British Rail Class 101 L202 W51225 DMU Train Banbury 1989

 

Class101 W51225 DMU Banbury    Photo: Charles Moorhen

In British Rail blue and white livery, Western Region L202 Class 101 W51225 Driving Motor Brake DMU, photographed on a sunny April day in 1989 about to depart Banbury station, Oxfordshire, England, for Oxford, forming the front unit of a 2-car formation.

 

W51225 was built in 1958 by Metropolitan-Cammell at Washwood Heath, Birmingham, England.

 

 

Commonly known as British Rail's First Generation DMUs, the Class 101 fleet contained a total of 527 units in service, many of which were in use until the final 101 was withdrawn in Dec 2003.

W51225 was scrapped by Gwent Demolition, Margam, Wales, though 22 others managed to escape this fate and are preserved on Heritage Railways at various locations in Britain.

 

 

The Class 101 has one enduring and endearing claim to fame; it was the basis for Daisy the Diesel Railcar in The Railway Series books written by the Rev. W.Awdry, then subsequently appearing in the television series, Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends where Daisy (YouTube video clip) appears as a single-car unit.

 

Daisy the Diesel Railcar

 

Photo Class 66515 UK Freightliner Loco Through Banbury Station 2014

 

Freightliner Class 66515 Loco Banbury        Photo: Charles Moorhen

Photo of Freightliner Class 66515 diesel loco at Banbury station, hauling a train of empty flatbed wagons, A Chiltern Railways Class 172 DMU can be seen to the left of the picture.

This image was actually taken from a video that I took at the time. An experiment that worked reasonably well.

 

In Freightliner livery since new, Class 66515 arrived in the UK at Newport docks on the 15th August 2000 on board the ship, MV Stellaprima.

 

On the 5th December 2015, the loco provided the power for the reverse part of the 'York & Durham Noel Explorer' Pathfinder Tour, hauling an 11-coach train from Newcastle to Taunton.

The above photo took a lot of fiddling about with my basic photo editing software, but in the end I thought that the process was worth the effort.  

Admittedly, not the best image of a Freightliner loco in the world, but I like the sense of motion.

I am not a great believer in too much 'tampering' with an image; usually merely correcting only Brightness and Contrast.  But with this image I was tempted to see what I could do with it.

Following the relative success of this, I decided to try it out on a couple of other video images that I thought may make worthwhile static images.  The results were not as good as I had hoped.

However, when I've more time I might have another crack at it. Fingers crossed. 

More Class 66 Locomotive Images on 'Along These Tracks' blog.

Class 66005 at Wellingborough

Class 66013 & 66502 at Rugby (Scroll down for '502' image)

Class 66044 at Northampton

Class 66086 at Didcot

Class 66086 and 66237 at Didcot

Class 66117 at Northampton

Class 66130 at Banbury

Class 66145 at Banbury

Class 66206 at Northampton

Class 66414 at Northampton

Class 66509 at Wellingborough

Class 66536 at Banbury

Class 66551 at Rugby

Class 66717 at Wellingborough

Class 66729 at Wellingborough 

Class 66765 at Wellingborough

Four Unidentified Class 66s Didcot.

Four Unidentified GBRF Class 66s Wellingborough

Photo Class 350257 London Midland Desiro EMU Train Wolverton 2013

 

Class 350257 EMU flashes through Wolverton      Photo: Charles Moorhen

A lucky photo of London Midland Trains Class 350257 Desiro EMU passing at speed through Wolverton station, UK.

 

It had been a busy afternoon at Wolverton, grabbing photos of trains on this particular day.  A variety of Class 390 Pendolino EMU's had belted through the station on the far track, too quick for me to even attempt a shot, a regular supply of London Midland Train Class 350 EMUs had kept my shutter finger busy and a small amount of freight had passed by.  

And it was due to a passing freight train that I nearly missed the above image.

I had just managed a grab-shot (the story of my life!) of a couple of Class 90 diesel locomotives double-heading through the station, when flicker of movement at the corner of my eye caused me to look to my left.

The last wagon of the freight train was about to pass under the bridge at what I refer to as the London end of the platform, when a profusion of green, black and white burst forth from under the road bridge.

