Your opinions on current DMU's

[headshot119]

Well guys I thought it would be a nice idea to start a debate thread on DMU's, which ones do you love and hate and why, and any other general opinions.

To start us off

Class 158 -

Traveled on 158832 Arriva Trains unit, between Wrexham and Rhyl today. A nice interior and a nice acceleration rate once we got out of Chester. The only gripe I've got is the dam electric toilet doors, the thing wouldn't shut. Luckily between Wrexham and Chester we where running i multiple so a quick walk up the train to the other toilet. Also the interior lighting was a bit dim.

Class 175 -

Traveled on 175105, a three car Arriva unit in a rebranded livery. A really nice spacious interior with decent lighting, and the toilet door is hand operated so no problems there. Not that many table seats though, considering there supposed to be for long distance journeys.

So there we go add your opinions here.

[trainman]

So you went to a Real place Karl?

I have found the Class 158 somewhat noisy while very comfortable.
The Class 170's are extremely slow and noisy when pulling away, but then smooth runners.

[PTmodeller]

Virgin Voyagers, IMHO, loud, slighly claustrophobic but smooth and fast

[headshot119]

So you went to a Real place Karl?

And what do you mean by that.

[wobblybob]

TPE Class 185s: Comfortable seating, quiet (on the inside!), smooth ride and brisk acceleration. Drawbacks? A cluttered layout of luggage pens, bike racks, switch cabinets etc.

Class 158s: Seats are too low and too close together, narrow doorways and poor circulation areas at entrances. Some improvement in seating on the refubished units of SWT and Northern.

Class 170s: Noisy and cramped suburban-type trains all too often used on long-haul regional services. Have yet to travel on the XC refurbished units.

Voyagers: Uncomfortable seating and noisy. Saloon layout ill thought out, with luggage racks at windows and seats at window pillars! Airconditioning seems often to be set at 90°F! Good points? Brisk acceleration.

Meridians: Better seating than Voyagers, but have all the other gremlins, except airconditioning seems to work.

Adelantes: Spacious and airy layout, good acceleration.

Class 175s: Spacious and airy layout.

[m8internet]

Class 150 :
Cramped, uncomfortable, and restricted views

Class 156 :
Originally these units exceeded everyones expectations, capable of 90mph and so had to have restrictors to fitted to them!
Excellent views from most seats, although they are not as comfortable as the latest new units

Class 158 :
Even BR hated these units when they arrived, and caused no end of headaches and problems
Acceleration was outstanding from standstill to about 60mph, as a result there were minimal time savings on most timeables
They were a compromise at the time so that more frequent services with smaller units could be achieved

Class 170 :
A vast improvement on the Class 158, improving on acceleration at higher speed and an increased top speed, allowing even more time savings on inter-urban timetables
However, one lesson learnt from the Class 158 was that there was no advantage to having doors at the vestibule ends, and although this returned an almost commuter feel to the layout this was offset with more luxurious seating
Sadly these units suffer the same problems with the Class 158, with high capacity, wear and tear, and during introduction no of headaches and problems

Class 220/221 :
These units were a lot quieter than I expected for a DMU, although I have only travelled First Class on them
The power points are showing signs of wear and tear
The unit layout is not very customer friendly either as First Class customers need to walk through at least two coaches to get to the shop, although at-seat service is normally provided on most services during the week

HST :
Originally classified as a DMU, Class 253 and 254, this has to be the ultimate DMU, and remains to this day

[b308]

Interesting comment there m8, as 158s were designed as long distance inter city units hence the doors at either end which is standard i/c practice, though penny-pinching explains the same on the 153/156s! The 170s were designed as regional units which I feel suits them well - on journeys of up to 2 hours they are quite nice...

150s are commuter trains and as such are designed for that purpose alone - BR used them on long distance stuff (I remember going from Brum to Norwich on one - 5hrs!!!!) and they were ****! On short distance, high density work they are excellent.

