Night Photo Class 168216 Chiltern Railways Clubman DMU Train Banbury 2016

Class 168216 Clubman DMU, Banbury Station

Photo:  Charles Moorhen

Night photo of Chiltern Railways Clubman diesel multiple unit (DMU) Class 168216 as it sets down passengers at Banbury station after operating an evening service from London Marylebone in May 2016.

 

Clubman diesel multiple units passenger trains, such as Class 168216, were constructed between 1998 and 2004, with the earliest examples entering service on the 20th May 1998.

In all, 19 trainsets were built with 2/3/4 cars per set.  With a top speed of 100 mph (160 km/h), 4-car unit Class 168216 offers 272 seats with air-conditioning throughout.

The 168 Clubman Class of dmu can be found operating on the Chiltern Main Line, London to Aylesbury Line, London Marylebone - Oxford, Princes Risborough - Aylesbury Line.

Network South East, then operated by British Rail, originally planned the Class 168 for their expansion of services on the Chiltern Main Line to Birmingham Snow Hill or New Street stations. In the event, privatisation put and end to the NSE plans.  

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Night Photo Class 390122 Virgin Pendolino EMU Train Rugby 2016

Class 390122 EMU, 'Penny the Pendolino' Rugby Train Station

Photo:  Charles Moorhen

A sleek-looking Virgin Trains Pendolino, Class 390122 (formerly 390022) electric 11-car multiple unit (EMU), seen at night carrying the name 'Virgin Star', pauses at Rugby station before speeding along the West Coast Main Line towards its destination - London Euston in August 2016.

 

Around 2018 the train was renamed 'Penny the Pendolino', by Virgin staff, and its nameplate fitted without ceremony at Wembley depot.  

 
To date 'Penny' is the leading Pendolino with the highest mileage attained.

With a design speed of 140 mph (225 km/h), though actually restricted to 125 mph (200 km/h) while in service, the Class 390 Pendolino tilting trains were introduced July 2002.

Built at Washwood Heath, England and Savigliano, Italy, these electric multiple units replaced three class of locomotive classes previously providing the motive power for the services that the Class 390s now operate; Class 86, Class 87 and the Class 90.

In all 57 train-sets were manufactured, though Class 390033 'City of Glasgow' was scrapped after serious damage caused as a result of its derailment at Grayrigg, Cumbria, on the 23rd February 2007.

Faulty points were blamed for the derailment which resulted in the death on one passenger and injury to 88 others.

 

Pendolino News Update:
The final Virgin Pendolino will leave Manchester Piccadilly on a scheduled service to London Euston at 8.35pm on the 7th December 2019.  And at 11.39pm, the last Virgin arrival from Euston should arrive at Piccadilly.

After that, Virgin Trains will no longer run on the West Coast Mainline (WCM), 22 years after Sir Richard Branson launched the rail franchise.

First Group and Trenitalia, operating as Avanti West Coast, will run scheduled services on the WCM until 2031.


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Night Photo Class 43066 Brel/Paxman Intercity 125 HST Wellingborough

Class 43066 Intercity 125 HST, Wellingborough Station

Photo:  Charles Moorhen

Night photo of Class 43066 Brel/Paxman Intercity 125 HST, in East Midlands Trains livery, built by BREL at Crewe Works between 1975 and 1982 and based at Neville Hill, Leeds, waits at Wellingborough station en route to London St. Pancras.

News Update:

Seeing East Midlands Trains colourful livery of red, white, orange and red flashing along the railway tracks, will soon become a thing of the past.

Abellio will take over the East Midlands Trains franchise on Saturday 18th August 2019. The Class 43 HST Intercity 125 and Class 222 diesel multiple unit will gradually be phased out by brand new Hitachi trains that will be a variant of the bullet-nosed Class 800 bio-mode DMU.

The new trains will have a lavender livery and be branded with 'EMR' on both sides.



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Night Photo Class 220009 Voyager Cross Country Trains DEMU Banbury 2017

Class 220009 'Voyager' DEMU, Banbury Train Station

Photo: Charles Moorhen

Night photo of 'Cross Country Trains' Voyager diesel multiple unit Class 220 009 spotted waiting at Banbury station while heading south in January 2017.

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Photo BR Class 319372 EMU Thameslink Train Bedford UK 2017

Class 319372 EMU, Bedford Station

Photo: Charles Moorhen

Early night photo of electric multiple unit Class 319 372, commuter train, built at BREL York between 1987-88, in Thameslink Trains livery, photographed at Bedford station in 2017 waiting to proceed south.

By 2019 Class 319372 was running in the north of England, operated by Northern Rail.

