Talk:British Rail Class 73

Naming convention

There is a discussion about the naming convention to use for articles about British locomotive and multiple unit classes at Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (British railway locomotive and multiple unit classes). Your comments are more than welcome. Thryduulf 22:27, 21 Mar 2005 (UTC)

73138

With respect to my recent edit, the AC Locomotive Group's page on 73138[1] says the following:

"Electro-Diesel 73138 is privately preserved by Group members but has been restored by the Group and was used as our depot shunter at Barrow Hill until 2006. It has now moved to Long Marston for further use."

I didn't change the location, since I don't know which (if any) of the wiki pages on Long Marston should be linked to. J-Deeks 14:37, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

Yesterday, (Spring Bank Holiday Monday) 73114 was sat at Ebbsfleet International railway station on the new CTRL.Appeared to be on engineering detail. Britmax 12:31, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Multiple unit control and braking system

Mention needs to be made about the specialized control and braking systems fitted to the the class 73 locomotives, such as their ability to convert the control and braking interface from one type of control to another ie. air <-> vacuum braking. (SouthernElectric 13:32, 23 September 2007 (UTC))

73 207

73 207 was outshopped at St. Leonards Depot in blue & yellow livery, for First GBRf who I believe wish to use it for shunting duties at Tonbridge. 212.225.115.67 (talk) 12:05, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

Class 73 locomotives for the modification request.

Locomotive details, retention, Fleet summary, Preservation, All content is requested modification. [Korean: 기관차 세부사항, 보존, Fleet summary, Preservation, All content 수정 요청합니다.]

• http://www.preserved-diesels.co.uk/index.htm - Preserved-Diesels.co.uk
• http://www.wnxx.com/index.htm - [wnxx] End of the Line: Withdrawn & Stored Locomotives UK
• http://www.thejunction.org.uk/ - thejunction.org.uk —Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.137.16.146 (talk) 07:20, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

British Rail Class 73 electric locomotive remove some of the content is requested.

Some locomotive's round trip to the finals, a lot of wrong information, raises the old. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.137.16.34 (talk) 07:00, 30 January 2010 (UTC)

Errors on 2.9?

"According to Rail magazine (March/April 2010) C73LPC now manages five Class 73 locomotives. These are 73109, 73118, 73133, 73136, 73211. Number 73211 has been stripped for spares and is unlikely to return to service." What about 73210, then? A later section then indicates that 73211 is being used as a spares donor for operational '210 and others. Don't the C73LPC manage 6 locomotives, with Rail having got it wrong? DiverScout (talk) 12:35, 10 April 2010 (UTC)

Does anyone know why these were built, and more information?

I've just been updating the Bombardier ALP-45DP‎ article to add a few more references and some more background information about the reason for their joint order by NJT and AMT. They both actually need electro-diesel locomotives to provide though journeys from non-electrified lines into electrified tunnels where steam and diesel engines are banned. I'm actually keen to check out this information for all electro-diesels, so I turned to find out the similar background for the Southern Region's Classes 73 and 74.

Well, there is lots of information for the British Rail Class 74, but disappointingly little about the British Rail Class 73 pre-privatisation. Indeed, there is probably more background information on the Class 73 in the Class 74 article <sigh>. I've put a brief outline below of the possible new sections that could be written, with some of the information gleaned from the Class 74 article or elsewhere on Wikipedia or from our many eyes (and brains):

1. History (or Background) - Why were they ordered and what were their intended duties? Was it part of the Modernisation plan or the extension of the Southern Region electrification?
2. Description - pretty much as is, although I'm sure it could be expanded, eg adding their multiple working abilities.
3. Power and control - the technical section, possibly with sub-sections covering topics such as their lack of booster and the quality of the diesel engine (compared with the Class 74's Paxman), the separate power controllers, how they performed in service (if not in the next section) ...
4. British Rail operations - Were they used on the Boat Trains or with the 4-REP EMUs and /or 4-TC trailer units, or mostly for freight?
5. Post-privatisation operations - ...

I don't want to add those 3 new sections myself, as I don't have the information to hand, others may have better ideas to improve the article, and I don't really have the time at the moment. Any other thoughts (or actions even)? Tim PF (talk) 21:56, 13 January 2011 (UTC)

From memory -

1. modernisation plan - the steam locos were going, and something was needed to replace them. Duties were anything requiring a locomotive - mainly parcels and freight but also passenger trains whose route took them both on and off the electrified area.
2. MW was to the standard SR 27-wire system so they could work with other class 73, also classes 33/1, 71, 74, most EMUs built 1956-74, all DEMUs of that period.
3. no booster was necessary because of the Diesel engine - the boosters fitted to class 71 were mainly to keep the locos going if gapped, and if a class 73 became gapped they'd start the engine, move the train forward onto the live rail and stop the engine.
4. Boat trains yes; freight yes; 4-TC yes; 4-REP rarely. Although the control system was compatible, the current drawn by a 4-REP effectively prevented them from working in multiple with anything else which was also running off the juice. A class 73 running on Diesel could work with a 4-REP OK.
5. pretty much as before.

