Recreated units (Class 315s)

[Chris W]

As several replacement cl 345 units have been in use for months, this obviously means that some preceding cl 315s units will have been withdrawn from passenger use. Some cars within units will be in better condition than others, having developed defects, so my pondering relates to whether some cars have been swapped and renumbered into units that remain in service.

Evidence

Having used the class 315s for the past 11+ years, the car numbers have always been mounted very neatly, whether opearted by TfL or a privately owned operator. However in recent weeks I've noted at several cars with poorly and uneven applied numbers.

Here's one example from 315 837, captured by myself at Liverpool Street in the past week.

WP_20180613_17_37_59_Rich by Chris Westcott, on Flickr

Are cars being swapped around and moved into units (being renumbered) to replace others that are defective ?

[domh245]

If vehicles were being swapped between the units I don't think they would be going to the effort of renumbering vehicles - they'd just update the formation information, it's what they do on the rest of the national network. I think that wonkily applied numbers are more likely down to poor workmanship in the workshop rather than vehicle swapping - possibly as a result of graffiti attacks?

[Chris W]

Jun 16, 2018 20:15:27 GMT domh245 said:

.... possibly as a result of graffiti attacks?

As far as I'm aware, there hasn't been many/any graffiti incidents recently on TfL Rail that I've noted...

However the same couldn't be said for Abellio Cl 321s

[norbitonflyer]

With very few exceptions carriages keep their numbers for life on national rail (renumbering when a car is swapped is common practice on LU though). There are at least two ex-dmu cars running around with their original dmu-series numbers in SWR emus, and the opposite happened with the ex-emu driving trailers in the "Tadpole" demus.

More substantial conversions, such as the hauled stock converted into 4REP/4TC and class 319 emus, or the class 488 Gatwick Express stock, did justify a new number.

[silenthunter]

Which ex-DMU cars operate on SWR?

[domh245]

Jun 16, 2018 21:02:29 GMT silenthunter said:

Which ex-DMU cars operate on SWR?

There are a couple of 455s which had vehicles damaged in various accidents and had those damaged vehicles replaced by a couple of vehicles from the similar class 210.

(45)5912 has vehicle 67400 interloping in it as a TSO, in the rest of the class 455 fleet the TSOs are numbered in the 71xxx range. (45)5913 has vehicle 67301 in it as the MSO, which would normally be in the 62xxx range.

Both vehicles were out of 210002, the TSO having also been a TSO in it's past life, but 67301 used to be a driving vehicle and was extensively rebuilt.

[norbitonflyer]

The original TSO in 5912 was not damaged in an accident, but was used for experiments with plug doors. The modifications to the door apertures would have been difficult to reverse, so when the trials were over it was easier to source another vehicle to replace it, and 67400 was available. This vehicle can be recognised because 455/9s were built with continuous guttering running the length of the carriage, but this car has separate guttering over each doorway (as do the earlier subclasses of class 455).

67301 (originally a non-powered driving vehicle) was rebuilt as a powered non-driving vehicle using the undamaged end, and the electrical equipment, of the MSO from 5913, which had had a concrete mixer lorry dropped on it. On this vehicle, unlike 67400, the gutter line was modified to match the rest of the unit.

The class 210 carriages were originally numbered in the 60xxx series, and were renumbered in the 67xxx series at some point - possibly when the class 60 locomotives were introduced, or maybe when the vehicles were modified for use in the class 457 prototype (used to test the electrical equipment later used in the Networkers). But they kept the 67xxx numbers when incorporated in 455s, rather than taking the numbers of the vehicles they replaced.