XC Voyager Refurbishment

[occone]

The engines are reliable enough not to destruct themselves but they sure do shake and rattle the squishy paying cargo a lot. Some work to make Voyagers pleasant and quiet would have been nice.

 

[ValentaFan1974]

I thought the point with Voyagers was that they'd been deliberately tweaked to reduce the number of engines in use when the power wasn't required. There's plenty of 800s running about the place with a broken engines, but that's a different issue.

What you’re referring to is IESS (Intelligent Engine Stop Start) which shuts engines off when determined by the onboard system that the terrain can sustain fewer engines.

However on pretty much every train I’ve worked on, the engine gets started up again by the driver the second it shuts off, making it pointless.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 26 Feb 2026 ==

Set is apparently off to Central Rivers for repairs tonight… good start

 

[cakefiend]

Set is apparently off to Central Rivers for repairs tonight… good start

Damn, so not out tomorrow?

 

[Russel]

The engines and traction packages are pretty reliable in my opinion... I sign and drive Voyagers.

Any engine in any fleet is going to fail sometimes. But I've never had one catastrophically fail on me.

Perhaps the problem is getting the units back to Central Rivers to have them swapped out.

I've used Voyagers regular since they were introduced in the early 2000s and I can't actually think of a time one has failed on me, the few times I have been on one that's had issues, a quick restart seems to fix them!

For all of their issues, reliability certainly isn't one of them.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Damn, so not out tomorrow?

Allocations are already up and it doesn't appear so.

 

[Russel]

Set is apparently off to Central Rivers for repairs tonight… good start

It didn't move for 6 months so it's going to have teething issues when it's put back into service.

 

[Phillipimo]

It didn't move for 6 months so it's going to have teething issues when it's put back into service.

I don't think there are any issues, it's just finally ended up on a diagram that ends at Central Rivers depot, where it was supposed to end up after the first day in service. Disruption meant it was displaced and ended up going all over the country for a few days. All things considered I think XC will be very pleased with how it's performed.

 

[M60lad]

If I'm right it was on a diagram 1E73 18:27 Exeter St David's-Leeds last night along with 221130 which was split at Derby with 221130 carrying on Solo to Leeds and 220030 finishing at Derby then running ECS to Central Rivers.

 

[ValentaFan1974]

There were some big issues apparently that needed fixing, one of those specifically in one of the cabs.

 

[takno]

If I'm right it was on a diagram 1E73 18:27 Exeter St David's-Leeds last night along with 221130 which was split at Derby with 221130 carrying on Solo to Leeds and 220030 finishing at Derby then running ECS to Central Rivers.

This is the last two allocations for yesterday for 220033, so looks right to me

C75320 1E73	18:27 Exeter St Davids - Leeds 18:27 Exeter St Davids - 20:55 Birmingham New Street165 miles, position 2 reversed 21:03 Birmingham New Street - 21:47½ Derby43 miles, position 2 reversed
C75058 5D73	22:07 Derby - Barton Under Needwood Rsmd 22:07 Derby - 22:22½ Wichnor Jn Signal Dy7817 miles 22:27 Wichnor Jn Signal Dy78 - 22:35 Barton Under Needwood Rsmd1 miles reversed

 

[Russel]

I don't think there are any issues, it's just finally ended up on a diagram that ends at Central Rivers depot, where it was supposed to end up after the first day in service. Disruption meant it was displaced and ended up going all over the country for a few days. All things considered I think XC will be very pleased with how it's performed.

There were some big issues apparently that needed fixing, one of those specifically in one of the cabs.

One of you will be right!

 

[Railperf]

The engines and traction packages are pretty reliable in my opinion... I sign and drive Voyagers.

Any engine in any fleet is going to fail sometimes. But I've never had one catastrophically fail on me.

Perhaps the problem is getting the units back to Central Rivers to have them swapped out.

What seems to cause the majority of failures? Are there any engine failures that you can reset route?

