Tangy's Rail Brainbenders VII

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tangy
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Re: Tangy's Rail Brainbenders VII

Post by tangy »

Since when has an electric loco had an engine?!
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Starkey7
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Re: Tangy's Rail Brainbenders VII

Post by Starkey7 »

An engine is a loco.
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Re: Tangy's Rail Brainbenders VII

Post by tubeguru »

tangy wrote:Since when has an electric loco had an engine?!
Would it surprise anyone to learn that an HST power car has an engine purely to generate electricity?
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al
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Re: Tangy's Rail Brainbenders VII

Post by al »

No.
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Doesn't any more.
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dudey
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Re: Tangy's Rail Brainbenders VII

Post by dudey »

tubeguru wrote:
tangy wrote:Since when has an electric loco had an engine?!
Would it surprise anyone to learn that an HST power car has an engine purely to generate electricity?
I actually have a question about HST's. It may seem a little silly....

Do they store enough fuel in the tank for a whole day of running? Because you never see them being refueled, so this must surely only happen overnight in the Traincare depot?
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tangy
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Re: Tangy's Rail Brainbenders VII

Post by tangy »

A HST power car fuel tank can hold 4,500 litres of diesel, so thats 9,000 litres per set!!
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Re: Tangy's Rail Brainbenders VII

Post by tubeguru »

dudey wrote:
tubeguru wrote:
tangy wrote:Since when has an electric loco had an engine?!
Would it surprise anyone to learn that an HST power car has an engine purely to generate electricity?
I actually have a question about HST's. It may seem a little silly....

Do they store enough fuel in the tank for a whole day of running? Because you never see them being refueled, so this must surely only happen overnight in the Traincare depot?
Where would you expect to see them being fuelled if not at the depot?

This is a funny question, because it doesn't work as simply as fuelling one up at the start of the day and then letting it run round, using all the fuel up. Most HSTs are on one of the main depots (Old Oak, St. Philip's Marsh, Laira, Landore) overnight (the set that is stabled at Hereford is an exception), and on their arrival they would be fuelled and then stored ready for departure next day.

However, not every set is fuelled overnight. For whatever the logistical reasons are, some sets come in from service late at night and stay on the road they arrive on before going out next morning without being moved to the fuelling roads. Furthermore, it is not the case that every set goes out in the morning and then stays out all day before returning to a depot at night.

There are plenty of sets that Paddington drivers take to the Oak during the day, and there are plenty coming off. A quick look through the current Paddington diagrams reveals that the sets off the following services go to the Oak on arrival at Paddington: (in the order I came across them):

06.20 ex Weston-super-Mare
16.57 ex Plymouth
12.30 ex Bristol TM
18.49 ex Worcester SH
19.29 ex Swansea
21.29 ex Taunton
20.29 ex Swansea
07.40 ex Paignton
18.34 ex Cheltenham Spa
06.08 ex Westbury
06.43 ex Hereford (this is the one that is stabled at Hereford overnight)
04.58 ex Swansea
05.46 ex Exeter SD
10.01 ex Oxford
10.31 ex Cheltenham Spa
17.39 ex Penzance
05.58 ex Swansea
07.29 ex Cheltenham Spa
09.28 ex Swansea
05.53 ex Cheltenham Spa

These are the sets that come off the Oak (some of which will have arrived above):

16.22 to Oxford
07.00 to Bristol TM
15.45 to Swansea
05.30 to Swansea
06.30 to Bristol TM
17.36 to Paignton
03.39 ECS to Frome to form 06.07 to Paddington
06.45 to Swansea
04.30 ECS to Oxford to form 05.59 to Paddington
06.20 to Oxford
12.19 to Taunton
05.44 ECS to Oxford to form 07.33 to Paddington
16.00 to Bristol TM
12.45 to Swansea
07.06 to Paington
13.48 to Cheltenham Spa
15.22 to Oxford
17.50 to Worcester SH

In addition to this, there is one set which comes off the Oak at 15.37, forms the 17.06 to Westbury, the 19.17 back, and then goes straight back to the Oak at 21.27!

The above is just what goes on with the Oak. The other depots no doubt have similar arrangements for sets during the day. The whole operation, if one could see it in one go, would be quite a complex mess of sets coming out, going somewhere, going to another depot, coming off, going somewhere and so on.

Incidentally, an HST must have at least 3/4 of a tank of fuel (1,500 gallons) on each power car to be allowed out into service.
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