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Sunday, 18 August 2019

Photo Four EWS Class 66 UK Diesel Locos Didcot Train Station 2004

 EWS Class 66 Diesel Locomotives, Didcot Parkway 2004


colourful photo of four class 66 uk diesel locomotives stabled on didcot sidings 2004
Photo:  Charles Moorhen


In colourful EWS Freight livery, four UK Class 66 diesel locomotives stand on Didcot sidings on a sunny day in 2004.


The front locomotive is Class 66153 and behind is Class 66016.  The third '66' number is unreadable.

Above the locos a thunderstorm threatens to engulf Didcot station.  In fact a short while after taking this picture the heavens did open.  The after effects of which can be seen on the platform as First liveried Class 166205 3-car dmu pulls into the station elsewhere on the blog.


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Friday, 16 August 2019

Photo Sunset Shines On Freightliner UK Diesel Loco Class 66551

Class 66551 Freightliner Diesel Loco At Sunset


late afternoon photo of freightliner class 66551 uk diesel locomotive in a bay platform at rugby station 2000s
Photo:  Charles Moorhen



As the sun shines on the Warwickshire town of Rugby, UK Freightliner Heavy Haul diesel locomotive Class 66551 stands in a bay platform of Rugby station.

 

Unfortunately the identity of the other Freightliner locomotive is unknown.

A photograph such as this would be virtually impossible these days owing to the profusion of safety barriers that now exist at Rugby station.

This image was taken shortly before the station was modernised between 2006 and 2008.

Freightliner Class 66551 locomotive was built by General Motors Electo-Motive Division (EMD) in December 2001.


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Thursday, 15 August 2019

15 Historical UK Railway Facts You May Not Know

Fifteen Historical UK Railway Facts



Photo of Southern Railway Steam Locomotive Schools Class 30904 'Lancing', standing in Basingstoke station.
Southern Railway Steam Locomotive 4-4-0 Schools Class 30904 'Lancing' Basingstoke

Recorded in 1952, Class 30904 carried a home loco shed code of 74E, the location of which was St. Leonards, Sussex.


Black and white photo of a busy steam locomotive shed at Guildford, Surrey.
St. Leonards Loco Shed




Railway Facts & Trivia

Throughout every walk of life, events happen which, when put together, create history.   And so it is with Britain's railway network.



Since George Stephenson's locomotive 'Rocket' rattled along the rails at the Rainhill Trials in October 1829, many of the events occurring on the railways have been recorded.

Here then are fifteen interesting examples that created railway history to a greater or lesser extent.

 



The Duke of Wellington:
Although the Duke of Wellington, 'Iron Duke' - hero of the Battle of Waterloo - officially opened the Liverpool & Manchester Railway in 1830, the 'great man' had a snobbish attitude towards anyone who was not of the British elite and definitely against this new and radical form of travel.
  
He stated publicly that because of the railways, sedition and revolution would easily spread throughout the country by the 'lower orders'.

Never on a Sunday:
The ultra-religious Victorians disagreed strongly with rail travel happening on Sundays. On one particular Sunday in 1883 a group of protesters tried to prevent fish being loaded onto a train. Ten people were arrested during the ensuing skirmish who, when released, were hailed as heroes by their fellow villagers.

By 1889, eight thousand members had joined the 'Anti-Sunday Travel Union', who had nearly sixty branch offices up and down the country.

A Day Out for Everyone:
With the advent of the railways, Victorian working-class families were at last able to take advantage of a cheap one-day holiday. 

Such was the popularity of these inexpensive excursions that, in 1849, around 100,000 thousand people travelled on special trains to Liverpool in order to witness, at first-hand, the public execution outside Kirkdale Prison, Liverpool, on the 15th September 1849 of the infamous murderer, John Gleeson Wilson. 

Letting the Train Take the Strain:
With the coming of the railways the number of people travelling on the network increased to an extent that could never have been imagined. In 1842, over 24 million passengers had used the railways. By 1850 numbers had risen to a staggering 73 million!

