i keep seeing these new units [class 350's aren't they?] out and
about near coventry, often in pairs.

so what are they like and what livery are they painted in as its
obivious that its not silverlink purple and green. do they compare
well to 321's in terms of passenger comfort?

t.

"Trevor"  wrote in message 
news:1124188551.953096.122440@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

>i keep seeing these new units [class 350's aren't they?] out and
> about near coventry, often in pairs.
>
> so what are they like and what livery are they painted in as its
> obivious that its not silverlink purple and green. do they compare
> well to 321's in terms of passenger comfort?
>
> t.

Excellent- basic but plenty of room- accelleration like a 'bat out of hell' 
If they are in pairs they are usually driver training and they aren't in any 
livery at the moment- they are shared with CT and Silverlink. There are no 
plans to livery any of them or logo them. Lots of pics here:- 
http://railfoto.fotopic.net/c22638.html  and I suggest you try one .. 
there's lots around in service now all the way to Euston and up to Preston 
( NOT the same unit though) and sample them for yourself...
Only one slight fault I noted is in very hot weather the Aircon works 
overtime and does a superb job, but makes the unit feel 'cold', as in when 
we have a hot spell of weather, the first downward few degrees always feels 
colder than it is. In 'normal weather' they feel fine, and warm in winter. 
There's no thermostat though, its all software controlled , and is a 
download at the depot in order to change it..

On 16-Aug-2005, "turbo"  wrote:


> Excellent- basic but plenty of room- accelleration like a 'bat out of
> hell'
> If they are in pairs they are usually driver training and they aren't
> in any
> livery at the moment- they are shared with CT and Silverlink


Are these approved for use between Runcorn and Liverpool yet?

Malcolm

> Are these approved for use between Runcorn and Liverpool yet?
>


Last I heard was no, but it would appear that they have been approved
for working Birmingham - Coventry local diagrams as one has been doing
so for the last couple of days. I'm not so sure this was what they were
bought for though.

It seems that Central have wasted no time in placing their (share
of)Desiro units straight into the common user pool that contains
everything else they operate.

Also, since the class 321s started appearing on the locals, notices
have been posted at all the stations reminding pax that they cannot
travel in first class without a first class ticket.

Now, why anyone would bother buying first class is beyond me when, in
the last fortnight alone, I have seen class 150, class 158 and class
323 but few class 321s operating.

Today seems to be a couple of 323s plus one Desiro so 1 in 3 chance of
a first class seat and 2 in 3 chance of 3 + 2 seating with the telly
not working.

Last Saturday, we had some class 150 sprinters shuttling between New St
and International (line closed for engineering onwards to Coventry), I
thought the wires must have been switched off but then a class 323
turned up.

itsonlyme@not-this.com wrote:

> On 16-Aug-2005, "turbo"  wrote:
>
> > Excellent- basic but plenty of room- accelleration like a 'bat out of
> > hell'
> > If they are in pairs they are usually driver training and they aren't
> > in any
> > livery at the moment- they are shared with CT and Silverlink
>
> Are these approved for use between Runcorn and Liverpool yet?
>
> Malcolm


I've saw a pair in some sidings at Ditton a couple of weeks ago, but
not seen any go through Mossley Hill yet.

On 16 Aug 2005 08:35:17 -0700, allan tracy wrote:


> 2 in 3 chance of 3 + 2 seating with the telly not working.


Could be worse. The telly might be working.

-- 
http://gallery120232.fotopic.net/p9632869.html
(33 101 at Eastleigh, 1985)

On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 11:21:49 GMT, "turbo" 
wrote:


>Excellent- basic but plenty of room- accelleration like a 'bat out of hell' 
>If they are in pairs they are usually driver training and they aren't in any 
>livery at the moment- they are shared with CT and Silverlink. There are no 
>plans to livery any of them or logo them. Lots of pics here:- 
>http://railfoto.fotopic.net/c22638.html  and I suggest you try one .. 
>there's lots around in service now all the way to Euston and up to Preston 
>( NOT the same unit though) and sample them for yourself...


So far there don't appear to have been any in service at all on
weekends, certainly not anywhere between BNS (well, Rugby due to the
drags) and Euston.  This is a pain, as it's the only chance I have for
a try.

Useful note: on the current timetable SS services are operating
through between Euston and Rugby on Saturdays, so the 2-minute
connection at Northampton is entirely achievable.  That this doesn't
appear in the timetables, on the monitors or indeed get announced on
the train until a few seconds short of Northampton is nothing short of
ridiculous - extending journeys by 30 minutes for no reason.

Other useful note: on weekends, VT are accepting the cheapo
"Silverlink-Central" tickets between BNS and Rugby only.  This is
getting announced, but not promoted elsewhere from what I can see.
Precisely why CT are operating a non-stop Rugby-BNS bus given this I'm
not sure.

Neil

-- 
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
When replying please use neil at the above domain
'wensleydale' is a spam trap and is not read.

In article ,
   Neil Williams  wrote:

> So far there don't appear to have been any in service at all on
> weekends, certainly not anywhere between BNS (well, Rugby due to the
> drags) and Euston.  This is a pain, as it's the only chance I have for
> a try.


I did see one pair working las Saturday, but it's the first time I have
seen one at the weekend.

-- 
David Wild using RISC OS on broadband

>
> Other useful note: on weekends, VT are accepting the cheapo
> "Silverlink-Central" tickets between BNS and Rugby only.  This is
> getting announced, but not promoted elsewhere from what I can see.
> Precisely why CT are operating a non-stop Rugby-BNS bus given this I'm
> not sure.


I didn't realise that, since the split up, the cheapo tickets were
still available.

I don't think I understand the strategy behind this.

Let me get this straight, a through discount ticket is being jointly
marketed. The train itself is a through service however the timetable
says it's not. It's two pretend trains from two different TOCs with a
pretend two-minute connection (which therefore cannot be guaranteed)
even though it's the same train.

Then, at Weekends, the service is jointly marketed by two TOCs, with
one change plus a pretend change, and two TOCs (one of which is
different from the other two) together with a bus company, with one
change plus the theoretical change where you don't actually have to
leave the train.

Meanwhile, none of the punters are buying the joint ticket as they are
all catching the bus for free to Rugby where they buy a ticket instead.
But, do they still have to pretend to change at Northampton?

On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 20:06:12 +0100, David H Wild 
wrote:


>I did see one pair working las Saturday, but it's the first time I have
>seen one at the weekend.


Must have been on a stopping MK-Euston diagram, if it was in service
and not just on driver training, I reckon.

I saw one in service today on a Northampton at around 20:30, but
wasn't in a position to travel on it.

Neil

-- 
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
When replying please use neil at the above domain
'wensleydale' is a spam trap and is not read.

On 16 Aug 2005 12:29:34 -0700, "allan tracy"
 wrote:


>I didn't realise that, since the split up, the cheapo tickets were
>still available.


Yep.  Not only that, but they are actively promoted (by Silverlink at
least).  That's how I knew...


>I don't think I understand the strategy behind this.


I don't think I understand the strategy behind the split, never mind
the rest of the story!

[snip the full story...I think!]


>Meanwhile, none of the punters are buying the joint ticket as they are
>all catching the bus for free to Rugby where they buy a ticket instead.
>But, do they still have to pretend to change at Northampton?


No idea ;)

Would I be confusing matters further by stating that there is a crew
changeover at Northampton, but that Silverlink were crewing
Northampton to Rugby, and not CT?

Out of interest, does anyone know if this idiocy happens Mon-Fri as
well?

Neil

-- 
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
When replying please use neil at the above domain
'wensleydale' is a spam trap and is not read.