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On Tuesday, February 14, the 9S77/13.16 from London Euston to Glasgow Central worked by an unidentified Class 221 was terminated at Preston at 16.49. The unit later ran Empty Coaching Stock (ECS) to Crewe (5K77/17.03). AWC services on the northern section WCML using single five-car Class 221 units are now not that common. Class 221 No. 221113 ran ECS from Carlisle as 5D21/12.57 to Barton-under-Needwood Depot on Wednesday, March 1.

A visit to King’s Cross station on Saturday, February 4, found Class 91 No. 91130 Lord Mayor of Newcastle at platform 0, at the head of the 1D16/13.35 to Leeds with DVT No. 82214 on the rear of the train. On Monday, February 13, another visit was made to King’s Cross when No. 91101 Flying Scotsman was seen at the head of the 1D19/15.03 to Leeds. In both cases, the whole train was in the new InterCity livery.

After the disruption over the weekend (see below) things were back to normal at King’s Cross on Monday, February 20, when No. 91105 was seen pulling away from platform 1 at the head of the 1D17/14.03 to Leeds with DVT No. 82208 at the rear of the train. On Saturday, February 25 the 1D18/14.18 to Leeds was seen leaving from platform 0, headed by No. 91111 For the Fallen, in remembrance poppy livery, which did not match the new InterCity livery.

Engineering work took place at King’s Cross on the weekend of February 18/19. As a result, no LNER trains ran to or from King’s Cross that weekend. Services operated by Grand Central, Great Northern, Hull Trains, Lumo and Thameslink were also affected.

GWR updated its website on February 16, to announce it had completed the purchase of a number of assets from emissionfree battery and hybrid trains manufacturer Vivarail, which entered administration last December. These assets cover the intellectual property, rolling stock and equipment relating to the development of high-performance battery and FastCharge technology designed to support wider introduction of battery-powered trains on the UK’s rail network. GWR has also employed nine former Vivarail staff to support the trials and project development.

Making an unusual sight on the North London Line, although one that will become regular for the next few years as the Hitachi fleet rotates though Eastleigh Works for modifications to the fatigue cracking issue, LNER ‘Azuma’ No. 800113 passes Camden Road station on March 1, running empty as the 5Q93/08.54 from Doncaster Carr depot to Reading (and then on to Eastleigh).

IAN SINCLAIR

The deal secures the future of planned trials of the technology in a real-world environment, which GWR was supporting between West Ealing and Greenford; however, no date is given for the start of these trials. The website page is illustrated with an image of No. 230001, which is assumed to be the rolling stock acquired.

It is understood Class 165 No. 165104 has been equipped with LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) and image capture technology to provide data on the condition of infrastructure for Network Rail. On Thursday, January 19, the unit was seen arriving at platform 2 at Paddington station as empty stock 5D03 from Reading. The fitting of the LiDAR equipment does not prevent No. 165104 operating in normal service as on Monday, January 23, a short journey from Reading West was made on the unit forming the 2J32/12.22 from Basingstoke to Reading.

Services were badly affected by signalling problems near Chippenham on February 21. Trains to and from the West of England were being diverted via the single line through Melksham because of planned engineering work on the Berks & Hants route. However, failed axle counters at Thingley Junction closed the diversionary route for some hours. With the single line closed, a Mendip stone train was trapped at Bradford Junction, leaving all routes east of Westbury blocked. Worst affected was GWR’s 1A81/10.55 Paignton to London Paddington. It arrived at Westbury on time at 12.47 but did not depart until nearly two hours later at 14.33. When it finally got on the move it was diverted to Bristol Temple Meads via the Avon Valley line. After terminating there it then ran to Taunton to pick up its return working as 1C85 back to Paignton at 17.11.

Meanwhile, services through Reading were disrupted for over three hours the same afternoon following an incident on Platform 14. A member of the public was reported to have fallen onto the platform from a height and died.

Class 57 Nos. 57602/03/05 all now carry reworked nameplates with their appropriate castle depicted and red-backed numberplates.

New Class 720 units continue to be delivered from Derby to Wembley, with No. 720122 being brought south by Class 47 No. 47749 on February 10, followed on February 25 with Class 47 No. 47727 moving No. 720124.

The Class 321/3 Renatusupgraded EMUs continued to handle the hourly branch service from Manningtree to Harwich Town with the following noted at Harwich International: No. 321311 on February 11, No. 321328 on February 14, and No. 321322 on February 20.

Keeping track of the situation regarding the disposition of Class 379 units at Harwich Parkestone Quay (PQ) and Ilford prior to moving to Worksop for storage is proving difficult. However, on March 3 Nos. 379009+379010+379028 were observed running from Harwich PQ to Ilford. A visit to Harwich PQ on March 5 revealed Nos. 379001 and 379025 at the head of two lines of warmstored Class 379s.