"Tom Anderson" wrote in message
rth.li...
On Sun, 8 Nov 2009, Peter Masson wrote:

"Tom Anderson" wrote

Does it really make sense to have a dedicated maintenance facility just
for
this one tram? Or when we say 'depot', do we mean 'somewhere to sleep at
night plus somewhere for light maintenance eg changing the light bulbs',
with heavy work being done at an existing major depot reached by rail or
low-loader?

We have the precedent of the Stourbridge PPMs, which have their own
little shed at the Junction. For that matter, Waterloo (W&C) manages all
the maintenance for the W&C trains, except when, after around 15 years,
they had to be craned out and taken away for overhaul. And Ryde shed
copes with maintaining the 70-year-old Island Line stock.

Waterloo and Ryde lack rail connections - or easy low-loader access - to
the rest of the network, so there, sending trains away for regular work
would be exorbitantly expensive, hence having their own little heavy
workshops makes sense.

I'm afraid i'm not familiar with Stourbridge, its trains, or its acronyms.
Although on googling, i find this is one of those clever Parry People
Mover things. My questions there are (a) is all maintenance handled at the
local depot, or do they ever go elsewhere,

They seem to go back to Parry for warranty "adjustments", but AIUI
refuelling and minor servicing do occur at their little shed.

(b) are the vehicles so
different to normal trains that there would be no cost saving in
co-locating their workshop with a normal train depot

Probably, more to the point, as the cars do not conform AIUI to railway
vehicle standards, they cannot be operated as a normal working over the
network. Access to the mainline is indirect.

The design of several aspects of the vehicles, especially the electrics, was
changed to conform to rail industry practice rather than bus industry
practice - so that attention could be given if needed at rail depots.


and (c) is this at
all an artifact of this being a bit of an experimental pilot scheme?

In part, yes.


tom

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