Diesel v Electric Trains

[Chrisgr31]

Having spent another morning sitting on a diesel train which couldn't go anywhere because all the the electric trains in front of it had got stuck in the snow I thought I'd email Southern Railways and suggest that de-electrify the ast Grinstead Line and return it to diesel operation!

On the Uckfield line we have these lovely trains http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_17... whilst on the East Grinstead line they have these http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_37...

So what is the cost per mile of running each time of train? Which is cheaper? After all if the diesels cost a lot more to run there is no hope!

[Chrisgr31]

grumpyscot said:

Ross1988 said:

I have no idea why the electric trains would get stuck in comparison to a diesel, maybe the diesel locos weigh more and get more traction?

Pretty good guess. Diesels are heavier, hence better traction. Even better were the old steam trains - which also had sand boxes above the driving wheels to avoid slip on the rails, and were, basically, over double the weight of a diesel.. Which is why in the old days, trains continued to run despite the snow! They simply battered their way through.

I am not sure why the electric trains got stuck. We were told they had broken down, but in Kent and Sussex the biggest issue with electric trains appears to be the pick up from the 3rd rail. Ice forms on the 3rd rail, which insulates it, thereby stopping the pickup working bringing the train to an immediate halt.

As regards passenger comfort mentioned by someone else in the thread our diesels are definitely more comfortable than the electric trains running to East Grinstead.

[Chrisgr31]

andye30m3 said:

I was stuck on the 7.42 train from crowborough to London Bridge, I took around 3.5-4 hours to get into London because of the broken down electric trains further up the line. Which meant I missed the train I was supposed to to be on up to Newark and two or three after. Another slightly embarrassing day of getting sod all done at work due to snow.

There really wasn't very much snow about and it was very disappointing it was enough to cause a problem on the railway.

Getting home was also fun as Southern rail then seamed to run hardly any service out of London Bridge, Know one had a clue what was going on.

Thats the one I was on as well! The good news is that those on some of the East Grinstead line trains took even longer. Oh and the 8.15 out of Crowborough overtook us between East Croydon and London Bridge! It went up the slow line whilst we went up the fast line and it went past us just after Millwall football ground!

I caught the 18:08 or whatever it is out of London Bridge as per normal. Was a bit late in and left a few minutes late, and was only 4 coaches long, but it was on-timeish!