TheGreatBritishRailScene

SouthEastern have updated the software for CIS screens at their stations.  More information here.  Meanwhile, South Western Railway will introduce the ATOS system for their announcements as of October 28th.  Default announcements, using Roger (also heard on Great Western Railway) and Anne (used around most of the UK).  In other news: GWR Night Riviera Lounge Cars fully refurbished . 3 ScotRail 314s off-lease, as the new fleet is introduced.  Class 320 on test with LNWR.  HST for ScotRail. 

Welcome to this long-awaited summary of rail news, covering February and March 2018.  The main news from March was of course owing to the Beast From The East. Let's not mention the weather, though. I'll just direct you to some fantastic shots... WALKING IN A WINTER WONDERLAND. AND snow ploughs.... CLICK RIGHT HERE.   Oh, here is another photo you may like, it features 37s in East Anglia.  If you're a fan of 66s instead though, this'll tickle your fancy... DAB THIS BUTTON. Leading  on from our special post about CIS displays at stations , it has recently been announced that Greater Anglia will also upgrade information screens at stations. NOTE - THESE ARE NOT PROVIDED BY INFOTECH. Simone Bailey, Greater Anglia’s Asset Management Director, said: “We have been focusing our efforts on improving information provision for our customers – especially during disruption - and these new screens demonstrate our commitment to providing up-to-date information, in ...

In Summary: ScotRail have begun tests of the  Class 385  stock on the Edinburgh to  Glasgow corridor.   Next, the first 14 Class 345s ( which replace 315s ) for TFL Rail have been built and passed trials. Of these, 3 are in service and 2 are used for Driver  Training (007-011).  Meanwhile, Govia Thameslink has reached a major milestone in its transformation of the railway by replacing the last of the 29-year-old Class 319 train fleet with modern Class 700 trains. GTR added: "On Sunday 27 August, units 319217 and 319435 were coupled together as an eight carriage service to make the final southbound journey. The train left Bedford on time at 15.06 with a salute from the drivers and a blast on the horn as the train left the station with a small commemorative headboard fitted to the front. Greeted by a crowd of enthusiasts at Brighton, the same train then left the seaside resort full and standing at 18.14 as passengers, enthusiasts...

For those of you who follow us on Twitter, you'll see us sharing, liking and posting news, stories and photos.  However, for those of you who aren't apart of the social media platform, I wouldn't want you to miss out on anything exciting .  So that's why we've condensed down the year so far from our Twitter feed into this handy dosage.... It's practically a year review, so we'll call it just that....  At the start of 2017,  345002 was on tests and trials prior to entering service on the Liverpool Street to Shenfield section of the Cross-Rail route. In June, the first of the new fleet  went into passenger service. Also in February, Thameslink 387124 went on hire to Gatwick Express. Brand spanking new  EMUs were planned for Mersey Rail. Between the 8th and 23rd April, there were significant upgrades to Bath Spa station. Primarily, the platform were widened to ensure that the gap isn't so big between the train & platform edge once the ne...

Hea throw Connect provides a direct rail link between Heathrow Airport and central London with a service running every 30 minutes.  Heathrow Connect also provide the only direct rail service between London and Heathrow Terminal 4. Heathrow Connect services depart from London Paddington train station, which connects to the Bakerloo, Circle, District and Hammersmith London Underground lines.

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? ...

Harry here, for what looks to be my final post, as you were probably all expecting at some point now. Though saying this, it's still an exciting time for UK Railways at the minute, with so much investment and improvements being made.

As stated last December , 7 catering coaches at Abellio Greater Anglia were to be overhauled and converted. FORM COACH H ON NORWICH TO LONDON LIVERPOOL STREET LINE. Reducing the size of the kitchen area to just a counter and stock storage has meant that more seating has been added... 600,000 more seats each year. Rather than having just 24 First Class seats, each of the 7 carriages now have 54 standard seats due to the additional space.

PETER: Lea Valley Lines/West Anglia Main Line modernisation through the years.... During the mid 1950s British Railways electrified the Lea Valley Line between London Liverpool Street – Chingford/Enfield Town with chunky, heavy duty, sturdy steel gantries holding both the catenary wire and contact wire itself. Electrification of the West Anglia Main Line to Cheshunt (as well as the branch line to Hertford East), Harlow and Bishops Stortford was approved and this was completed in 1969.

The Swanage Railway, running from Swanage to Norden is currently going under extensive work to formally re-extend the line to Wareham, (and effectively the mainline). Whilst the track has been used several times to transport trains to the Heritage line, along with specials, no services go from Wareham to the branch or vice versa. To get to the Swanage Railway from Wareham at the moment, bus or taxi are the current modes of transport on offer. (Apart from on the trial running days that are being used to test the line and services). A £1.47 million grant from the Coastal Communities Fund has paid to upgrade track and bridges and two 1960s heritage diesel trains to mainline running standards so that the service extension can take place.

