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Tony Polson[_2_]

wrote:
On Tue, 05 May 2009 19:53:54 +0100, Tony Polson
wrote:

But I think the application of NSE livery to the IOW trains was
beautifully done, inside and out, and overall they were a credit to BR.

Yes they were very smart following the conversion and I think many
non enthusiast travelers would have been surprised to find how old
they really were.

Indeed. I recall reading that the cost of refurbishment was high and
that the budget was considerably exceeded. There was certainly a lot of
new hardwood in there and that cannot have been cheap.

Twas getting for nearly the best part of 20 years
ago though and time and sea air must be having an effect. The car was
in for an MOT last month and rather than wait around I nipped over to
the Island to pass the time and see the stock for the first time since
it has gone back to red. To be honest I was slightly under whelmed,
much as I was when I popped down to Lymington in the Autumn and
traveled on the slam door stock. The enthusiast side of me
appreciated the efforts made by those who have kept these trains
reasonably presentable but I found myself asking the question ,Would I
want to travel on this bone shaker everyday to go to work. The answer
was no .

It's inevitable, Gordon. These trains are around 70 years old now and
there's a limit to what can be done to keep them looking good.

Time is catching up with them, fortunately a lot of the
passengers are on holiday and riding an old train is part of it . The
IOW of course has loading gauge issues but I can't help thinking that
if it was an Island off say Germany then some modern trams would have
been adapted by now. Something like Docklands stock would enable
lighter track to be used as well and admittedly I am guessing here
possibly use less electric.

The cost of new or newish trams would be several orders of magnitude
more than could be justified. That would make it all too easy to
justify cutting the line short to make it a pier shuttle service only.

Perhaps some more recent Tube stock could be purchased instead? The
Victoria Line stock is being replaced. I know its alloy construction
would be less than ideal but perhaps some high tech corrosion protection
could be applied? Using old rolling stock on the Island is in keeping
with the long established tradition of using secondhand stock from the
mainland.