High Density 450.......

[ChampsRacing]

From what my manager has said, yes the 450s are loosing FC but only the ones on the windsor line, he said he has not heard anything about them changing the colour scheme or the length, but mind you, he was wrong taking away our overtime but there you go im leaving putney anyway lol. And as for 444s this one was from weymouth it was on a sunday morning when there was engineering works on the mainline, yes its not a regular occurance but we have NR coming round our stations at the moment looking at extending platforms, was speaking to one the over day and apparently 444s will be testing them, so whether it just for testing use while they convert the 450s or they going to use them he was not sure. As for my manager, i dont really listen to him anyway tom .
Yeh we are getting an extra kingston loop service on a sunday so we will be using more 455s on the windsor line, perhaps on the hounslow loop to.

 

[Tom]

They diverted last weekend on Sunday, yes - but I wasn't aware of any SSOs being issued! I'm normally told reasonably quickly - when I mean platform clearances there are a few issues IIRC at Ashford and a few others along the route...

The additional Kingston loop service will be on the Windsor lines, not the Windsor line, btw. Two distinct entities.

 

[5872]

I think it's most likely that they'll get both.

455/8s and the new 450s will sute the windsor line well. From just outside staines to just beyond wrasybury the line is dead straight on a rising gradient. Then bears a right hand turn towards sunnymeads then straight again with a curve then straight all the way to datchet where the line is curved all the way to windsor. I'd imagine only sunnymeads will be left out in platform extensions. Staines can accomidate more but only on the london side towards windsor. The windsor side will have to be abit shorter because of 450s and 458s using it. 444s at staines have to travel at 15mph round the curve to egham because of the length of them. Back when 411s/412s and other slammers were about there was 12 coach slammers stopping at staines during mainline diversions!. So some of the mainline lot do/can stop at staines! and other stations!.


As for the 455s the windsor line sutes them perfectly with its gradient and speed. A 455/8 can lift off faster then a 450 in some cases.... .

 

[Tom]

Fred - the "mainlineness" of them has nothing to do with the ability to stop at a station. You've said yourself, the 444s can only do 15mph due to the length of them - being 23m rather than 20m. Another thing to note is that the same issue applies with one of the tunnels near Rowlands Castle on the Pompey direct (used to be 40mph for 23m stock (442 and XC) and 90mph for 20m (slam) - now only 40mph for all stock due to the indifference between 444 and 450 cabs).

 

[class 313]

As for the 455s the windsor line sutes them perfectly with its gradient and speed. A 455/8 can lift off faster then a 450 in some cases.... .

I'm not sure of that, as one of the strong point for the 450s was the fast acceleration.

Though 455s in general are **** due to a lack of toilets, even though they are 4 car... I mean even 456's have toilets! And some of you may know that I do like toilets on trains, specially when your quite a few miles away from where your going.

 

[ChampsRacing]

Dont mention toilets on 455s to swt mate they will have a heart attack . Best acceleration on the "windsor lines"<<tom is the 458s, 450s take along time to get moving and 455s being quiet sluggish since refurbished.

 

[ChrisCooper]

456s have toilets due to the fact that they are designed for longer journies than 455s (Horsham, Caterham etc), and particularly since 456s replaced HAPs which had toilets (infact HAP refers to HAlf lavatory electoPnumatic, being the EPB version of the HAL or HAlf Lavatory). 455s on the other hand replaced SUBs (SUBurban) which did not have toilets. Toilets do take up space and add weight to trains. A modern RVAR toilet can take up the space of more than 10 seats (on a suburban configuration) and add nearly 5tonnes to the weight. If anything, I can see this meaning toilets on trains are less common in the future, and in particular the numbers of toilets will drop.