Isle of Wight class 484 axle load.

[tog1911]

Hi,

I’m working on a university project in Denmark about the renewal of infrastructure and rolling stock for a small branch line. The line is currently diesel-operated, but we are considering whether a third rail conversion could be possible, but since there are so few examples of third rail stock around the world, we’ve been looking at the Isle of Wight’s Class 484, as their operation is somewhat similar in scope to our line.
However, our line has an axle load limit of 16 tonnes, so we were wondering if anyone does anyone know the axle load of the Class 484s or other similar third rail classes in the uk.

 

[swt_passenger]

Their weight in LU service is shown, (on the LU D78 stock Wiki page), as about 27 tonnes for a motor car and 18 for a trailer, over 4 axles, so relatively light compared to normal main line EMUs. In their SWR service there have been only relatively minor modifications, so the weight won’t have changed significantly, therefore you can probably use those figures for your comparison.

 

[Dstock7080]

The very heavy camshaft equipment was removed by VivaRail from the motor cars

 

[Peter Mugridge]

According to the Combined Volume, the weights are:

DMS A: 32.5 tonnes
DMS B: 30.4 tonnes

That gives an axle load of 8.125 tonnes and 7.6 tonnes respectively.

 

[trainmania100]

Catching the units this afternoon got me wondering if vivarail went bust and SWr are maintaining these, wonder what their life expectancy is....

 

[DelW]

Catching the units this afternoon got me wondering if vivarail went bust and SWr are maintaining these, wonder what their life expectancy is....

Well, St John's depot got over thirty years use out of the 483s. They didn't have manufacturer support either, and they were fifty years old when they went to the Island.

 

[D365]

Catching the units this afternoon got me wondering if vivarail went bust and SWr are maintaining these, wonder what their life expectancy is....

The OEMs (original equipment manufacturer) of the traction and control electronics still exist, plus a few of the ex-Vivarail engineers have provided support at Ryde St Johns. So I don't see Island Line being in any more difficulty than TfW.