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158752 was noted in service at Manchester Victoria yesterday morning.

Northern has just had to make do and mend for too long.

The problem is the electrification of the GWR lines is just taking so long now , everyone is suffering now.

It probably needs its stopping pattern amended if it is going to be used with one unit only.

(15/12/2016 19:05)wirralbus Wrote: [ -> ]Northern has just had to make do and mend for too long.

The problem is the electrification of the GWR lines is just taking so long now , everyone is suffering now.

A lot of lines have been suffering for a long time now (since around 2008.) While Northern got ex-LM 150s they were made to release some 156s to EMT and carry additional passengers as a result of the TPE Windermere/Barrow services being cut back so they could replace the Virgin service to/from Scotland without additional stock. Then when 319s started arriving Northern effectively lost more 156s as a result of the TPE 170 fiasco. So many routes hoping for extra carriages when the LM 150s arrived are still waiting for more carriages.

On the Mid-Cheshire line the 16:59 Chester-Manchester has been downgraded from a 2 car 150 to a 2 car 142 despite having a loading of well over 200. The day after GHA Coaches collapsed and many people had to travel via Stockport to get between Knutsford and Wilmslow/Macclesfield that service must have loaded over 300 passengers and got delayed by almost half an hour due to how long it took passengers to board and alight and how badly the acceleration was affected by the crush loading. The conductor said he'd never worked a service on any route as crowded as that and put in a complaint on safety grounds - not that it had any effect.

A pacer is 9m shorter than a 150. The guard is more bothered about people moving down on a pacer if everyone crowds the back the guard can`t get back on and the train doesn`t move. The guard releases and closes the doors on all Northern services but on a 150 they don`t have to go in to the passenger area to do it, which can speed up dwell times.

(17/12/2016 20:56)Dentonian Wrote: [ -> ]Yes, but Pacers have 3x2 seating, and the Guard still steps off the other ones to check people are not actually stepping off the train - he/she can't see someone struggling to get to the doors, though. There's also more "wriggle room" on a Pacer, rather than stood in a narrow corridor partially divorced from the main part of the carriage.

Most Northern class 142s have 3+2 seating (some do have 2+2 seating) and all Northern class 150s have 3+2 seating. If it's a Northern Sprinter with 2+2 seating operating out of Piccadilly then it's a class 156 (46m in length) not a class 150 (40m in length.)

Northern's capacities for DMUs used out of Piccadilly:
Class 142 (ex-ATN) - 106 seated and 31 standing*
Class 142 (ex-Merseytravel) - up to 121 seated (some sets have broken seats which have been removed and not replaced) and 16 standing*
Class 142 (original interior) - up to 114 seated (some sets have broken seats which have been removed and not replaced) and 23 standing*
Class 150/1 (ex-LM) - 124 seated and 80 standing*
Class 150/1 (ex-FNW) - 124 seated and 89 standing*
Class 150/2 (ex-FNW) - 131 seated and 67 standing*
Class 150/2 (ex-LM) - 149 seated and 49 standing*
Class 156 (ex-FNW) - 152 seated and 72 standing*
Class 156 (ex-ATN) - 146 seated and 78 standing*

* Standing figures relate to how many the train can carry without being classed as overcrowded not the maximum number it's permitted to carry like with a bus.

Porterbrook and Northern are converting a batch of 319s to bi-mode with 2 diesel engines per set. These will enter traffic in December 2017.

(22/12/2016 18:41)ant17612 Wrote: [ -> ]Porterbrook and Northern are converting a batch of 319s to bi-mode with 2 diesel engines per set. These will enter traffic in December 2017.

Be made available to Northern by December 2017 but by the time crew training and testing is allowed for it will be Spring 2018 before they are in service. It's unclear how many will be produced and also unclear how many operators could get bi-mode 319s which Porterbrook are calling '319 Flexs.'

https://www.porterbrook.co.uk/news/post....lex-trains

(22/12/2016 18:41)ant17612 Wrote: [ -> ]Porterbrook and Northern are converting a batch of 319s to bi-mode with 2 diesel engines per set. These will enter traffic in December 2017.

Copying Mr Shooter's D-train concept?

(22/12/2016 19:33)bramptontrev Wrote: [ -> ]Copying Mr Shooter's D-train concept?

No. That will be diesel only, this will be electric with an option of running a short section off the wires.