The Class 175 Chronicle - Part 1
October 1999 - February 2000

See Part 2 for later news
 

Return to the Class 175 main page

Compiled by Charlie Hulme with much help from Tony Miles, John Murray, Tim Rogers, Dave Sallery , Tony Flusk,  Rod Fairley, Rob York Tony Johnson and Alstom PLC..

Latest entries first:

 February 2000 - January 2000 - December 1999 - November 1999 - October 1999


February 2000

25 February:

Special thanks to Alstom for supplying us with the following status report:

A passenger-carrying certificate has granted on 24 February by Railtrack to Class 175. When they actually enter regular passenger service depends on a anumber of matters, and has yet to be decided by First North Western.

Chester depot currenely houses 5 trainsets  175 001 to 005. 175 006 will be going to Chester in the last week of February. 175 102 is in the Alstom works, is meant to go to Chester the last week of February.
The first 3-car set, 175101 remains at Kidderminster undergoing tests.

Note: our previous report that 175 101 was at Chester was incorrect. Apologies.

Other news is that Railtrack have now cleared the whole route from Crewe to Holyhead for 175 operation, the problems at Conwy having been dealth with, and they have been requested to look next at the line to Blackpool, which is favoured for FNW staff familiarisation runs.


21 February:

A very interesting article about the 175s is to be found on the Locowatch website.

Report from Tony Johnson:

Mon. 14 Feb 175 002 arrived Altrincham just after 16.00 and returned to Chester almost immediately.
Tues. 15 Feb  175 004 arrived Altrincham at 16.05.
Wed 16 Feb 175 004 arrived at 13 04  and left at 13.20
Thurs. 17 Feb 175 002 arrived 14.05 and departed 14.14;175 004 arrived 15.02 and returned 15.17

At least one driver thinks the units are excellent from a driving viewpoint. Problems seem to be related to fault indicators being too sensitive rather than the units breaking down.


10 February:

Tony Johnson writes: 'After a very quiet week today, Thursday 10 Feb, the 175 crew training moved up a gear. 175 002 made its first (?) trip to Altrincham  arriving at 13.20 and departing at 13.32 back to Chester. This was followed at 16.03 when 175 004 arrived, departing at 16.10. The fifth unit is therefore 175 004 and not a three car set.  It does however sport the revised, blue numbers mentioned below.'

Summary of situation on 10 February: Chester depot 175 001-005. Kidderminster (?) 175 101.
(Total batch on order is 175 001-11 and 175 101-116.)

8 February:

David Franks, Managing Director of First North Western, poses for  a Manchester Metro News 'new approach' picture with one of his new trains. As usual the sub-editor reaches into his cliché drawer for a headline.

6 February:

The Chester depot passes into the hands of Alstom next week in the second week of February as they will operate it as part of the "design, build and maintain" contract for the 175s. Their name is now on all the signs at the depot.

Units 4 and onwards have the numbers in dark blue (as on the fairings) in the same place as units 1 to 3. Alstom have noted our comments on this site (!) and point out, via Tony Miles,  that the first three units were pre-production and the plan was always to number in "legible" colours.

175 005 has been in use for testing and training in the first week of February for the first time, all previous such runs having featured 175 003, which was however reported to have failed on 2 February. Unconfirmed reports have been received of problems with braking on the new trains, and also with the horn.

Five units are at Chester, we are told: 175 001-3/5 for certain. Is the fifth one 004, or perhaps three-car set 102 as reported by Railway Magazine? Comments welcome. When your compiler visited Chester on 5 February no 175s were on view at all ... but i'm in no hurry, they'll be around for a while!


January 2000

28 January:

175 002 at Chester depot, 28 January. 507 017 passes by. Picture John Murray

175 002 has now arrived at Chester from Old Dalby, hauled by 56 110 as train 5Z17 on 27 January,  so there are now three two-car units on shed, 001-003. Three-car unit 175 101 is the only other train which has run; this has been used for testing on the Severn Valley line and will need its interior fitting out before it can enter service.  Test/driver training runs continue, but a certificate to carry passengers has not yet been gained. Although many paths for these test runs have been allocated, reports show that no more than one run per day to Altrincham, then Llandudno Junction and back, has been occurring, and that only 175 003 has been used so far.

A number of clearance problems have been mentioned on the grapevine, but the principal confirmed one is the up line tube of the Conwy tubular bridge, where cutting back some of the stonework should improve matters.

Derick Norman peeked into the cab of car 79703 at Chester on 20 January. The driver looks to be well-protected against collisions, and the lack of a corridor connection gives plenty of space, but will a 4-car train need two conductors and two buffet trolleys?

17 January:

Tony Flusk writes: Last night (16 January) delivery of another new unit 5Z19 Washwood Heath - Chester TMD only got as far as Walsall, failed and returned to the works.

The front end of 175 003 showing the fairing removed, and the details of the Scharfenberg coupler, also used by Eurostar and Manchester Metrolink, but not by any other FNW trains ... the unit numbers are very hard to read, being white on yellow.  Why not put them on the blue area below, or if this is removable and may get swapped around, why not just use black numbers instead of white? Picture by John Murray

15 January:

The following news received from official sources, courtesy of Tony Miles:

Not all crew training paths being used and some trains are running early. (On Friday the 10.30 from Altrincham left at 10.05!)  More units are booked for delivery any day now - Alstom tell me it is by the 17th.

