TPE News

[ArrivaTrains]

1) The grapevine has been telling us, on good authority, that 20 of the 185's are going to have a 4th coach added

The 4th car WILL have an engine, plus a toilet, and extra luggage space, and an estimate of 50 - 55 seats

The entry into service is not known currently, and is subject to a few final approvals from the DFT but is hoped to have them done for the start of the December timetable.

This will give us 20 x 4car and 31 x 3 car sets.


2) We have only 2 class 158s left! They are 158772 / 158774.

They should be gone by June at the latest.

Anyway, when I get more info on the above ill let you know.

[BR7MT]

A fourth vehicle with an engine? Thats a lot of extra diesel

Regards,

Dan

[AlistairW]

Good that they'll get an extra carriage though, I assume they will go on routes that never used to see 2 x 3 car 158's such as Cleethorpes - Manchester Airport.

[carlwestwood]

wooohooo!! even more power...

[spartacus]

There's something about that in the latest Rail. Not sure if it'd be more useful to have another 7 units rather than extend some of the current ones or not; idealy both! It will relieve pressure on those routes stuck with 3 car units due to less than 6 car platforms on them, but might give some people diagramming headaches!

I'm not going to be able to get to sleep at night with those pulling out of Dewsbury!

[johncard]

I'm not going to be able to get to sleep at night with those pulling out of Dewsbury!

Ahh, someone else has noticed. Either they forgot to fit silencers, they were made of chocolate, or the engines were very loosely bolted to the underframe lol.

John.

[spartacus]

Can't complain too much; it's the closest thing to thrash you'll get from a unit!

[arabiandisco]

Those things do not need another powered vehicle. They're already outrageous.

Extra vehicles, yes, but not extra power.

[MoonKid47]

IMHO, those 4-car units will do great for the rush hour traffic. But TPE should seriously think about adding a 3rd carriage to their 170 units too. From what I seen today 170304 was full at Huddersfield with loads of people standing. Its still has SWT interior too.

Still gotta get me on one of those new-ish TPE Turbostars...

[spartacus]

I think when they get all their deliveries of 170s TPE are going to try and keep them paired most of the time.

I think the 185's 4th vehicle will need to be powered to keep within timings, epecially over the Pennines and up the West Coast, as the new timetables have been based upon their superior excelleration. A centre vehicle weighs in at 53 tonnes, 8 tonnes more than a voyager, so even without the engine it would be alot to haul about.

[AlistairW]

How on earth did they make it weigh an extra 8 tonnes. What on earth did they put onboard to make it so heavy? Is there an elephant underneath?

A centre coach without any engine wouldn't be so heavy mind!

[spartacus]

A surprisingly large amount of metal for a start!

[arabiandisco]

Here's some locomotive weights (just for comparison...)

Class 25: 72 tons (76 for later models)
Class 33: 77 tons (78 for 33/1)
HST Power Car: 70 Tons
Class 66: 126 tons

and a 444 (the closest relative to the 185 there is) weighs 227 tons for a 5 car set, which is an average of 45 tons per vehicle. I would guess that the trailer vehicles are 40-42 tons and the motor vehicles are more like 48 tons.

At 53 tons, each 185 vehicle is 20 tons heavier than a mark 3.

[Whitemoor]

, so even without the engine it would be alot to haul about.

Iv seen CT 3ar 170s running about with the center car dead, and they have been realy struggeling to get decent speed up, so it would be best if TPX were to make a center car a power unit.

[model321]

So where have all of the TPE 3 car 158 units gone to then?

Matt C