Queen Victoria on the Rails:
Although Queen Victoria travelled quite regularly on the railways, she was never completely comfortable with the idea. She much preferred taking a journey in a horse-drawn carriage.

However, her first journey by train, from Windsor Castle to Buckingham Palace on the 13th June 1842, was not taken through personal choice but as a result of two assassination attempts two weeks earlier. Her advisors believed she would be less vulnerable in a railway.

On the footplate of the locomotive used for this trip was none other than the famous engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Don't encourage the working classes”:
In the early days of rail travel three classes of accommodation developed over time. 

First class travellers enjoyed a good measure of luxury; a glazed door to each compartment, armrests, padded upholstery, oil-lamp lighting etc. Second class passengers were only slightly worse off, but third class passengers were treated no better than animals.

As no railway company provided dedicated third-class carriages, the unfortunate travellers rode in goods wagons completely open to the elements. They sat on backless wooden benches with holes drilled in the floor to allow the rainwater to escape.

If any class of passenger unfortunately needed the toilet during a journey...well that was a totally different matter completely.

Karl Marx didn't get the job:
Described as the father of modern communism, Karl Marx, who famously pronounced that, "the workers have nothing to lose but their chains", failed to get a job on the Great Western Railway - his handwriting was simply not good enough!

The Biggest of the 'Big Four':
In 1923 the London Midland & Scottish Railway was the largest of the 'Big Four' railway companies; the other three contenders to the title being the Great Western, the Southern, and the London & North Eastern.

The 'LMS' employed a quarter of a million people; operated across 7,000 miles of track, had 3,000 goods depots and 2,000 stations. Before the nationalisation of the railways in 1948, it was the biggest private transport company in the world moving 85 million tons of coal a year.

"Good Morning Campers":
Camping railway coaches were a popular form of holiday accommodation in the 1930's, with the railway companies placing old vehicles on disused sidings in attractive places and equipping them with kitchens, toilets and washing facilities.

The peak weekly rental charged by the London & North Eastern Railway (L&NER) was around £2. Since its coaches could take up to six holiday-makers, this was a bargain price when the cost was shared between individuals.

On one particular occasion the company was quick to make a profit.
During 'Coronation Week' in 1937 - when London was invaded by sightseers - the LNER placed 52 camping coaches at various sites around London, charging £10 per coach - five times the normal rent!

A Grave Incident Indeed:
When the plans for London's St. Pancras station were drawn up, it emerged that the approach lines would pass right through an old cemetery. As nothing could stop the rapid advance of the railways, it meant that the area had to be completely cleared.

Reports in newspapers soon reached the general public that gravestones were being ripped up and placed in piles; the bones of the dead being scattered on the ground. Perhaps the most deplorable act perpetrated by the railways builders was that others were being sold to local bone-mills to be ground up for fertilizer.

The slum dwellings that were on the site - where the station now stands - were demolished. The inhabitants were simply evicted - all 10,000 of them!

One Drink Coming Up Sir!:
When the railway companies built their lines they invariably constructed a large number of railway hotels near to their stations in the larger towns and cities. The first, a very basic establishment known as the 'Victoria' close to Euston station, opened in 1839.

One of the most popular railway hotels was the 'Queen's' in Birmingham, opened by the London & North Western Railway in 1854. Some of the guests that came through its doors included Queen Victoria, General de Gaulle and Roy Rogers accompanied by his horse 'Trigger'.

Many people visited the hotel not only to spot the rich and famous, but to witness the hotel's famous barman, 'Flash' Battersby, at work. It was claimed that Battersby was able to slide a drink along 6 metres (20ft) of bar top, bringing it to a stop directly in front of the customer in question!

Railway Station of the Stars:
Due to its location at the London end of the railway line from Southampton, Waterloo station was ideally situated to bask in the publicity generated by the numerous celebrities visiting Britain from America.

When the famous piano-playing entertainer Liberace arrived at Waterloo in 1956, he was met by thousands of fans who had laid a carpet of pink paper rose petals along the platform in his honour.

The Railways Go To the Movies:
It was inevitable that the railways would in time attract the attention of movie-makers.

