The Bristol Railway Archive

From "isle_of_thanet" on SWRGF:

"FGW have ordered 92 power units of the new design [MTU] for HST
power cars to be fitted as soon as possible but not sure where they
will be fitted"

Presumably, in the power cars

Not long now for the Paxman Valenta scream...soon they'll all sound like buses

Am I the only one that prefers diesels to be quiet? I get no pleasure at all from ear-battering engine noise. I find the racket of a whole line of HST's at Paddington absolutely hellish.

Yep, looks like you're the only one!

AndyK wrote:Am I the only one that prefers diesels to be quiet? I find the racket of a whole line of HST's at Paddington absolutely hellish.

I agree with Andy, the sound in a train shed is not a great selling point.

Having said that whoever designed the exhausts on the HST must have been from the marketing department.....it sends out a message that this is one powerful, fast machine especially when you see/hear one at speed........but in a train shed nope!

They shut down the "London end" power cars inside the Paddington trainshed now, it's much quieter and the air is considerably cleaner! I remember when I used to ride the escalator up out of Paddington tube and emerge into this stinking grey fug.

James wrote:From "isle_of_thanet" on SWRGF:

"FGW have ordered 92 power units of the new design [MTU] for HST
power cars to be fitted as soon as possible but not sure where they
will be fitted"

Presumably, in the power cars

Not long now for the Paxman Valenta scream...soon they'll all sound like buses

Are these new units also manufactured by Paxman? Or some pretender to the HST crown...

MTU is a German company, although part of the Daimler-Chrysler Group. Hopefully this will mean precision engineering and a highly-reliable new engine that will take the HSTs many more years into the future. FGW already have two power cars fitted with MTU engines:

43004 "First For The Future"
43009 "First Transforming Travel"

These have been on trial for some time now, and seem to have impressed First enough to order more! I haven't heard any problems with them.

This is what they sound like though:

http://www.steamvids.freeuk.com/43009-E ... art-Up.wav

James wrote:These have been on trial for some time now, and seem to have impressed First enough to order more! I haven't heard any problems with them.

That's pretty much a gold seal of approval...whatever First are, they ain't stupid. There will be either a cost saving or service (revenue) improving outcome for them from this....

The sooner the better for us in Minehead, which I know is a bit off the Bristol map. It was weird to see a few sets stored here, even if the rent for storage raised a few bob for the preserved line. I did notice that a few times the diesel blokes sneaked one out for a bit of a burn-up, ostensibly to freshen the diesels up. And there are not many speed cameras between Minehead and Taunton!! They have gone now though.

The Paxmans were originally developed for fast patrol boats, but at sea no-one minds the noise. The railway's neighbours will be delighted they are history.

Great sets. Last of a breed of real heavyweights. Unlike the tin boxes Virgin have imported.

Pity nobody was interested in working on renovating the old Park Royal DMU, so that will be next to go from the WSR. Visitors to the line do not like diesels.

bethanyjunction wrote:Pity nobody was interested in working on renovating the old Park Royal DMU, so that will be next to go from the WSR. Visitors to the line do not like diesels.

I think I read somewhere recently (Rail Express I think) that there will be no WSR diesel gala next year? Apparently there would have been more profit in running the usual steam services on those days.

On one occasion the clag from an HST going out over the level crossing at Minehead was sufficient to set off the smoke alarms in Butlins!

As for the diesel gala, as has been said there won't be one this year for the reason that last years wasn't very succesful and, in effect, left the railway worse off than if it had run a normal service. However I believe there are some interesting plans on the diesel front for 2007

Uh oh...

From SWRGF:

From: "isle_of_thanet"
Date: Tue Jan 31, 2006 11:12 pm
Subject: Re: 43009

--- In SWRGF@yahoogroups.com, "richard davies" <richard@d...> wrote:
>
> FGW Power Car 43009 noted on a low loader northbound on the M5 near
Gloucester today at 1435.
>
> Anyone got any gen on this move please??

Heard that the MTU power unit was close to catastrophic failure

James wrote:Uh oh...

Heard that the MTU power unit was close to catastrophic failure[/i]

This has been strongly denied!

And this was posted on http://www.wnxx.com/ a little while ago.

'43009 (IWRP) has been returned to Brush for inspection, movement to Loughborough taking place by road yesterday. In light of some of the stories currently doing the rounds implying that there is a problem with its power unit, 43009 being one of the two trial re-engined power cars, it should be pointed out that its return to Brush at the end of the trial period for inspection was always part of the plan and that there have not been any failures with the power unit or associated systems during the trial period and beyond.'

Haha there's always someone to make up rumours

James wrote:Haha there's always someone to make up rumours

Wishful thinking more like.