February - Intercity Railway Society

In a much vaunted move, 60 of the
64 Cl.460 Junipers are to be rebuilt
by Alstom to strengthen Cl.458s for
SWT. It will be done over the next
two years with an additional car
being added to the existing 30 x 4
car sets and a further six 5 car sets
created. It will mean that 12 of the
16 driving cars will lose their
distinctive nose. As the DMFLO
driving cars will require more
conversion work, it will be four of
these that will remain spare. Most of
the Cl.460s are now in store at
Bournemouth and Stewarts Lane,
with only two sets diagrammed for
daily use with Southern alongside
the older Cl.442 usurpers.
Following 170434 other Cl.170s are
finally receiving the ScotRail Saltire
livery. However 170425 the second
to be so treated has blotted its
copybook only weeks after leaving
works. It is seen right on Inverness
Depot with front end damage to
79425 on 27 th January 2012. It is
presumed this is due to hitting a
tree, though I have not seen any
report to verify this.
With expenditure outstripping income it has been discussed that the Caledonian Sleepers could be in
jeopardy. With the wish to reduce short haul internal fights and encourage more people from cars
there is no logic in abandoning the sleepers. Fortunately Transport for Scotland is to match the DfTs
offer of £50 million to either buy new coaches or upgrade existing stock, a more likely outcome. Good
news, all Scotland needs now is a link to HS2 sooner rather than later.
Another new loco hauled service along the Cumbrian coast has seen DRS begin a 6 week trial on the
9 th January operating a Mon-Fri ‘work’ train for Sellafield workers. Hauled by a single electric train
heated loco, the service leaves Carlisle at 06.15 with 4 coaches, of which 3 (TSOs 5929/6006/6042)
are reserved between Carlisle and Sellafield, with the fourth coach (BSO 9527), available for public
use. After arriving at Sellafield at 07.55, the service continues to Barrow with all coaches now in public
use. After stabling it returns at 15.39 ecs to Sellafield, to form the 16.48 to Carlisle, arriving at 18.32.
The first service was hauled by 37423 ‘Spirit of the Lakes’.
390055 is now in service as a 9-car set and is easily recognisable along with 390054 being the only
two Pendo’s without Virgin branding. The Pretendolino still gets its regular outing on a Friday to Crewe
via Birmingham New Street. The Cl.90 drops off at Crewe and a Cl.57 brings the ECS back to
Wembley. Interestingly there is a regular working on a Sunday with a Pendo dragged ECS from Oxley
to Euston by a Cl.57, presumably to retain route and traction knowledge as there does not seem to be
any other good reason for it to be dragged! The Cl.57 then runs back to Wembley.
LOROL have been trialling traction changeovers for 378s on the move. For those not familiar, the
overhead line runs to the south of North Pole Junction, from where third rail is in operation towards
Clapham Junction. Currently, all trains formed of electric multiple unit stock are required to stop to
change over from AC to DC heading towards Clapham Junction or DC to AC going towards Willesden.
The Class 395s of Southeastern can change from AC to DC or DC to AC whilst on the move as can
Class 92 locomotives.
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