towerman
My status is now now widower
Posts: 2,970
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Post by towerman on Oct 9, 2015 14:53:24 GMT
Not sure if this belongs here.Now that the MML electrification is back on,at least to Kettering & Corby,will this mean that Thameslink services will be extended from Bedford to Kettering/Corby?Before the original Bedpan electrification suburban DMUs ran as far as Kettering.
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Post by melikepie on Oct 9, 2015 16:21:26 GMT
AFAIK the Corby service was already confirmed with the GWML electrification, regardless of whether the MML electrification was continuing north of Kettering or not to Leicester and beyond.
Whilst I'm here, wouldn't it make sense to extend the other Thameslink services at least to Leicester when that happens?
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Post by norbitonflyer on Oct 9, 2015 16:38:56 GMT
Class 127s may have got beyond Bedford on occasion, (just as 115s got to Rugby on the GC line in its last days) but surely not on a regular basis
Suburban dmus, usually a single unit from the allocation for the Marston Vale line, did run the short-lived Kettering-Corby shuttle, but that only ran from 1987 to 1990, several years after the diesels on the Bed-Pan line had been replaced by 317s. (I don't know whether they ran in service between Bedford and Kettering to get to and from the depot at Bletchly). I do recall a suggestion that the multiple working capabilities of the class 210 prototype with 317s would allow mixed working of St Pancras-Corby services but the 210s never got beyond the prototype stage and we ended up with cheaper Pacers and 150s instead. (although two ex-class 210 cars are still in use on SWT, replacing unserviceable class 455 cars - one of the replaced cars had a concrete mixer dropped on it!)
I'm not convinced that Corbyites would appreciate replacement of the nice comfy Meridians with standee Thameslink class 700s. Corby is 80 miles from St Pancras - compare Cambridge (58) and Brighton (51), all of which will have faster alternatives to the Thameslink stoppers.
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Post by domh245 on Oct 9, 2015 16:51:28 GMT
When MML electrification was paused, it was all of it. Corby isn't part of the GWML so there is no reason why it would have remained unpaused during the review. If anything, the GWML was partly responsible for the pausing, as it was the massive delays to that project that forced a rethink and reallocation of resources. It is difficult to keep track of who's electrifying what, particularly with Balfour Beaty pulling out of NW electrification (but completing design work for the current phase) and personnel from the MML transferring to the GWML. Lots of shuffling going on. Thameslink won't be running services to Corby, there simply won't be enough 700s for it to happen, and as norbitonflyer points out, it would be political suicide to force Corbyites to use the 700s. As it is, people from Brighton and Bedford and moaning about it, so God knows what would happen at Corby! It is widely expected that EM Trains will continue to run the Corby Service, but with new EMUs, potentially Siemens Verves, or a more regionally specced Bombardier Aventra. There is also talk of changing the stopping patterns of EMT services south of Bedford. |
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Post by melikepie on Oct 10, 2015 8:02:38 GMT
There are proposals to reintroduce EMT trains stopping at St Albans
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Post by roboverground on Oct 18, 2015 15:45:11 GMT
It is widely rumoured that Bedford Cauldwell depot will be the base for the initial electric units when electrification through to Kettering & Corby takes place. Made redundant by the introduction of fixed set class 700 fleet (cauldwell can only accommodate 4 cars for maintenance) use of 110 mph class 387 has been mooted.
I've also been told that that class 210 DEMU had a 'lower pantograph' button on its cab desk for use when coupled to class 317 ( & other tighlock fitted compatible coupler stock) !
Introduced 1982, two prototype units were constructed , a 4 car (210 001 @ £1.3million)and a 3 car (210 002 @£965,000)
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towerman
My status is now now widower
Posts: 2,970
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Post by towerman on Oct 23, 2015 11:33:35 GMT
Can't see them building a new stock just for a service that runs half hourly & only needs 3 or 4 trains,more likely they'll get someone elses cast offs,319s or 321s?
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Post by norbitonflyer on Oct 23, 2015 12:16:17 GMT
Can't see them building a new stock just for a service that runs half hourly & only needs 3 or 4 trains,more likely they'll get someone elses cast offs,319s or 321s? Or possibly an add-on to someone else's order, like the 155s and 321s built for West Yorkshire in penny numbers, and of course Network South East's 1992 stock built for the Drain. I've also been told that that class 210 DEMU had a 'lower pantograph' button on its cab desk for use when coupled to class 317) Two class 210 cars have found new uses in emus. A trailer and a driving trailer - the latter heavily rebuilt - as centre cars in class 455s. One of them replaced the vehicle that had several tons of concrete dropped on it (still inside the mixer lorry), the other replaced a car which had been used for an experiment and was too expensive to convert back to standard. |
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