Night Photo Class 390128 'City of Preston' Virgin Trains Pendolino EMU Rugby 2016

Class 390128 'City of Preston' Pendolino EMU, Rugby Station

Photo: Charles Moorhen

Virgin Trains Pendolino Class 390 128 'City of Preston' EMU, built by Alstom, stands in Rugby station on the evening of the 25th August 2016; the same rainy night that I had photographed locomotives EWS Class 66013 and Freightliner Class 66502.  Class 390128 unit coach numbers are as follows: 69128  69428  69528  69628  65328  68928  68828  69728  69828  69928  69228.

And got fairly wet in the process!

Once again, dashing between sudden downpours, I managed to scamper with camera and tripod from one platform to another in order to get this shot.  Thinking all the time...I'm going to trip over, I'm going to trip over!

How hectic it all seems at the time when one is trying to set up a tripod and adjust the camera to the correct settings for a night photo, while all the time being aware that the time for the train to depart and the camera to record the scene is quickly running out.

But, all said and done, I believe that is was worth it in the end!

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Looking at the amount of artificial light in the photo above, it started me thinking.

When one considers how brightly lit railway stations are nowadays, it is difficult to imagine how stark the comparison would be with the standard of lighting back in the days of the Victorian railways, and how hazardous it must have been travelling at night back then.

During the Victorian era, station name-boards, although larger than they are today, were difficult to see at the best of times.  Especially from a moving train at night, maybe in fog, or worst of all - both.  

The style that the Victorians favoured was dark lettering on a lighter background - not the ideal choice for sign which would instantly catch the eye.  And at night the sign would be illuminated by the feeble glow from a gas lamp.

The unfortunate result of this combination led to a large number of instances whereupon rail passengers alighted from a railway carriage only to find that they had done so at the wrong station.  

However, far more serious were the occasions which led to a number of serious injuries and fatalities resulting from an unsuspecting passenger stepping from a railway carriage, only to find that there was nothing beneath their feet fresh air; the train having merely stopped temporarily at a signal.

Without doubt today's railways have a lot to answer for, one way and another, but it has to be said that at least we are safer and more fortunate than many of our Victorian predecessors were.

Just a passing thought.


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Photo Chiltern Railways Trains Assorted Diesel Rolling Stock Aylesbury Depot

Assorted Diesel Traction, Aylesbury Depot

Class 165 025 DMU, Ruston Diesel Locomotive 01509, and Class 117 DMU
Photo: Charles Moorhen

A collection of the old and the new photographed at Aylesbury Rail Depot, Buckinghamshire.
From left to right is Chiltern Railways Class 165 025 DMU; one of a total of 39 trainsets for 165/0 with a further 37 trainsets for 165/1.

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At the centre is Class 117  960301 DMU used by Chiltern Railways for departmental purposes.

Owned by Chiltern Railways, on the right is Ruston diesel locomotive, No. 01509, 'Lesley'.

From an entirely personal perspective, I love the collection of brand new axles in the bottom right-hand corner of the picture which was taken from the railway station footbridge.


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Photo British Rail Liveried Class 310086 4-Car EMU Northampton 1988

Class 310086 British Rail EMU, Northampton Train Station

Photo: Charles Moorhen

Class 310 086 EMU British Rail commuter train, in standard British Rail blue livery, is seen waiting at platform 2 of Northampton railway station in June 1988 with a destination board that reads 'special'.

Class 310086 unit coach numbers are as follows: 76170  62111  70771  76220. 

    

Note the use of curtains in the windows of the First Class carriage. Talk about luxury!                                                                                                                                                          

50 of these 4-car slam-door trains were produced, as part of the West Coast Main Line electrification project, at British Rail C & W Works, Derby, between 1965 and 1967 and had a maximum speed of 75 mph. 

This class of non-corridor electric multiple unit was replaced on the Euston to Birmingham service in 1987 by the unattractive, box-shaped Class 317, which itself was superseded by the Class 321 and then by Class 350.

On the 11th October 1984 Class 310 310086 & Class 310 310067, forming an eight-car 17:54 service from Euston to Bletchley, was involved in a serious accident with a freight train.
The freight train, headed by Class 86 86006 & Class 85 85035, collided with the electric multiple unit.

The driver of the passenger train had passed a signal at danger.

