| In order to allow their Turbostars to be able to couple with their Electrostars in an emergency South Central, rebranded from April 2004 as the Southern Railway, are converting their Class 170 units to Dellner couplers, at which time they are re-designated as Class 171/7 for the 2 car units and 171/8 for the four car ones. This re-designation may also be the solution to a potential numbering conundrum. 170727 was originally intended for the first two car unit for the Southern Railway's second batch but it has already been used initially for 170392. On TOPS numbers can only be re-assigned after five years. If 170727 has been fully registered on the system it will not be available for Southern thus leaving a gap in their original 170 sequence. It is not known if it was fully registered, but with all Southern Turbostar deliveries as 171s then the problem goes away. |
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A three-quarter rear view of one of the driving cars of four car
unit 171802 at York taken on Sunday, 30th May 2004.
photograph by Adam Warr |
| Ten 170/7 two car sets were built during 2003 and 2004, subsequently converted and carrying the numbers 171721/30, and six 171/8 during 2006, numbered 171801/6. Unit 171730 is the above-mentioned 170392 which was aquired from South West Trains, which then had the subsequent change of coupling to the Dellner type. |
| And a three-quarter front view.
photograph by Adam Warr |
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This is what makes the DMU a 171 instead of a 170 - the Dellner
coupler. Existing 170/7s will have their couplers changed to Dellners, becoming
171s in the process.
photograph by Colin Duff |
| Whilst most concentrate on photographing the driving cars, it
is the MS cars which are the significant difference from the two car units!
photograph by Colin Duff |
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This page was last updated 31 March 2008
