Splitting multiple units

[oversteer]

Once built, do individual 'units' of DMU/EMU ever get switched between trains?

Just looking at some of the fleet lists e.g. http://www.thejunction.org.uk/flist_165.html - is this the list at build and is it the same now, or do they ever get switched around due maintenance, damage etc ?

 

[mallard]

There are often temporary formations of MU vehicles during maintenance/refurbishment or after accidents. This seems to happen more often with EMUs than DMUs, possibly because the majority of DMUs are not as heavily used on commuter routes as EMUs tend to be.

As for more "permanent" changes, there are also a good number of examples, including cl158 center carriages being moved, the West Midlands cl150 formations consisting of a 150/2 carriage inserted into a 150/1 (don't FGW have some similarly-formed 158s?), the cl508 trailers in cl455/7 and the cl210 trailer in 455912.

 

[Pacerpilot]

ATW had some hybrid 150s knocking about in mis-matched liveries but with fotopic down I cant link them.

 

[rail-britain]

It is extremely rare in EMUs

However, on first generation DMUs it was quite common, such that a depot would normally have several spare power cars whilst maintenance was taking place

For current DMUs this practice has pretty much been abandoned
Instead the unit normally remains out of service for maintenance
The most common result of split-paired sets is due to long-term unavailability of specific vehicles, so rather than both sitting out of use they are paired together temporarily

In the early days of sprinters it was found that three cars was often better than two
As a result these sets were split, but this resulted in an imbalance of toilets (as the set only had one previously)
Some of these sets were later rebalanced by inserting them into other sets, which worked as advantage as the 150/2 had through gangways, whilst the 150/1 did not
Finally, the Inverness based Class 156 units were to be used in three car formations, and always raised the question as to why at least six centre cars were not constructed, when ironically centre cars were constructed for the Class 158 units on TransPennine (but there were already going to be similar centre cars for the Class 159)

 

[prod_pep]

There are lots of examples of permanent multiple unit reformations. Just one is unit 507004, which is formed of 64388 - 71345 - 64408. 64388 originally belonged to 507022 put following a collision in 1991, the set was reformed.

One for you, Rail-Britain, is 314203. One of the carriages of this unit is originally from a Merseyside Class 507!

 

[tbtc]

One for you, Rail-Britain, is 314203. One of the carriages of this unit is originally from a Merseyside Class 507!

I love information like this

 

[Scotrail84]

Scotrail has no 158 737 as i belive it went its seperate ways to other companys down south years ago. The fleet jumps from 736 to 738. Our fleet is 701 - 741 plus the additional units from alphaline and SW trains.

A few Scotrail 170s ran about as 2 cars in recent years. 402 definitley did.

 

[ChrisCooper]

The EMT Meridiens have all been altered from their original formations with the addition or loss of some coaches. Originally they were built as a mix of 4 and 9 car versions. The 9s were then cut down to 8 cars with one car going to extend some 4 cars to 5 cars. Finally the 8s were cut down to 7 cars to increase the remaining 4s to 5 car (not sure but they might have made an additional 7 car too).

 

[Peter Mugridge]

A lot of 455s have had vehicles switched around between units, a small number of these swaps became permanent - particularly amongst the lower numbered 455/8s.

At one point 5856 was running around with one of later design "smooth top" DTSO vehicles at one end for a while in place of the normal 455/8 "chunky" version, although that's going back about 20 years now!

 

[jopsuk]

the 455/7s of course have the ex Class 508 TSO vehicles.

 

[rail-britain]

One for you, Rail-Britain, is 314203. One of the carriages of this unit is originally from a Merseyside Class 507!

Aware of that, been on it many times, not much you can do when the "missing" car has been smashed beyond repair

 

[Oswyntail]

Almost completely off topic, but can anyone explain why a large number of MUs follow a standardised numbering system where each vehicle number is 2 digits followed by the unit number, while others are less logical?

 

[Geezertronic]

And VT split a 221 removing two carriages to make all of their 221s 5 carriages long

 

[prod_pep]

Almost completely off topic, but can anyone explain why a large number of MUs follow a standardised numbering system where each vehicle number is 2 digits followed by the unit number, while others are less logical?

Can't explain it fully, but it does seem to be a recent thing to order the carriage numbers with part of the set number. This might be due to British Rail policy - certainly all the 1970s/80s build units I've seen avoid this sort of pattern, so if you want to tell a unit by its carriage numbers, you have to learn the sequence.

 

[obrut165]

you will always find on 150's that the 52 car has the toilet in it.

FGW have 10 3 car 158's

158798 is an original 3 car as the middle car has no cab but does have an engine and g/box

158950-158959 are 2 cars but with a hybrid car on the front!

 

[O L Leigh]

It is extremely rare in EMUs

Not as such, no.

The difference is that the individual EMU vehicle numbering ranges do not so obviously reflect the unit number when it was originally built as most DMU vehicle number ranges do. I know for a fact that there are at least two hybrid Cl317s (502 and 511) and potentially as many as four or five, and at least two hybrid Cl315s. The problem is that these reformations are not obvious.

Have dug a little further and found 12 Cl317 hybrids. In addition to 502 and 511 which swapped vehicles, other units that have swapped vehicles are 501 and 883, 344 and 887 (clearly prior to the fleet being split into two), 652 and 654, 656 and 657, and finally 666 and 667. Either that or whoever compiles the fleet lists for The Junction is bad at copying stuff out.

O L Leigh

 

[prod_pep]

As far as I know, there are no current 315 hybrids since 315858/860 were reformed back in 2004.

 

[fgwrich]

Scotrails 170432 Has ran as a two car for a short while around jan last year, And although i don't have a phot of which unit it was at the moment, FGW has had an Ex Wessex liveried 150 52 or 57 paired up with a Local Lines liveried 52/57 which was in turn paired up with a normal 2 Car ATW liveried unit - so it still ocasionally happens these days...Even 2 Car 166s have turned up on the branch from Reading before.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7PKvbJE0t4

 

[ChrisCooper]

Older SR units were often shuffled around to form new types of unit. When the Hastings line was electrified, some 201s and were split into pairs of 2 car sets which then had a 2EPB driving trailer added to form a 3 car set. Later the EPB driving trailers were used to increase 2 car 205s to 3 car, being placed in the middle with the cab disabled. 207s gained CEP trailers to return them to 3 car from 2 car. CEP trailers also replaced buffet coaches in BIGs, turning them into CIGs. Between the Bournmouth Electrification and the full delivery of the REPs an 8VAB was formed using VEP vehicles and a hauled TRB. 4VIPs were made by swapping one Open Plan VOP (with compartments removed) driving trailer with a standard VEP driving trailer (forming a half and half unit). 8MIGs were formed by coupling a 4 and a 3 CIG either side of a hauled RMB. This was in addition to various like for like swaps that took place over time.

The only significant reformation of earlier AC EMUs were the 309s, where the original 2 car sets were increased to 4 car by addition of hauled coaches. Again though, like for like swaps were fairly common. That said, I've got a feeling there might have been a few hybrids of the 1959 EMUs (304, 305, 308, 504).