Welcome to Part 2, which will focus on Intercity Stock (Class 90s, MK3s and DVTs). Part 1 is here.  By October, will it be the current Abellio, or new First East Anglia, or National Express? The DFT will be revealing their opinion in roughly June, for the new franchise in October.  90034  continues to be loaned (until the refurb programme or franchise is complete, whichever comes first). In the same image, we see  90007  which is still in ONE livery (the last Class 90 in this style). Now  90006  is home in AGA colours,  90007  is ready for imminent departure for the same treatment.

As part of the TOC Focus Series, we welcome you to Part 1 of the AbellioGreaterAnglia Fleet Focus. Now, we will focus on the Class 153, 156 and 170 DMU stock before moving onto the Short Set and the Class 321/360 mainline units. Here, we see an Abellio Greater Anglia Class 156 at Bury St Edmunds. I assume this is 402 , as there aren't any fleet names on the sides of the saloon. 156402 is one of 9 Class 156 units operated by AGA. They have been passed down from ONE and NXEA days, along with the five Class 153 Bubble/Scud Units.  Of course we couldn't make an Anglia update post without mentioning the Class 37 hauled set. It still operates on the regular diagram on most weekdays, although it is now currently formed of MK2s 6117, 6046 and 9525 (brake van), and locomotives 37419 and 37422.

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. 

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!

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

Over the weekend of Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th August 2015, the West Somerset Railway's Late Summer Weekend took place. The lineup of home fleet locomotives included Class 47 No. 47840 / D1661, Class 33 No. 33057 / D6575, the Class 115 Diesel Multiple Unit and GWR steam locomotives 3850, 6960, 4160 and 7828. It was a fantastic event and the weather was excellent. Here are a selection of photos from the event. The first photograph on the right shows Class 47 D1661 preparing to depart with the first train of the day to Minehead. The loco did two round trips to Minehead from Bishops Lydeard. Shortly before this photo was taken the locomotive arrived light engine from Williton depot.

©Liam Jenkins - Class 450 Desiro at Petersfield Hello all, Liam here, with a Route Focus post on the Portsmouth Direct Line. The Portsmouth Direct Line is a Direct route between Portsmouth Harbour and Woking/London Waterloo. Originating at Portsmouth Harbour, a transport hub for ferry links to France and the Isle Of Wight, travelling half a mile up the line, the first station is Portsmouth and Southsea, a station for Portsmouth City Centre and Hoverbus links to the Hovercraft to the Isle of Wight. After a short stretch, the line then meets a South West Trains TrainCare depot at Fratton. The line then stretches a mile or two north where the line separates into the Botley Line, which goes off to Eastleigh & Southampton Central stations.

Andy here, filling in for Harry. Unbranding now unveiled, here's one of the  green power cars under the grey skies of London. Today's post is on Great Western Railway specifically, after the rebrand has begun, with many photos sent in specially for this post! Tom Bennett has allowed us to use his photos of 43 187 and 43 188 at London Paddington this morning after not working to Cardiff Central as suggested yesterday, instead the Power Cars worked 1C31 11:33 London Paddington to Exeter St Davids. © Tom Bennett. The interior of the HST has also turned green and been updated to reflect the rebrand as GWR from FGW, which is reflected in the images to the right; The first image portrays the Standard Class seating that has been adopted. It includes the green around the leather head rests.

Evening all! Liam here for a TOC Focus post on First Great Western. As the name suggests, First Great Western is owned by FirstGroup plc, who also own First Hull Trains and First Transpennine Express. First Great Western operate High Speed services between London and Penzance, Plymouth, Exeter, Weston Super Mare, Bristol, South Wales & Oxford. The Train Operating Company (TOC) also operates services between London and Worcester, Gloucester, Malvern, Oxford, Reading, Didcot Parkway, Swindon, Greenford, Newbury and Westbury. Other services operated include the Henley Branch, the Windsor Branch and the Basingstoke to Reading branch, as well as services between Penzance, Plymouth and Exeter and Bristol.

Hello all, Liam here! Bringing a Route Focus post on the Ascot to Guildford Line. ©Andy Crawley The line starts at Ascot station, located on the Reading Mainline between Reading and London Waterloo. This station features 3 platforms, platform 1 for services to Waterloo, platform 2 for services to Reading (And selected services to Aldershot & Farnham) and platform 3 for services to Aldershot and Guildford. The line turns a tight bend and continues down to Bagshot, Camberley and Frimley. After Frimley, the two track line joins into a single line until joining the Alton line at Ash Vale. Below is a photograph of a debranded Southern Class 456 unit working an Ascot service at Camberley.