At the end of the day it's down to cost too. There are a bunch of ex Wessex 158s being stored somewhere, why not bive ATW these as replacements? Because it costs more than the pacers. They will hav to find something that is cost efficient. They could do the FGW idea and have capacity efficient seating e.g. more airline seats, but I this may prove unpopular with passenmgers, but the 142s don't have tables. Perhaps using this idea with the stored 158s or having the 3+2 seating idea might work here.

At a meeting on 3/3/2007 a spokesman for Arriva Trains Wales said:

..........An additional 9 class 150s were due for delivery in Nov 07 for use in South Wales with platform extensions to be provided on the Valley lines.

I don't know if the 150's are intended as a partial replacement for the 14X's or in addition to.:confused:

Platform extensions are already done, and ATW are already using 9x ex FGW (wessex trains "Visit xxxxxx" liveries - maroon/postcard photographs) on all current services bar the long distance ones.

In that case.......Either you are getting 9 more 150's next November or the Arriva spokesman is a bit behind the times.:)

haha, perhaps.. perhaps.

If you wondered what a 142 was like on corners - I made a video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcuFgaxUdQA

If I close my eyes I can almost imagine being on a Swiss metre gauge train threading
it's way through the spiral tunnels in the mountains. Attachment 128

Northern have started to replace there 142's with 158's.Its reported there recieving 30 158's with 24 142's going into warm store at Heaton depot

Thanks for that 222007. It helps explain why I saw a Northern service (normally a 142) being worked by a 158 in Arriva livery on Saturday.
Obviously Arriva Trains Wales didn't consider their own excess 158's to be suitable replacements for their 142's...............or are 150's just cheaper?:D

For anyone interested there's a website that will tell you which unit is allocated to which company and its status

http://www.thejunction.org.uk/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberdare_railway_station - Says there that work has been completed on extending the platform, as have all other stations on the valley lines. Quite often two 150s in multiple are used on valley lines services.. and if the platforms weren't extended then they couldn't :)


As to the 9 150s, quite possibly.. I made a mistake - it was only 8.

That information isn't correct as the ebbw valley line won't be ready, and they are using the 150s on all services except for those west/north of Swansea, and up to Manchester (and beyond) except that it is 8 150s and not nine.