November 2016 News Summary

HERE FOLLOWS AN ARTICLE FROM THE GB RAIL SCENE.....

AS ONE OF MY FINAL POSTS HERE (ALL WILL BE MADE CLEAR IN OUR POST ON NEW YEARS EVE), I BRING A NEWS SUMMARY....

(C) J Maxim


FLEET: Out of the 442s, only 402/406/408/ 410/413/419 remain at Gatwick Express for London Bridge to Eastbourne shuttles whilst other units go into storage. Also, 156478 returns to service at Scotrail following severe flood damage. And Hull Trains have 5 Hitachi AT300s on order, to expand their fleet. 

The Pretendolino is NO LONGER leased to GA (seen here going away), neither is Buffet 10229. These coaches will allegedly undergo overhaul, then go to Transpennine Express (as reported on the blog many times this year) in the meantime before their MK5 coaches and new units arrive. December Update: 90034 has also gone off-lease, but is seen here with Virgin East Coast at Peterborough, sitting next to a 317 currently with Gt Northern but to go to Greater Anglia on lease in the Spring!

Some more sightings include this RailTour Movement, and also from George Browning Rail Photos: "66727 Approaching Eastleigh platform 3 working 0Z27 Eastleigh Works GBRF - Peterborough GBRF. Seen in a brand spanking new livery with a covered name plate. Previously in First GBRF Barbie livery."

Also: "Northern Belle At Winchester - 68017 leads in the Northern Belle stock working  5Z81 Eastleigh TRSMD to Winchester To then work 1Z81 Winchester to Norwich seen here arriving into Winchester with 68016 on the rear."

As reported, 158752 was sent away at the beginning of the new Northern franchise, and we assumed it was for repaint into a new livery. We were correct - the unit has been repainted, has new carpets and seating cushions as well as LED lighting, dedicated wheelchair spaces and refurbished toilets too. 
J Maxim (C)


Also, the first of the new batch of units for ScotRail, the class 385, have begun to be built - as previously announced. Now we have photos of these too!

As stated, six 387s are being built for the C2C network. Darren got a good snap of one of the them on mileage accumulation runs. The first of the units for C2C are now being used on the network, and will be on lease until 2019 when C2C gain a new fleet

As stated in our stock plan report, a few 317s and 321s will come off lease from GTR as they've received a handful of Class 387s (**allegedly** 387101-129). These will transfer to Greater Anglia, where they'll be used to boost capacity once undergone a light refurbishment. GA add:
"From early 2017, 72 additional carriages will arrive on the network to enable more seats to be provided on the West Anglia and Great Eastern Main Line routes from next summer."
Talking of 321s, here we see the Interior of 303, the first of the Greater Anglia Renatus units which returned earlier this year. See our archive posts for details of the full project.

Harry.
Regards:

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