London Midland unveils first 172s

[JamieLei]

Report: http://www.railnews.co.uk/news/general/ ... st-of.html

Anyone got any pictures of them? I'm really interested in how they look inside

[Dave]

They look massive inside, I saw a report on them yesterday. Can't wait to have a go haha.

[Griff]

The BBC ran a story on it a few days ago, complete with video.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bi ... m-14377011

[JamieLei]

Lovely! Might at long last bring a touch of class to Rowley Regis, that'll be complete once they finish extending the sewage system there

[Nawdic]

They've been around for 6 months, there was a fotopic site that had pictures of them, dating back from March.

[Dave]

They've been around for 6 months, there was a fotopic site that had pictures of them, dating back from March.

Yeah, on test... In Derby.

Nowhere near the Snow Hill Lines. There are three members of this forum that I know of that use the Snow Hill Lines regularly; not one of them reported seeing them. I am one of them.

They've not "been around" here...

[Ameecher]

Snow Hill - Stratford and return have been the test runs. Never been tested at Old Dalby.

[Nawdic]

They've been around for 6 months, there was a fotopic site that had pictures of them, dating back from March.

Yeah, on test... In Derby.

Nowhere near the Snow Hill Lines. There are three members of this forum that I know of that use the Snow Hill Lines regularly; not one of them reported seeing them. I am one of them.

They've not "been around" here...

Old hat to me.

[Gord]

Saw one parked up at Worcester yesterday. First time I've seen one.

[Dave]

Snow Hill - Stratford and return have been the test runs. Never been tested at Old Dalby.

They've been on test somewhere other than Brum area mate, I can guarantee you that.

[Ameecher]

Maybe so but not at Old Dalby.

Edit: At least I don't think so.

[jvassie]

Maybe so but not at Old Dalby.

Edit: At least I don't think so.

Do a google on it, quite a lot of mentions of various 172300s on diagrams at Old Dalby

[Dave]

Snow Hill - Stratford and return have been the test runs. Never been tested at Old Dalby.

Knob.



Anyway, I'm still right - regardless of how long they've been around, they've not been "around" on the Snow Hill Lines.

I'm going to West Brom tomorrow for the Parma friendly. Would like to drop on one for sure...

[Griff]

Teh Sexey.

[61653]

Impressed with the lack of noise (for a dmu at least!), doesn't seem to need epic revs to get going unlike 150s and the like, which is probably a sign of improved fuel efficiency...

If only the Government realised that they'd probably save money long-term by replacing ALL 14X/15X DMUs with new 172s than it'd cost if Bombardier Derby were to close.

[audigex]

They still sound louder than a 185 to me. Not exactly hugely loud in either case, but 185s seem to have it nailed.

[Dave]

Makes no odds, as long as it's quieter than a 150 I don't care hahha.

[61653]

They still sound louder than a 185 to me. Not exactly hugely loud in either case, but 185s seem to have it nailed.

185s are pretty noisy as they set off though, and not really so suited to the stop-start all-stations services currently served by pacers and sprinters. Building 1,000 172 vehicles to replace all those would be a decent investment even in these austere times- they'll be DDA-compliant, and doing that now would make far more sense than having a mad rush before the 2020 (I think) deadline like we had with the elimination of MK1 EMUs. A few different versions might be needed for longer-distance or higher-density, but we'd have a nice, clean, efficient and modern fleet of trains, of a fairly uniform design for ease of maintenance.

Meanwhile, once Brum gets its nice new 172s, Northern will have a few extra tatty old 150s, yay! Maybe they'll refurbish them, but it's taking Northern long enough to get its current 150s into a fit state: Recovering the seats is not the same as actually refurbishing the stock throughout!

[Kevo00]

Good to see some common sense design and going back to fitting corridor connectors in DMUs.

[Dave]

Required for these as they're to be used in longer sets. The problem with the 150s atm is that LM have no 150/2s, they're all 150/0s and 150/1s - i.e. no connection between two units.

Yesterday, train was confirmed full and standing as we left Stourbridge on the way to The Hawthorns, with three stops still to go that service many more Albion fans than Kiddy and Stour.

The reason? 150132. Two car train.

I've written to London Midland.