Three passengers died as a result of the collision and the driver of the passenger train, along with 17 others, were injured.

Following refurbishment in 1985, the Northampton-line Class 310's continued in service until eventually being withdrawn between 2001 and 2002.

Class 317327 EMU in Network Southeast livery, Northampton.  Photo: Charles Moorhen

 

The Class 317 4-car electric multiple unit replaced the Class 310's on the Euston - Birmingham service.

          Class 321437 Waits at Wolverton Station en route to London Euston                               Photo: Charles Moorhen

 

       

 

The Class 321 4-car electric multiple unit (321437 seen above in Silverlink livery)  subsequently took over from the Class 317 units.

Class 350104 Waits at Rugby Station

                                                       Photo: Charles Moorhen

 

 

The Desiro Class 350 4-car electric multiple units subsequently replaced the Class 321 units on the Euston to Birmingham line.

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Photo British Rail Class 317327 Network Southeast EMU Train Northampton 1980's

Class 317327 Network South East EMU, Northampton Train Station

Photo: Charles Moorhen

4-Car unit Class 317 327327 EMU in Network South East livery, allocated to Bletchley, stands at Northampton's Platform 2 in the 1980's on its way first to Rugby and then on to Birmingham New Street station, where seventeen of the class operated between 1987 and 1989.

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Class 317327 unit coach numbers are as follows: 77026  62687  71603  77074

This class of electric multiple unit replaced EMU Class 310.  The Class 317 was later to be superseded by EMU Class 321 operated by Silverlink Trains, and then by EMU Class 350 run by London Midland Trains. 

In all, 72 all-steel 4-car Class 317 commuter train units were produced in two batches between 1981 and 1987 able to reach a maximum speed of 100 mph.

 


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Photo British Rail Diesel Shunter Loco Class 08909 Bay Platform Rugby 1988

Class 08909 BR Shunter, Rugby Station

Photo:  Charles Moorhen

 

Once a common sight pottering around Rugby station, British Rail  Class 08909, built between 1952 and 1962 and allocated to Bletchley TMD, in BR blue livery, similar in design to its sister Class 09 is seen parked up in one of the station's bay platforms at the eastern end in November 1988.

The condition of Rugby station roof is a sad testament to how derelict the station canopy had become before its refurbishment that was to come years later.

Class 08909 diesel shunter loco survived until 2011 when it was sent to C.F. Booth's for scrapping on the 10th August of that year.

A total of 996 examples of the Class 08 diesel, or 'Gronks' as they were nicknamed by the railway enthusiast fraternity, were produced for British Railways. 

 

 

Class 08 Shunter Historical Note:
At Tinsley Marshalling Yard near Sheffield, UK, six '08' shunters were coupled in three pairs for shunting operations.  In each pair one locomotive cab was removed; its power controlled from the 'cabbed' 08.  This combination of power units were classified as Class 13.

The three pairs worked together in Tinsley Yard for twenty years until early 1985 when hump-shunting came to an end.

 

They were numbered thus:

D4500 (D3698  D4188), D4501 (D4189  D4190), D4502 (D3696  D4187).

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Photo Class 66086 and Class 66237 Diesel Locos Didcot Sidings 2004

Class 66086 and 66237 Locos, Didcot Station

Photo:  Charles Moorhen

On my first ever trip to Didcot railway station in Oxfordshire, in 2004, I was fortunate to capture an image of these two General Motors EMD EWS Class 66 diesel locomotives stabled on Didcot sidings - Class 66 66086 and Class 66 66237.

 

Class 66086 was built in April 1999 and allocated to Toton TMD (Notts.).

Class 66237 was built in May 2000 and allocated to Poznam (ECR Poland).

The way they look it is almost as if they were deliberately posed.  "Oh! to have that sort of power!" 

On the same day that I took the above image I was fortunate enough to photograph Class 60 60016 'Rail Magazine' one month before it was renamed, 'Langdale Pikes'.


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Photo DR73116 Network Rail Plasser & Theurer Tamper Northampton 2014

Class DR 73116 Network Rail Tamper Machine, Northampton Station

Photo:  Charles Moorhen

During the modernisation of Northampton railway station in 2014, Network Rail's track machine, DR 73116, passes through, heading in the general direction of Rugby on the 17th July.

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