TheGreatBritishRailScene

Now, the latest Railway Related news and updates from around the UK for November 2017!  Fleet Summary:   In conjunction with the 10 year anniversary of HST sets operating for Grand Central,  the time has also come to bid farewell to them.  The power cars will go off-lease in December, returning to their leasing company Angel Trains. 

Saturday 22nd July saw the return of the DRS Charity Open Day, which took place between 10am and 4pm at Kingmoor Depot in Carlisle.  The 2016 event saw 4,000 guests, and it's fair to say that this year's was just as popular - also prominent due to the fact that, once again all proceeds are distributed to charities and local causes. Not only did the occasion see the presence of the class 37s and 68s, there was also the unveiling of the class 88. This is the first public event the class 88 type has attended.  Rather than just summarising the event, some links to photos from the event follow next..... - 68026 , in plain blue livery as it'll be transferring to TPE. - Avro Vulcan, XH558, class 37424 . - Class 68s, in Chiltern, Scotrail and standard DRS colours stand side-by-side. Well done to DRS for organising this, it looks like it was another great event. Hope everyone who attended had a good time, and fingers crossed you managed to avoid the sudden showers? ...

As I said in my first post, I was just covering the summer before going my own way due to other commitments. This comes my final post, as the blog is now on its feet and I don't  have the time. And this is my goodbye post. I went and saw the Retro Railtours Class 68 Tour at Clapham on Saturday 9th July, so here is my photo.

Harry here, covering Matthew who's away. As stated, in order to raise funds for EACH (East Anglia Children's Hospice), Abellio Greater Anglia ran a special Class 37 Short Hauled MK2 Charter Service today (Saturday 30th April). Normally, the short set usually only operates weekdays - with 2 MK2s not 4 so this is very special. Tickets sold out for the event, with all 4 carriages (200 seats) booked! Operated:  10:15 Norwich to Ely (11:20),  11:55 Ely to Norwich (12:55), 1 3:33 Norwich to Liverpool Street (15:33),  and  16:27 Liverpool Street London to Norwich (18:22). Before the event, it even reportedly operated 07:36 Norwich-Great Yarmouth and 08:17 Great Yarmouth - Norwich (services on the usual short set weekday diagram, but never usually formed of four MK2s, only two!

Good evening viewers, Liam here providing a dosage of some highlights of this week's news, almost like a week review, but less in depth. Enjoy! Remember the ex-London Underground District Line D-Stock trains that were transferred to Northern for use? Well, the first refurbished 2-car set courtesy of Vivarail has been tested, a full video can be found in this twitter link: https://twitter.com/Vivarail/status/690212470074507264 ©Vivarail

Ian Sharman (C) Since our last dedicated updates post in July, there's been many changes. Further to Orson's recent post , it's now confirmed that the final serviceable Class 47, 47790 , has been withdrawn. It went from Norwich to Crewe yesterday (hauled by 57310 ) and then straight into storage. 47790 will be joining 47805/810/813/ 818/828/ 841/853 which are already stored. As you can see by our Fleet-List , there are still a number of Class 57s out in operation. A number of them have recently finished duties on the RHTT (Rail-Head Treatment Trains).

Class 47: Direct Rail Services (DRS) are having some major fleet changes happening in the next couple of months. The last serviceable Class 47 remaining ( 47790 ) is making a move to be stored in Scotland sometime in the next seven days. This 47 was working the short set from Norwich to Great Yarmouth & Lowestoft for a short while this year before being replaced by the Class 37s, but for now it remains on tour outings with the Northern Belle and stock moves. It's currently at Norwich and is planned to be stored in either Crewe or Carlisle, but this information is unknown at this point. 47790 will be joining others of it's class in storage, 47805/818/828 , which shall also be joining 47810/813/841/853 which were already in storage.

57 307 receiving it's 20 year vinyl! Today's post (Andrew) brings a Stock Focus on Class 57's. Class 57's were re-engineered in the late 1990's and early 2000's from Class 47's. The 33 rebuilt locos have a refurbished engine and overhaul of their alternator in a bid to improve reliability.

SOURCE-  https://twitter.com/WizzerTweet/status/648037370001027072 Here's this week's news; The Construction bidding process for the HS2 Phase 1 has begun. 66 757 was named "West Somerset Railway" this weekend, as seen in this picture to the right. As part of the National Railway Museum 40 years celebration, a special livery and naming of the power car 43 238 was held during the week by VTEC, photos can be found here  https://twitter.com/Virgin_TrainsEC/status/646649575781085184 The transformed Birmingham New Street has fully reopened from it's estimated £750m refurbishment which includes a new station concourse, atrium and Grand Central shopping Complex.

