RE: Arriva North East: Latest News & Discussion - July 2016
(10 Jul 2016, 8:42 pm)streetlite5402 wrote I think the opposite. From my experience, Voiths are generally best kept to city and town routes while ZFs seem to perform at their best on country roads and steep banks.
From my outings, Voith's produce more power out of 1st and 2nd than ZFs do, Which is the gears needed for the banks around Rothbury area.
Also the way there setup, Voiths will change to 1st gear when on a bank around 13mph, While ZFs will not change back to 1st until around 1 - 5mph depending on the variant.
Having a bit extra speed to maintain power on steep inclines is better than having to start from a near standstill because the gearbox wont change back into 1st again until a near standstill.
It also explains why Voith gearboxed vehicles are commonly used on the X14 instead of the branded vehicles ( Understand one of the Omnicity's is VOR I think ) DAF DB250s seem to be the stalemate on there due to their good climbing in Gear 1, Which would go the same for the Pulsar's that are being suggested to operate it.
Should also be mentioned the 1 allocated E400 to the route stalled on one of these banks a few weeks ago.
Sorry if its a bit complicated, Or ive described it wrong.
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