CAF Civity for TfW: News and updates on introduction.

[Jez]

It takes 1 instance of work every 6 months for drivers to maintain competence. Carmarthen depot is larger than Holyhead and Junction combined, and Cardiff Mainline is a massive depot, so one trip once a week isn't going to do the trick down there.

That said, there's been talk of Holyhead, Junction and Chester all losing their 150/153 competence for a while now. It wouldn't surprise me if some of the crews at the first two depots are already either relying on refreshes or simply no longer competent. I suspect in the next year we'll reach the point where in the North only Crewe and Shrewsbury sign 153s, and nobody at all signs 150s.

Hopefully the 150s wont even be part of the TFW fleet in 12 months time!

 

[The_Train]

197001 Philadelphia Red Robin.
197004 Vancouver Red Dragon.

Thank you

So have they given up on names from the schools competition then?

School competitions don't get the same attention as 2x American "superstars"

 

[Bikeman78]

It takes 1 instance of work every 6 months for drivers to maintain competence. Carmarthen depot is larger than Holyhead and Junction combined, and Cardiff Mainline is a massive depot, so one trip once a week isn't going to do the trick down there.

That said, there's been talk of Holyhead, Junction and Chester all losing their 150/153 competence for a while now. It wouldn't surprise me if some of the crews at the first two depots are already either relying on refreshes or simply no longer competent. I suspect in the next year we'll reach the point where in the North only Crewe and Shrewsbury sign 153s, and nobody at all signs 150s.

Actually I am surprised that Carmarthen still do 158s, given the lack of booked work down there. But I see what you are saying. If a depot has booked work then there needs to be enough to retain competence. Whereas if a depot has no booked work but retains the competence with day to day substitutions then that is a bonus.

 

[Wolfie]

Um, yes, there have been issues on the 195/331s.
However a lot of it has come down to a dynamic temperature settings that the CAF units have, with an aim of reducing thermal shock when you go between the outside environment and train - lowest saloon temperature setting is 21deg when it's 15deg and below externally, going all the way up to a saloon setting of 28deg when its 40deg or above outside.

TY but frankly what a half-assed system.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Wow wow wow, what the actual ?
That seems totally ridiculous. I want the train to be a nice comfortable temperature (like 20-21 degrees ish?) even if it’s 30 degrees outside, if I’m going to be sat on it for 3 hours.

That very much seems like it’s designed for passengers doing shorter trips and not long distance.

I am fed up with feeling cold in summer just because of over zealous air conditioning so what CAF have done makes sense. Why should I carry a warm fleece/coat around with me in summer just so I can feel comfortable in air conditioning that is using more energy. In my local Wetherspoons we used to be colder in there in summer than in winter - that is a daft state of affairs !.

TY but frankly what a half-assed system.

But it makes sense to have a temperature inside that suits what people are wearing and are used to having come from outside. The saving in energy might be quite significant as well.

 

[craigybagel]

Hopefully the 150s wont even be part of the TFW fleet in 12 months time!

Fair point! Fingers crossed.....

Actually I am surprised that Carmarthen still do 158s, given the lack of booked work down there. But I see what you are saying. If a depot has booked work then there needs to be enough to retain competence. Whereas if a depot has no booked work but retains the competence with day to day substitutions then that is a bonus.

It probably helps that they aren't too dissimilar from other Sprinters so the conversion training is relatively brief. If it took 3 weeks to train up every driver (as with 67s) just to cover for some rare occurrences of 158s covering for other units, the chances are they would have stopped training new Carmarthen crews on them a long time ago! Carmarthen will of course retain 153 competency for the HOWL.

Getting back to the matter at hand, hopefully there will be enough 197s available so that all services booked for them from June actually will feature them, and maybe we will start to see some more losses of competence for the older units in the fleet.

 

[anthony263]

Be nice if the 231s could also get named