voyager modifications

[455driver]

So people are saying that a high geared HST power car with only 2250hp can pulling 8 heavy, air conditioned coaches and a dead power car at over 100mph! really.

 

[anonymous0101]

So people are saying that a high geared HST power car with only 2250hp can pulling 8 heavy, air conditioned coaches and a dead power car at over 100mph! really.

Yes i'm quite sure an HST with one dead power car has a level balancing speed of around 100 mph. I'm sure someone told me notch 2 on two power cars will hold around 95.


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IIRC on level track a 9 car HST balances at around 115mph

I think an HST with two good power cars will exceed 125 on the level even with 9 coaches. Acceleration and speeds on the climbs will of course suffer. 10 minutes seems to be the time taken for a 2+8 set to reach 125, with 100 in 4 minutes, unheard of acceleration when they were introduced.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

If they really push them they can get them up to 125 quicker than that, but I think it requires deliberate modifications for testing purposes and so could probably not be done in normal service.

 

[anonymous0101]

If they really push them they can get them up to 125 quicker than that, but I think it requires deliberate modifications for testing purposes and so could probably not be done in normal service.

Yes shortening the units to 2+5 is one such modification.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

They can do something ( not sure what ) to the tuning as well plus isolating the governors in both power cars means they can do time trials at over 125mph ( similar to the 10% overspeed testing applied to anything new before it is accepted for service ).

Sadly, unlike 25 years ago, they are no longer going to do any such runs with passengers on board, but in the old days... *sigh*



( Yes - I was fortunate enough, along with a friend, to quite by chance find myself on one such run once; mid 1980s. )

 

[devon_metro]

So people are saying that a high geared HST power car with only 2250hp can pulling 8 heavy, air conditioned coaches and a dead power car at over 100mph! really.

It has been known on a GW set to reach 100 between Reading and Swindon with 1+8 + dead powercar.

 

[RobShipway]

If you take the limiter off the Class 43, you would be able to do more than the 125mph as when they were developed the test version of these trains reached 143mph if my memory serves me correct.

However, with the new engines I believe that the HST's could be changed to run at 150 - 180mph but I am not sure if the running gear on the MK3 carriages could cope with that kind of speed.

 

[MCR247]

If you take the limiter off the Class 43, you would be able to do more than the 125mph as when they were developed the test version of these trains reached 143mph if my memory serves me correct.

However, with the new engines I believe that the HST's could be changed to run at 150 - 180mph but I am not sure if the running gear on the MK3 carriages could cope with that kind of speed.

But would it be worth it? For the price that you'd pay for
-Upgrading Mk3 to have power doors etc or buying new coaches
-New engine
-Work that would be done to loco

All to still have to replace it within the next 20 years

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Robbies... the run I was talking about that I was fortunate enough to experience was indeed a 140mph run ( calculated from the mileposts over at least 20 miles - no GPS in those days! ).

Prior to departure I did notice a couple of fitters around, so when the train was 5 minutes late departing and had a fairly slow start I was starting to worry there might be a fault on it because I was accompanying a friend who had a tight connection to make.

We need not have worried; after about a mile we started to pick up speed at a much higher rate than normal and it became obvious from the ride - which I must make clear was in no way alarming; it felt as good as ever for a Mk3 - that we were going faster than normal; another clue was a couple of stations coming past sooner than I would have expected considering I was doing that route regularly.

So that's when we started to time the mileposts.

We held the speed more or less constantly for virtually the entire journey, and despite the slow start and then a slow final couple of miles ( because we were running cautions ) we still averaged almost 120mph for the journey; it was 36 miles and we did it start to stop in 19 minutes...!!!

Absolutely amazing, and at the time it felt very surreal - I just wish I could experience that again on the same route. Somehow doing that sort of speed now on a 395, fun as it is, just isn't quite the same...

 

[devon_metro]

If you take the limiter off the Class 43, you would be able to do more than the 125mph as when they were developed the test version of these trains reached 143mph if my memory serves me correct.

However, with the new engines I believe that the HST's could be changed to run at 150 - 180mph but I am not sure if the running gear on the MK3 carriages could cope with that kind of speed.

More a problem of the alternator not being able to handle the additional amps.