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Slower than my last tilting train inaugural run and no tilt either – but plenty to smile about
It was with eager anticipation that I switched off the alarm clock and got straight out of bed on 16 December. ‘Have a lovely time', said Mrs F as I left the house and a lovely time I was going to have.
There was a spring in my step as I walked to the station because today was a jolly. Informed Sources was written for the month, ditto the Stealth Newsletter. Nothing needed to be done this side of Christmas and I was off for the inaugural return run of a Pendolino between London and Manchester .
Even better, to mark Modern Railways' 40 th anniversary Virgin had allocated us a First Class coach which would be filled with the Modern Railways team and as many chums from the industry as we could fit in.
Obviously, I had dressed for the event. Just 21 years ago, almost to the week, I had been on the inaugural Glasgow-London blast with the Advanced Passenger Train (APT). Time to get out my APT tie. And in honour of the train's builders my personalised Almost overalls were in the briefcase.
First of the Modern Railways team to arrive at Euston I found that Virgin had laid on a Modern Railways check-in desk, so it was on with the overalls, practice a flashing smile and pretend I was starring in ‘Airport' or ‘Airline'.
With all present and correct it was time to board Coach H. Compared with that December dawn 21 years ago, the first impression Pendolino was an order of magnitude better.
Then, I recall, my first three impressions were all unfavourable. In the vestibule the first thing you saw was an open toilet door. Next your nostrils were hit by the stench of ammonia – due to over enthusiastic capert cleaning. Finally, when I reached up to put something on the luggage rack the sharp edge of the seat pan pushed into your calves.
In Pendolino an excellent ambience and no pain as I put my coat and bag up on the rather small rack. I suspect that Pendolino will suffer from the same lack of luggage space as Voyager.
Whether the seat cushion sliding forward really counts as ‘reclining' is debatable. Certainly it is not very comfortable as you slide under the table. But upright was comfortable.
Switching out of jolly mode, a quick survey of the surroundings showed the table to be small but perfectly formed. The size meant that at a single seat facing, there wasn't really enough space beside the meal tray fr a notebook and pencils, let alone a camera.
But never mind the width, feel the rock solid quality. According to Informed Sources, they are the only units to have passed the new crashworthiness spec' which has to combine strength with flexibility so that your internal organs will survive contact under high deceleration in an accident.
There is also a neat table at the disabled seating position which folds up for access. If you think I am getting carried away with something which ought to be easy consider this. After being loaded up with 100kg – 15 stone in old money, five times, the maximum permanent distortion allowed for the table flap is half a millimetre.
Back to the trip. There were eight speed restrictions in force between London and Manchester , including the Ledburn crossovers (see box). We would be allowed 55mile/h through Primrose Hill tunnel.
We left at 10.06 and looking out of the window I suddenly saw my name. Blow me down if it wasn't 90006 still bearing the ‘temporary' name plate.
What an omen. And almost immediately after we passed ‘Lord Nelson', which I interpret as ‘of Stafford '. But while the Engl*sh *l*ctr*c Chairman chose Stafford for his peerage the old man always had a soft spot for Preston – as I do today.
Which brings us to my new SRS or Smile Rating System. After the APT inaugural, when I experienced tilt nausea for the first time, Sir Peter Parker asked pointedly ‘Why can't Roger Ford smile'? I gave him a wan grin back. So how did Pendolino do in the grin stakes?
Within minutes of the start we all noticed the performance. Thanks to Alison Ingram, who at OPRAF was responsible for the West Coast franchise, the upgrade included the requirement for an ‘Ingramino' to draw 7.6MW from the overhead line.
And the engineers at Preston don't just understand safety cases. Like Mathew Bolton they know that the secret of success is to supply what all the world requires – power. Alison's OHLE has plenty of amps to feed Pendolinos 12 traction packages each rated at 425kW for a total of 5.1MW at the rail.
With an enthusiastic driver and a clear run – other trains had been put on the slow line for us, the acceleration was highly impressive. And it just goes on and on and on. ‘Endless power' says my notebook. Whatever happened to field weakening?
So an SRS of Broad grin with whitened teeth and diamond inlay for my chums at Alstom's Preston Plant and their chums at Tarbes and Ornans, not to forget Stafford where they make the transformers.
Pendolino ride is firmer than a Mk 3 and quite Mk 4-like, including the distinctive high frequency rumble, that most people won't register, and a tendency to lose composure over switch and crossing work. this is not surprising since both vehicles run on SIG bogies, the Swiss firm having been taken over by Fiat which was then acquired by Alstom.