 

 

First Hydrogen-Powered Train:

A Class 319-bodied train made history on the 30th September 2020, when it became the first hydrogen-powered train to run on the British railway network.

The train, carrying the number 799001, reached speeds up to 50 mph while completing a 25-mile trip in Warwickshire.

 

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Night Photo Class 350372 London Midland Desiro EMU Train Bletchley 2018

Class 350372 Desiro EMU, Bletchley Train Station

Photo: Charles Moorhen 

Photographed at night Class 350 372 electric multiple unit (EMU), built in 2014 and allocated to NN - Northampton King's Heath EMUD, in London Midland Trains livery, spotted at platform 4 of Bletchley station around 20:15 on the 19th April 2018 about to depart for London Euston station.

Unit coach numbers for this commuter train set are as follows: 60145  60515  60655  60155.

 

 

 

Video Clip - Two Class 350 EMUs Passing at Bletchley Station

 

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Night Photo Class 153334 Single-Car Supersprinter DMU Train Bletchley 2018

Class 153334 'Supersprinter' DMU at Bletchley Station

Photo: Charles Moorhen

Trainspotting West Midlands Trains Super Sprinter Leyland Bus DMU Class 153 334, built between 1987 and 1988 and allocated to TY - Tysley Birmingham TMD, standing at  platform 6 Bletchley station ready to operate the 21:01 service to Bedford on the evening of the 18th April 2018.

Compare the newer Supersprinter above with the photo below of British Rail Bubble Car DMU 55011, bearing a small Network Southeast decal, operating the same service in the late 1980's.  

Note the weeds growing on platforms 5 and 6.  A common sight during the days of the run-down and neglect of British Rail by government.

British Rail Bubble Car DMU 55011 Leaving Bletchley For Bedford in the late 1980's

 

Photo: Charles Moorhen

 

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Night Photo Chiltern Railways Class 172103 and Class 172101 DMU Train Banbury 2018

Class 172103 and 172101 DMU, Banbury

 

Photo: Charles Moorhen 

Chiltern Railways Turbostar DMU 2-car units, Class 172/1 172103 and Class 172/1 172101, allocated to AL - Aylesbury TMD, standing coupled together at platform 3 Banbury station forming the 22:55 commuter service to Reading via Oxford on the evening of the 13th April 2018.

                       

Class 172/1 172101 at Banbury Station April 2018     
Photo: Charles Moorhen

The unit coach numbers for Class 172103 are as follows: 59113  59213.
The unit coach numbers for Class 172101 are as follows: 59111  59211.

Both trains were built between 2009 and 2010.

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Class 156411 SuperSprinter DMU Loughborough 2016 Night Photo

Class 156411 'Super Sprinter' DMU, Loughborough Train Station

Photo: Charles Moorhen 

This night photo of East Midlands Trains Class 156 411 2-car DMU, allocated to NM - Northampton Eastcroft, taken on a warm summer evening in August 2016 at Loughborough station, is one of my all-time favourites for a couple of reasons.

Class 156411 unit coach number are as follows: 52411  57411.

Firstly, it is the colours that were captured during the long exposure time (around half a minute). How the rich blues, reds, oranges and yellows of the East Midlands Trains livery create a vibrancy that I did not fully appreciate when I composed the picture.

Secondly, I believe that the bright, flared train headlight sets the whole image off a treat. Though, once again, I wasn't at all aware of this until I saw the final image.

In addition to all of this, I love the way the Brush Traction building, built in the 1800's, is  peeping cheekily above the cab roof of the dmu.

Constructed between 1987 and 1989 by Metro-Cammell, at Washwood Heath in the West Midlands, who manufactured such rolling stock as the Class 310 electric multiple unit, the Class 156 diesel multiple unit, known as a 'Sprinter', began entering service in 1988.

 

114 two-car sets (228 carriages) were produced bearing fleet numbers 156401 - 156514.  

The current (2018) operators using Class 156 diesel multiple commuter train units are; Scotrail, East Midlands Trains, Greater Anglia and Northern.

 

In 2018 twelve sets carry the following names:
156 416  Saint Edmund

156 418  ESTA 1965-2015

 
156 420  LA' AL RATTY Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway

 

156 440  George Bradshaw

 
156 441  William Huskisson MP

 
156 448  Bram Stoker Creator of Dracula
 

156 459  Benny Rothman - The Manchester Rambler

    

156 460  Driver John Axon G.C.
 

156 464  Lancashire Dales Rail
 

156 466  Gracie Fields
 

156 469  The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers (The Fighting Fifth)
 

156 490  Captain James Cook Master Mariner


News Update:

Seeing East Midlands Trains colourful livery of red, white, orange and red flashing along the railway tracks, will soon become a thing of the past.

