Seems to be a bit of a dumping ground that yard. sort of like somewhere to abandon stock which will eventually end up being scrapped anyway. Odd exceptions are the HST power car, but all those class 458 trailers are probably waiting disposal.
Yes, the rest of 922 was there. The 458 coaches are all gone. Except for 74434 and 74408, which are at Long Marston. Presumably, 769922 is now going for scrap. It's even worse then 769426 now.
I see 421 is still enjoying its new home of Springs Branch! Just spotted it lurking at the back (as per the photo of it hiding in the buses) whilst passing on my Pendolino.
Scratch that, return to allerton is on the 16th august. Tonight im just assuming is a shakedown run
Time to put it straight into service then. See if it can beat 769421's efforts and fail on its first 3 outings. 769421 only managed its first 2 until they gave up on it.
Some of the fleet sometimes genuinely are fab, it seems to always be the ‘thrashy’ ones either with old motors or worn gearboxes that have the most issues, the TFW 769s havent ran on AC since they left thameslink and were converted to diesel only. Seems to be the reason why they are having so many tantrums when theyre out
Agree. I feel sorry for regular passengers on this route. A quick look on RTT sees just 4 in use today. Only 3 or 4 in use yesterday I believe too. With 10 in the Northern fleet Northern Rail must be getting poor value as I presume they pay leasing charges whether their in use or not?
That's in progress already, and has been for a couple years, phase 1 of the replacement is due to be awarded in Spring 2026 with the first unit arriving 2030, hopefully for entry to service 2031.
Which rather underlines the problems for rail. 8 years, if we're lucky, from deciding new stock is needed to delivery. Meanwhile stock that was already well beyond its effective best struggles on.
Or in railway time 2035. If rail procurement was remotely sensible this would be a run-on from the 755 or similar and ordered to work out of the box.
They were old and unreliable when they used to work to Alderley Edge, and that’s a couple of years ago now.
I see. So I'm assuming they will keep trying to get the 769s at least barely working until then?
Unless something (e.g. TfW 158s) replace them sooner, I don't see why it wouldn't be the plan.
And when they aren't? From what I've heard, sounds like they end up just blocking lines and taking up space.
Yes, they block the line until they get it moving again, and either they stay in service or head to a depot/siding with a sprinter pair split to cancel less services.
Yet they still insist on wasting more money on them. Mind boggling. Surely no one can defend them with a straight face any more? Even the 777s will be more reliable soon.
Given how long it currently takes to put new train fleets into service, I suspect that TfW 158s (once the onboard ETCS has been removed) will be the medium term solution.
That’s only to replace 15x fleet initially. Phase 1 is 131 sets and phase 2 is 124 sets. In 2023 the stated entry in service was 2028/29 but that has since changed to a vague 2030/31. (Source DfT)
Phase 1 Lot 3 is for 8 4 carriage OLE/battery units. That matches exactly the number of 769s Northern have long term.
Well, it is still running, and keeping more-or-less to time, https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:G34479/2025-08-15/detailed for which we should be grateful - but maybe that is because they are all timed as Cl 150 DMUs! I suspect it might have been diesel since 2pm, but have we any way to check that?
I know someone who was on that train, but I have no clue if they would know or were paying attention, so we'll see if I get a reply.
Is there any point of removing it?