--Redrose64 (talk) 22:33, 13 January 2011 (UTC)

I expect back issues of industry magazines would have this kind of information, but it might take some finding. The info in British Rail Class 74 is completely unsourced and a massive WP:V violation, so basing it on that isn't the best idea. Alzarian16 (talk) 21:56, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Quote from above: "no booster was necessary because of the Diesel engine - the boosters fitted to class 71 were mainly to keep the locos going if gapped, and if a class 73 became gapped they'd start the engine, move the train forward onto the live rail and stop the engine". I think it is much more likely the diesel engine was kept going continuously, even when the loco was being powered by the conductor rail. Judging by the clagging videos I've seen on Youtube, old English Electric diesel engines require several minutes of cranking before they will start. Biscuittin (talk) 23:16, 22 March 2014 (UTC)

Not a clagging video but more informative.[2] The diesel engines are idling as the train approaches, then there is a short burst of activity from the diesels as the train crosses the points. You can also see arcing from the collector shoes. There are conflicting ideas under "comments" as to what is happening. Biscuittin (talk) 01:01, 23 March 2014 (UTC)

Possible change to the title of this article

This article is currently named in accordance the Wikipedia:WikiProject UK Railways naming conventions for British rolling stock allocated a TOPS number. A proposal to change this convention and/or its scope is being discussed at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject UK Railways#Naming convention, where your comments would be welcome.

New engine

http://www.railwaygazette.com/nc/news/single-view/view/repowered-class-73-to-roll-out-next-year.html 23 June 2011

Anyone looking after this articles - new engines, more power etc etc Imgaril (talk) 21:01, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

Why not add it yourself? Biscuittin (talk) 21:24, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

Class 73/3

Will the new Cummins engines be identical to railcar engines (i.e. horizontal) or will a vertical version be used? Horizontal engines are unusual in locomotives, but not unknown, see British Rail Class 17 for example. Biscuittin (talk) 13:38, 8 May 2012 (UTC)

73101 the royal Alex

This loco has been at network rails derby depot for a number of weeks, still in Pullman livery — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.184.245.205 (talk) 11:07, 9 June 2013 (UTC)

Technical details

This section is unreferenced and contains the following: "A major design flaw with the class was that the traction current circuits of each bogie were not isolated". This sounds dubious to me because the same would apply to most third-rail electric stock. Biscuittin (talk) 22:49, 22 March 2014 (UTC)

Fleet summary

The WNXX forum and the RailUK site report that 73117 has been renumbered to 73968 and 73103 to 73970 on conversion - currently (20/6/16) these numbers are transposed in the fleet summary section. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:C7F:9207:4700:C55F:1D44:3222:FDC5 (talk) 09:58, 20 June 2016 (UTC)

Multiple working

From the page (no source cited):

"However, in an early test with one of the 73/01 (JA) types, a major wiring error was revealed. Not in the locomotive, but in the whole Electric and Diesel Electric Multiple Unit fleets. This involved two of the wires in the traditional SR 27 way jumper. The outcome was that if an EMU was coupled to a DEMU they would try and go in opposite directions."

This seems unlikely to me. I've seen (though now don't have) diagrams for the EMU and DEMU 27-way jumpers, and the pinouts differ in numerous respects. For example, an EMU has two pins for the power notch (giving four settings) while a DEMU has three (allowing up to eight), using completely different sets of pins. Can anyone with access to the diagrams confirm or contradict this account? HungryHorace (talk) 13:40, 23 October 2020 (UTC)

The diagrams are in RSSB document GMGN2590 (October 2002). They do not bear out the story of two swapped wires -- rather, the pin assignments are completely different for all functions except the starting bell. See excerpts posted on Rail UK Forums: [3]. I have therefore removed the unsourced anecdote. HungryHorace (talk) 18:00, 26 March 2021 (UTC)

Model Railways (First Lima class 73 was 1980s, not 2000s)

As a child in the 1980s I had a Lima class 73 (OO guage) number 73142 "Broadlands". However, the article says:

"Lima launched its first version of the BR Class 73 in OO gauge in the early 2000s."

If anyone can find an online link to a Lima catalogue from the 1980s then this can be corrected.

Gareth.randall (talk) 17:26, 7 November 2021 (UTC)

73/9

I came to this page looking for technical details for the re-engined class 73/9 - but the 'outbox' seems to be missing a few things and concentrates mainly on 73/0 and /1 info - for example diesel engine type (actually needed for all versions?), tractive effort, top speed, who built it etc Some of the 73/9 info is in the main text but can anyone help fill the gaps in the specification outbox? (I don't have all the info and a bit short on editing ability...) Thanks Andywebby (talk) 10:37, 15 June 2022 (UTC)

73141 renamed

Class 73141 was renamed on 26/08/22 from Charlotte to “SPA Valley Railway 25 years Anniversary” at Eridge Railway station 2A02:C7E:381A:8600:DD98:E24F:2FD3:551B (talk) 20:47, 26 August 2022 (UTC)

Got a reliable source to back that up? Mattdaviesfsic (talk) 03:58, 27 August 2022 (UTC)

73202

Transferred to GBRailfeight 2A02:C7C:7D05:F00:5BCB:A4A7:67AC:69C1 (talk) 17:50, 5 December 2023 (UTC)

Is there a source for that? Danners430 (talk) 18:02, 5 December 2023 (UTC)