[headshot119]

HST :
Originally classified as a DMU, Class 253 and 254, this has to be the ultimate DMU, and remains to this day

Amen

[Pedanticmongrel]

They are all nasty, I'll have a class 47/37/31 with MkII's anyday, in fact if you want to go and do the whole job, get steam back! DMU's are boring, especcially for model railways, you cannot do anything except go back and forth, you can't shunt, they look silly hauling trains. I had a bachmann 158, and I sold it because I never used it! There is just one exception to what i say, if you class a 125 as a DMU, I don't mind travelling on them, IF THEY HAVE THE PROPER INTERIOR!!! not any of this, cram more people in and make them uncomfortable and give them laptop plugs that don't work FGW crap!! lol At leason a 125 on a nice day you can forget the interior and spend the journey doing this, not melting in your own seat like on any other current DMU.

[m8internet]

They are all nasty, I'll have a class 47/37/31 with MkII's anyday, in fact if you want to go and do the whole job, get steam back!

None of those are DMUs, but at least you like HSTs
I worked on HSTs for about two years, however by that time they had been reclassified as Class 43 locos and Mark 3 trailers

We are now on the third generation of DMUs and these are pretty much an improvement on the plastic railway that was created towards the end of BR
It was a sad day when many of the loco hauled services were handed over to DMUs, but clearly a loco and just a handful of coaches was never going to make any money, even though the railway is primarily a public service
That's the problem with the duality and conflict between commercial operations and rail transport
Unless you can make the most of the capacity, resulting in most services operating to at least 80% capacity, then service cuts are inevitable

[Pedanticmongrel]

They are all nasty, I'll have a class 47/37/31 with MkII's anyday, in fact if you want to go and do the whole job, get steam back!

None of those are DMUs, but at least you like HSTs
I worked on HSTs for about two years, however by that time they had been reclassified as Class 43 locos and Mark 3 trailers

We are now on the third generation of DMUs and these are pretty much an improvement on the plastic railway that was created towards the end of BR
It was a sad day when many of the loco hauled services were handed over to DMUs, but clearly a loco and just a handful of coaches was never going to make any money, even though the railway is primarily a public service
That's the problem with the duality and conflict between commercial operations and rail transport
Unless you can make the most of the capacity, resulting in most services operating to at least 80% capacity, then service cuts are inevitable

I know they're not DMU's, thats what I'm saying is DMU's are nasty and boring, I want the loco hauled train that they replaced back, I don't get why they put DMU's on? take the 220/221 voyager for example, it replaced class 47 with MKII's, which may I add usually had enough seats, unlike the 220/221 which never do, and they are all sealed like a bag of crisps, so you choke to death on everyone else's second hand air, they could at least get the air conditioning to work/be set to a nice temperature!

[m8internet]

Several reasons why DMUs had to replace locos and coaches
Locos have quiet restrictive maintenance and operational requirements, when added with the different types of coaches, this means you need more than you are actually going to use to allow for this, and trains in the depot simply don't make money
Fleets need to be flexible, which locos and coaches are not
By having shorter more frequent services this gives more flexibility overall, however, this also means that at peak times there can be overcrowding issues
Locos are also more damaging to the rail tracks than DMUs

The introduction of the Voyagers didn't take changes in passenger demand into account, plus some of the factors already mentioned, as a result many routes had the same number of seats per hour but vastly more passengers than the trains could actually cope with

Sadly, DMUs are the way ahead and we are likely to see more loco hauled trains turned over to DMUs over the coming years
Not to mention the changeover from loco hauled trains to EMUs, like the Class 390

[davek]

We are now on the third generation of DMUs and these are pretty much an improvement on the plastic railway that was created towards the end of BR.

Very true, but I can't honestly say I like any particular modern unit. Suppose if push came to shove I'd have to go for a 444. The 220 + 221's always have a 'toilet' smell to them, although they are quick.

I still remember the 108s we had on the Gatwick-Reading line and the 'Thumpers'.

[f1_mw]

I can't believe noone has mentioned the good old class 142 Pacer - still in service everywhere I go in the North of England today! Uncomfortable and cramped, you do have to admit that they have stood the test of time, and every time they try to replace them on my line they come back due to 'technical faults'! At least they have character...

*coat > door > slam*

[PTmodeller]

Sadly, DMUs are the way ahead and we are likely to see more loco hauled trains turned over to DMUs over the coming years

You say that, but isn't IEP/HST 2 going to be push-Pull fixed trainsets?