Oh dear! Panic panic!  I wasn't ready.  My camera was still in its 'view images' setting. 

Fumbling, I switched the camera controls to the 'camera icon' and raised it to my eye so fast I thought I might blind myself in the process.  I had no time to check the camera settings. All I could hope for was that the settings that were in place to take the photo of the Class 90s would work for this shot. 

The shutter clicked, Class 350257 flashed past at speed heading for Crewe, and it was all over.   Did it work?  I was not very optimistic.

Gingerly, I lowered the camera and flicked the switch to 'view image'. It was then that I realised I had been holding my breath, probably since the moment I caught sight of the London Midland Trains EMU.  With a satisfied whoosh I breathed out,  fogging the screen on the camera's back in the process. 

When the 'mist' had cleared, and my impatient foot had stopped tapping, I dared to take a look. 

Well, there it was in all its glory. But, taking everything into consideration, I was quite surprised.  The image was not as bad as I feared it would be.

Looking at the picture again and again, I swore to myself that from that moment on I would learn to be more alert - more on the ball.  

And did I succeed? Well, not really.  Within minutes of making that solemn oath I managed to miss yet another passing train.  

Oh well! Keep working at it.

Photo Class 90029 DB Cargo UK Electric Locos Double Heading Wolverton 2013

 

 Class 90 Locomotives Double-Heading Through Wolverton    
Photo: Charles Moorhen

 

 

A black and white photo taken on the 9th July 2013 of two DB Cargo Class 90 electric locomotives seen double-heading a fast moving freight train through Wolverton station, Buckinghamshire, UK.

 

The leading locomotive is numbered Class 90029, while unfortunately the second loco went unidentified.

The train had recently passed through Northampton and was headed towards Bletchley.

Class 90029, bearing the Deutsche Bahn Cherry Red livery along with DB Schenker branding, was built by British Rail Engineering Ltd Crewe Works in April 1989 - one of 50 produced.

On 26/3/1998 the loco was named 'Frachtverbindungen' but later lost its name on 31/1/2003.

On the 8/4/2003 it was named once again, this time as 'The Institution of Civil Engineers'.

According to details listed in the 2014 Platform 5 Locomotives Pocket Book, Class 90029 had by this date lost its latest name.

 

Photos Rail Track Grinding Train Loram C21 DR 79241/247 'Roger South'

 

Cab of Loram C21 DR79247 Rail Grinder Train, Northampton Station Sidings    Photo: Charles Moorhen

 

 

 

 

Partially obscured by the profusion of weeds growing in the semi-derelict railway sidings at Northampton station, an area that over many decades bustled with a host of examples of railway rolling stock, I was surprised to discover Network Rail's rail grinding train - Loram C21 DR79247 'Roger South' cab.

 

When I came upon  this scene in the mid-2000s at Northampton station, my initial thought as I looked far across the tracks through the long lens of my camera, was that perhaps this railway track machine train was being temporarily stored prior to disposal.  But, I was totally wrong.

 

     Loram C21 Rail Grinding Machine Showin 'Roger South' Nameplate                     Photo: Charles Moorhen

During a lull in activities at the station when my surroundings became surprisingly quiet, I realised that somewhere along the length of the train an engine of some description was running.

Unable to pinpoint exactly where the noise was coming from, I decided to take a few photos just in case DR79241/247 'Roger South' took it into its head to move off.

Loram C21 Begins To Move Out Of Northampton Station Sidings - (Class 350 EMU in the far distance)    Photo: Charles Moorhen

Ever since I started taking photos of railway rolling stock I had never seen a train such as this - or incidentally since.  "Right place, right time" as the saying goes.

Network Rail grinding machines such as DR79241/247 are an important and integral part of passenger safety whilst running a busy railway network, such as addressing wear and tear on railway tracks known as Rolling Contact Fatigue (RCF).

The technicalities regarding the treatment of RCF is way beyond the scope of this blog.  Therefore, I direct blog visitors to the Rail Engineer and Loram websites for detailed information.

 

          Rail Grinder Train 'Roger South' About To Join Main Line      
Photo: Charles Moorhen

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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