Porterbrook Cl.769 'Flex' trains from 319s, initially for Northern

[D9006]

Well said. I have travelled on a number of 769s in recent weeks and their performance on both electric and diesel has been very satisfactory.

It’s not just that, being 4 car units you are almost guaranteed a seat now on peak workings, before them it was a lottery if train was2 or 4 car

 

[Geeves]

Fleet summary today - Looking good!

424, 431, 442, 448 and 450 are out

431 and 456 Allerton

458 - Newton Heath

 

[Jamesrob637]

It was almost impossible to miss the Southport to Alderley Edge 769s because they never ran on time, to the extent that I stopped bothering with the timetable when I wanted to go from Heaton Chapel to Wilmslow - I just turned up at a random time and a random train arrived. The change back to running the Crewe line services out of the main station at Piccadilly instead has vastly improved the service which was destroyed in 2018. Yes, it was occasionally nice to get the train home from Oxford Road but that was worsened by their poor time keeping plus random platform re-allocation at Oxford Road.

My new job will be nearer Piccadilly anyway on office days, and I may drive to Heaton Chapel some days because the service from Woodsmoor is only adequate.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 8 Mar 2024 ==

Fleet summary today - Looking good!

424, 431, 442, 448 and 450 are out

431 and 456 Allerton

458 - Newton Heath

Good! Hope that can be the case every day from now on. Don't think Northern operate any on Sundays though, maybe one or two sets.

 

[AMD]

Fleet summary today - Looking good!

424, 431, 442, 448 and 450 are out

431 and 456 Allerton

458 - Newton Heath

oh well, it was nice while it lasted - 458 came out on 2W27 from Victoria and managed as far as Salford Crescent.

 

[david l]

My new job will be nearer Piccadilly anyway on office days, and I may drive to Heaton Chapel some days because the service from Woodsmoor is only adequate.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 8 Mar 2024 ==



Good! Hope that can be the case every day from now on. Don't think Northern operate any on Sundays though, maybe one or two sets.

None out on a Sunday. there are 6/8 diagrammed Mon-Sat, there were 6 out Thurs but 5 yesterday with 458 pulling up lame- but engineering work at weekends on the Wigan-Bolton/Atherton route means alterations from Jan-Mar 2024.

 

[D9006]

Boarding 456 today at hindley , got to Bolton pan didn’t go up(no attempt made) and carried on to Oxford Road on diesel. At Oxford rd sat idling for return to Southport which it did on diesel. Assume it not be able to complete the diagram on diesel

 

[david l]

769 availability has dropped badly this week.

 

[1D53]

Only 3 available Monday and Tuesday, 5 yesterday and today. Six are required.

 

[AMD]

769 availability has dropped badly this week.

This week?
You probably didn't see the problems we had two weeks ago!!

 

[thealexweb]

Are they still to run to Stalybridge on diesel? Its not clear if the commissioning of the new wires is finished after the test trains ran.

 

[david l]

Are they still to run to Stalybridge on diesel? Its not clear if the commissioning of the new wires is finished after the test trains ran.

Yes, still on diesel. Wires are live (since Jan) and were tested by a pair of 331's some weeks ago.

 

[childwallblues]

Yes, still on diesel. Wires are live (since Jan) and were tested by a pair of 331's some weeks ago.

Are'nt 769s and 802s going to be electric to Stalybridge from the new timetable?

 

[Geeves]

From the 2nd of June onwards for 769s subject to the usual.

I will ask again but I believe any 800 that also stops at Stalybridge will be able to use the wires, so the Newcastle trains mostly, everything else 800 wise will be on carrying on diesel

 

[Bikeman78]

From the 2nd of June onwards for 769s subject to the usual.

I will ask again but I believe any 800 that also stops at Stalybridge will be able to use the wires, so the Newcastle trains mostly, everything else 800 wise will be on carrying on diesel

Why is that? The GWR units are perfectly capable of lowering the pantographs on the move. It would make sense to go up Miles Platting bank on electric.

 

[JN114]

Why is that? The GWR units are perfectly capable of lowering the pantographs on the move. It would make sense to go up Miles Platting bank on electric.

The units maybe capable; but is the tensioning and layout of the OLE; and other driver-workload impacting infra appropriate for moving changeover? There are also presumably 80x “goalkeeper” balises approaching the present limit of electrification; have these been moved, is it deemed appropriate to move them only to need to move them again in the next phase of Transpennine Route Upgrade?

