From Newsgroup: uk.railway

On 02/01/2026 18:10, Sam Wilson wrote:

Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:

Roland Perry <roland@perry.uk> wrote:

In message <mrj4teFp7n7U1@mid.individual.net>, at 23:18:04 on Tue, 30
Dec 2025, Robert <monstoor@spammedia.com> remarked:

On 30/12/2025 09:10, Roland Perry wrote:

Because for the next 12months (at least) it will be operated by MK3
stock which doesn't have SDO.
The station can accommodate 5-car trains, but the 'new' ones are
6-car.

I take it the obvious idea of simply removing a coach is not the solution? >>>

A lot of modern multiple units are in effectively fixed formations, and
you wouldn't want to take one coach off a whole fleet just so one train
can stop at one station.

Chiltern are not running multiple units, they're running LHCS. They *could* >> take one coach out of the train if they wanted. But the operational
headaches of doing that make it not worth their while. That's also why
trains of Mk3/Mk4 coaches have been de-facto fixed formation for a long time >> now.

Chiltern have LHCS+DVT, donrCOt they? Makes it even less trivial to change the formation.

My wagon on the train from C|ompulung Moldovenesc had bust heating
yesterday afternoon, which was not great given it was bloody freezing in
a blizzard. But the train manager was at pains to let me know they
would be attaching an extra wagon at Suceava to substitute (last-minute
coach changes get a "bis" on the end, so from Suceava the train was
going to run with coaches 1, 2, 3, 4 (the originals) and 4bis).

Which is a nice illustration of the flexibility of LHCS. On the other
hand, since I was only travelling as far as Suceava anyway, not so
helpful...
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From Newsgroup: uk.railway


Clank <clank75@googlemail.com> posted:

On 02/01/2026 18:10, Sam Wilson wrote:

Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:

Roland Perry <roland@perry.uk> wrote:

In message <mrj4teFp7n7U1@mid.individual.net>, at 23:18:04 on Tue, 30
Dec 2025, Robert <monstoor@spammedia.com> remarked:

On 30/12/2025 09:10, Roland Perry wrote:

Because for the next 12months (at least) it will be operated by MK3 >>>>> stock which doesn't have SDO.
The station can accommodate 5-car trains, but the 'new' ones are
6-car.

I take it the obvious idea of simply removing a coach is not the solution?

A lot of modern multiple units are in effectively fixed formations, and >>> you wouldn't want to take one coach off a whole fleet just so one train >>> can stop at one station.

Chiltern are not running multiple units, they're running LHCS. They *could*
take one coach out of the train if they wanted. But the operational
headaches of doing that make it not worth their while. That's also why
trains of Mk3/Mk4 coaches have been de-facto fixed formation for a long time
now.

Chiltern have LHCS+DVT, donrCOt they? Makes it even less trivial to change the formation.

My wagon on the train from C|ompulung Moldovenesc had bust heating
yesterday afternoon, which was not great given it was bloody freezing in
a blizzard. But the train manager was at pains to let me know they
would be attaching an extra wagon at Suceava to substitute (last-minute coach changes get a "bis" on the end, so from Suceava the train was
going to run with coaches 1, 2, 3, 4 (the originals) and 4bis).

Which is a nice illustration of the flexibility of LHCS. On the other
hand, since I was only travelling as far as Suceava anyway, not so helpful...

And no seats available in carriages 1 - 3? Or available but too hard?
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.railway

On 05/01/2026 16:46, Ulf Kutzner wrote:

Clank <clank75@googlemail.com> posted:

On 02/01/2026 18:10, Sam Wilson wrote:

Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:

Roland Perry <roland@perry.uk> wrote:

In message <mrj4teFp7n7U1@mid.individual.net>, at 23:18:04 on Tue, 30 >>>>> Dec 2025, Robert <monstoor@spammedia.com> remarked:

On 30/12/2025 09:10, Roland Perry wrote:

Because for the next 12months (at least) it will be operated by MK3 >>>>>>> stock which doesn't have SDO.
The station can accommodate 5-car trains, but the 'new' ones are >>>>>>> 6-car.

I take it the obvious idea of simply removing a coach is not the solution?

A lot of modern multiple units are in effectively fixed formations, and >>>>> you wouldn't want to take one coach off a whole fleet just so one train >>>>> can stop at one station.

Chiltern are not running multiple units, they're running LHCS. They *could*
take one coach out of the train if they wanted. But the operational
headaches of doing that make it not worth their while. That's also why >>>> trains of Mk3/Mk4 coaches have been de-facto fixed formation for a long time
now.

Chiltern have LHCS+DVT, donrCOt they? Makes it even less trivial to change >>> the formation.

My wagon on the train from C|ompulung Moldovenesc had bust heating
yesterday afternoon, which was not great given it was bloody freezing in
a blizzard. But the train manager was at pains to let me know they
would be attaching an extra wagon at Suceava to substitute (last-minute
coach changes get a "bis" on the end, so from Suceava the train was
going to run with coaches 1, 2, 3, 4 (the originals) and 4bis).

Which is a nice illustration of the flexibility of LHCS. On the other
hand, since I was only travelling as far as Suceava anyway, not so
helpful...

And no seats available in carriages 1 - 3? Or available but too hard?

(Actually, it was wagon 3 that had the bust heating - 4bis was the
substitute for 3.) No seats available - jam-packed with everyone
travelling back from family/mountain breaks at the end of the NY holiday.

On the bright side, the train was still the smart choice - the roads
were basically rolling traffic jams all day I gather.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2