Merseyrail Query

[M60lad]

Do all Merseyrail Units cover all Merseyrail Routes, only reason why I ask is that I'm wondering how often the new Hope University liveried unit will see service on Wirral lines and also has the Beatles Story unit ever ventured onto Wirral line services, I know the couple of times I've seen the Beatles Story unit its always been in Southport

 

[seawolf]

Both 507002 and 508111 do the rounds on the Wirral, all four bits. I have only seen it on my morning/evening commutes a handful of times, but I get the same trains most days so that doesn't say much. It would seem to me that they spend more time on the others, though.

 

[73001]

I think they are regularly swapped about so as to minimise tyre wear on the loop line...

 

[507 001]

Do all Merseyrail Units cover all Merseyrail Routes, only reason why I ask is that I'm wondering how often the new Hope University liveried unit will see service on Wirral lines and also has the Beatles Story unit ever ventured onto Wirral line services, I know the couple of times I've seen the Beatles Story unit its always been in Southport

Stock regularly moves between the northern and wirral lines, they aren't allocated to one set of routes (even though it sometimes seems like it!), I think it depends on when units are due for exams etc.

 

[Tramfan]

Below is an example of a regular scheduled ECS move that gets a train from Kirkdale depot on the Northern Line to Birkenhead North Depot on the Wirral Line:

http://www.opentraintimes.com/schedule/G05645/2012/11/27

In fact, looking at Real Time Trains, it appears there are quite a number of trains swapping between lines/depots after they've finished service each day.

 

[prod_pep]

All units except two appear on both Northern Line and Wirral Line regularly. The exceptions are 507015 and 508139 which are kept to the Northern and Wirral routes respectively for the purpose of monitoring wheel wear. These two sets occasionally swap lines for ECS moves but are very rare in service.

Of late, 507002 has been fairly equally distributed between lines, but 508111 is seeing use mainly on the Northern Line. That said, I saw both yesterday, 507002 working the Kirkby line (NL) and 508111 the Ellesmere Port line (WL).