Photo Class 442 'Wessex' NSE 'Plastic Pig' EMU Train Basingstoke 1990s

 

Class 442 EMU Basingstoke             Photo:  Charles Moorhen

Photo of unidentified Class 442 'Wessex' 5-Car electric multiple unit, in Network SouthEast livery, about to pass Basingstoke signal box before entering the station with a scheduled service from London Waterloo on an overcast day in the early 1990s.

Nicknamed the 'Plastic Pigs' by rail enthusiasts, due to the amount of plastic used in the construction, the Class 442 EMU was introduced by NetworkSouthEast on the line between London Waterloo and Weymouth in 1988.

Twenty four five-car units were manufactured by British Rail Engineering at its Derby Litchurch Lane Works.

In 1988 the Class 442 had the honour of entering railway history books for holding the world speed record for a third-rail 'Contact Shoe' (DC) train when, on the 11^th April that year, it reached a speed of 108 mph (174 km/h). Impressive for a train that was designed with a maximum speed of 100 mph.

Operated by South West Trains after privatisation, the units were replaced with Desiro UK Class 444 and Class 450 EMUs in February 2007.

Following a period of storage, the 442s once again saw service, this time on the Gatwick Express services from London Victoria to Gatwick Airport and Brighton.

In 2016 the units were withdrawn from this route.

Class 442412 EMU on Gatwick Express Duties

                                                Photo: Peter (flickr)

 

Eventually the units were put into storage where they remain at present, although there has been talk that they may be used once again for mainline running. Time will tell on that one.

 

The eventual fate of the Class 442 EMU:

In January 2020, 'Global Railway Review' magazine reported that South Western Railway (SWR) had reintroduced four of its 10-car Class 442 trains, running on the London - Portsmouth and London - Poole routes.

However, in April 2021 'Modern Railways Magazine' reported that SWR's reintroduction plans for the Class 422 units had been abandoned.  The reason cited was "lack of demand".

An SWR Engineering spokesman stated that six of the 24 '442s' had already been sold, donated or scrapped by Angel Trains.  The spokesman went on to say that with no future prospective use for them, all remaining units will be sold for scrap.

442s Scrapped or Used For Spares:

No. 2401 stripped for spares at Eastleigh Works, for scrapping 7/2020.

No. 2405 coach number 62944, scrapped at Eastleigh 5/2020.

No. 2421 stripped for spares at Eastleigh Works, for scrapping 7/2020.

No. 2424 coach number 62960 scrapped at Eastleigh 5/2020.

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Night Photo Class 700003 Thameslink Desiro City EMU Train Bedford Station 2018

 

 

700003 EMU at Bedford Station     Photo: Charles Moorhen

 

Govia Thameslink Trains, Class 700003 electric multiple unit photo seen on the night of the 18^th April 2018 at Bedford station about to head south, was built by Siemens at Krefeld, Germany.

Introduced onto the UK railway network between 2016 and 2018, the Siemens DesiroCity Class 700 was manufactured in two train lengths; 8 and 12-car units. A total of 115 trainsets.

8-car units are numbered 700001 – 700060.

12-car units are numbered 700101 – 700155.

In order to update the rolling stock on the Govia Thameslink line, the Class 700 replaced classes 319, 377 and 387 EMUs which were placed elsewhere on the network.

In order for the trains to operate on 'third-rail' routes, for example those in Kent, Surrey and Hampshire the 700s were constructed to draw electric power from two sources – the overhead Pantograph system (AC) and the Contact Shoe 'third-rail' system (DC).

Thameslink Trains operate its fleet from Bedford, Luton, St.Albans City, Peterborough, Cambridge; then via central London to Sutton, Orpington, Sevenoaks, Rainham, Horsham and Brighton.

Additional services to East Grinstead and Littlehampton operate during peak times.

A train operator serving a total of 115 stations with 115 electric multiple units.

 

UK Desiro Trains List:

The UK 'family' of Desiro diesel or electric passenger trains also include classes – 185 DMU, 350/1, 350/2, 350/3, 350/4, 360/1, 360/2, 380/0, 380/1, 444, 450, 707, 717. 