In 1895 the French Lumiere brothers made the first railway film; a 15-minute film of a bustling station and the arrival of a steam train pulling four coaches. The film was screened in Paris on 28th December 1895 as part of the world's first public cinema show. The railway movie was born!

Britain's First Railway Murder:
On the 9th July 1864, elderly London bank clerk, Thomas Briggs, boarded a train at Fenchurch Street station bound for Hackney.

Sadly he never reached his destination. He was found at the side of the railway tracks between the two stations by the locomotive crew of a train heading into London, and died the following day from the massive head wounds he had received.

Following information received, Inspector Tanner of Scotland Yard quickly established robbery as the motive for the murder, and a likely suspect was named - Franz Muller.

Before the murderer could be apprehended he left England for America aboard a sailing ship. However, his escape plan failed when he was arrested in New York.

Returned to England, Franz Muller stood trial at the Old Bailey on 27th October 1864 for the murder of Thomas Briggs. Found guilty, Muller was publicly hanged on 14th November 1864 outside the walls of London's Newgate Prison, in front of an estimated crowd of 50,000 people.

Women on the Railways:
Up until 1914, fewer than 5,000 women worked within the British Railway network. Those that did were employed in the more traditional female roles of the time such as in refreshment rooms, railway company laundries etc.

However, with the outbreak of WW1, this situation changed drastically. 

To offset the shortage of men, women were employed to undertake jobs previously denied to them.

They loaded heavy mail bags onto trains, acted as porters, collected tickets, served as dining-car attendants and undertook many dirty jobs such as carriage and locomotive cleaning, while others laboured in the coal yards.

By the end of WW1 there were no fewer than 55,000 women working on therailways.
The role of women in the workplace had changed forever!


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Monday, 12 August 2019

Night Photo London Midland Trains Desiro Class 350233 EMU Train Bletchley 2018

London Midland Trains Class 350233 Electric Multiple Unit, Bletchley


colourful night image of class 350233 london midland uk passenger train waits at bletchley station 2018
Photo:  Charles Moorhen



The railway station of Bletchley looks deserted in this night image of 2018 as desiro 12-car London Midland Trains, Class 350 233 electric multiple unit (EMU) passenger train, waits before continuing on towards Wolverton and Northampton.

 

This was the last night photo, out of a total of around fifteen which, happily for me included Southern Trains Class 377701 Turbostar, I took on this particular summer night.


The West Coast Main Line station of Bletchley, once came to the public's attention for all the wrong reasons!
 
 
 
Video Clip - Two Class 350 EMUs Pass at Bletchley

 




Bletchley Train Crash - 1939

Today, as Class 66s, Class 86s and Freightliner Class 70 diesel locomotives haul long and heavy freight trains along this section of the West Coast Main Line, and Class 350 electric multiple units transport thousands of commuters into and out of London each day, and Class 390 tilting trains pass one by in the blink of an eye, it is hard to imagine that the Buckinghamshire station of Bletchley, was once the location of an horrific train crash during the early months of World War 2.

In the morning gloom of Friday the 13th October 1939, the 07:37 Euston - Inverness express train was stopped in the station (approximately where Class 350233 is standing in the photo above), whilst a shunting locomotive - a London & North Western Railway 0-8-0 Class G1 number 9168 - was attaching an extra coach to the rear.

Whilst this operation was in progress, the 07:50 Euston - Stranraer express, double-headed by two immensely powerful steam locomotives - one a 4-6-0 Royal Scot class, the other an LMS Stanier 'Black Five' No. 5025 (subsequently re-numbered 45025) - was bearing down on Bletchley station; running at high speed and three minutes behind schedule.


'Black Five' 5025 in Preservation

An inevitable disaster was merely seconds away.

The impact of the resulting collision was so powerful when it happened, that it lifted a number of coaches and one of the locomotives up onto the adjacent platform, a height of around 4 feet, totally demolishing the waiting and refreshment rooms.

Amid the carnage - station staff, passengers, volunteer members of the ARP unit (Air Raid Precautions) and a number of doctors offered what assistance they could to the injured, while ambulances summoned from the surrounding towns rushed to the scene.

