ex Arriva 158s
 

Now that there are more 175s coming at ATW, and when tpx start to introduce 185s on North TPX runs then it should mean that more 175s come to ATW. What will happen to the 158s? Not heared much about this so any ideas on what to do with them?

Id like them on the Stratford/Leamington - Worcester route. The 150s then could be put into formations of 5 vechiles more regulary. I wish the 150 seating arrangements were more like the 158s there are too many seats across the carragies and there isnt enogh leg room between the arline stly seats.

I know that some poeple think that the 158 interior that was put in most 158s is not very good (the blue one) when comparing it to tpx and central, but one thing that was good about it was that is one of the coaches there was a two seat formation with a small table, good if you wanted a table without going into a four seater where you could become potentially crowded around as those trains can become full easily.

I would like to see some given to Northern Rail (even though the idea of more liveries would make it more confusing :D ) and add some to Calder Valley sevices as these seem to get crowded with two car trains.

Firstly,
Happy birthday David.:)
Secondly,
I think they should scrap the ATW 158's.:D They are awful things with hardly any legroom. Totally unsuitable for travelling any distance.

Thanks John,

I agree that a lot of work needs to be done on these units if they were going to be used for another TOC. I agree that it is strange that these are used on such long distances, some going for around 7 hours if going into the Pembrokeshire area. What a journey that would be on a crowded 158.

The 158s are being put through works for a C6 exam and internal mods, they are being done at Wabtec in Doncaster, and will come out as 159s and being sent south!
R

Whats the difference between 158s and 159s?

159s are virtually the same as a 158, except that the 159 has first class section, the 158 is purely second class.
R

OK, Thanks Ringoosmeg. So then why werent they 158/1s like modifications to the 150s were called 150/2s as supposed to a totally different class?

Tim

I'm sorry but my comments about the ATW class 158's being cramped for long journeys referred to their 2-car units.
I now assume that we are talking about the 3-car 158's most recently operated by Transpennine Express as these are the ones that are being converted to 159's at Wabtec for use down south.

John you were right first time, this post was originally about the ATW 2 car 158s. I know that the tpx 158s are being put through 159 modification but I do not know what was to be done with the ATW 158s. So just wondered on what others think could be done with the units.

Thanks David. It makes a change for me to understand something first time:D
Initially I would have suggested that ATW keep hold of some 158's and make them into 3-car units like the Transpennine (or is it Central) ones that have 3 driving vehicles coupled together. They could then use them to overcome some of the overcrowding they have on certain routes in the peak period (e.g. Manchester - North Wales). I know they are cramped but ANY seat is better than NO seat. Having said that the 3-car 175's they will get from Transpennine will probably serve the same purpose so we are back to deciding where to put the 158's. Within ATW the only other use I can see for them is some sort of cascade exercise to allow the ATW 150's to replace the grossly underpowered 153's on the Blaenau Ffestiniog branch and Bidston lines. Outside of ATW but on a similar note there is also the possibility that they could be used by Northern Trains to get rid of some of the unpopular 142's once again by allowing 150's to be cascaded.
It will be interesting to see what actually happens:)

I saw a 150 working an ATW serivce up to Manchester this morning, I still get suprised by the fact that 150s are used on these long distance services, how can these not end up being delayed due to the speed limit of 75 mph?

Replacing 153s with 150s wont make any difference on underpowered vehicles, they both use the same Cummins NT 855 R5 Big Cam engines and Voith gearboxes...., Ok you get two engines for a 150...but you also get two coaches!, ergo, same power!

R

Thanks Ringo.
My comments were based on observations made when Class 150's have deputised for 153's. The 150's always seem able to keep to the timetable. I also see that each Class 150 car is 5-6 tonnes lighter than a 153. Does this not make a difference?

John,
to be honest 5 to 6 tonnes in rail terms isnt a lot, so wouldnt make that much difference, so may be open to perception, the thing to try and time is when the gearbox changes over from fluid flywheel to torque converter, which is at 42mph.

