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mark occomore
Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK
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Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 3:12 pm Post subject: Train Company Told To Cut Off Engines |
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A train company in the pennines have told to cut off Engines to save fuel. It will be safe as the fleets Multi Engine units can run on one engine at a time.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/7595511.stm
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I wonder if some who use overhead Power lines etc will only run certain hours of the day in the future to save costs? |
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mark occomore
Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK
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Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 3:42 pm Post subject: |
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Oh, they won't be passing the savings onto the customers. |
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RockitRon
Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 7646
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Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 4:08 pm Post subject: |
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Funnily enough, this isn't new.
A few years ago, returning from Manchester to Nottingham with my then young son, who'd won a ticket to see Man Utd, our train (don't ask me what type, other than a modern dmu) built up speed once beyond Stockport and then the engine clearly cut out and it coasted for several minutes/miles. A fellow passenger asked the guard checking tickets if anything was amiss and he said not. Eventually the train came to a stop and the engine restarted first time and we proceeded, and arrived at first stop Sheffield on time. _________________ Ron |
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Rob
Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Posts: 163 Location: Leicester
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Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 10:36 pm Post subject: |
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RockitRon wrote: | Funnily enough, this isn't new.
A few years ago, returning from Manchester to Nottingham with my then young son, who'd won a ticket to see Man Utd, our train (don't ask me what type, other than a modern dmu) built up speed once beyond Stockport and then the engine clearly cut out and it coasted for several minutes/miles. A fellow passenger asked the guard checking tickets if anything was amiss and he said not. Eventually the train came to a stop and the engine restarted first time and we proceeded, and arrived at first stop Sheffield on time. |
Actually, it *is* relatively new, though wider media coverage is new.
The class 185 units that Transpennine Express operate have been having a number of software modifications to improve fuel efficiency. Engines will shut down when a train stands for a while and reduced power will be used in a number of circumstances.
All of which is a bit amusing. These are some of the heaviest passenger carriages on the rail network, to the point where they are subject to harsher speed restrictions on some stretches of line than the trains that they replaced. The railway press is using the expression "lardbutt" about them. They would have saved considerably more fuel by engineering them to be lighter.
What you experienced, RockitRon, was simply the engine cutting out in the carriage you were in. The engines in other carriages would still have been running, so the guard would have given a reassuring reply to your fellow passenger. The driver would then try to restart the engine the next time the train stopped - clearly that worked!
Rob. |
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RockitRon
Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 7646
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Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 9:04 am Post subject: |
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Hello, Rob - nice to see you back here, and good to know we have a railways expert as well as some aircraft ones for the occasional newsworthy input.
This was in the days of Central Trains' tenure of the Liverpool to Norwich route, and I think (having looked on wiki) that it was a two-coach Turbostar. It certainly went very quiet.
I remember reading years ago that the government was researching much lighter designs - presumably they weren't practical from a safety angle? _________________ Ron |
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Mark Mayhew
Joined: 11 Dec 2006 Posts: 2897
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Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 8:28 pm Post subject: |
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On a side issue I bought my wife a new mini recently-it has this really annoying feature on it, that every time it comes to a halt/red lights etc, the engine cuts out-you put your foot on the clutch when you are ready to move off and the engine starts again.
Supposedly the feature helps carbon emmisions (spelling)/saving the planet etc.
Sod that, if i am her passenger in the car I find it really annoying to say the least.
Not so bad re the trains I guess, but I don't really belief in this nonsense. |
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SantaFefan
Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 11258 Location: top of the cliffs in Norfolk
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Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 8:36 pm Post subject: |
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I had a Mini like that once - cut out every time it rained! _________________ Johnnie Walker read out my message on Pirate Radio! 13/8/07
I have heard how radio should be. |
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Triumph Herald
Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 85 Location: Bucks
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Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 11:19 pm Post subject: |
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SantaFefan wrote: | I had a Mini like that once - cut out every time it rained! |
So did I ! Hi tech maintenance for the old mini, in bad weather, consisted of wrapping a black bin bag round the coil and distributor. Not the best design feature to put those components immediately behind the grille where the rainwater would effectively be ducted straight to them. |
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