TheGreatBritishRailScene

©Railway Gazzete  LIAM: The first body shell for the new Class 707 EMU's has been built in the Siemens Krefeld Factory in Germany. The first unit's construction is scheduled to finish by February 2016, with test trials beginning in May 2016 at the Wildenrath test track, before delivery to Wimbledon depot where the trains will be maintained by South West Trains' maintenance team.

Virgin Trains East Coast has announced a £16 million contract with MTU to refurbish all of the diesel engines in the 35 Class 43 power cars in operates. With the introduction of the Class 800 / 801 trains from 2018 onwards, Virgin Trains East Coast say that this refurbishment is only a stop gap measure.

AGA 317 at Liverpool Street. These units are now with TFL (C) Oma. A series of upgrades are heading in the direction of London Liverpool Street station . It will receive a major investment in the next year.  Included in these works is a new Ticket Office (which will be situated on Platform 10) and a series of retail units, enabling station users to have a variety of shops and food/beverage choices. This will prepare also for the introduction of the opening of the full CrossRail route, which will operate between Shenfield and Heathrow by 2019.

It has now been a while since the Class 47's were ousted by Class 37's on the short set but as of Tuesday 20th October, 47's made a comeback. On that date, Direct Rail Services 47828 & 47805 were called upon to haul the Railhead Treatment Train (RHTT) circuit from Stowmarket to Stowmarket via Ipswich, Colchester, Shenfield, Southend Victoria and Clacton.47828 is seen leading the RHTT through Hockley. As a result of 47805 failing, 47818 replaced it and is seen on Thursday 22nd October at the unlikely location of Southend Victoria. The RHTT is scheduled to wait here for approximately 40 minutes and then return towards Shenfield, offering plenty of time for photographs. It is captured preparing to depart.

The Railhead Treatment Train (RHTT) Season is now well underway around the country. The RHTT's usually consist of top and tail locomotives hauling blue water cannons which blast water on to the track in an effort to remove leaves from the railhead, hence why it runs in the Autumn. In East Anglia there are two bases for the RHTT sets: Broxbourne on the West Anglia Line and Stowmarket on the Great Eastern Mainline.

(C) Liam A bespoke system has been installed to SouthWestTrains class 444/450 units. ASDO (automatic selective door opening) allows a sensor on the track to calculate how many train coaches are on a platform. The guard can then open specific doors of the train. As a consequence, boarding is quicker and passengers don't have to walk the length of the train. 

A new sight to behold here on GBRailScene - general updates from around the *entire* Great Britain. So many updates which we couldn't squeeze into the Week Review, so all condensed into this post too. This week in 'Regional Updates' we focus on a variety of locations, but as of November we'll have individual days for specific areas! Tags are now available for these locations and can be seen at the end of the post - click on these to be directed to posts which are soon to be created and will focus on 'East Anglia', 'Wales & West Mids', 'The North', 'Sth-East', 'Sth-West' and 'London' and the TOCs contained within. 

GBRF'S 59 003 has been out and about, and left Southern England earlier this week for Northern England (Liverpool) to join the Liverpool Biomass workings. 59 003 at Reading - © Dan. It was exported to Germany in 1999, however GBRF purchased it from Heavy Haul Power International over a year ago now, and arrived back in the UK in Summer 2014. It was hoped the locomotive would return by December 2014, however certain issues have held back 59003's official return.

On Thursday 24th September, Colas Rail 37421 and 37175 visited Shoeburyness and the majority of the c2c network. This was believed to be the first visit of a Colas Rail locomotive to Shoeburyness, on this ocassion working the Network Rail test train from East Ham Depot to East Ham Depot visiting most parts of the c2c network including London Fenchurch Street, Barking, Southend and Shoeburyness. Here are some photographs of 37421 and 37175 at Shoeburyness. 37421 in striking Colas Rail orange and yellow can be seen arriving at Shoeburyness and marking the first visit of a Colas Rail locomotive to the station. In the past, the Network Rail test trains have been worked by Direct Rail Services Class 37's but is now operated by Colas Rail Class 37's.

It's Friday, and today's post is a special! Not as I'm here (Andy)... Class 73's were built in the 1960's and generally used in the Southern region. In 2013, it was announced that GB Railfreight would initially be re-building 5 Class 73's to make them Class 73/9's. The complete re stripping and rebuilding has taken place at Brush Traction in Loughborough.  The Class 73/9's first started testing in late 2014 (73 961 - 965) as there had been some issues, however they were all resolved pretty soon. The 73/9's are intended to work infrastructure trains (test trains under Network Rail) and also to be used on Rail Head Treatment Trains. As a result of the rebuild, it has given the Class 73/9's up to 25 years more in service, and more 73/9's are to be released over the coming months which should see them introduced on to the Serco Sleeper eventually!

PICADILLY is one of four stations (Piccadilly, Oxford Rd, Victoria & Airport Parkway) located in Manchester, however it is the largest. 23 million passengers passed through between 2012 and 2013 making it the fourth busiest station outside of London, too!  HISTORY: Originally opened in 1842 (as Store Street), it was rebuilt in 1861, expanded in 1881 and renovated in 1960 (also renamed Manchester Piccadilly station). PLATFORM CONFIGURATIONS AND DESTINATIONS: The station has 16 platforms, two of which are for Manchester MetroLink whilst the others are for six national railway franchises. Twelve of these platforms are actually terminals for services to/from locations including Birmingham, Bristol, Chester, Crewe, Liverpool, London, Norwich, South Wales, Sheffield, Newcastle and York.  Arriva Trains Wales, Virgin, Northern, Transpennine, Cross Country and East Midlands Trains units can all be seen here. These are in the form of voyagers, Class 150/156/15...

Hello all, Liam here! W ith a Route Focus post on the Portsmouth Direct Line. In Part 1. I described the route's path up through Hampshire & Surrey and onto London. In this part, I will explain South West Trains' operations, stock used, and a brief history of the route. The Portsmouth Direct Line is a Direct route between Portsmouth Harbour and Woking/London Waterloo. ©Liam Jenkins - Class 444 Units