Farewell Electrostars

[Prestige15]

Driving Motor Composite Open (DMCO) 421174 is the 2,805th and final Electrostar (Eveningstar) coach for 387174, Had faults, recent lazy interior (387's first class) and dosen't have the VW golf style built quality as the desiro but still a great EMU with its smooth ride and comfort.

Will be looking forward for the Aventra's especially for London Northwestern withs its end gangway which in my opinion is the actual spiritual successor to the Electrostar.

 

[DarloRich]

This news was in the Railway Magazine recently.

It is hardly a farewell - they will be rolling around the UK network for many years to come

 

[47802]

Indeed and as for the lazy interior on the 387's as you describe it that would down to what the customer ordered on the first batch which was Southern on behalf of the DFT, the later batches were mostly a follow on order plus a speculative order from Porterbrook, and presumably would have been an additional cost to change the seating for First Class which the customers decided not to bother with.

 

[physics34]

Driving Motor Composite Open (DMCO) 421174 is the 2,805th and final Electrostar (Eveningstar) coach for 387174, Had faults, recent lazy interior (387's first class) and dosen't have the VW golf style built quality as the desiro but still a great EMU with its smooth ride and comfort.

Will be looking forward for the Aventra's especially for London Northwestern withs its end gangway which in my opinion is the actual spiritual successor to the Electrostar.

i have to disagree with "Smooth ride and comfort".. the suspension cannot cope with the SR regions infrastructure...... the first few batches with decent seating are better, but a slam door still beats them in the comfort stakes.

Saying all this they are good to drive, and apart from silly faults with doors, DOO monitors etc etc they are now very reliable.

 

[wipers]

"dosen't have the VW golf style built quality as the desiro"...

Completely disagree with you there, sorry. Build quality on the Desiro's is in no way better than the Electrostar in my opinion. I'd see it more Ford Focus vs. Vauxhall Astra, I.e. nothing in it.

 

[43096]

"dosen't have the VW golf style built quality as the desiro"...

Completely disagree with you there, sorry. Build quality on the Desiro's is in no way better than the Electrostar in my opinion. I'd see it more Ford Focus vs. Vauxhall Astra, I.e. nothing in it.

I'd say Siemens are ahead on build quality. The early Electrostars were poor, and it has only really been since the 377/6 build that the internal finish has got near Siemens.

 

[Bletchleyite]

"dosen't have the VW golf style built quality as the desiro"...

Completely disagree with you there, sorry. Build quality on the Desiro's is in no way better than the Electrostar in my opinion. I'd see it more Ford Focus vs. Vauxhall Astra, I.e. nothing in it.

Early Electrostars have poor (typical British) build quality, but the Canadians seem to have sorted it out with the round-windowed variants, other than the rattly doors which seems to be a design flaw. The 172s have excellent build quality too, none of the rattles and vibrations of the earlier Turbostars.

But the Desiro does IMO remain the benchmark, true German build quality.

 

[DenmarkRail]

The Desiro range of trains shows a true benchmark on what train building SHOULD be. As yet, no one has lived up to the best European building that sadly many want to rid of post 2019!

 

[swt_passenger]

This news was in the Railway Magazine recently.

We also had a suitable thread in these forums, started when it was announced: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/final-electrostar-completed.157352/

 

[Harbon 1]

The carriage is currently supporting a cardboard/masking tape/paint pen ‘Electrostar Farewell 1999-2017’ headboard which is a nice touch.

A similar thing was written (by myself) on the last set of bodyside panels for the MOSL vehicle.

 

[D365]

The Desiro range of trains shows a true benchmark on what train building SHOULD be. As yet, no one has lived up to the best European building that sadly many want to rid of post 2019!

Bombardier Transportation is based in Germany, don’t you know

The Desiros are certainly engineered well, perhaps a bit too well (read: overweight).

 

[A0]

But the Desiro does IMO remain the benchmark, true German build quality.

German build quality is a myth - which unfortunately the Brits have fallen for.

I've had German cars which are desparately unreliable, particularly bearing a VW badge. German built white goods are either excessively expensive (Miele) or desperately average (Bosch).

Yes, the Desiros are nice units, but so are the Electrostars having travelled on both.

 

[F Great Eastern]

Having traveled on Desiros on and off for close on 15 years on the GEML, apart from the seats fading, the carpet fading and the livery being changed there is very little difference between them now than there was then and they still feel solid and nowhere near as being the mid-life units that they are.

I've been on Bombardier products at most a third of their age that feel far more worn and have rattles - the gap between earlier but still younger Turobstars is bigger still.

 

[HLE]

Farewell? Good grief they’re still considered new units, even in the midlands.