Abellio will take over the East Midlands Trains franchise on Saturday 18th August 2019. The Class 43 HST Intercity 125 and Class 222 diesel multiple unit will gradually be phased out by brand new Hitachi trains that will be a variant of the bullet-nosed Class 800 bio-mode DMU.

The new trains will have a lavender livery and be branded with 'EMR' on both sides.

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Night Photo Class 172344 London Midland Trains DMU Leamington Spa 2016

Turbostar Class 172233 DMU
Photo: Charles Moorhen

London Midland Trains Class 172 344 'Turbostar' DMU photographed parked up for the night at bay platform 1, Leamington Spa station, on the 23rd August 2016.

Class 172344 commuter train was built between 2010 and 2011 and allocated to Tysley TMD (Birmingham).

Class 172344 unit coach numbers are as follows: 50344  56344  79344.

An ideal warm summer's night for photographing a variety of trains.

Another London Midland Trains Class 172/3 DMU, (172 345) can be seen on a separate blog page by clicking here. 

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Night Photo Class 20311 HN Rail Diesel Loco Banbury Station 2017

Class 20311 Loco at Banbury

Class 20311 Diesel Loco
Photo: Charles Moorhen

New Underground Trains En Route To The London 

HNRail Class 20 311 diesel freight locomotive, at the rear of a train delivering new London Underground rolling stock, pauses a while at Banbury station on the evening of the 11th April 2017.  

Class 20311 was built in December 1961 and is allocated to GBRf  Peterborough.

Between 7th July 2007 and the 30th September 2010 Class 20311 was named 'The 20 'Fifty' Class.

Other locomotives used in the train were Class 20 20107, 20096 and 20314.

The train diesel multiple unit trying to muscle in at the right of the top picture is Chiltern Railways DEMU Class 165015, about to leave with a service to Marylebone station, London.

 

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Night Photo BRCW Sulzer Class 33 Diesel Loco Cab Front at Night 1980s

Class 33 Cab In the Dark, Basingstoke

Photo: Charles Moorhen

Cab front of an unidentified Class 33 diesel locomotive stabled for the night on a siding at Basingstoke station in the late 1980's.

The Class 33 stands close to where one of Basingstoke's lever-operated signal boxes once stood, opposite the current signal box (see photo below) where the track diverges to Reading station.

As a young boy in the early 1960's, I was lucky enough, with a friend of mine, to be able to visit the older wooden signal box in question and watch for a while as a variety of Southern Region steam-hauled trains passed by in both directions. 

A treat I will never forget.

Basingstoke Signal Box     Photo: Charles Moorhen

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Night Photo Super Sprinter Class 153364 London Midland DMU Bedford 2015

Class 153364 DMU Alone At The Platform

Photo:  Charles Moorhen

This night photo London Midland 'city' DMU, Class 153 364, was lucky to make it onto my camera's memory card on one particular visit to Bedford railwaystation in 2015.

On that particular day I had been photographing a small variety of trains when, during a quiet spell just as the evening was beginning to draw in, Class 153 153364 slid into a bay platform at Bedford station following a run from Bletchley

I hadn't seen an example of this class of diesel multiple unit up until then and I was eager to photograph it. However, there was a problem. I had no tripod with me, which I really could have done with for a long exposure time.

Looking around for something stable on which to place Nikon D3200 camera, it quickly became apparent that nothing was usable within the area. So, if I wanted to record the image, there was nothing for it but to hold the camera in the usual way and hope for the best.

Setting the camera to a four second exposure I planted my feet shoulder width apart, tucked my elbows into my sides, framed the shot, held my breath, pressed the shutter button...and prayed that I would not cough, sneeze or feel the need to scratch my nose.

After what felt like four minutes, rather than four seconds, the shutter clicked closed and my breath came out in one loud whoomph!

Tentatively I looked at the rear screen, dreading that the whole exercise had been a complete waste of time.

However, my anxiety turned to delight when I saw, apart from a little softness to the picture that, in the end, all things considered, things had worked out quite well in the end.

Though I would not want to repeat the same process too many times.

 

 

The sprinter Class 153 diesel multiple units such as the example above, were built by Leyland Bus between 1987 and 1988 as two-coach commuter train units before being converted to single-car units in 1991/92 by Hunslet-Barclay.

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Other 'London Midland Trains' blog posts you may wish to see:

Class 350 250 EMU at Wolverton Station 

Other Class 153 DEMU's:
Class 153 366 DEMU at Bletchley 2015
GWR Class 153 370 Super Sprinter DEMU Entering Truro

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