DRS 37612 on the rear of a test train passing Rochford (C) Lewis Brownlow Lewis here. I'm signing in for todays Line Review post, which focuses on the Southend Victoria route. The Shenfield to Southend Victoria line is a railway line located in South Essex and runs between Southend Victoria in the East and Shenfield in the West. At Shenfield the line joins the Great Eastern Mainline from Norwich into London Liverpool Street. The double track railway was first electrified in 1956 and electric trains directly replaced steam services on the line. In 1990 the majority of services run along the Southend Victoria line were operated by Class 315's. Here, the Network Rail maintenance train is hauled by DRS Class 37s.

DRS Open Day 2015 - © Anthony. Andy here, bringing you this weeks overview - please note Lewis will now be posting a Train Operating Company Focus of Chiltern Railways tomorrow! Without further a do, here's this weeks news; 37 405 - © Ian Sharman. NEWS : It has been confirmed that FOUR additional trains will run between Norwich and Great Yarmouth each day, Monday to Friday only. The extra services are to cope with increased passenger numbers for holidaymakers visiting the seaside resort. The extra trains begin on July 20th, and will finish on Friday 4th September 2015. The extra trains will depart Norwich at 09:06, 10:25, 13:18 and 14:25, which will return (departing Great Yarmouth) at 09:52, 11:12, 13:54 and 15:42. Thanks Harry and others.

It's Wednesday and only two days until the weekend! Lucas and Harry are currently on vacation which leaves myself, Liam and Lewis here to bring you posts! Coming up: Tomorrow will bring a TOC Focus from Liam. Lewis will have a photo review of his recent trips on Friday . I have a post on Saturday which is TBC. And finally on Sunday Lewis will bring the weekly review! You may have missed some of our recent posts ? Well do not fear, because they are available to take a look at here;  Week Review -  http://eastangliarailscene.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/week-review-12072015-do-not-post-yet.html . Special - Direct Rail Services -  http://eastangliarailscene.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/special-direct-rail-services.html . 

68 007 "Valiant" and a Class 37 sat in the sidings at Norwich. Today's post brings a special on Direct Rail Services! Direct Rail Services is obviously a freight operating company with it's headquarters up north in Carlisle, United Kingdom. DRS started operations in 1995 using five refurbished Class 20/3 locomotives. Obviously the company has expanded massively and has gained new locomotives, with the latest being Class 68's.  The ownership of the company has been with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority since 2015 when the NDA was created under the Energy Act announced by the Government just over 10 years ago in 2004. DRS is unique in it's own ways, and to date is the only remaining publicly owned rail freight company in the UK.

Hi everyone! What a week it has been! On Tuesday 7th, we observed a 1 minute silence for all the people who sadly lost their lives on the 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London attacks, Greece's economy moves further into turmoil, and of course, who could forget?! The man himself Prince Phillip was caught on camera swearing at a photographer! ©Harry Rawding RAIL NEWS: On some DRS MK2 stock, anti-window-hang bars have been fitted on the NorthernRail Loco Hauled Cumbrian Coast services. This is to prevent people putting their safety at risk by putting their head too far out of the window. ©Jonathan Maxim New Sunday services include 8.20am and 3.20pm Norwich to London and 2 return trains, an extra service from Lowestoft to Ipswich at 17:05 & 19:07 Ipswich to Lowestoft and also the new 09:55 Ipswich to Felixstowe & 10:25 return.  These services will be operated by Abellio Greater Anglia (AGA) 'Sprinter DMUs'. These are comprised of Class 153s, 1...

57 310 "Pride of Cumbria" - © Andy. Just over a week ago, I had the opportunity to go and see the Northern Belle again on one of my local lines! After researching through Railtour Timings on the internet, I had found that there was a DRS Operated tour for Ladies Day at Ascot (18/6/15). A quick check on the Northern Belle wesbite confirmed this, so I imminently confirmed travel plans. I travelled on board the 17:58 service from North Camp down to Wokingham which arrived at around 18:15. 

It's Sunday and time for the Week Round up, from Andy NEWS, FROM ANDY!  © Mark Egdell. Sunday 31st the Metro Line between London and Shenfield will become part of the Transport for London network. 47 805 and 47 790 were on the short set on Friday - not for much longer though as the 37/4 top and tail services begin from next weekend.

ANDY HERE! Good Evening and it's already Wednesday! Here's your Mid-Week Round Up: Class 90 - © Lewis Brownlow. The Final GB Railfreight Class 92 (92 014) to be overhauled for the Caledonian Sleeper Franchise was released from Loughborough on April 21st. The latest Class 387's to enter service were 387 103 and 387 128 in late April 2015.