Today's Railways 153 article

[387star]

Hi a bit confused about some of this article.

'Major refurbishment of the Anglia units took place in 1996' including new chapman seating and Anglia's 'green and mustard [house colours]' ?

However Chris Booth then states the privatisation of Anglia took place in 1997 and further refurbishment took place with new seats... which seats are these?

Did Regional Railways employ a separate Anglia livery/identity? And what is provincial?

Also 153323/334/383/302/308/355/374 are cited as having ex 158 seats installed. Surely there were more than this?! I thought almost all Wessex unit and ATW 153s had these seats installed other than Central etc hand me downs. Looking at my pocket book the units cited with the ex 158 seats are now in use with London Midland which fazes me!

And surely 153312/353 wern't the only units to gain the orange heart of wales livery? Do these units have chapman seats?

Finally I never knew 153s gained Northern Spirit livery- any pics?

What are definitions for track circuit actuators/EP brake units/2-pack paint?
Thanks

 

[Z12XE]

I dont remember the 1996 refurb, but the Anglia 153s refurb was Mid 1997 onwards, this included the grey seat covering with yellow and blue dots, and the additional bike spaces - it was during this time they were unable to release a 153 to Great Eastern every day, resulting in a mix of 121s and Chambers Buses covering the Sudbury Branch.

Anglia Railways then attempted another refurb in 2003, but only managed three units. One Railway completed the rest (with the blue livery on 306 and 314 in place of the Anglia Green) in 2006.

 

[Aictos]

Did Regional Railways employ a separate Anglia livery/identity? And what is provincial?

Thanks

No idea however I do know that before sectorisation ie NSE, InterCity, Regional Railways, Railfreight Distribution etc...that the Regional Railways sector was previously known as the Provincial sector and that the Network South East sector was known as London and South East sector.

 

[Failed Unit]

A lot of units started refurbishment under BR's businesses before they were sold off. I can't comment about the Anglia ones but certainly BR had authorised the Regonal Railways Central 153's and 156's t be done (which is why the 156's ended up with 158 style livery). Likewise Regional Railways North West's 156's were done under BR (with the green stripe). It is very possible that a regional railways Anglia existed before privatisation. Definately possible the units were refurbished under BR considering other regional railways units were done pre-privatisation.

 

[sprinterguy]

No 153s received Northern Spirit livery, they remained in Regional Railways livery throughout the NS franchise, and all were then repainted into Arriva Trains Northern turquoise when the franchise passed to Arriva.

Sounds like there's a discrepancy in the reporting of the Anglia refurb: They were refurbed in 1997, and weren't repainted into Anglia cream and green livery until later, post 2000. As said above though, the refurb may have been begun under Regional Railways ownership.

There are definitely more than those few 153s with 158 seats fitted to them: All Wales and West (later FGW and ATW) 153s were fitted with seats removed from their 158s. Some have since been reseated, but many still retain the seats from the 158s.

All London Midland 153s are from the Central Trains franchise, and were I think refurbed with Chapman seating in around 2000. They may have been refurbished since but I'm not sure, but they definitely have Chapman seats now.

153303/12/20/21/27/62 were painted in Heart of Wales orange livery, and other 153s were painted in Devon and Cornwall black and gold livery.

Provincial was the BR sector tasked with the operation of branch and secondary lines at sectorisation in 1984, and was later renamed "Regional Railways" in around 1989.

 

[driver9000]

Provincial was the name given to local services outside London prior to Regional Railways.

A Track circuit actuator (TCA) is a device mounted under the leading bogie of modern multiple units to help them occupy the track circuits. When they were introduced they weren't fitted and the light weight of the trains meant they could disappear from signalbox diagrams. On Pacer and Sprinter units you can see the blue proving light in the vestibule at the driving end on the bulkhead.

EP brakes is the braking system fitted to the 153. The system employed is of the Westcode type and is an Electro-Pneumatic system where an electrical signal controls the supply of air to the brake cylinders (no brake pipe is used). In the case of Westcode it is controlled by 3 train wires energised and de-energised in a coded sequence relative to the drivers brake handle position (ie release is all wires energised and full service/emergency is all wires de-energised)

 

[37402]

153320/323/367 formerly had old style 158 seats but not any longer. Now have the next generation (ex-158 Chapmans).

None of the LM units had old style 158 seats as they were ex-Central which all had Chapmans.

 

[387star]

Thanks

The 153s it wrongly mentions as having 158 seats is 153334...
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
sorry what is a track circuit? Are these connected to axle counters? I know little about the infrastructure/mechanical side of things but am keen to learn more!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
just looked at wiki apparently counters are used in lieu of track circuits... I know the WCML has them... I wonder why they arn't called wheel counters as the wheels make contact with the rail not the axle or is it because they are collectively wheelsets (wiki) or is this a dumb question?

 

[DavidBusDriver]

Track Circuits are a small (12v?) current that is fed into a section of one running rail that is electrically isolated from adjacent sections (i.e. the length of rail energised by one circuit is equivalent to the signal section it is in - roughly, bit more complicated with overlaps etc...). When the section is empty, the current basically returns out of the same running rail, and reports to the signaller that the section is unoccupied and that the circuit is OK.

When a train enters the section, the wheel/axle conducts the current across to the other running rail, thus shorting the circuit out which is then reported to the signaller to say that the section is occupied - this method also has the benefit that if the current is lost, or that something other than a train obstructs the line and breaks the circuit, it fails 'safe' and reverts the signal to danger behind it.

Thats about the best I can explain it think my rules instructor would kill me for a probably crap explanation though lol!!!

 

[O L Leigh]

Cl150 and Cl153 units allocated to Anglia immediately prior to privatisation did use a slightly different livery to the standard Regional Railways identity, though you had to look hard to see it. The pale blue bodyside stripe extended the full length of the units and did not finish with the daft "mini-stripes" joining section below the cab window, and nor did they carry the Regional Railways branding. Click for Anglia operated 153322 and compare it against standard RR 153363 (click).

I don't know about the interiors as I never travelled on them much and paid very little attention to what the seats were like. However, I do believe that the seating was updated before the units started getting the Anglia green/white livery.

O L Leigh

 

[Z12XE]

However, I do believe that the seating was updated before the units started getting the Anglia green/white livery.

Thats right - they had the seats like in the 321s, these were replaced in the late 90s, and the repaints wern't until the early 2000s

 

[WillPS]

Regional Railways Central and Regional Railways Anglia refurbed their 153s before privatisation - each with pretty much the same scheme except blue dots on the moquette for Central and yellow dots on the moquette for Anglia. Both had Chapman seating.

 

[387star]

Thanks for all the information!

What seating do the Anglis 153s have now?

It will be great if the new franchise can forge a new identity for east anglia as currently it looks a right dogsa dinner presentation wise

 

[WillPS]

Chapman still. Silly idea of NXs to rebrand half way through a franchise, it's not the first time either (they did the same with Midland Mainline).

 

[krus_aragon]

just looked at wiki apparently counters are used in lieu of track circuits... I know the WCML has them... I wonder why they arn't called wheel counters as the wheels make contact with the rail not the axle or is it because they are collectively wheelsets (wiki) or is this a dumb question?

Each axle has two wheels, so counting wheels and axles is technically different.