Jon Searles' photos with the keyword: Alstom

Here's another Coradia shot, but from the trip back. I got this one with my cameraphone.

This is an Alstom (BR) Class 175 Coradia DMU. They were intended as a new generation of DMU that could operate at 125 m.p.h., although this was quickly downgraded to 110 and then to 100. 125 m.p.h. DMU's were eventually produced (in the form of the Virgin Voyager and BR Class 180), but the 175 Coradia never ended up filling such a role. Originally introduced in 2000 on First North Western, they have since been transferred to Arriva Trains Wales. Given the absurdity of the BR privatisation scheme, they have never been owned by a railway or Train Operating Company (TOC), but are instead owned by Angel Trains and leased to the TOC's, at much greater expense to the taxpayer. On this trip, I was on my way to Abergavenny for some hiking.

DB's Class 115 electric locomotives, of which 115154-7 on the left is one, are actually Class 110 and 113 units which have been redesignated for local and autotrain services. Classes 110 and 113 are in turn variants of the original DB E10 Class electrics introduced in 1956, being produced until 1969, with all units being redesignated Classes 110 and 112 in 1968, with an additional Class 114 being created through reclassification of the last 112 Class units in 1988. In addition, in 1991 the older Class 112's were reclassified 113, eliminating Class 112 as a Class designation. These locomotives, while they obviously vary in specifications, hence the different classifications, put out 5,000 horsepower (impressive for 1956), and can run between 120 and 160 Km/h, depending on how they're equipped. Originally, they were only rated for 130 Km/h, but the higher-speed variants were introduced both from new production and requalification of older units. The prototypes had only been rated for 125, but this was raised so that they could be reclassified as express locomotives. The Class 440 EMU on the right is of an entirely different era, however. Marketed by Alstom as the Coradia Continental, and DB have operated these since 2008. However, they have a longer history in Britain, where they were used on First Great Western starting in the early 2000's, with later production units being classified as Class 180 Adelantes (The earlier Class 175 Units were just called Coradias or Coradia 1000's.). These are actually very fast trains by diesel standards, being capable of operating at 125 m.p.h. The 440's are EMU's, however, as Alsthom market the same carbody series as either. The diesel version is classified as Class 640 or 648 on DB.