 

 

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Photo Class 365514 First Capital Connect Networker Express EMU Train at Ely 2014

 

 

 

Class 365514 Train Needs Its 'Smiley Face' Washing

Class 365514 EMU at Ely           Photo: Charles Moorhen

 

Photo of 4-Car electric multiple unit, Class 365514 'Networker Express', nicknamed the 'Happy Train', in First Capital Connect livery, stands in Ely station, Cambridgeshire.

The unit's fly-blown cab front is testimony to the considerable mileage that trains such as this clock-up during normal operational services.

The Class 365 'Networker Express' electric multiple units were built between 1994 and 1995 at Holgate Carriage Works, York.

Incidentally, the 365s were the last train units to be produced at the works before it closed in 1996.

The entire fleet of 41 sets were in mainline service from 9th December 1996, with 21 sets operating at present (2020) by Great Northern trains.

The same train, this time in Network South East livery, at Peterborough station in 2006.  (Photo by David Burrell - Flickr).

Class 365 Thameslink EMU News Update:

Due to much lower numbers of people travelling on Great Northern services out of King's Cross, due to the COVID crisis, Govia Thameslink Railway is scaling back its services.

As a result of this, Thameslink's fleet of 21 Class 365 EMUs are to be withdrawn in May 2021.

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Photo BR Class 33002 'Sea King' UK Diesel Loco Through Leamington Spa Stn 1988

Class 33002 Diesel Loco 

Class 33002 Loco at Leamington Spa   Photo: Charles Moorhen

Welcome to 'Along These Tracks' railway photos blog

British Rail 'Crompton' Class 33002 UK diesel locomotive photo, in BR blue livery, passing through Leamington Spa railway station heading in the direction of Banbury on the 8th August 1988.

 

Built by the Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Co. Ltd., at Smethwick, England - one of a total of 98 locos of the class - 33002 (original number D6501) which was at one time named, 'Sea King', was delivered new to Hither Green Depot, Kent, in 1960.

Used on passenger, goods, and 'push-pull' EMU services, locomotive Class 33002 served for 37 years on the British Rail railway network before being withdrawn on the 13th February 1997.  It was temporarily re-instated in January 2002.

33002 was saved from the scrapyard fate of so many of its class by eventually being purchased by the South Devon Diesel Traction Group.

 

 

 
Class 33002, in BR Dutch livery, seen at the South Devon Railway in 2005 shortly after its arrival.  (Photo:  Richard Bruford).

 

 

The loco, the oldest surviving Crompton diesel Class 33, has since been fully restored and is once more in its original working order.

Class 33002 diesel loco can be seen in service at the South Devon Railway, Buckfastleigh, Devon, UK.


Class 33 locomotives on YouTube:

Class 33002 at Loughborough.
Class 33002 on South Devon Railway.

Class 33002 on Great Central Railway.

Class 33002 leaves Spanwick Junction.

Class 33s in the 1990s.

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Photo Class 31187 British Rail UK Diesel Loco Whitemoor Yard 1989

Photo Class 31187 Diesel Locomotive Whitemoor Yard

Photo:  Charles Moorhen

In the red, grey and yellow of the British Rail Railfreight livery, Class 31187 diesel locomotive photographed on sidings at Whitemoor rail Yard near March railway station, Cambridgeshire, next to an unidentified loco of the same class and livery in May 1989.

For more detailed information and a variety of images of the Class 31 diesel locomotive, please visit this post elsewhere on this blog - Photos, Article Class 31 Diesel Loco 'A British Rail Workhorse'.

 

 

 

Class 31187 (front) hauling a ballast train at Helpston crossing, 1989.  Photo: DEAN M66A - flickr.

 

Class 31 Diesel Locomotive Historical Note:

Whilst hauling a train in which Queen Elizabeth II was travelling on 4th January 1961, D5667 (31240), broke down south of Cambridge.  

Two onboard Brush fitters, on hand to deal with any mechanical problems that may occur, were unable to fix the problem and a steam loco had to be sent for in order to rescue the stricken diesel adding over an hour to the completed journey.

 

Class 31 Locomotives on YouTube:
Class 31 Video Compilation - 2011 to 2019.

Class 31s Mainline Finale and into Preservation.

Class 31 Memories of Lime Street.

