Sat on a pair of 153’s from Shrewsbury to Llandudno Junction and the seat alignment to the windows is far superior, you can at least open a window.
I did!
That's classic! It was on station screens too.
It was a vast improvement over any existing stock, it will take time for people to come to like them though.
Or the 67 running out of fuel the other day a 'liquid hydrocarbon deficit'?
I feel a railway euphemism thread peeping over the horizon...
Would you say its an improvement on a 175 or just the Sprinters?
Yes. Even though ive not been on a 197 yet id be amazed if i preferred a 150 to a 197. Whether or not I prefer them to a 175 remains to be seen.
Both. Won't go into detail here as OT however you can view my trip report in said section
.They are due to be replaced. I think it looks worse than it is. Its believed to have been started by a Hydraulic Fault. Lick of paint, replace a few parts (actually maybe do that bit first), a few safety checks and send it back out on the main!
Wow. That is unbelievable...Transport for Wales Rail actually running 4 coach trains!
I am aware of that, but TfW are short of stock as is so its not good that they've lost another unit for a good while.
Presumably dragged by another 175?
From what I've heard, the electrics are so knackered on 008 that they can't decouple 009. I don't know whether if they could decouple 009 then they could get it out of the siding as I expect its at the buffer end (presuming it's not a through siding)
If I remember correctly 101 was quoted as OOS but I saw it today so maybe that's back.
Hopefully its back. i had a quick look at RTT earlier and there seemed to be more 175s today than there have been recently on the Manchester's today, still a couple of 150 or 153 substitutions. But hopefully 175 availability has improved.
If you use the number search feature on RTT it shows that 175101 has been working the
I would have thought there would be a means of decoupling manually?
I honestly don't know, that's just what I was told. Maybe the fitters will have to force them apart, or at least use 009 to drag 008 to Chester or Longsight first to get them uncoupled.
Yep. I think they lost 1 or 2 150's after that collision near Craven Arms? Plus the maintenance depot at Mach is (I think) officially the worst in the country...although the Rail Replacement Bus between Shrewsbury and Mach is quite nice. A 1 1/2 hour wait at Shrew for extra buses after people pushed in front and filled up both buses is less fun.
To be fair a rusty barrow with a buckled wheel would be an improvement on either of those.
Thats true. Ive read a lot of mixed reviews re the 197s but they should definitely be an improvement on all Sprinters.
Yes 008 was moved back in the early hours the other morning - not sure which day. 5mph all the way I believe with 008 sandwiched between 009 and another fleet mate. I believe they had staff in both middle cabs incase the unit separated as the uncouple button had previously been pressed but didn't work.
I have had a couple of short rides recently on Class 197, and find them quite good trains. However with only 42 seats (plus some tip-up seats), I think that there is a lot of wasted space in one of the coaches.
