FHT 180 at Old Oak Common

[ushawk]

Hi everyone,

Was passing Old Oak Common depot earlier today and saw a First Hull Trains 180 half poking out of a shed there. Was just wondering what it was doing there.

Thanks

Tom

 

[lm321412]

Hi everyone,

Was passing Old Oak Common depot earlier today and saw a First Hull Trains 180 half poking out of a shed there. Was just wondering what it was doing there.

Thanks

Tom

Heavy maintainence and exams are carried out at Old Oak Common.

 

[WillPS]

I wonder if this arrangement will continue if First loose Great Western?

 

[No Fault Found]

It was 180110 having an engine changed.

 

[hougtimo]

It was 180110 having an engine changed.

Why did it need an engine change?

 

[starrymarkb]

I wonder if this arrangement will continue if First loose Great Western?

Isn't it Alstom who do the maintainance of the 180s at OOC

 

[NSE]

Out of interest, what happens to a Northern Rail 180 if it requires heavy work, a depot up north, Bounds Green or OOC?

 

[TomJ93]

Could a Northern one go to Chester? Seeing as they handle 175s.

 

[Pumbaa]

Isn't it Alstom who do the maintainance of the 180s at OOC

No - Alstom aren't there any more as far as I knew! Carried out under contract to fGW own team.

 

[No Fault Found]

Why did it need an engine change?

As part of the standard overhaul programme.

Isn't it Alstom who do the maintainance of the 180s at OOC

It is FGW staff who do all of the maintenance on them at OOC.

I have also heard from a very reliable source that one of the vehicles from the 'abandoned' East Coast 180 @OOC has been put into 180110 because there was a problem with one of it's own vehicles.

 

[WillPS]

Have East Coast surrendered the lease on the 180s? Or are they doing well out of the 'short-term' subleasing?

 

[Nym]

I'm sure XC would appreciate them, not the same as their 220s and 221s, but still have the same engines. How many 180s are going spare after May when NT looses theirs? 5?

As I'm sure they would 10 car bi-mode IEPs, or the more sensible versions that have been throught up.

Or the equally sensible proposal from Bombardier to build extra centre cars, that VT and XC would both be intrested in, an extra couple of coaches for each unit would go down well...

 

[jones_bangor]

Or the equally sensible proposal from Bombardier to build extra centre cars, that VT and XC would both be intrested in, an extra couple of coaches for each unit would go down well...

I think 180s (and to a lesser extent 175s) exemplify the worst excesses of the post privatisation ordering system. A small fleet of non-standard trains is expensive to maintain, nobody really seems to want to take these on.

Why the SRA / DfT didn't limit choice I don't know.

 

[ainsworth74]

Why the SRA / DfT didn't limit choice I don't know.

I suspect it's partly because the orders for units like 180s were placed when people still weren't entirely sure how privatisation was going to work, a side effect of which was that operators had a lot more freedom to do their own thing like ordering rolling stock (which lead to orders like the 180). Of course eventually the SRA and then DfT took more hands on control and stopped little orders like that but to be honest we've probably gone to far the other way with operators unable to even consider ordering their own rolling stock without DfT agreement.

 

[Nym]

Whats the betting that if NT where offered a 15 year franchise they'd just order 100 2 and 3 carrage 172s?