Serious problems joining 442s

[heart-of-wessex]

hence the "30mph :roll:" coupling up which is actually a bit of a bump but hey ho there you go.

I know that I was only joking hence the at the end, sorry!

 

[phil281]

The desiro's are rubbish at coupling up, theres problems with them at Euston quite a lot too especially when its cold!

I wish they'd left the 442's on the Waterloo to Weymouth Route, they were the perfect stock for that line, as the 444's are on the portsmouth route. Then the 458's could have gone to the BML to be mixed the 460's into some sort of hybrid thats suitable for Gat ex and BML passengers.

As for the arguement about capacity in the peaks, well run 444s outbound of london on altons, basingstoke stoppers etc whilst using 450's on portsmouth peaks inbound. Its not hard....

 

[BestWestern]

The desiro's are rubbish at coupling up, theres problems with them at Euston quite a lot too especially when its cold!

I wish they'd left the 442's on the Waterloo to Weymouth Route, they were the perfect stock for that line, as the 444's are on the portsmouth route. Then the 458's could have gone to the BML to be mixed the 460's into some sort of hybrid thats suitable for Gat ex and BML passengers.

As for the arguement about capacity in the peaks, well run 444s outbound of london on altons, basingstoke stoppers etc whilst using 450's on portsmouth peaks inbound. Its not hard....

I think the Pompey commuters might argue that the 442's are better on their route Nobody wants to sit on rock hard Desiro seats!

 

[tsr]

I think the Pompey commuters might argue that the 442's are better on their route Nobody wants to sit on rock hard Desiro seats!

Nobody wants to sit on a 442 any more because the seats are too small, plus your knees inevitably touch the seat in front or the passenger opposite...

 

[jimm]

The units suffered from electrical faults in the couplers that caused in-service failures irregardless of where they were coupled, as the units would not "talk to each other" correctly. As Crossover says as well, there were problems when Hull Trains and Grand Central units were expected to couple and uncouple at Doncaster during ECML engineering works.

Well someone at FGW had managed to get a handle that, as I regularly used to see the 10-car queue-buster that ran from Oxford to London every morning peak in the dying days of their first stint in FGW-land. Can't remember a single occasion a lone 180 was on the duty, though I expect it must have happened at some point. Perhaps the couplers get a bit less tlc than other things on the 180s, given they aren't critical for regular duties with any of the operators?

 

[radamfi]

It appears there are more problems with the 442s. This morning, the 0655 from Brighton only had 5 coaches and the next Gatwick Express was cancelled.

 

[AlexS]

Wasn't it a chain on mark 1 coaches?

It was a lever on Mk1 EMUs and a chain on Mk1 coaches.

Trying to pull the chain in my experience can be a right pain in the backside, but if you shove the stock together then quickly whip it apart it will usually go!