a very hot virgin

[Sir Clothem Cap]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frlJTSz4 ... ature=fvwp

[Mr ACME]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frlJTSz4 ... ature=fvwp  :lol:  :lol:

ERmm. Please stop these suggestive double entendre posts forthwith.

I am having trouble sleeping at nights.

[Pretoria]

Another equally hot virgin ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owmq5q67 ... re=related

[TonyW]

Diesels running under wires, and somebody somewhere thinks that five carriages is a full-size train. Remember "Night Mail"...?

This is the Voyager crossing the Border
Standing room only, unless you pre-order
Seating for the rich, corridors for the poor
The shop has sold out, the buffet no more
Revving up Beattock, claiming to be green
The wires above her, no pan to be seen
Birds turn their heads, as she approaches
Stare from the bushes, at her paltry 5 coaches

Cars in the fast lane can’t keep pace
Have comfortable seats and a lot more grace
Thro’ heather and weather but not fallen leaves
With approval ratings that no-one believes
Shovelling carbon over her shoulder
Nox, particulates, benzene, sulphur
Her weight fatigues the railway line
She’s ten minutes late but that’s on time

In the farm she passes no one wakes
All long gone to euro milk lakes
Dawn freshens but the toilet’s full
Snarling toward the urban sprawl
Scotland, independent nation
Soon an end to this vibration
Past rough estates and fast food chains
Dodging the stones from those with no brains

Call centres, offices, low cost homes
Tattooed teenagers with tweeting phones
Once steel and coal and engineering
Graffiti, flats and multi screening
Train-spotting here is not what it seems
But fuels the crime to pay for dreams
In the dark glens beside pale green sea lochs
Men read their e-mails

by “Trailer Second”, with apologies to W H Auden (“Night Mail”)

[Sir Clothem Cap]

Thats a brill poem

[Pendo Pilot]

Love the poem, quite apt really. Shame the DFT would not let us add the 6th Pantograph car to our 221's. But we still get it in the neck, same as the DFT won't let us run our new 11 car 390 as an 11 car until franchise bids sorted.
Love working with both hands tied behind your back? Join the wonderful privatised world of britains railways.
Oh & if it helps, we all hate Voyagers as well! Bring back our loved 47/8's!

First clip is usual, it's 125mph there on 3 aspect signalling. You quite often get checked following Kingsbury oil trains which is just up the line. Or of course that may have been a failed to call as some of the AXC lot do stop there.

[MDLR]

Another equally hot virgin ?

<pedant>
At least that one WAS - t'other one wasn't!
</pedant>

Liked the poem, BTW......................

[Pendo Pilot]

Another equally hot virgin ?

<pedant>
At least that one WAS - t'other one wasn't!
</pedant>

I decided to let that one slide bar the ref to AXC..  :twisted:  :twisted:

[bessytractor]

that poem's awesome

equally apt (if not more so) for FGW services too.

I've never had a seat with them

[MuzTrem]

Depends where you're going with FGW. In my area (near London) their services are pretty good, at least outside rush hour.

I just can't fathom why we have to have DMUs for everything in Britain now. A classic example is XC services on Friday evening, which are always jam-packed. In the old days you could have just stuck an extra couple of coaches on; not with a voyager. Now I understand why Beeching scrapped hundreds of under-utilised coaches. But there's a difference between coaches that saw two weeks of use during the summer holidays, and spare coaches that are needed once a week. The latter are worth having.

Still, well done Chiltern Railways for bucking the trend and re-introducing loco-hauled services. Let's hope others might follow suit.

That said, I gather Virgin has two spare 221 driving cars that can only be used for driver training (The RM, August). What a waste...!

[Pendo Pilot]

That said, I gather Virgin has two spare 221 driving cars that can only be used for driver training (The RM, August). What a waste...!

Actually the 603/604 driving ends at Crewe are being used for training Train managers on the new TMS system. We have not done anything with them although that may happen as we lost the simulator for 220/1's when XC split off to Arriva (even though VT paid for it...ahem.)