Fragonset rescue loco is now at Chester (47 703) stabled there Thursday & Friday.

The bird strike to 003 was a "high speed pigeon" According to Alstom. They were surprised at the damage caused and are modifying the fairings accordingly.

The floor of 175 101 was damaged by the "weights" laid out to represent passengers. I was surprised they had used small weights along the edge of the floor, as this isn't typical loading. Anyway the flooring was a lightweight type and production units will be fitted with stronger flooring in heavy load areas. 101 was the one fitted with test gear etc. and has to be retro fitted with proper fittings anyway.
 

Driver training got under way on 13 January, with 175 003 making runs from Chester to Altrincham and Llandudno Junction, although several paths had been allocated by Railtrack, only the morning ones were used. Rob York's pictures were taken on 14 January at Chester.  Rob writes: '175 003 arrived from the Altrincham direction and proceeded into a bay platform at 11:01. I noticed that all the plastic covers were on the seats including the drivers seats at both ends. Two Alstom chaps were on board with a laptop with connection wire coming down from the ceiling.'


January 11

Monday 10th January: delivery of 175 001 from the Severn Valley Railway to Chester depot

The plan was:

0Z11 0805 Crewe - Kidderminster Light engine (47 775)
7Z11 1045 Kidderminster - Chester  engine + 175001

but a broken rail on the Chester-Crewe line intervened (see the North Wales Coast notice board) and the ensemble spent the night at Crewe Electric Depot, arriving at Chester at 12.30 on Tuesday 11 January.


 

Additional units will be arriving shortly, as the Alstom works is getting full!

Starting Thursday 13 January (as required / as available) crew training runs on the following routes (at various times)

Chester - Altrincham (Monday - Friday)
Crewe - Llandudno Jn (Monday - Saturday)
Chester - Stafford

175 003 is believed to have suffered damage to its front fairing during test runs; it was seen being inspected outside Chester depot on 7 January.  This was, according to Railtrack, caused by a 'bird strike.' Daytime test running was originally planned to start on 11 January, but Railtrack required a standby locomotive in case of problems, so a Fragonset Railways locomotive will be on standby as 'Thunderbird' at Stafford. It seems that the 175s cannot be allowed to rescue each other until after they have passed their tests!

As can be seen from the pictures, the front end below platform level does project a long way forward and is quite wide. The sharply-curved platforms at Earlestown on the route used by North Wales - Manchester services are a problem, and we have also heard of clearance problems in Conwy Tunnel. Rumours are also about that the floor of one unit has been damaged by a load of sandbags used to simulate passenger loading: this is unconfirmed.



December 1999

175 003 was delivered to Chester depot in train 5Z11, 20.20 Washwood Heath sidings to Chester, on 23 December 1999, arriving about 23.30.  At the beginning of January, overnight nets runs began between Chester, Crewe and Stafford.

The new trains have been given an Interim certificate by Railtrack, which allows non-passenger running only for the present, to the disappointment of First North Western who had hoped to have one in service on 4 January. An article by Tony Miles in the February issue of Rail Express refers to a dispute between The Railway Inspectorate and Railtrack about the clearance between the obstacle deflector and the rails. The cars were also found to swing outside the permitted structure gauge when curving at speed, but this can be remedied by modifications to the suspension.


November 1999

Completed at the end of November 1999 and opened by the Lord Mayor of Chester is the new depot on the site of Chester's old steam depot which will maintain the new units.

Late in November, 175 002 was taken to the Old Dalby Test Track near Derby: a picture taken on 26 November can be found on Dave Coxon's very interesting Old Dalby website. (Go to the 'SERCO' section.) Test running at up to 90 mph can take place here.


October 1999

The first two units were (Autumn 1999) currently based at the Kidderminster depot of the preserved Severn Valley Railway. Testing at up to 50 mph has been taking place on this line during the night, and the Chiltern line towards London is in use for testing at higher speeds.

These views show two-car 175 001 (left) and three-car 175 101 (right.) The numbers are in white on the yellow front, so are very hard to discern. 175 101 has been at Kidderminster since August, fitted with test instrumentation, and has clocked up a few thousand miles of test running.

The first 2-car set, 175 001, is fully fitted-out with seating, and gives us a first glimpse of the interior style, which uses FirstGroup house colours. As can be seen, the layout looks very good, with comfortable seats which align with the windows in both face-to-face and face-to-back areas.  The next complete train is at the Old Dalby test track: it was planned to deliver it to Newton Heath depot, but the SVR-based units have failed to obtain certification. It is believed that main-line test running has been suspended, perhaps because the units have been found to be marginally outside the permitted structure gauge.

The view below shows the cab of 175 001: quite a difference from a Class 37! However, style and comfort of the driver has been achieved at the expense of a through corridor connection for use when units are coupled together. Another odd feature is the use of Scharfenberg couplers which will not allow multiple working with any of the company's other railcar types.

The new trains - and Tony Miles - were featured on BBC Look North West at 18.30 on Tuesday November 30.


Appendix to the North Wales Coast Railway Noticeboard