Northern (Arriva Rail North)

[knutstransport]

RE: Northern (Arriva Rail North)
Had my first ride on a 195 yesterday - I should have had two rides but I got a 156 in lieu on one service. (I didn't have much luck yesterday with the first train I intended to catch being cancelled, the following service being a 142 instead of a 4 car 150, getting a 2 car 156 instead of a 3 car 195 and then after getting the correct 3 car 195 ending up with a 2 car 150 on a service which was supposed to have 4 cars.)

In short I think the best way to describe the 195s is a nice, modern local train. The seating isn't something you want to sit on for hours and the ride quality at higher speeds isn't great so they are good for a route like Manchester Airport to Liverpool via Warrington but not ideal for the Cumbria services which spend a significant amount of time on the WCML but unless Northern get another type of DMU they don't have anything else more suitable for those services. Also they are much kinder on your ears than any Sprinters or 319s, the latter in particular are very unkind on your ears when passing a train like a 350 or 390 at speed. They are also very quiet, like CAF DMUs which Renfe use and they feel like they are air conditioned, unlike the 158s where the air conditioning feels like occasional puffs of cooler air (and that's when it's 'working')