Regards
R

Ringo,
I don't think the trains on the ATW "Borderlands" route even get up to 42mph:D :D

I was thinking something, kind of going off the 158 idea, but when tpx take over the Scotland services, and 185s are on all Northwest services then that woyuld mean that the only passengers services on the line between Bolton and Chorley will be 185's so the Chorley line will see only 185s. Unless there is another service I do not know of that uses the Chorrley line with the exception of charters. This is once all of the 175s have been replaced with 185s however, then this should give ATW a full 175 fleet for Northwest to South Wales services.

ATW might not be getting their full compliment of 175's in the immediate future.
I don't have any details but it is reported that 175 103 has hit a tree near Barrow-in-Furness and 175 106 has caught fire at Lancaster.:eek:

I wonder if this has something to do with the bad weather at the moment, it is preidcted to be getting worse throuhgout the week too.

I don't know about the fire but I imagine the tree incident was a result of the bad weather. They don't seem to have much luck with the 175's on the TransPennine services as the one that ran into the landslide near Lancaster last year hasn't been back in service for very long.:(

Was that the 175 that was used by ATW on the Manchester-Holyhead services as TPX and ATW shared them? I remember hearing that the 175 was damaged by a landslide, forcing the use of the Class 57 and Mk2's for the long period of time this year.

That's the one David. It was 175103 and it came back from being repaired at Wolverton last August.
Apparently, because they were using 175103 when it got damaged, "First Transpennine" had to pay some of the cost of hiring the 57 and Mk2's for ATW.:(
A curious thing about 175103 is that one of it's cars had been re-liveried into the greeny bluey/white Arriva colours before the accident but when it returned from being repaired they had stripped off this livery and returned it to the old First North Western colours.......strange:confused:

The 175's are now leaving the Alsthom depot in Chester carrying "Arriva Trains Wales" stickers where the "First North Western" ones were before the franchise changed. I wonder how long the "First" livery will survive now that ATW are the sole operators of these units?

I saw a first liveried 175 pass by this morning buit thee is becoming an increase in the green liveried units. I would like to see a nice mint green done up interior to reflect the new livery but I don't know if they are planning an interior change.

Now that all the 3-car 175's are working for "Arriva Trains Wales" they are publicly advertising that certain peak period workings between Manchester Piccadilly and North Wales will be guaranteed a 3-car train.
That's fine in theory but tonight (14/12) the 175/1 unit scheduled to work the "guaranteed 3-car" 17:16 Manchester Picc-Llandudno failed. The only replacement available was a 2-car 150/2 which also failed before reaching Manchester and eventually the train was cancelled completely. To rub salt in the wounds the next scheduled Manchester Picc - North Wales working (also a "guaranteed 3-car") was only a 175/0 2-car which had to carry all the passengers from what should have been 2 x 3-car trains. You can imagine how overcrowded this working was. :(
Apparently the 175's are dropping like flies at the moment so perhaps ATW shouldn't be getting rid of their 158's after all?:rolleyes:

158 Diagram
 

ATW are still running a 158 diagram on the South Wales services. Here it is, it is Monday to Friday I am not sure about weekends. So for anyone who wants what might be a last ride on a 158 (with the exception of replacement broken down 175s :D ) then here is the diagram:

05:00 Camarthen to Manchester
10:34 Manchester to Milford Haven

This is based on my sighting this week so it might change.

They use the 158s on Gloucester-Maesteg, Maesteg-Gloucester though last week they used a 142 running on one engine, with that working engine unable to go beyond 1st gear.. was a pretty "fun" ride going 15-20mph on the main-line to Brigdend (though he got both engines working fine when going up to Maesteg)

ATW are having a lot of engine failures on the 175's also:(
Units are constantly being changed as they pass through Chester where the Alsthom depot is.