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Night Photo Empty Leamington Spa UK Train Station 2016

Lit-Up and Lonely 

Photo:  Charles Moorhen

 

 

Image Courtesy of Google Maps

 

A long exposure night photo (top) of Leamington Spa railway station, with an unidentified Chiltern Railways diesel multiple unit creeping into the picture on the far right having recently departed from Banbury.

Serving the Warwickshire town of Royal Leamington Spa, UK, the railway station in Old Warwick Road, has been a constant presence in the town since it was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1852 - rebuilt in 1939.

In March 2008, the railway station booking hall was refurbished and now reflects the original GWR art-deco style.

Large 'running in' boards (platform nameboards) in the GWR-style, have been erected at the 'up' end of platforms 2 and 3, adding more authenticity to the overall look of the station.

In 2003 the railway station buildings and platform structures became Grade II listed.

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Night Photo Class 168108 Chiltern Railways Clubman DMU Leamington Spa 2016

Class 168108 DMU Train at Leamington Spa Station

Photo:  Charles Moorhen

Chiltern Railways Class 168108 diesel multiple unit UK passenger train, basically a modified Class 170, stands in Royal Leamington Spa station.  

This train night photo was taken during a photo session in August 2016.

The Chiltern Railways Class 168108 DMU was en route to Birmingham Moor Street station.

Class 168108 DMU on YouTube:
Chiltern 168108 at Cheddington.

Chiltern 168108 arrives at Warwick Parkway.

 

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Photo Desiro Class 350368 London Midland Trains EMU Train Northampton

Class 350368 Electric Multiple Unit Northampton Station

Photo:  Charles Moorhen

Built by Siemens between 2004/5, 2008/9 and 2013/14, the Desiro Class 350 electric multiple unit UK passenger train, seen above in the photo of 350368 in London Midland Trains livery, photographed at Northampton station, was fundamentally built for regional express and commuter services.

As well as the 'family' of Desiro electric multiple unit passenger trains operating in Britain, such as the classes 360 emu, 380 emu, 444 emu and the 450 emu, it also includes the Class 185 diesel multiple unit.

Constructed to run on power generated by either pantograph 25kV 50 Hz AC overhead lines or 750 V DC contact third rail shoe such as that used in Kent, south-east England, the Class 350/1s originally had a top speed of 100 mph (160 Km/h), though from December 2012, the complete class of 350/1s were modified to allow for 110 mph (180 Km/h) running on the West Coast Main Line.

Between October 2008 and July 2009, with the intention of replacing the then current Class 321s, a batch of Class 350/2s was delivered to London Midland Trains – the final unit being 350/2 350267. As in the case of the 350/1s, the maximum speed was upgraded from 100 mph to 110 mph.

 

 

           Night photo of Class 350250 at Wolverton station.  Photo: Charles Moorhen

 

Other 350 EMU subclasses were built as follows:

350/3 – 10 units produced – 350368-377 – built 2014.

350/4 – 10 units produced – 350401-410 – built 2013-14. 

 

 

 Two Class 350 EMUs Pass at Bletchley Station

 

Class 350368 EMU on YouTube:

Class 350368 passes Cheddington.
Class 350368 passes through Tring.

Class 350368 & 369 arrives at Northampton.

Class 350368 at Rugeley Town.

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Photos and History of Q1 Class 0-6-0 Southern Railway Steam Locomotives

Plain, Ugly...But Oh! So Powerful.

Southern Railway Q1 Class Steam Locomotive 0-6-0 C1  33001

How the UK Southern Railway's powerful but austere-looking 0-6-0 Q1 freight steam locomotive came to play an important part in British Railways history.

The illustration above of Q1 Class steam locomotive, 33001, shows that this particular engine has a home loco shed number of 70C.  As recorded in the Ian Allen Locoshed Book of 1952, 70C shed was located at Bordon Guildford, near to the town of Haslemere.

Guildford Loco Shed 1965     Photo: Shed Bash UK - Blogger

Due to the vastly increased amount of railway freight traffic to English Channel ports as a direct result of World War 2, the steam locomotive fleet of the Southern Railway was, even with the best will in the world, basically strained to its limits. The SR was, after all, a regional railway concerned with providing passenger train services as opposed to freight.