 

[rower40]

I would have thought a good number of the passengers onboard are enthusiasts/rail staff so we should get an idea by the end of the diagram.

I was on board on Tuesday from Derby to York (on 1E44 - 1500 from Derby). At least half of the passengers in First Class had "XCountry" lanyards on, and were taking photos and surveys.

 

[Phillipimo]

One of you will be right!

I should have said that there aren't necessarily issues, of course I have no insider information.

 

[sabanda]

There were some big issues apparently that needed fixing, one of those specifically in one of the cabs.

Anything to do with the issues between Reading and Oxford on Wednesday’s 1E36?

 

[357]

What seems to cause the majority of failures? Are there any engine failures that you can reset route?

The vast majority of voyager issues alert the crew before they become a failure. I've only had a couple of times where an engine has shut down on me, and they normally restart again.

I think the better question up thread rather than "how many engines are out" would be "what is the average length of time an engine is isolated" - because from what I know Central Rivers is the only location that can change them.

 

[ValentaFan1974]

Anything to do with the issues between Reading and Oxford on Wednesday’s 1E36?

No idea. Most of the issues could be resolved at a later point but the issue in the cab is probably what halted it working any more. Apparently affected cab was buried in a double set up to now so not an issue.

Potentially out on 1V48/1S51 tomorrow if issues resolved successfully.

 

[GhostManDN91]

Slightly off topic as it's been a long time since my last Voyager ride. Am I right in thinking that the Class 221s have slower acceleration compared to the 220s because of the tilt equipment underneath?

 

[Ash Bridge]

Slightly off topic as it's been a long time since my last Voyager ride. Am I right in thinking that the Class 221s have slower acceleration compared to the 220s because of the tilt equipment underneath?

I understood that too probably down to the fact that they are heavier anyway, like you say the tilt system and also rather more substantial bogies on the 221 variants.

 

[ValentaFan1974]

Tilt equipment was physically removed so I gather…

 

[CR165022]

Wasn't it just disabled instead of removed?

 

[357]

Wasn't it just disabled instead of removed?

Various components that used to move were replaced with a solid metal bar to reduce maintenance.

 

[dk1]

I was on board on Tuesday from Derby to York (on 1E44 - 1500 from Derby). At least half of the passengers in First Class had "XCountry" lanyards on, and were taking photos and surveys.

That doesn’t surprise me. It’s been a long time coming.

 

[CR165022]

Not sure if this has been mentioned before, and I know it's a long shot, but would it be viable for the spare 222 coaches that are being taken out of the Lumo ones, to go into some of the 220s?

 

[GoneSouth]

What? Lumo are taking trains and removing centre cars? That’s ridiculous if so. Why didn’t they just take 5 car trains when available?

 

[pokemonsuper9]

What? Lumo are taking trains and removing centre cars? That’s ridiculous if so. Why didn’t they just take 5 car trains when available?

Because they want 5 6 carraige trains.
So they're having the 4 7 cars and 1 5 car which they can re-form.

 

[GoneSouth]

Because they want 5 6 carraige trains.
So they're having the 4 7 cars and 1 5 car which they can re-form.

Ah ok thanks. That doesn’t sound sensible as it leaves 3 wasted coaches. Do they just sit and rot somewhere whilst the network is short of diesel units?

 

[cakefiend]

Based on RTT, 220033 still at Central Rivers tomorrow.

 

[ValentaFan1974]

Indeed. It was due to work 1V48/1S51 tomorrow - this honour now falls to 220008 and 220009.

 

[Railperf]

Slightly off topic as it's been a long time since my last Voyager ride. Am I right in thinking that the Class 221s have slower acceleration compared to the 220s because of the tilt equipment underneath?

A 221 was slightly slower than a 220, but not to any degree that timetable planners would need to allow longer journey tinmes for the 221's.

In any case it seems to be that sets with all engines runnng can perform slightly differently due to one or more engines - and / or the associated traction system unable to unleash all the horses.