It's not really a waste at all, when the XC franchise was removed from Virgin, it left us (VWC) with some 221 tilting super voyagers, 3 of these were the silly 4 car sets. Instead of running these as 4 car's as all the rest were 5 cars & that really messed up diagrams, they decided to take one 4 car set out of service. This allowed us to use the two coaches from that set to bolster the other two 4 car sets. So now we have no 4 car's in service which does help a little. The driving ends cannot be used like that as the TMS systems & small compressor only will not allow it to work, they have to get dragged by a 57 to be able to move at all now. As said Virgin wanted to add an extra coach with pantograph to the 221's as the voyagers are DEMU's hence the numbering in the 2xx series & not the 1xx series for DMMU's & sprinter types. This would of allowed more seating & the ability to run on 25KV whilst under the wires & then drop the pan for non OHLE bits. This idea was not allowed by the DFT who seem to like to sabotage anything progressive within the rail industry..
Oh & you can bet Chiltern would love to rid themselves of there MK3 & loco setup should there be more DMU/DEMU's that were suitable to be had. Even ATW's WAG train was supposed to go over to MU but none could be sourced that fitted with what was needed so far although the 180's were mentioned at one point but the lease was too much for ATW to stomach by the sounds of it.

***Done a bit of editing, didnt want it to sound harsh, just factual..***  

[MuzTrem]

Well I appreciate the fact of the sitatuion, i.e. that the 221 driving cars can't be used alone; and as you say, Virgin have made the best of unfavourable cirumstances. But this merely underlines my point about DMUs. If Virgin had opted for new loco-hauled rakes instead of Voyagers, then those would have been two coaches that could have been redeployed elsewhere. But because they were designed to run as a set that's not an option, so thousands of pounds worth of investment now stands idle, while passengers elsewhere on the network have to stand on overcrowded trains. Given all the ballyhoo regarding the government's "1300 new carriages", it seems absurd to have got ourselves into a situation where we can't utilise all the coaches we already have available.

What is wrong with locos, coaches and DVTs? Other European nations use them...!

It's very interesting to learn that Virgin originally wanted bi-modes, though - especially since the DfT now favours them for the IEP project! That's another silly decision if you ask me. Why have the train drag its diesel engines around everywhere, thus increasing electricity consumption when under the wires, when you could just stick a 57 or 67 on the front when neccessary - as Virgin already does with Pendolinos?

[DVT Dweller]

As said Virgin wanted to add an extra coach with pantograph to the 221's as the voyagers are DEMU's hence the numbering in the 2xx series & not the 1xx series for DMMU's & sprinter types. This would of allowed more seating & the ability to run on 25KV whilst under the wires & then drop the pan for non OHLE bits. This idea was not allowed by the DFT who seem to like to sabotage anything progressive within the rail industry..
Oh & you can bet Chiltern would love to rid themselves of there MK3 & loco setup should there be more DMU/DEMU's that were suitable to be had. Even ATW's WAG train was supposed to go over to MU but none could be sourced that fitted with what was needed so far although the 180's were mentioned at one point but the lease was too much for ATW to stomach by the sounds of it.

***Done a bit of editing, didnt want it to sound harsh, just factual..***  

Hmm DFT wouldnt allow or Vrigin wouldnt stump up the £££ as they wouldnt get the extention of the franchise as they tried demanding for doing the work?

I doubt the second point too. I more than anyone would have rather CRCL wanted DMU's as I wouldnt have had to move etc, but it comes down to the simple bits, no DMU is upto the standards of a MK3, with the system proving so reliable over the last 3 years and cost effective for the length of train and the Mk3 sets out performing the 168's a tag on order for 172's or any other DMU was never really thought of. I cant see how the lease cost's etc of 2 57's + track access + the buffet car + maintenance of them all would work out cheaper than a 180 over all.