Informed Sources say the ride improves over 125 mile/h, just like Mk 4 in the bad old days when record runs were possible. Obviously the Mk 4 suspension was optimised for the design speed of 140mile/k (that's why it's called IC225) and at 130mile/h plus rode beautifully.
Since 140mile/h is off the West Coast agenda, probably forever, Alstom and Virgin are pondering whether to optimise the suspension for 125mile/h. My advice is go for it.
In fact the ride was not that bad, particularly as the lateral hold-off devices were witched out. Add in the fact that tilting will give an active suspension effect and I expect the ride to be substantially better when everything is working.
What I did notice as we slowly rounded Bushey curve was a tendency to ‘threepenny bit' suggesting that the yaw dampers needed tweaking and on the straight the occasional lateral twitch.
Similarly there was a jolt in the transition curve at Weedon and more threepenny bitting, as if the bogies were nibbling their way round the curve' At this point a hustling Mk 3 is on the bump stops.
Back in 1981 I noted that APT's lateral and vertical ride was, as French engineers say, ‘nerveux', although the then BR Vice Chairman blamed it on the WCML's ‘locomotive-punished track'. Even without tilt Pendolino was better than that.
Alstom told me that the ride tests and suspension tuning are yet to come so the SrS Rating is confident half smile.
You know how, when two Mk 3 coaches pass at speed, you get a great big ‘bang' from the pressure pulse and the cutlery and china on the table rattle? Well on Pendolino you see a passing train but barely hear or feel it.
Savigliano has built an ace monocoque bodyshell. How well Alstom can trim it remains to be seen. Certainly the ceiling panels in Coach H were not good, with visible glue, uneven panel gaps and bits of brush sticking out.
Virgin are proving masters of indecision when it comes to the interior. We were in 390.014 and it still didn't have the definitive interior trim. So the fist of quality remains unclenched unto 390.016 is presented for inspection.
But other than feeling some slight vibration from the underfloor mounted transformer when power was applied, the basic rolling platform is a solid piece of kit. SRS Rating – <B>sorridente<D> for the bodyshell.
Apart from the revolting lilac WC seat and lid, Pendolino has one of the best disabled toilets around. Built in Bahrain , I gather.
Labelling of the door controls is clear, as is that for the now customary concealed soap dispenser, water and hot air warmer array below the mirror. So no Chiltern Style antics as, having soaped your hands, you kneel down to peer under the mirror to find the water jet.
In the standard toilet I was puzzled by an additional notice saying ‘mind the step'. What step? Well someone has designed the toilet so that its floor is an inch or so lower than the vestibule floor outside. On our trip the resulting step was covered with black and yellow warning tape. So just smile .
As expected there were broad grins in the kitchen as chef showed me round his high tech ‘office'. It would be unfair to criticise the service from a scratch crew of trainers and catering staff.
But when it came the breakfast was well cooked and tasty and the airline style tray held sausage, bacon, tomatoes, hash browns and mushrooms. Coffee from the service point in the coach was not really hot enough.
In the catering car the staff were not that enthused by the shop concept. The sales point/coffee bar is quite small and being over the bogie ride, was a bit lively.
While the usual Virgin snack lunch was served in Coach H, I was away assessing the rest of the train, but on the basis of breakfast and chef's obvious enthusiast catering gets an SRS of provisional satisfied grin – with one exception.
Isn't it amazing how trendy designers put form ahead of function? Take the new coffee jugs on Pendolino.
Actually, they are grey plastic and not that sexy. But they are a functional disaster.
When you are standing in a moving train, trying to pour hot coffee or tea, what you want is a fine stream. If you align this stream with the middle of the cup, you can be off target by an inch either way as the train sways and still keep pouring. The classic chrome plated BR coffee pot with a fine spout does this to perfection
What has some design genius at Virgin given the staff? A flat spout half an inch wide. Which means you are pouring a half inch wide ribbon of tea or coffee, so if the aim wavers it is much easier to spill some in the saucer. And metering is much less precise
Such trendy incompetence merits Pursed lips with gritted teeth and shaken head.
What next? Well Virgin expected to take delivery of three Pendolini in January/February and two a month thereafter. Jonathan Firth, Virgin's Fleet Director/Deputy Director Major Contracts told me ‘Alstom has finally given us a delivery programme we can believe in'. I suspect this will generate nervous laughter when Alston read it.