Regional Updates ~ Mon 19th Oct 2015

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. 

ANGLIA AND LONDON:

47805 leads the Class 47 duo through Ipswich

Robert W informs me that 321413 and 321414, both in London Midland livery, are currently on short term loan to London Overground. Once this period has ended, they will both head north to be based at Abellio ScotRail. 

In addition in the London region, the Transport Secretary has unveiled Three Bridges depot, which will stable the 700 Thameslink stock. 

Meanwhile, DRS 47805, 47828 and 57310 have all seen use over the past few days. They've been on Abellio Greater Anglia ECS stock moves to/from Wolverton and Doncaster. 

Finally, the construction of CrossRail station Abbey Wood station is well underway, ready for the opening of the network by 2019. 

Class 319s, such as this one, will be stabled at Allerton depot

NORTH:

144012, the Pacer demo, is now in service. I've seen comments that it looks like a spaceship! And also, as previously stated, Northern Rail 158859 will be painted out of the Tour Of Britain yellow livery at the end of the month. And at Doncaster, a new bespoke facility is now opened for the ScotRail Class 321 conversion as well as the Renatus programme for Abellio Greater Anglia Class 321s.
Nothing more to report other than this for now, although we may be hearing more of the ScotRail HSTs in coming months. These will enter service in 2018 in 4/5 Carriage formations and will be refurbished before entering service, including the introduction of power doors, RAIL reports. 

WALES AND WEST MIDLANDS:

Firstly, one of the main articles is the reopening of the re-designed Birmingham New Street. No need for photos as it's been everywhere at the minute and I'm sure you've heard/seen all the details :-)
Next - Allerton EMU depot, not too far from Liverpool, has just received a £23m upgrade by Network Rail, which includes OHLE equipment. The depot will be home to 20 EMU units, mostly the Class 319s at Northern Rail, which operate on routes out of Liverpool, Manchester and Warrington. Andrew Jones, Transport Minister, said: "Our investment in infrastucture is transforming the railways in the North, giving passengers better journeys and helping to build the Northern Powerhouse." Now that works are complete, it's on the cards that the depot will be expanded and will soon be able to stable up to approximately 100 trains. 

Moving on - Chiltern start Marylebone to Oxford Parkway services in October and plans have been devised for the Ordsall Chord, which will connect Manchester stations. More information here. 

SOUTH WEST AND SOUTH EAST:
New services for SouthWestTrains begin on the 14th December, in peak times to/from Waterloo towards Castle Cary, Frome, Yeovil and Bruton. Class 159s continue to be refurbished and a few already also adorn the new style livery, as shown previously on the blog.

^Harry