[Pendo Pilot]

Hey Steve, I was waiting for your reply.. I see you have quoted the standard other toc VT type diss re the pan 221's! VT was not allowed to, regardless of franchise. The way the setup works is that regardless of franchise VT still would not loose anything if they did splash the cash for the 221 pan coaches, same applies for the new 11 coach 390 (already built but only allowed in service as an 8 coach set 390054) & the new build coaches that to boost over half the 390 fleet to 11 car that are built/being built in Italy. Thanks to a little seperate entity, Virgin rail leasing.
As you say though the lack of suitable DMU seems to be the holdback point for ATW & I still think CRCL. Less so for the latter as of course the use of a DVT does get rid of one of the biggest killers of loco hauled, running round. The provision of shunter & time has killed off loco hauled before along with run round areas although not applicable to ATW as I believe they use Canton at one end & hollyhead at the other which still affords them facilities to do that. News is that the 2nd Wag train will be a DMU though, well thats not confirmed but has been mentioned quite a few times. I do hope the CRCL bucks the trend & does keep using Mk3 stock & loco, but I have had my hopes dashed far too many times in this industry to believe that anymore. The days of LH are dead here, ever since someone let the finacial type in & let them run the show. I am almost certain somewhere (probably in mainland europe) there are plans on a drawing board for a replacement dmu/emu that is purposely designed to replicate the MK3's qualitys & allow them to withdraw the last remianing ones. Remember VT did trial 2 180's before going back to the MK3 set to stand in for the written off pendo. Thankfully the plan that First was looking at for the hybrid MU to replace there sleepers has not got off the planning board & that was reported years ago.

[DVT Dweller]

Hey Steve, I was waiting for your reply..  ;)  I see you have quoted the standard other toc VT type diss re the pan 221's!  ;)   VT was not allowed to, regardless of franchise. The way the setup works is that regardless of franchise VT still would not loose anything if they did splash the cash for the 221 pan coaches, same applies for the new 11 coach 390 (already built but only allowed in service as an 8 coach set 390054) & the new build coaches that to boost over half the 390 fleet to 11 car that are built/being built in Italy. Thanks to a little seperate entity, Virgin rail leasing.
As you say though the lack of suitable DMU seems to be the holdback point for ATW & I still think CRCL. Less so for the latter as of course the use of a DVT does get rid of one of the biggest killers of loco hauled, running round. The provision of shunter & time has killed off loco hauled before along with run round areas although not applicable to ATW as I believe they use Canton at one end & hollyhead at the other which still affords them facilities to do that. News is that the 2nd Wag train will be a DMU though, well thats not confirmed but has been mentioned quite a few times. I do hope the CRCL bucks the trend & does keep using Mk3 stock & loco, but I have had my hopes dashed far too many times in this industry to believe that anymore. The days of LH are dead here, ever since someone let the finacial type in & let them run the show. I am almost certain somewhere (probably in mainland europe) there are plans on a drawing board for a replacement dmu/emu that is purposely designed to replicate the MK3's qualitys & allow them to withdraw the last remianing ones. Remember VT did trial 2 180's before going back to the MK3 set to stand in for the written off pendo. Thankfully the plan that First was looking at for the hybrid MU to replace there sleepers has not got off the planning board & that was reported years ago.

Wouldnt want to dissapoint Are VT doing things the same way as FGW then? Have a sepperate company that owns the stock so whoever gets the new franchise will have to lease it off them?

The last we had heard was that Mk3's had go to Donny for the WAG fleet, but it seems to keep chopping and changing all the time. 1 of our DVT's is there and a second one has gone to Brush but not heard anything about why the one has gone to Brush. I cant see the point in running either train to be honest as theyve never been busy when Ive been out and about. Atleast the europeans can run a railway, plenty of shove sets out there.

I know there was a plan for when IEP came along FGW looked at the possibilty of HST power cars each end but thats alot of work to either the stock or the power cars and with the current rate of progress on IEP they should arrive in 2000 & never.