"Basil Jet" wrote in message
...
On 23/04/2019 21:55, Recliner wrote:
wrote:
On Tuesday, 23 April 2019 21:09:03 UTC+1, Recliner wrote:
wrote:
230004 entered service on the Bletchley - Bedford line today and here
are
a couple of shots of it at Millbrook this evening after a tip-off:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/605390...posted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/605390...posted-public/

What do they sound like? A DMU or four Transit vans going past?

Just a low purring noise.

That's encouraging — they should be pretty quiet inside.

Geoff Marshall's video...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntSn5_2TWcM

Interesting that they've kept the sideways seats and the large amount of
standing room between them, which are more appropriate for a service with a
large number of closely-spaced stations (London Underground style) and
haven't converted *both* carriages to transverse 2+2 seating. Good that
there are some high-backed seats; shame that they are not all like that.

Despite the conversion, they still look and feel like tube trains, as far as
I can gather from Geoff's video. They still sound like tube trains, due to
the characteristic noise of the traction motors (obviously overlaid with the
throb of a diesel engine to generate the power).

I see that the fuel consumption is a lot less than for a Pacer:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_230 says "Vivarail has
claimed that the fuel consumption is roughly 0.5 litre per car per mile;
this is about half the fuel consumption of a Pacer."

I wonder what the ride is like compared with a) a Pacer, with its lack of
swivelling bogies, b) a Sprinter 158 or a 185. Let's hope it doesn't have
the crap ride of the 455s that I used to endure on the Waterloo-Bracknell
line - they are arguably even worse than Pacers (discuss!).