Sprinters!

[SprinterMan]

There are some Sprinters on the Manchester - Cardiff ATW service (there are even stories on here about 150s deputising for 175s when no 158s can do it.

However I don't know whether the Sprinters are scheduled for any regular duties

Because of WAG2 using a 175, there is currently a Holyhead-Chester-Cardiff train diagrammed for a 150, but I'm not sure which train it is - I think it is in the morning.

Northern use 142/150/156 on manchester - chester so it would be possible to do that maybe?

 

[tbtc]

Because of WAG2 using a 175, there is currently a Holyhead-Chester-Cardiff train diagrammed for a 150, but I'm not sure which train it is - I think it is in the morning

Oof, thats a long way on a 150!

Lucky almost nobody uses the service from end to end because that sounds like a nightmare on "commuter" stock!

Northern use 142/150/156 on manchester - chester so it would be possible to do that maybe?

Yeah, I think thats a great way to do it

 

[WillPS]

150 = Sprinter.
153/5/6 = Super Sprinter.
158/9 = Express Sprinter.

I won't miss em at all when they go. Unreliable with claustrophobic, uncomfortable driving positions and completely gutless.
I wasn't a fan of the 170's when we had them, they were even more underpowered but at least they were comfortable and bright from a Drivers point of view.

Weren't 159s branded "Network Turbos" or something?

 

[Kneedown]

Weren't 159s branded "Network Turbos" or something?

I thought that was 165's wasn't it?

 

[sprinterguy]

I thought that was 165's wasn't it?

Yeah, that was the title bestowed upon the 165s. I thought that the 159s were christened "Network Express", but it seems that that was the name the 166s were also identified by; though I think the 166s' full title was "Network Express Turbo", which some literature makes reference to.

 

[Kneedown]

I'm all for mass electrification, but there are some line (with under one service an hour) where its going to be a waste of money.

It's never a waste of money to electrify, it just takes longer to recoup the cost on the more infrequently used routes.
The McNulty report blasted local services as loss makers. Maybe if the bullet were to be bitten and they were to be wired up, then after a time they would become economic and indeed profitable. It costs a lot less to run and maintain leccy's than diesels.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Theres has been talk of derating the engines so their more fuel efficent on lower speed lines, rev limiters and changes to gearing ratios.

Sprinters are already underpowered as it is.
On EMT all the Sprinters have to run on higher speed lines as well as the lower one's, so any degradation in performance would impact the delay minutes. As it is i can't think of any service operated by EMT that has a linespeed of less than 70mph at some point along the route.

 

[142094]

It's never a waste of money to electrify, it just takes longer to recoup the cost on the more infrequently used routes.

The problem with electrification is when it is done on the cheap. No winner there.

 

[HSTEd]

Well the passengers on the ECML have won, they get nice electric hauled coaches instead of aging HST coaches with drop doors

 

[sprinterguy]

Well the passengers on the ECML have won, they get nice electric hauled coaches instead of aging HST coaches with drop doors

Which they can sit in while the train is motionless due to the wires falling down south of Peterborough again, expecting to reach their destination no less than an hour later than their expected arrival time, if they get there at all!

 

[ainsworth74]

Well the passengers on the ECML have won, they get nice electric hauled coaches instead of aging HST coaches with drop doors

Then what is this:

 

[WatcherZero]

Sprinters are already underpowered as it is.
On EMT all the Sprinters have to run on higher speed lines as well as the lower one's, so any degradation in performance would impact the delay minutes. As it is i can't think of any service operated by EMT that has a linespeed of less than 70mph at some point along the route.

Was refering to the Turbostars.

 

[Kneedown]

Was refering to the Turbostars.

Ooops....sorry!
Not sure about derating the engines but regearing with a 75mph top end might possibly inject some spirit into the turbos. Takes em ages to get to the ton anyway.

 

[fgwrich]

Yeah, that was the title bestowed upon the 165s. I thought that the 159s were christened "Network Express", but it seems that that was the name the 166s were also identified by; though I think the 166s' full title was "Network Express Turbo", which some literature makes reference to.

Fairly sure that's what they were christend - even just about remember that line or something simular poping up on the earlier PA Screens in Basingstoke - this being during and after NSE/Thames Trains and just edging into FGW Link!

 

[HSTEd]

Which they can sit in while the train is motionless due to the wires falling down south of Peterborough again, expecting to reach their destination no less than an hour later than their expected arrival time, if they get there at all!

Are you seriously suggesting that the people on the ECML would be better off if they still had HSTs/222s to the 91s?
I dont recall being delayed by wires down on the ECML south of Newcastle any time recently but then again I only ever do Grantham-Leeds or Grantham-KGX.

In addition I have realised its been a while since I took a HST on the East Coast Main Line......

EDIT:

HST Mark 3s are drafty and noisy compared to the Mark 4s we have on the electric services and I dont think the ride is as good.
Similar 125mph DMUs suffer from horrible vibration issues.
But thats just my opinion

 

[sprinterguy]

Are you seriously suggesting that the people on the ECML would be better off if they still had HSTs/222s to the 91s?

No, just that the ECML is a poor example to point out where there are "winners" from a electrification project done on the cheap. It's great when it works, but judging by fairly regular reports on this forum it doesn't work all too often.

 

[Schnellzug]

This is getting to be nothing to do with Sprinters, but I'll just ask, rhetorically: the ECML passengers who've been deklayed by another nice new Class 91 failure would concur with that view?