Apparently this Frday (21st) will be the last for the D-stock in normal
service in London. I believe there will be a farewell tour on 7 May.

After that, of course, there may be opportnities to travel on them on new
routes, with an unfamiliar diesel rumble under the floor.

On 18/04/2017 21:22, Recliner wrote:
Apparently this Frday (21st) will be the last for the D-stock in normal
service in London. I believe there will be a farewell tour on 7 May.

After that, of course, there may be opportnities to travel on them on new
routes, with an unfamiliar diesel rumble under the floor.


What are their further prospects for conversion to DMUs and eventual
entrance into revenue service, especially after the fire?

wrote:
On 18/04/2017 21:22, Recliner wrote:
Apparently this Frday (21st) will be the last for the D-stock in normal
service in London. I believe there will be a farewell tour on 7 May.

After that, of course, there may be opportnities to travel on them on new
routes, with an unfamiliar diesel rumble under the floor.


What are their further prospects for conversion to DMUs and eventual
entrance into revenue service, especially after the fire?

Adrian Shooter seems optimistic that more orders are in the pipeline. The
EMT trial would not, in any case, have led to a significant order, even
without the fire. In a way, the fire was a good thing, as it uncovered a
number of weaknesses that might not otherwise have come to light till much
later.

Vivarail also has a battery version entering test.

On Tue, 18 Apr 2017 22:45:50 -0000 (UTC)
Recliner wrote:
wrote:
On 18/04/2017 21:22, Recliner wrote:
Apparently this Frday (21st) will be the last for the D-stock in normal
service in London. I believe there will be a farewell tour on 7 May.

After that, of course, there may be opportnities to travel on them on new
routes, with an unfamiliar diesel rumble under the floor.


What are their further prospects for conversion to DMUs and eventual
entrance into revenue service, especially after the fire?

Adrian Shooter seems optimistic that more orders are in the pipeline. The
EMT trial would not, in any case, have led to a significant order, even
without the fire. In a way, the fire was a good thing, as it uncovered a
number of weaknesses that might not otherwise have come to light till much
later.

IMO the main weakness is using van engines at all. Safety issues aside long
term reliabilty is going to be a serious issue as these engines were never
designed to be worked at max power for hours on end then spend another few
hours idling almost 365 days a year. Their capacity is small meaning the
max power rpm will be much higher than normal railway diesels and hence
increased wear and tear. I'm sure the company would point to the ability
to swap out the engines but really, who is going to want to spend the time
and money replacing knackered engines every few years?

--
Spud

In article , d () wrote:

On Tue, 18 Apr 2017 22:45:50 -0000 (UTC)
Recliner wrote:
wrote:
On 18/04/2017 21:22, Recliner wrote:
Apparently this Frday (21st) will be the last for the D-stock in
normal service in London. I believe there will be a farewell tour on
7 May.

After that, of course, there may be opportnities to travel on them on
new routes, with an unfamiliar diesel rumble under the floor.


What are their further prospects for conversion to DMUs and eventual
entrance into revenue service, especially after the fire?

Adrian Shooter seems optimistic that more orders are in the pipeline. The
EMT trial would not, in any case, have led to a significant order, even
without the fire. In a way, the fire was a good thing, as it uncovered a
number of weaknesses that might not otherwise have come to light till
much later.

IMO the main weakness is using van engines at all. Safety issues aside
long term reliabilty is going to be a serious issue as these engines were
never designed to be worked at max power for hours on end then spend
another few hours idling almost 365 days a year. Their capacity is small
meaning the max power rpm will be much higher than normal railway diesels
and hence increased wear and tear. I'm sure the company would point to the
ability to swap out the engines but really, who is going to want to spend
the time and money replacing knackered engines every few years?

I thought they'd managed to get diesels that don't need to be left idling
all the time these days?

--
Colin Rosenstiel

wrote:
In article , d () wrote:

On Tue, 18 Apr 2017 22:45:50 -0000 (UTC)
Recliner wrote:
wrote:
On 18/04/2017 21:22, Recliner wrote:
Apparently this Frday (21st) will be the last for the D-stock in
normal service in London. I believe there will be a farewell tour on
7 May.

After that, of course, there may be opportnities to travel on them on
new routes, with an unfamiliar diesel rumble under the floor.


