Question About The Class 801 Azuma.

Rewatching the stream, Matt says "We have the 9 car variant of the 801" at 3:23:20, but all the footage I could see was of the 5 car variant.

Any idea if both the 5 and 9 car variant of the 801 are included? Or is it just the 5 car?

 

i'm glad you asked this as i want to know this too, i really hope the 9 car variant in included as well as the 5/10 car one, as the 9 car is the most common one on the line, so fingers crossed from me!

 

Same yeah, really hoping both are in for the full variety of the services. Considering there will be nothing else but the 66 running properly on the line.
Does anyone know how to tag people?

 

The 158 will be drivable between Grantham and Peterborough.
I don't really see what people are worrying about. We saw the five car version, and Matt himself said the 9 car version will be there. It seemed to me like his mind was wandering when he said that, like he was also gonna add that the five car version was included but he trailed off. I'm surprised they didn't go for another take.

 

Just want it confirmed, it's possible he misspoke with the 9 car bit, and meant to say 5.

 

It's also possible that the 9 car is included, and not the 5 car one.
The video contains a disclaimer, which means what you see may not be what you get.

 

I doubt that, considering it was pre recorded. There's no way someone at DTG wouldn't have noticed that slip up. They're more incompetent than I thought if so. Besides, even if it is only the five car variant, I don't believe there's a pattern to what 801 services use two five car sets and which use 9 car sets.

I'm more annoyed that they chose the 801 at all as opposed to the 800. Now we can't drive the services that go to and from Lincoln and Harrogate. Well maybe we could, but having an 801 on them is inaccurate.

My only guess is it was less effort to not have to include the full diesel mode on the 800, just like it was less effort to end it at Doncaster as opposed to the far more natural end point of York. It really does feel like DTG put the least amount of effort possible into making this route.

 

Two five car sets are used when the trains need to spilt. I think Doncaster is one point they do this actually, with one 5 car going to Leeds, the other to York.

 

Well seeing as Doncaster is the end point of this route, that shouldn't matter for the game.

I'm surprised LNER actually do that regularly. I live close to GWR territory so I'm more used to IETs in that region, and the 800s there rarely split. Just the occasional Carmarthen service splitting at Swansea, but the difference there is the other five cars just terminate there.

 

It would be nice if the London-Lincoln services were included as playable between Peterborough & Newark, even if not 100% accurate using class 801.. based on experience from Midland Mainline, it's best to have a full timetable than a meticulously accurate one, otherwise routes start to feel empty very quickly

I know some people want 100% accuracy or nothing at all, but i personally believe a bit of artistic licence goes a long way, especially in train sim world

 

Thank you for confirming that! So happy to finally have the Azuma in game, and I'd definitely love the 800 in the future if at all possible.

 

love this thank you Matt, as someone who lives next to this line the 9 car variants are much more common than the 5/10 car ones, so great to know the 9 car is the main one featured.

i cannot wait to hear about the timetable for this route (i don't expect you to share that now i imagine those details will come down the line!) but the potential for this route is massive, and i can't wait to see it in reality next month

but for the record, i'd love to see services such as the Lincoln ones included between Peterborough and Newark, even if in reality they use class 800, the more services in the timetable the better for me

 

Also to my knowledge the 5 car sets don't split at Doncaster for Leeds/York, the 5 car sets are often used for the Lincoln routes and some late night trips amongst others too: thenthe 10 car sets usually stay as 10 car sets throughout the day.

so basically there will be 9 car sets doing their thing, and 5/10 car sets doing their thing, there will be very few (if any) instances of a 10 car train splitting into 2 5 car sets, as far as i'm aware

 

To be fair, the information on the 10 car set splitting to go to different locations was from a youtube video I was watching. So might be incorrect as I'm not a local. It made sense though, as the coupling/uncoupling seems relatively uncomplicated on the Azuma's compared to other trains. I've seen them do it at Swansea.

 

they might split at Leeds with half the sets going to the West Yorkshire lines, but i'm not 100% sure, i just know they rarely if ever split them at Doncaster as far as i know

also just south of Doncaster is an Azuma depot, i don't know if that is included in the route here but it could be interesting if it is!

 

5 car sets were included in the tender to build them to provide the split route flexibility. However in practice it's barely used on the ECML. Certainly not as common as GWR using them. It's very rare to see a 5 set running independently too (and where it is I'd generally assume it's been short formed), almost always they're working as a 10 car pairing and it tends to be on the same diagrams.

 

No it's not. All the Lincoln services are five cars.

 

DTG Matt
Would it be possible to add the 800 services in, and then later substitute them in later?
Such as the previously metioned ones and the Aberdeen/ Inverness to KGX services?

 

Ah fair, that's literally the only bit of the network I don't do regularly, have done the Inverness and Aberdeen service more recently.

 

The only splitting and joining of 5/10 cars in LNER’s weekday timetable is on empty stock trains. A 10/800 comes off Donny IEP of a morning and splits in the platform, with the front half forming the ECS for the up Hull, and the rear forming the ECS of the first Lincoln. There are no other instances on the route where we’d realistically see this (in timetable mode).

 

You say that DTG has modelled a 9 car and then adapted/converted it for use as a 5 car. Have the team doing this made the appropriate changes in the internal layout between the 9 and 5 car?

Just off the top of my head, the kitchen area on a 5 car is shorter. There’s only 1 toaster, 1 coffee brewer and 1 hot water boiler, vs the 2 of each on a 9. Then the lockers at the end of the kitchen are only the upper half on a 5 car, with the bottom now being taken up with a service delivery cart (usually a layup or plate).

Also the toilet locations are different on a 5 car too. I’m guessing DTG have used the layout map to get these in the right places.

 

One driver I know says that the Azuma’s are a right hassle to couple and uncouple. I know a set has left the depot as a 5 car instead of a 10 because they just couldn’t get it to couple.

A number of 5 cars have a raised hump in the cab floor from the force of the drivers trying to get the trains to couple. One mentioned it taking 3 or 4 attempts of repeated ramming to get it to couple.

 

I wonder if the other Hitachi A-trains in like Japan and stuff have the same problems. Would they all have the same couplers?