?

Most modern stock does yes, and yes.

I've only known significant over-run protection on post 2001 stock though.

 

[bronzeonion]

I'm Glad i'm not the only one to notice and say that then. They just don't impress me at all, the ride still isn't that perfect - especially in the tunnels, the interior feels cheap with the steel effect plastic panels - ones covering the PA screens are the worst for vibration, and rather the lighting seems rather dingy and shadowy in tunnels. Certainly not as good as the quality from Siemens, Alstom and to an extent dare i even say Bombardier.

If... if i was to suggest one thing to Hitachi, that is to do a similar idea that Siemens took on board when producing the Desiros. Take a Mk3 back top your factory, see what makes the Mk3 sooo good, and try to build on top of that. Not, praise the Mk3 for 5 seconds, and then say how good the japanese technology is, because at the end of the day, this isn't japan.

And if your wondering what the Siemens connection is, back when Siemens were awarded the contract to build the SWT Desiros, Siemens took a reliable every day old 4 VEP from Wimbledon - took it to it's Wildenrath test centre for assessment, fitted calibration equipment to it to see essentially what and how it was so reliable. Took the data resulting from those tests, learned and built upon this with the Desiros. Hence another part of the VEPs test life was to calibrate the 750V DC equipment installed by Siemens to test it out for the Desiros. Now that is clever forward thinking, and the result is a reliable quality product!

The MK3 carriage is abit c***** to be honest, the last of the good carriage deisgns ended with the MK2. The windows are too long for a standard class bay to fit around resulting in badly aligned seats throughout standard class and the windows are abit too high for a comfortable view out of the window. The ride quality is very good for its time but makes a racket.

 

[D365]

I take that back then? My comment, not the 395 or my coat :P

 

[craigwilson]

Wasn't there some kind of problem with vibration on the 395s? Apart from that they seem silky smooth to me, and I travel on them a lot.

I agree about the 395's - one of the last times I went on one the whole thing shook very violently at speed through the tunnels...it was horrifically uncomfortable!

Yes, when I first started to use them in 2010, they suffered from extremely violent shaking through the tunnels at high speed. They're a lot smoother now, and have always been OK on the non-tunnel sections ride-wise.

 

[user15681]

Wasn't there some kind of problem with vibration on the 395s? Apart from that they seem silky smooth to me, and I travel on them a lot.

Yes, there was a lot of vibration to begin with, but it soon got sorted. I travel on 395s regularly and I have to say, despite the seats not being amazingly comfortable, I don't think there's much wrong with the ride quality. If you travel between Gravesend and Ebbsfleet International you notice how smooth the ride is on HS1 instantly.

 

[damo]

Yes, there was a lot of vibration to begin with, but it soon got sorted. I travel on 395s regularly and I have to say, despite the seats not being amazingly comfortable, I don't think there's much wrong with the ride quality. If you travel between Gravesend and Ebbsfleet International you notice how smooth the ride is on HS1 instantly.

They are much more smooth than the usual stock on the Medway valley line too.

 

[ert47]

Most modern stock does yes, and yes.

I've only known significant over-run protection on post 2001 stock though.

Just wondering, where are they located on 379s?

 

[starrymarkb]

Just wondering, where are they located on 379s?

Behind the fibreglass skirt

 

[Lrd]

Presumably behind the cowling, perhaps inline with the coupler.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Not my image you understand, but it shows where it is on the Electrostars quite nicely.

http://www.tecforce.co.uk/Images/10112010145905Class_375_Electrostar_Production_Line.jpg

 

[ert47]

Ah, I wouldn't have suspected that it would have been hiding there! It protrudes quite a bit on other units

 

[dstrat]

The quality and feel of quality of lets say 395s vs MK4s is continents apart. Sad to see that we get this plasticy, rattley stock that is going to be on our railways for decades. I understand that its only used for short journeys, but even for an hour its not very pleasant.

Who decided on the lighting as well? Painfully harsh!

 

[466.networkers]

Yes, there was a lot of vibration to begin with, but it soon got sorted. I travel on 395s regularly and I have to say, despite the seats not being amazingly comfortable, I don't think there's much wrong with the ride quality. If you travel between Gravesend and Ebbsfleet International you notice how smooth the ride is on HS1 instantly.

Was a slight issue with the dampers, they were replaced under general maintenance schedules and all 29 units are running smooth even at 140mph.

 

[No Fault Found]

Was a slight issue with the dampers, they were replaced under general maintenance schedules and all 29 units are running smooth even at 140mph.

Dampers are not replaced under 'general maintenance schedules' with less than 12 months service.

I thought it was a case of the yaw dampers not being up to the job and all units had to be modified i.e having uprated yaw dampers fitted.

 

[jopsuk]

Wasn't there some wheel profile work undertaken as well, as they have to have a profile that's a trade off between high and "normal" speed performance?