Northern Class 195

My neighbour, a Train Conductor with "Northern", reports that numerous Class 195's have been withdrawn from service. The cause is cracked bodywork over the bogies. Class 331's are also being checked, so far with no problems found. Employees, of course, have resorted to the alternative description for "CAF", hardly surprising I suppose.

 

Whaaaat????? They have not seen two years service yet!

 

Yaw damper bracket detached from the solebar, complete with a chunk of aforementioned solebar still attached. The normal way of fixing the brackets is to bolt them to a slab of metal on the underframe. CAF have used bolts hanging down in slots in the underframe, which wouldn't appear to be strong enough to withstand the forces.

 

Some serious and expensive modification/certification required?

 

I understood CAF stood for Cheap As F***

 

Could that bracket drop down enough to catch track side equipment, or heaven forbid the trackwork itself, is it designed not to get that low???

 

Aaah, never anything like this with our Pacers (I liked 'em), they'd run forever, leaking like sieves, bouncing along like kangaroos.

 

I believe that is now a semi official industry name for the firm.


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There's no obvious witness marks on the damper or the hanger. And no obvious pull/tearing marks where it came away.

Does anyone have the number for the warranty department...?

 

By reputation, I think it may be 0999 763 633.

 

Shame, I must say I was really impressed with the ride on the two occasions I've had to use them... I loved the sound of the gearchanges and the fact the engines weren't revving their knackers off, it was a welcome change from the din made by Sprinters on starting from stations. The overall experience sounded like riding in a nicely-new bus or coach, the acceleration was superb too.
Looks like something is seriously not coping with life in the running gear department though... Maybe Preservation Lines could lease their Pacers back to Northern for an exorbitant fee to generate some income?

Richard.