Thursday 9 October 2008

The class 185, what were First TransPennine Express thinking?

Ok, so the Class 185 "Pennine" Siemens Desiro used by First TransPennine Express is more modern than the BREL built Class 158s they replaced, however it's not without it's faults, and there are a lot

1) This DMU uses Cummins QSK19 engines that are oil and fuel thirsty, though First were reported to be working on this issue
2) the same mentioned engines can be heard in the train, unlike the 158 before it
3) the doors are not at the end of the carriages and there are no vestibules, annoying if you want to make a phone call out of the way of everyine else
4) less seats, therefore overcrowding becomes an issue and makes things hard for passengers and train staff
5) The central door locking controls are located in two places in the train so if the guard is in the wrong part of the train it can take 30 seconds to get the doors unlocked and open
6) These trains, because of a lot of the above, and several other things, make them unsuited to the job they do, the trans-Pennine routes, and even up to Scotland now, who'd want to be sat onboard this train for near 3 hours? get me a class 158 any day, or an upgrade to first class to show willing

Last time I was on one of these was last Saturday, boy did it suck

Just get Hornby Hobbies to make a 00 gauge model of it, I'll buy 2 and crash them together to show my hatred of the train, and the only thing ever good that train did for me was get me out of harm's way twice

So to First TransPennine Express, get some better rolling stock, the 185s are only good as commuter trains!