It's perhaps not surprising: the object of their attentions is British Rail's experimental Class 210, an intriguing design of which only two were ever made.
The idea was to test a new concept for diesel-electric multiple units: instead of having numerous small engines scattered underneath all of the coaches (each powering electric traction motors), here a single hefty-sized engine was kept at one end where it fed a generator, which powered the electric motors under each coach via simple cables.
It was more powerful than a normal DMU, but gave a vastly better ride -- in many circumstances (especially on public transport) there's not much pleasure to be had sitting a couple of feet over a heavily vibrating diesel engine.
A cheaper alternative to a loco-hauled set of four coaches, the 210s turned out to be fast and comfortable. Unfortunately, the amount of space taken up by the large engine made them less economic than a crummy diesel multiple unit.
British Rail retrenched and, instead of these, we got the piss-poor Sprinters and Super-Sprinters.
We was robbed.
1 comment:
How much more comfortable Super Voyagers would be if built to that pattern! And to add insult to injury not only do the seats not line up with the windows but the vast plastic back of the seat in front hardly leaves one room to breathe, let alone read the paper. I can't speak for 1st Class: that's been reserved for Quangocrats for some years now! bg
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