Class 387115, 387123, 387124 Thameslink Trains Bedford 2015

 

Class 387115 Thameslink Trains EMU Bedford 2015       
Photo: Charles Moorhen

 

 

Class 387123 Thameslink Trains EMU & Class 222023 DMU

Photo: Charles Moorhen

Class 387124 Thameslink Trains EMU Bedford 2015       
Photo: Charles Moorhen

The Thameslink Trains Class 387 electric multiple unit, such as in the photos above, which forms part of the Electrostar family, was built by Bombardier and entered service between Bedford and Brighton in December 2014, with all units in place by July 2015.

 

Since the introduction of Thameslink's Class 700 EMU on the Bedford/Brighton service, the Class 387s have been transferred to Great Northern operating out of Kings Cross.

Other operators of the Class 387 EMU are; Gatwick Express, Great Western Railway, c2c and Heathrow Express. 

Night Photo Class 221138 Cross Country DEMU 'The Big Hoot 2015' Banbury

 

Cross Country Trains DEMU Class 221138 Banbury
Photo: Charles Moorhen

Colourful night photo of Cross Country Trains Voyager DEMU Class 221138 displaying 'The Big Hoot 2015' event branding seen on a scheduled service at Banbury station about to head towards Leamington Spa on 4th May 2016.

 

From the 20th July to the 27th September, 89 giant owl art structures could be found in the streets across the city of Birmingham; each owl individually decorated by a different artist.

This event known as 'The Big Hoot 2015', sponsored by various local businesses and organisations, culminated with a sale-by-auction of the attractive owls with all money raised going to the Birmingham's Children's Hospital.

From June to September in 2022, a similar event - The Big Hoot 2022 -  is to be held in Ipswich, Suffolk, to raise money for the St. Elizabeth Hospice.

In total, 40 designed and illustrated 'Big Hoot' owls will be placed around the historic town.

Photo Class 90034 EWS UK Electric Locomotive at Rugby Station 1990s

 

EWS Class 90034 - Rugby       Photo: Charles Moorhen

Class 90034 electric locomotive, photographed in English Welsh & Scottish Railways (EWS) livery, stands in Rugby station in the 1990s around the time of its  modernisation.

 

Built by British Rail Engineering Ltd. (BREL) at Crewe between 1987 and 1990, the electric Class 90 locomotives, a derivative of the Class 87, and initially intended to be classified Class 87/2, were produced essentially for mixed traffic duties on sections of the UK railway network.  

Due to their unreliability in the early years of service, they were unfortunately nicknamed, 'Skodas', a derogative name for the cheap and, some claim, unreliable Skoda Czech-manufactured car.

In response to the aging of various electric locos on the UK railway network, dating from the 1960s, such as Classes 81, 82, 83, 84 and 85, BREL tendered proposals to build 25 examples to replace.

In total 50 units were produced with all of the fleet in still service or stored at the present time.

At the time of writing the current Class 90 operators are - DB Cargo UK, Freightliner, and Locomotive Services.

Class 47100 'Merlin' Silver Roof UK Diesel Loco Eastleigh 1989

 

Class 47100 'Merlin' loco at Eastleigh                  Photo: Charles Moorhen

Photographed in May 1989, on 35mm colour film, diesel locomotive Class 47100 in BR blue livery, stands in Eastleigh station, Hampshire.

 

Class 47100 - original number D1687 - was built at the Brush Falcon Works in Loughborough and entered service on 16th November 1963.

On the 20th September 1989 the loco was given the short-lived unofficial name, 'Merlin', before being unnamed two years later on the 17th July 1991.

After 28 years service on the UK railway network, it was withdrawn in 1991.  January 1994 saw it cut-up at CF Booths scrapyard in Rotherham, Yorkshire.

This should have been the end of the story of diesel locomotive Class 47100, but a strange thing happened.  Although the engine and bodywork was scrapped, by some twist of fate the cab survived.

It was purchased by a Mr. Thorley who was a collector of locomotive cabs which he stored in his garden. At a later date the Merlin's loco cab was acquired by Mr. Richard Benyon of the South Wales Loco Cab Preservation Group.

In 2009 the cab of Class 47100 was on the move once again, this time by low-loader to its final destination - the 'Ribble Steam Railway' in Preston.

Stored in the Railway's workshop the cab is now undergoing renovation with the intention of creating an interactive display for visitors.

 

Photo: Martin Brown

 

Photo: R. MacVeigh (flickr)

512 Class 47s were built, of which 30 have passed into preservation and can be found (at time of blog-page publication) at the following locations, though this may be subject to change for various reasons.

D1524  47004 - Embsay & Bolton Abbey Railway.

D1693  47105 - Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway.

D1705  47117 'Sparrowhawk' - Great Central Railway.

D1842  47192 - Crewe Heritage Centre.

D1855  47205/47395 - Northampton & Lamport Railway.

D1994  47292 - Great Central Railway Nottingham.

D1787  47306 'The Sapper' - Bodmin & Wenford Railway.

D1886  47367 - Mid Norfolk Railway.

D1895  47376 'Freightliner 1995' - Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway.

D1500  47401 'North Eastern' - Midland Railway Butterley.

D1501  47402 - East Lancashire Railway.

D1516  47417 - Midland Railway Butterley.

D1566  47449 - Llangollen Railway.

D1662  47484 'Isambard Kingdom Brunel' - (Private Location).

D1107  47524 - Dean Forest Railway.

D1778  47183/47579/47793 'James Nightall G.C. - Mid Hants Railway.

D1762  47167/47580/47732 'County of Essex - Carnforth.

D1933  47233/47596 'Aldeburgh Festival' - Mid Norfolk Railway.

D1606  47029/47635 'Jimmy Milne' - Epping Ongar Railway.

D1970  47269/47643 - Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway.

D1948  47505/47712 'Lady Diana Spencer' - Crewe Heritage Centre.

D1619  47038/47564/47761 - Midland Railway Butterley.

D1643  47765/47059/47631 - East Lancashire Railway.

D1946  47503/47771 - Eastleigh Works.

D1755  47541/47773 - (Location Not Known).

D1909  47232/47785/47820 - Wensleydale Railway.

D1656  47072/47609/47834/47798 'Prince William' - York Railway Museum.

D1654  47070/47620/47799/47835 'Prince Henry' - Eden Valley Railway.

D1966  47266/47629/47828 - Carnforth.

D1661  47077/47613/47840 'North Star' - West Somerset Railway.

More Class 47 and 57 images on 'Along These Tracks'.

Class 47701

Class 47822

Class 47790 'Galway Princess'

Class 57307 'Lady Penelope'

Class 57316 'Fab 1'

Class 57305 'John Tracy'

Class 57308 'Tin Tin'

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.