Whilst it should be, it isn’t as simple as “wires on use them”

 

[Bikeman78]

The units maybe capable; but is the tensioning and layout of the OLE; and other driver-workload impacting infra appropriate for moving changeover? There are also presumably 80x “goalkeeper” balises approaching the present limit of electrification; have these been moved, is it deemed appropriate to move them only to need to move them again in the next phase of Transpennine Route Upgrade?

Whilst it should be, it isn’t as simple as “wires on use them”

If the balises at Victoria are a problem, how are the trains that stop at Stalybridge going on run off the OHL? Regarding tension, isn't that only a potential problem when raising the pantograph?

 

[td97]

The units maybe capable; but is the tensioning and layout of the OLE; and other driver-workload impacting infra appropriate for moving changeover?

Yes APCO will be provided at Stalybridge.

is it deemed appropriate to move them only to need to move them again in the next phase of Transpennine Route Upgrade?

The adjacent part of TRU (Stalybridge to Huddersfield) is likely 10 years away, so yes.

 

[nightflyian]

Looking like another bad day for the 769's. 442 pulled up short at Wigan at lunchtime , 434 is sat in the sidings Wigan (hopefully crew related issues) and 448 has had a front engine failure at Ince, with a full reset having to done by the at Wigan. All seems okay so far but whatever caused it has disabled the on board PA System. And that's what I know of. Along with crew issues, there have been a lot cancellations and delays on the Southport Line today.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 31 May 2024 ==

769 units to become AI enabled along with other improvements

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/24348990.northern-starts-running-ai-enabled-trains-bolton/

I would think getting them to run reliably is more of a priority without engine failures (1527 MCO-SOP on Tue) as well being able to uncouple 2 units from each other quickly. I think it took the crew over 1/2 hr to uncouple 458 from 442 which sat at SOP all day !

And for the record I felt sorry for the crew as it wasn't their fault on both of these incidents.

 

[Gricer99]

769s at Blackpool? Really?

 

[pokemonsuper9]

769s at Blackpool? Really?

Known as ‘Automatic Passenger Counting’, or APC, the system has been deployed to the company’s fleet of eight ‘Class 769’ trains – diesel and electric hybrids which run on routes between Liverpool, Manchester, Southport, Wigan and Blackpool.

From Bolton, the trains run between the town and destinations including Manchester Oxford Road, Wigan Wallgate, and Southport.

They were probably confused with the 319s, they got right what services run from Bolton.

 

[Geeves]

Seemingly not a good day for the 769s, two are DMUs this morning which quipped my interest!

424 - Allerton
431 - In service
434 - In service
442 - Allerton
448 - Allerton
450 - Allerton
456 - Allerton
458 - In service but only has work till 1249.

 

[thealexweb]

Why is the reliability so bad even now? Surely only having to have 75% availability six days a week is quite light work anyway…

 

[childwallblues]

I went out to Hunts Cross this morning and saw 3 x 769s in the long depot siding next to the Merseyrail together with 2 ex West Midlands Class 323. When I returned to my car at Liverpool South Parkway a fourth 769 was arriving at the depot.

 

[AMD]

Latest word is that the lease on the 769s have been extended until 2027 (was 2025).

 

[Jamesrob637]

Apparently, some 769s are going to be converted to freight use.

 

[Northerngirl]

I would be more happy to see them converted to bean cans personally

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Jun 2024 ==

Latest word is that the lease on the 769s have been extended until 2027 (was 2025).

Assuming this is because the long rumored northern fleet replacement is going to be ready about then

 

[jfowkes]

Post deleted

 

[pokemonsuper9]

How much could you raise the platforms at Ealing Broadway, before they began fouling freights?

You don't *have* to get to level boarding (though that is best), every mm you raise the platform means less risk of this kind of incident occuring.

I'm guessing this wouldn't be practical because of pathing, but would slowing freights down help, by reducing their kinematic envelope? I guess they're already fairly slow anyway at Ealing Broadway..

Did you get a bit lost? This is the 769 thread, not the Crossrail platforms issue

 

[jfowkes]

Did you get a bit lost? This is the 769 thread, not the Crossrail platforms issue

Uh, yes. I have absolutely no idea how I managed that! That's what I get for posting after bedtime. Post deleted!

 

[Nym]

Apparently, some 769s are going to be converted to freight use.

Interesting…