Carriage Fleet Strategy and Standard Rake Consist

Believe it or not, there is a vague strategy to what we do in C&W! We do get buffeted by events from time to time so inevitably plans change, but the overarching direction of travel will hopefully remain the same. Seeing as we've had some comments questioning why the rakes have been mixed up a bit recently, our Head of Department Ian has explained what it's all about. Over to Ian....

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Historically, GWSR have run three rakes of seven carriages with rakes 1 and 2 running throughout the season and 3 or more rakes running for Race Trains and Galas only. Each rake has been formed of a combination of open and compartment stock together with a brake vehicle and where possible, a catering vehicle and an accessible carriage but otherwise there has been no consistency between individual rakes in the formation/type of vehicles.

Our Standard Rake Consist strategy is intended, over a period of time, to achieve three interchangeable rakes of seven carriages with as near as possible identical formations. These will be the formation supporting our current commercial business model. This will enable rakes to be regularly rotated out of service during the Running Season such that:

• Routine inspections, planned maintenance and reactive repairs can be planned and undertaken throughout the year thereby reducing the workload during Annual Winter Maintenance and improving the overall customer experience of riding in our carriages
• Tyre and brake wear will be more even across the rakes
• Reserve vehicles can be substituted into rakes more easily allowing vehicles to be brought into the works for planned refurbishment
• Commercial activity is unaffected

The current agreed standard formation of each rake is as follows:

North

TSO

SK/FK or CK

FO (or SO upgraded to First Class)

Catering Vehicle (RBr or RMB which is subject to RCS On-Train Catering Strategy)

Brake/Accessible Vehicle

TSO

SK or FK

South

Factors taken into account in formulating the above formation were:

·       Retention of mixed open/compartment vehicles to optimize the passenger experience

·       Overall seat capacity and thus loading per rake

·       Seating configurations to take account of group bookings (which prefer TSOs so that a large group can be seated together)

·       The number of available toilets per rake (note any toilets immediately behind the loco are locked out at both ends, so we have sought to ensure that the vehicles at the extreme North and South ends do not have toilets at the end of the rake)

Spot the odd one out!

To achieve the current agreed formations across all three rakes, we need the following vehicles by type:

Qty.6 x TSO

Qty.6 x SK/FK or CK

Qty.3 x FO (or SO upgraded to First Class)

Qty.3 x Catering Vehicle (RBr or RMB which is subject to RCS On-Train Catering Strategy)

Qty.3 x Brake

The above totals must include at least 3 Accessible Vehicles

 

To facilitate planned refurbishments and removal from service for operational reasons, a reserve fleet will be required comprising a minimum of:

Qty.1 x TSO

Qty.1 x SK/FK or CK

Qty.1 x FO (or SO upgraded to First Class)

Qty.1 x Catering Vehicle (RBr or RMB which is subject to RCS On-Train Catering Strategy)

Qty.1 x Brake/Accessible Vehicle

The vehicles in the reserve fleet will also be available to supplement Race Trains and to form a fourth rake for Galas.

Combining both the operational and reserve fleets will require a minimum total fleet comprising:

Qty.7 x TSO

Qty.7 x SK/FK or CK

Qty.4 x FO (or SO upgraded to First Class)

Qty.5 x Catering Vehicle (RBr or RMB which is subject to RCS On-Train Catering Strategy)

Qty.5 x Brake/Accessible Vehicle

As can be seen from the table below (GWSR Carriage Fleet @ April 2024), we are in a position to achieve the desired Standard Rake Consist without necessarily incurring any acquisitions albeit to fulfil our long-term requirement will require investment in the restoration of some vehicles.

GWSR Carriage Fleet @ April 2024

Vehicle Group	Vehicle Type	Vehicle No.	Accessible	Owner	Notes
Open Carriages – Qty.11 in total
Qty.1	FO	3132		GWSR
Qty.3	SO	4787		GWSR
	SO	4790	X	GWSR
	SO	4798		GWSR	To be upgraded to (GWSR First Class)
Qty.7	TSO	4614	X	GWSR
	TSO	4763		GWSR
	TSO	4772		GWSR
	TSO	4867		GWSR	Awaiting restoration
	TSO	4986		GWSR
	TSO	5023		GWSR
	TSO	5042		Private
Compartment Carriages – Qty. 11 in total
Qty.2	CK	16195		Private
	CK	16221		Private
Qty.3	FK	13326		Private
	FK	13329		Private
	FK	13337		Private
Qty.6	SK	24006		Private	Awaiting restoration
	SK	24804		Private	On loan from NYMR
	SK	24949		GWSR
	SK	25341		GWSR
	SK	25451		GWSR
	SK	25488		Private	On loan from NYMR
Brake Vehicles – Qty.5 in total
Qty.2	BCK	21092		Private
	BCK	21272		Private	On loan from April 2024
Qty.2	BSO	9000	X	GWSR
	BSO	34929	X	GWSR
Qty.1	BSK	35808	X	GWSR
Catering Vehicles – Qty.5 in total
Qty.3	RBr	1672		GWSR
	RBr	1675		GWSR
	RBr	1965		GWSR	Awaiting restoration
Qty.2	RMB	1808		GWSR
	RMB	1876		GWSR

In the short term, this will mean that rakes will not be in a single livery; however, we are producing a plan for some repaints that will alleviate this issue over the longer term.

This Strategy will take a number of years to implement with completion influenced by the availability of funding and, as important, the availability of volunteer resource and our overall ‘productivity’. Any acquisition and disposal of carriages will be considered on a case by case basis as the Strategy progresses. In 2024 we have implemented Phase 1 of the strategy which has Rake 1 broadly unchanged from its previous season consist (in order that we can meet commercial business needs) whilst Rakes 2 and 3 are now broadly identical in consist.

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So there we go, bear with us while we get there. We've already had some nice feedback from passengers and staff who appreciate having some compartment stock in rake 1 again, it was much missed.

Tuesday's usual blog will be appended to Thursday, so don't worry, you won't miss out :-)