Spare stock on depot

[RandomRailways]

Hello folks,

I'm interested in how many spare trains there are in general on depot in case of failure at the moment. Certainly, with regard to a query last week, there seems to be less than there used to be.
TFW said they had no spare trains available at all on a mid week afternoon in Swansea.

I guess that in the SE region there would be plenty of stock that is sat idle during the off peak hours. Less so in more rural areas of the country.

As far as I'm aware in BR days there were usually a few locos/ multiple units spare that were not undergoing maintenance?

 

[dk1]

Hello folks,

I'm interested in how many spare trains there are in general on depot in case of failure at the moment. Certainly, with regard to a query last week, there seems to be less than there used to be.
TFW said they had no spare trains available at all on a mid week afternoon in Swansea.

I guess that in the SE region there would be plenty of stock that is sat idle during the off peak hours. Less so in more rural areas of the country.

As far as I'm aware in BR days there were usually a few locos/ multiple units spare that were not undergoing maintenance?

There where often surplus first generation DMUs in BR days but don't be fooled. As they where replaced by Sprinters etc in the late 80s & early 90s it was cut right back to the wire.

 

[FGW_DID]

At Reading we have the following (Mon-Fri):

EMU:
45 units for 40 diagrams. I would say on average 3-4 out of the 5 spare will be on routine maintenance (exams etc).

DMU:
36 units for 26 diagrams, however out of those 10 extra there are units away at Wolverton, Long Marston and SPM as well as the scheduled maintenance so it’s no surprise there is very rarely any spare Turbos for use in LTV land.

We do get a number of units back on Depot between the peaks but quite a few of those have been outstabled the previous night so will be back for cleaning & servicing. Others will have been planned in for minor maintenance that doesn’t require the unit to be stopped for a whole day / night.

Oh we usually also have the DRS Class 57 57306 which is first and foremost the Thunderbird Loco for the 387s as it has the Dellner coupler however it is also used to back-up the GWR 57s, usually as ECS pilot Loco but has been known to have the odd run down to Penzance (as it has done in the last week or so).

 

[jopsuk]

in the swansea are, are there more TfW services during the peaks compared to mid afternoon?

 

[ValleyLines142]

in the swansea are, are there more TfW services during the peaks compared to mid afternoon?

Not massively. There's a Swanline service from Cardiff to Swansea (0714), but apart from that it's the normal clockface service.

Oh, tell a lie, there's an additional Carmarthen to Cardiff service at 5.50am-ish.