If you could create a 'demonstrator' unit from any fleet

[Clansman]

In the early 2010s, before the culture of wholesale fleet replacements was just commencing, various leasing companies funded demonstrator vehicles and demonstrator mock-ups to offer a package of modernisation to existing vehicles without the need to replace them with new builds.

As many will already be aware, the Renatus 321s, 317722, and the 144 evo were the prime examples. Other concepts which were mocked up or rendered were the Mk4s, 156s, 150s, 442s, and the 455s.

If you could create a demonstrator out of an existing fleet, how would you do it?

Personally I'd have liked to see what could be done to make the 170s more IC suitable, including retractioning, bi-mode equipment, internal modernisation, and rejigging the structural layout. It is certainly food for thought what could have been if a unit had gone through such a trial conversion in Scotland ahead of the HST bid by Abellio. A missed oppertunity by Porterbrook perhaps, given their efforts with the 144 evo around the same time?

 

[JonathanH]

Personally I'd have liked to see what could be done to make the 170s more IC suitable, including retractioning, bi-mode equipment, internal modernisation, and rejigging the structural layout. It is certainly food for thought what could have been if a unit had gone through such a trial conversion in Scotland ahead of the HST bid by Abellio.

168329 is being set up for hybrid operation - https://www.railmagazine.com/news/network/2021/07/28/turbostar-based-hybridflex-launch

Britain’s first hybrid train was formally launched on July 21, with Porterbrook CEO Mary Grant declaring on decarbonisation: “We’re not waiting to 2035 or 2040. We’re doing things now.”

Unveiling of the Turbostar-based HybridFLEX took place at London Marylebone, in a ceremony that also marked 25 years since the launch of Chiltern Railways. Following the end of the formal ceremony, the HybridFLEX took invited guests to Bicester.

Chiltern Railways MD Richard Allan talked of a “very special occasion”, adding: “As well as celebrating our heritage, it’s right that we look to the future.” He described HybridFLEX as a “fantastic team effort”.

The launch follows testing of converted Turbostar 168329 at the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway earlier in the year (RAIL 933). The HybridFLEX delivers emission-free operation when running on battery power, and reduces CO2 emissions by 25%, nitrous oxide by 70% and particulates by 90%.

Allan said the converted diesel multiple unit is “cleaner, greener, it’s much better for the environment”, as well as being “so smooth, so quiet, and it feels like you’re in the train equivalent of an electric car”.

However, the first step in making 170s more IC suitable would have been running them in pairs instead of on their own on the longer distance Scottish routes once freed up from the Central Belt. They already had a fairly reasonable interior for IC work but three cars certainly counted against them. Would the demonstration refit have come with more or fewer seats?

 

[xotGD]

Mark 4 'Retro'.

Make the interior look like a Mark 1. Proper comfy seats, all table seats that align with the windows, windows that open, real wood.

 

[SouthEastBuses]

168329 is being set up for hybrid operation - https://www.railmagazine.com/news/network/2021/07/28/turbostar-based-hybridflex-launch

So is Networker 165004.