Technically - Yes : Usefully - Probably Not
There has been much excitement in the railway enthusiast world about the 200th Anniversary of the passenger railway in the UK. Actually it is very difficult indeed to define what "200 Years of Train Travel" actually means and fbb will tackle this ...
... in two special weekend variety blogs all about celebrating the variety of our railway heritage. For today, a double 200 celebration is worthy of note, and some explanation.
Much has been written about First Great Western's 200 mile journey on a classo 230 battery train. As usual the press has had a field day of inaccuracy and misinformation.
Some articles have suggested that the train ran for 200 miles on one battery.
fbb had a friend whose dad had a huge torch powered by one of these. Said friend was convinced that the beam was so bright and so long that you would be able to see it from the moon. Whilst the science of optics might agree in theory, the intensity of the beam might be less than impressive at that distance!
In fact the trains completed its journey on one charge filling up SIX huge battery stacks. fbb suspects that the charging will not have taken place via the little ramp at Greenford station. Here, after every round trip, a shoe drops down ...
... makes contact with a charging ramp between the tracks ...
... and dribbles a bit of the electric into the batteries during the 3.5 minute turn round.
Again, fbb guesses that "the lads" at the depot will have been squeezing every last possible amp into the cells to make sure the 200 mile trip will work.
Then some on-line articles are less than au fait with UK Geography. Several tell their readers that the train ran from Reading to Paddington, then Paddington to Oxford and then back to Reading.
In fact it ran:-
40 miles Reading to Paddingon
60 miles Paddington to Oxford
60 miles Oxford to Paddington
40 miles Paddington to Reading
fbb is fairly confident that the figures add up to 200 miles; after all he did get "O" level maths!
The whole project took 20 hours from start to finish, so on line "mockers" were quick to point out that the average speed was 10 mph. Mathematically, that is correct; but the project was not a speed trial! It was about beating the previous record for distance for a battery train on one charge with no top up..
There was jubilation when the previous record distance of 139 miles (?) was passed.
The gang peering at computer screens were very jubilant.
Geoff Marshall has produced a superb video about the record run, but he says nothing about the speeds at which he travelled. One of his shots shows a screen showing the work of the the train timing and recording team ...
... but fbb is lacking in expertise as to what this is actually showing.
But there was certainly no rush!
Oxford marked 100 miles and thus half way to the total.
Geoff Marshall was accompanied journalistically by Tim Dunn ...
... but sadly, no Siddy Holloway and no tiles for her to adulate!
As it was pitch black outside, there wasn't much to see and you could sense that the "civvies" were beginning to flag. Arrival at Paddington was per Platform 14 ...
... where the train was correctly indicated by the platform electronics!
The Hi-vis Heroes were again able to enjoy a replica milepost ...
... and Tim and an absent Siddy could enjoy a passing underground train.
Rosy fingered dawn was apparent ...
... as the mileage ticked through the 200.
Actually it was a very grey dawn as the unit slid quietly to a stop in its siding, clocking in at 201 miles.
There was 22.7% of battery power spare on completion of the run ...
... with one of the six batteries completely unused (dial far right). Again, if fbb's O Level Maths holds out, that works out at ...
... pi divided by the reciprocal of e multiplied by the square root of i and deducting the number you first thought of ...
... about another 70 miles before the train grinds to a power deprived halt and needs rescuing by a diesel!
Maybe Tim and Geoff could get out and push! Or pull?
Hmmm. Maybe not?
fbb does not think that First GWR seriously believes that the 200 miles was a practical achievement; but it does give a hint as to the usefulness of battery power for short runs; tacked on to third rail or overhead power for cheap extensions of electric running or used on short branch lines with "opportunity charging" at each end.
But it was a splendid stunt!
ALSO COMING UP - The apparently duplicate tank wagons have arrived at fbb mansions. Now, how exciting is that?
Not very!
Next Variety blog : Saturday 30 Aug
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Oh FBB!!! Please apply a logic check prior to posting!!
ReplyDeleteIn the interest of full (and correct) disclosure . . . on 20 August 2025 (from Real Time Trains and actual times and miles):
3Q80 0011 Reading Traincare - 0111 Paddington (37miles).
3Q81 0116 Paddington - 0254 Oxford (63 miles).
3Q82 0303 Oxford - 0456 Paddington (63 miles).
3Q83 0511 Paddington - 0625 Reading Traincare (37 miles).
I reckon that IS 200 miles in 6 hours 13 minutes (or 5 hours 49 minutes moving).
Some idiot posted the 20 hours comment on twitter (or whatever it's called now). Believe nothing on there!!
More to the point . . . the technology DOES seem to work . . . and usage on Thames Valley branch lines, with charging at one end, now looks possible. Whether there is anyone at DaFT prepared to say "go ahead" without another sheaf of trials and consultants reports is unknown . . . but not likely.
Och well . . .
GWR is now preparing a business case to acquire new trains using this technology, to replace life-expired diesel units on many of their branch lines. New stock would also be low-floor and fully accessible, so with minor modifications to stations where needed this would be a major advance in making the rail network accessible to all.
ReplyDeleteA guy on my team put the schedules together for that run. Safe to say that we do not intend to ever use them on the main line!
ReplyDelete