Obviously, something had to be done to ease this chronic situation.

Designer Oliver Bulleid, successor to Richard Maunsell, fully recognised the problem and set out to resolve it. The result was that by 1942 he had produced the extraordinary-looking, many would say ugly, Q1 Class 0-6-0 steam locomotive. 

Incidentally, the Q1 would be the last 0-6-0 locomotive to be designed and manufactured for the British railway network.

Bulleid accepted that as a consequence of wartime scarcities he would need to use as little metal as possible in the design of his radical Q1 locomotive.

To this end he did away with fitting wheel splashers and running boards, which up until this point traditionally sat below the boiler casing. In addition to this he incorporated into his construction the use of lightweight, double-disc, American-inspired 'box-pok' wheels. A feature he had fitted to his earlier steam locomotive the Southern Railway 'Merchant Navy Pacific', introduced in June 1941, followed by the 'West Country' class in May 1945.

Q1 Class 0-6-0 33028

In a further effort to reduce overall weight, O.V. Bulleid, employed a totally radical idea in the world of locomotive production, and that was in the area of boiler cladding.

On the Q1 he employed the use of a lightweight fibreglass known as Idaglass, cheap and plentiful during the war years which, instead of being traditionally wrapped around the boiler, was in fact supported by the main frame.

Apart from the 'box-pok' wheels, the Q1 had something else in common with the 4-6-2 'Merchant Navy' and 'West Country' locos; the exterior surfaces could by superficially cleaned simply by running the loco through a carriage cleaning facility.

The first completed Q1 locomotive, numbered C1 (C standing for three axles), later to be renumbered 33001 in November 1950, appeared at London's Charing Cross station on the 6^th May 1942 for inspection by a group of Southern Railway's directors – which no doubt raised a few quizzical eyebrows.

Designer William Stanier of London Midland and Scottish Railway was so amused on seeing a photograph of the Q1 that he asked, "Where do you put the key?"

Soon after its debut at Charing Cross, freight train tests began between Norwood, south London and Chichester in West Sussex.

Within a few months another Q1, C3 (33003), was performing well during comparative trials with Southern Railway steam locomotive Class S15 4-6-0 No 842 between Woking, Surrey and Basingstoke in Hampshire. During this time C1, hauling a mixed freight train of 1,000 tons, easily covered the same 24 miles with a reduction in the scheduled time by 8 minutes.

Brighton and Ashford Works were elected to construct the 40-strong Q1 class. Numbers C1-16 and C37-40 produced at Brighton and the remainder, C17-36, at Ashford – all delivered during 1942.

Generally the Q1s worked the Southern Railway's Western and Central Section, though they were also seen at Tonbridge, Kent; Eastleigh, Hampshire; Three Bridges, Sussex and Hither Green south-east London. However, the largest numbers of the class were to be found at Guildford, Surrey and Feltham, south-west London.

After 21 years of reliable service on the Southern Railway, hauling countless freight and passenger trains and a large number of 'specials', they had earned the nicknames, 'Biscuit Tins', 'Biscuit Barrels', 'Charlies', 'Clockworks', 'Coffee Pots', 'Austerities' and 'Ugly Ducklings' by the train-spotter fraternity.

The first withdrawn locomotive of the class was 33028 in February 1963, with the final trio 33006, 33020 and 33027 taken out of service in January 1966.

The first production Q1 the most powerful of the 0-6-0 steam locomotive classes, C1 33001, avoided the indignity of ending up in the scrapyard as was the case for all of its stablemates.

It was rightly added to the National Collection at York Railway Museum.

On a purely personal note: 

As a boy I remember 'spotting' a couple of grimy Q1s on the sidings at Ashford while travelling on a train between Dover Priory station and London's Waterloo East in the late 1950s. I thought at the time that they were really ugly and were my least favourite locos.
Sadly, I have no accurate details of this siting as my spotting books from that time have long since disappeared.

 

More steam locomotive 'Photos and History' pages.

 

Photos and History of King Arthur Class 4-6-0 UK Steam Locomotive

Photos and History of GWR 'City' Class 4-4-0 UK Steam Locomotive

Q1 Loco On YouTube:

Q1 Class No. C1 on Bluebell Railway.

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