What are their further prospects for conversion to DMUs and eventual
entrance into revenue service, especially after the fire?

Adrian Shooter seems optimistic that more orders are in the pipeline. The
EMT trial would not, in any case, have led to a significant order, even
without the fire. In a way, the fire was a good thing, as it uncovered a
number of weaknesses that might not otherwise have come to light till
much later.

IMO the main weakness is using van engines at all. Safety issues aside
long term reliabilty is going to be a serious issue as these engines were
never designed to be worked at max power for hours on end then spend
another few hours idling almost 365 days a year. Their capacity is small
meaning the max power rpm will be much higher than normal railway diesels
and hence increased wear and tear. I'm sure the company would point to the
ability to swap out the engines but really, who is going to want to spend
the time and money replacing knackered engines every few years?

I thought they'd managed to get diesels that don't need to be left idling
all the time these days?

Yes. Though I suppose one of the four power packs may need to be left
running at a terminus. And the D-train's duties certainly won't involve
running at "max power for hours on end".

In message
-septe
mber.org, at 22:45:50 on Tue, 18 Apr 2017, Recliner
remarked:
wrote:
On 18/04/2017 21:22, Recliner wrote:
Apparently this Frday (21st) will be the last for the D-stock in normal
service in London. I believe there will be a farewell tour on 7 May.

After that, of course, there may be opportnities to travel on them on new
routes, with an unfamiliar diesel rumble under the floor.


What are their further prospects for conversion to DMUs and eventual
entrance into revenue service, especially after the fire?

Adrian Shooter seems optimistic that more orders are in the pipeline. The
EMT trial would not, in any case, have led to a significant order, even
without the fire. In a way, the fire was a good thing, as it uncovered a
number of weaknesses that might not otherwise have come to light

That's an unfortunate turn of phrase

till much later.

Vivarail also has a battery version entering test.

Greater Anglia's battery-EMU project has disappeared without trace.
--
Roland Perry

On Wed, 19 Apr 2017 11:32:13 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote:

In message
-septe
mber.org, at 22:45:50 on Tue, 18 Apr 2017, Recliner
remarked:
wrote:
On 18/04/2017 21:22, Recliner wrote:
Apparently this Frday (21st) will be the last for the D-stock in normal
service in London. I believe there will be a farewell tour on 7 May.

After that, of course, there may be opportnities to travel on them on new
routes, with an unfamiliar diesel rumble under the floor.


What are their further prospects for conversion to DMUs and eventual
entrance into revenue service, especially after the fire?

Adrian Shooter seems optimistic that more orders are in the pipeline. The
EMT trial would not, in any case, have led to a significant order, even
without the fire. In a way, the fire was a good thing, as it uncovered a
number of weaknesses that might not otherwise have come to light

That's an unfortunate turn of phrase

till much later.

Vivarail also has a battery version entering test.

Greater Anglia's battery-EMU project has disappeared without trace.

It was a trial that tested what it was supposed to. It found that the
technology works, but battery costs need to come down more to get a
reasonable range on the batteries. It's really no different to
electric road vehicles: if you want a decent range and performance,
they cost a lot (see Tesla vs Leaf).

Perhaps the battery D-train (or is that E-train?) will keep costs down
by having smaller battery packs, which may be adequate for its lower
speed and shorter range?

In article ,
(Recliner) wrote:

On Wed, 19 Apr 2017 11:32:13 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote:

In message
-
september.org, at 22:45:50 on Tue, 18 Apr 2017, Recliner
remarked:

Vivarail also has a battery version entering test.

Greater Anglia's battery-EMU project has disappeared without trace.

It was a trial that tested what it was supposed to. It found that the
technology works, but battery costs need to come down more to get a
reasonable range on the batteries. It's really no different to
electric road vehicles: if you want a decent range and performance,
they cost a lot (see Tesla vs Leaf).

Perhaps the battery D-train (or is that E-train?) will keep costs down
by having smaller battery packs, which may be adequate for its lower
speed and shorter range?

It will be interesting to see. All current battery trials are based on
partial mains operation.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On 2017\04\18 23:45, Recliner wrote:

Adrian Shooter seems optimistic that more orders are in the pipeline.

But is the pipeline fireproof?