A postman, a railway porter, an RAF serviceman and the engine driver of the G1 shunter locomotive were killed instantly.  40 other people were injured.

The more seriously injured, among them a shunter and a refreshment room waitress, were transported by road to Northampton hospital 20 miles away.

The inquiry into the cause of the crash put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the driver and fireman of the Euston to Stranraer express train.  They inquiry panel cited; excessive speed and the passing of a number of track-side signals set at red as the main cause.

On a happier note:  Against all the odds, one of the steam locomotives involved managed to survive the events of the 13th October 1939.  'Black Five' No. 5025 was eventually repaired and put back into mainline service.  It worked for a further twenty-nine years until retirement on the 31st August 1968.

Saved from the scrapyard, it survives to this day on the preserved Strathspey Railway in Scotland.


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Sunday, 11 August 2019

Photo Midland Mainline Trains Class 43082 125 HST Wellingborough 1990s

Midland Mainline Liveried Class 43082 Intercity 125, Wellingborough


photo of intercity 125 hst midland mainline power car class 43082 uk passenger train at wellingborough 1990s
Photo:  Charles Moorhen

This photo of UK Intercity 125 Class 43082 high speed train power car, in Midland Mainline livery, was taken as the train from London St. Pancras was standing in Wellingborough station before continuing on northwards.

 


Class 43082  Intercity 125 passenger train, whose depot is Neville Hill T&RSMD (Leeds), was built Crewe Works in 1978.

On the 10/11/1997 the power car was named Derbyshire First,  then in 30/11/2004 it had the name removed until on the 13/9/2009 it was renamed The Voice of Street Children Worldwide.  In the 2019 Platform 5 Pocket Book it is recorded as bearing the name, Railway Children - Fighting for street children.

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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Saturday, 10 August 2019

Night Photo Class 377701 Southern Trains Electrostar EMU Train 2018

Southern Trains Class 377701 'Electrostar' Electric Multiple Unit, Bletchley


night photo of southern trains electric multiple unit uk passenger train class 377701 stands in Bletchley station 2018
Photo:  Charles Moorhen


Night photo of Southern Trains Class 377701 Electrostar electric multiple unit (EMU) UK passenger train, with dual power systems - third rail and overhead lines pantograph - stands in Bletchley station on an April night in 2018.

 


239 units of the class 377 were produced by Bombardier Transportation at its Derby Works from the early 2000's onwards.

Electrostar electric multiple units work suburban services in South London, and main line commuter services to Sussex, Surrey, Kent and the South Coast, where they replaced 4Cig and 4Vep slam-door units.

Class 377 emu units also replaced - Class 319 (Thameslink), Class 421 (Mainline), Class 423 (Mainline) and Class 456 (Metro).



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Friday, 9 August 2019

Photo Class 321403 Silverlink Trains EMU Wolverton 1990s

'Silverlink Trains' Class 321403 Electric Multiple Unit, Wolverton


photo of silverlink trains electric multiple unit 321403 uk passenger train at wolverton station 1990s
Photo:  Charles Moorhen


Photo of UK Silverlink Trains Class 321403 electric multiple unit (EMU), leaving Wolverton station, Buckinghamshire, heading for the next stop on the line - Northampton, in the 1990s.


The Silverlink Class 321 units passenger trains on the Northampton Line were later superseded the Class 350 emu's when London Midland Trains took over the franchise, and then again by West Midlands Trains.






Short video of a Silverlink Trains Class 321 EMU Entering Wolverton Station.
(Not Class 321403 in this post, but worth a look)



Wolverton railway station historical note:
It was at Wolverton railway station in Buckinghamshire, on the 9th September 1845, that bare-knuckle fighter, Bendigo, stepped from a carriage of a London & Birmingham Railway train surrounded by a horde of his supporters.

His destination was the nearby town of Newport Pagnell where it was arranged that he would take part in an illegal fight with Ben Court.

At the last possible moment, for various reasons, the venue was switched to the village of Lillington Lovell, 4 miles north of Buckingham.

The match went ahead with Bendigo being heralded the winner after 96 gruelling rounds.


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