Pretendolino - what a crock of ...

[hitch840]

Yup can't beat mk1's and 2's you know pendos are made by a complany owned by Fait who make imo awful cars.
I've nver known atrain to rattle so much yet send a mk3 down the WCML at 125 and it's smooth

Apart from the 'Fiat' spelling i totally agree!

[RobertM]

I find it hard to believe that Virgin have this .... this thing in their fleet - so far removed from EVEN the quality of GWML HST stock (and that isn't good) I was genuinely shocked after having done 5 years with the Pendolinos (and Voyagers to a lesser extent)

Sorry but I am going to have to comment about that statement, seeing as no one has mention the reason why they have this 'thing' is because one of there Pendolinos was badly damaged at Grayrigg a few years ago, so this train was brought in to replace it, so be thankful there for that you had a train at all

[wolly1380]

Sorry but I am going to have to comment about that statement, seeing as no one has mention the reason why they have this 'thing' is because one of there Pendolinos was badly damaged at Grayrigg a few years ago, so this train was brought in to replace it, so be thankful there for that you had a train at all

Are we talking about the samething here the train were talking about is the pretendolinos witch as you know consisits of Mk3's a mk3 dvt and class 90 We love them and they have turned up mostly because some of the class 390 fleet is out of action for what wever reson.

The "thing" for me is it's not british it removes the need for locomotive huled trains and being 6ft2" thay are not comfatuble at all and at the price virgin chgarge it's just an insult to travel on them pluss cos the built to be light they sound awful over points and never seem to travel in any directioin with out being shuddered down the track, I mean the Liverpool branch off the WCML has not long been retracked and on a class 350 it's nice but on a pendo they just shudder if you look round you might see the odd passanger looking up with a look on there face that says should it be doing that, they also stink if your in the toilet coach, it's a dark art in getting the doors to open, and well I don't like fiat<correct spelling cars cos of there build quality and there trains seem to be the same since a class 57 drag can send a set back to the depot were as a class 90 will pull push and be pulled all day long, they also seemed to miss out what happens if they fail Oow let's fit Dellner couplers at a cost of...

Simply IMO they have cost more than there worth.

[ShockoftheLightning]

Hello,

The Pendolino was designed with safety more important that comfort. Small windows reducing risk of fatalities in a crash...Grayrigg one killed, 95mph derailment? Would of been a much higher death toll in MK3 coaches. I don't know what people are on about. Other members of my family always comment on the smoothness of the pendo's. People have been saying that rattle a lot which is not true. They are faster - sure they have there downsides - but just over 2 hours Liverpool to London? Yes please!

[wolly1380]

They have smaller windows because there upper frame is alluminum to make the unit lughter for qwicker accenaration I gess when you a 31 year old tain nerd like my self change comes hard
I am off to london soon and 2 hrs is great less time on the horrid things were as if it was a class 86 /87 or 90 on Mk3 stock I'd be down the back all the way

Oh welcome to the forums by the way

[AndyUK]

...Grayrigg one killed, 95mph derailment? Would of been a much higher death toll in MK3 coaches...

That's an unsupportable statement. In the 1986 Colwich collision when a train collided with another at 95 -100 mph there were no passenger fatalities and apart from the catering vehicles the rest of the passenger carrying vehicles were Mk2 & Mk3. The report is here for anyone interested: http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docume ... ch1988.pdf

Andy L

[ShockoftheLightning]

Oh welcome to the forums by the way

Thanks Matey

That's an unsupportable statement. In the 1986 Colwich collision when a train collided with another at 95 -100 mph there were no passenger fatalities and apart from the catering vehicles the rest of the passenger carrying vehicles were Mk2 & Mk3. The report is here for anyone interested: http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docume ... ch1988.pdf

Andy L

That may be , but can't compare a collision between two consists , to a train rolling down an embankment...and you can see the most of the coaches of in the Colwich derailment have structural failed.

[wolly1380]

Your correct you can't compare the two accidents there are so many factors when it comes to these sort of accidents none of the would have the same out come even tho the pendoleno is built with safty in mind unfortunately when it comes to preventing fatalitys unfortunately they can only do that after such.
Let's hope we never see such accidents again.

[Astrovana]

From someone who used to regularly travel on both mk3/mk4 stock and the pendolino I can safely say that the mk3 is the most comfortable out of the lot. Even EMT's elderly stock, which is starting to show it's age is a joy to travel on. I can get up and go and get a breath of fresh air. There's a whole dining car and as someone who suffers from very powerful claustrophobia, it is a non restrictive experience. The mark 4s are very smooth and offer most of the nice features of the mk3, except they feel that little bit more enclosed, thanks to plug doors. Still, very comfortable. The pendolinos are a pain. Very fast I must hasten to add, and virgin trains' staff couldn't have been more friendly, but I barely had enough room for my luggage and the whole thing was not smooth. Very enclosed and very uncomfortable and that was first class. I also felt quite sick as the train tilted, but this was alleviated by moving into a position where I could see the rest of the train. I don't get motion sickness either. Out of choice, I take the HST to Leeds any day of the week. Usually I end up on a mark 4 set, which is tolerable. Occassionally I have to travel to Manchester, and that's not fun. Lots of free alcohol helps. Yay for virgin trains' service.

So to contribute to the thread, the mark 3s working this service should be fine to travel on. At least there's a fairly decent train and it's not two adelantes shoved together!

[Kromaatikse]

I would like to point out that a badly-maintained Mk3 can also be very uncomfortable. I happened to ride on one a couple of days ago as I briefly visited the UK, and I ended up on an East Coast one that clearly had wheel-flats (I thought these things had slide prevention equipment, clearly that was not working on that set). The result was almost as much vibration as on a Voyager at 125mph, and there was a resonant mode at about 90mph which actually caused the seats to vibrate back and forth visibly - the tray tables started to fall down and the seat-back in front of me started to whack my laptop screen.

At some time in the past I have also ridden on a late Mk2 or Mk3 (didn't know how to distinguish them at the time) which had clearly been rushed from the bottom of the barrel, when flooding had temporarily severed the WCML near Preston and most stock was stuck on the south side of the break. Judging by the strong burning smell permeating one end of the carriage I boarded, it must have had dragging brakes. But credit has to be given, it did get me home, late in the evening during severe weather, without catching fire on the way.

I am reasonably confident however that a well-maintained Mk3 is an experience to relish.

[wolly1380]

I would like to point out that a badly-maintained Mk3 can also be very uncomfortable. I happened to ride on one a couple of days ago as I briefly visited the UK, and I ended up on an East Coast one that clearly had wheel-flats (I thought these things had slide prevention equipment, clearly that was not working on that set). The result was almost as much vibration as on a Voyager at 125mph, and there was a resonant mode at about 90mph which actually caused the seats to vibrate back and forth visibly - the tray tables started to fall down and the seat-back in front of me started to whack my laptop screen.

At some time in the past I have also ridden on a late Mk2 or Mk3 (didn't know how to distinguish them at the time) which had clearly been rushed from the bottom of the barrel, when flooding had temporarily severed the WCML near Preston and most stock was stuck on the south side of the break. Judging by the strong burning smell permeating one end of the carriage I boarded, it must have had dragging brakes. But credit has to be given, it did get me home, late in the evening during severe weather, without catching fire on the way.

I am reasonably confident however that a well-maintained Mk3 is an experience to relish.

Point taken but you are talking a bout 30 even 40 year old stock yet the pendos and voyagers are barly 10 years old...