TheGreatBritishRailScene

Harry here! The most significant today is of course the return of the Flying Scotsman, following it's £4 million refurbishment. Further to our recent post, I am delighted to bring you updates regarding it's Trip North from London Kings Cross today, Thursday 25th February 2016.  Departing London Kings Cross on time at 07:41, there was certainly a large number of spectators for the entire route. Although none of the team could attend, there were indeed many photos published on Social Media (including over 12,000 messages for it on Twitter, causing the event to be trending worldwide).

Hello! Welcome to our Weekly Review! The news is as follows... From around Great Britain: Firstly, 37405 . It's back in Anglia, whilst 37425 has gone for repair. Meanwhile, 68004 was on numerous stock moves last week, but has not been used following an Operating Incident. Instead, 66426 unusually went onto a Stock Move yesterday, taking 12103 and 11081 to Wolverton. Take note of this adaptation to technology for Norfolk.... As previously mentioned for The Class 125 Group, they have acquired 3 MK3 carriages. These transferred from Scotland to Ruddington last week after being recently repainted.  Next, to the South West. We can announce the refurbished GWR Class 166s are 166204, 205, 210, 212, 214 and 215. To clarify, these are in GWR green livery and have also received at internal refresh.

On the Weekend of 13th/14th February, the last Class 66s as part of the order arrived in England from the USA. These are for GBRf.  Andy, recently apart of the team, told us that 66708 hauled these new locos, numbered  66773/ 774/ 775/ 776/ 777/ 778/ 779, to Doncaster on Monday 15th February, whilst the last to be built  66779 will have a special event at the York National Rail Museum in May to commemorate the arrival of these locomotives.

Harry Here Today. Welcome To Our General News Update Post! Without Further Ado.... To see what has already been posted, and to be able to refer to these developing stories, see here , here  and here .  RENATUS : This programme is well underway, as reported! Units 321303 , 321304 and 321321 (as seen to the right, captured by J Maxim at Doncaster) are all due back in Anglia following Renatus overhaul this Spring.  Fleet List for the full database. 

Welcome to Part 3 of the AGA Fleet Focus, this time for the Class 317/379 West Anglia EMU units. If you've missed Part 1 it's here , whilst Part 2 is here.  Class 317s are gradually being overhauled and operate on all of the Abellio Greater Anglia West Anglia routes aside from the Stansted Express (317s only operate a few odd SExp Diagrams). See here for interior shots.

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.

Matthew here today Well, the pacers are going out the door soon, so I thought i would give you a few facts about the Pacer trains Engines In order to power the 48 tonnes of trains it is powered by a Cummins 6-cylinder 10-litre engine producing 225 horse power with 2100 RPM up to 75 MPH. It uses a hydralic transmission

Faster, longer, greener trains for Scotland are soon to become reality.  The 385's which will be running Scotland's rails from Autumn 2017 are coming closer to completion. A pilot is already available at Edinburgh Waverley.  These 70 new trains will run on Edinburgh Waverley to Glasgow Queen Street (via Falkirk), Edinburgh to Dunblane/Alloa, Glasgow to Dunblane/Alloa, Glasgow to Cumbernauld/Falkirk Grahamston, Edinburgh to North Berwick / Dunbar / Berwick and Edinburgh to Newton/Neilston routes from  December 2018 onwards, says Scotrail. 321s and HSTs also join the fleet. 

(C) Gatwick Express A lack of Week Review Today, but I'll now bring you Updates from the South East of England instead! KEY WORDS: Red, Shiny And Modern. 4-Car, Bombardier, New.  Of course, we're talking about the significant news which comes from Gatwick Express. The operator, which is now operated by the Govia franchise, is preparing its Class 387/2 stock to enter service this Spring on where else but the Gatwick Airport corridor.  

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

For the second of three posts today, I'll (Jonathan Maxim) be showcasing photos from my recent visit to Doncaster.  Firstly, a Class 321 (Ex-London Midland) which is awaiting conversion and overhaul before transfer to Abellio Scot Rail in February.  These units will then be able to comply and operate with the current fleet. For further updates, see some of our older posts in the archive. 

As reported , and earlier announced , Virgin East Coast have their fleet overhaul programme well underway. This post focusses on their progress of the 401 carriages they operate.... Virgin East Coast (C) I'll highlight what Lewis stated: 'The £21 million refurbishment will include new seat covers, new carpets, curtains fitted and better on board signage. The work will be carried out at Bound Green depot in London and Craigentinny depot in Edinburgh. We love the look of the new seats! They're smart, stylish and perfect colours (two-tone) to reflect the Virgin brand. Let's hope they're as comfy as they look!  Known carriage numbers of refurbished stock: 42110 42159 41115

In Derby in 1995, a fleet of 16 Class 325 (4-car) units were built in order to meet the needs of the Parcels Industry. These units ( 325001-016)  were to be a more cost-effective method, rather than locomotive hauled stock which was used previously. Thanks Anthony W for photo permission. Here, Royal Mail Class 325 325013 leads her sisters 001 and 003 on   Diverted 1M44 Willesden to Shieldmuir.  However, in 2012,  325010  was damaged and stored. As a result, it has been used as a source of spares and has since been scrapped. This leaves 15 units, 325001-325009 and 325011-325016 . 325002 is named Royal Mail North Wales and North West; 325006 is named (to commemorate documentary maker)  John Grierson and 325008 named Peter Howarth CBE (former MD of Royal Mail).

The first Weekly Review of 2016! Let's cut straight to the chase, the significant news stories since our last update.  ANGLIA + MIDLANDS:  156401 , from East Mids Trains, was on loan to Greater Anglia this week to cover the Short Set diagram. The short set is currently away from home for maintenance, and is due back next week (when 90034 goes for an exam). 37405 travelled by road separately from Dereham (no lorry access to Crown Point) due to having wheel flats. 90006 due back soon. Robert informs me that  360101 and 115 are now internally refurbished, as are  all 317/6s. There's just 10x 317/5 to do.