‘Scene’ at Leeds Railway Station on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

‘Northern Rail’, part of the ‘ARRIVA’ group are the most prominent operator in and out of Leeds with services radiating to all points of the compass.

 

‘TransPennine Express’, part of ‘First’ group operate across the North of England and into Scotland serving both Glasgow and Edinburgh.

 

The link South and to London is currently in the hands of ‘Virgin East Coast’.

 

Since this blog was first written, ‘Virgin East Coast’ has been stripped of the East Coast franchise which is now being run in a form of Nationalization by ‘London North Eastern Railway’.

 

Class 142 ‘Northern Rail’ No. 142060. BREL Pacer DMU

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

I am sure that everyone by now knows the story of the trains derived from the Leyland National bus that despite their poor reputation are still in widespread use.

 

 

 

Class 144 ‘Northern Rail’ No. 144002. BREL / Walter Alexander Pacer DMU

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

‘Walter Alexander’ are part of the ‘Alexander Dennis Ltd’. group of today.

 

 

 

Class 150/1 ‘Northern Rail’ No. 150118. BREL York Sprinter DMU

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

 

 

Class 150/2 ‘Northern Rail’ No. 150275. BREL York Sprinter DMU

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

Basically the Class 150 but with corridor connections.

 

Seen in a ‘Northern Rail’ livery that was new to me.

 

 

 

Class 322 ‘Northern Rail’ No. 322482. BREL York EMU

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

Originally built for the London Liverpool Street to Stanstead Airport Service.

 

 

 

 Class 333 ‘Northern Rail’ No. 333 010 ‘in ‘West Yorkshire Metro’ livery. Siemans Mobility and CAF EMU

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

Built for use out of Leeds and Bradford to Ilkley and Skipton.

 

These units wear a hybrid livery combning elements of ‘Northern Rail’ and ‘West Yorkshire Metro’.

 

 

 

Class 91 ‘Virgin East Coast’No. 91114, ‘Durham Cathedral’. BREL Crewe

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

This loco also carries the additional branding under the forward cab window.

 

THE VERY REVEREND

 

MICHAEL SADGROVE

 

DEAN OF DURHAM 2003-2015

 

 

 

 British Mark 4 railway coach No. 12208 ‘Virgin East Coast’. Metro Cammell / GEC-Alsthom

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

The livery used by ‘Virgin East Coast’ owes a lot to the similar livery worn by trains of the ‘Furka Oberalp’ railway in Switzerland.

 

 

Class 185 ‘TransPennine Express’ No. 185126. Siemens Desiro DMU

on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

‘Scene’ at Meadowhall on the Rails

Meadowhall on the outskirts of Sheffield is a major shopping complex serving the needs of  Sheffield, Rotherham and Barnsley.

Built at the side of the M1, it is very well provided with transport links boasting its own passenger interchange served by trams, trains and of course buses. The bus scene was dealt with in an earlier 'blog' dated 22nd. March 2015.

There are four platform faces. Two on the mainline which runs East to West linking Sheffield with Rotherham, Doncaster and beyond and two where the line North to Barnsley, Leeds and further North diverges from the mainline.

 

144011 and 153331

 

Both in Northern Rail (NR) colours

 

Are seen standing in platforms 1 and 2 with the Class 144 heading into Sheffield. 

 

Most of the services are run by  ‘NR’ but ‘First TransPennine’ (FTP) also call and ‘Cross Country‘ (CC) run through.

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Another Class 144 in ‘NR’ colours is seen leaving platform 3 and is about to turn onto the main line into Sheffield.

 

The Class 144’s date from 1986/7 and were built by a combination of ‘British Rail Engineering Ltd’ (BREL) in Derby and by Walter Alexander of Falkirk in Scotland who supplied the bodies.

 

They have been refurbished a number of times but seem set to continue for sometime yet.

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Again liveried for ‘NR’.

 

Another product of ‘BREL’ at Derby. Built between 1989 and 1992 seen approaching platform 1 heading into Sheffield.

 

Amongst the various DMU classes, these are my personal favourite’s being fast, warm and comfortable.

 

144011

Is seen running into platform 1. These 4 wheel units together with the similar Class 142’s have had some bad press over the years due to ‘rough riding’.

Whilst by the nature of their design, they are not as smooth as bogied stock. I have found that their performance varies according to the state of the track. On welded rail, they are acceptable whilst on jointed rail they are poor. That however is a reflection on the trackwork, not the unit.

 

142088

Running into platform 2 heading East. The 142’s were a development of the earlier Class 141. 

 

185 151

Of ‘FTP’ calls at platform 2 on its way to Doncaster and then Cleethorpes. Known as ‘Desiro’s, the units were built in Germany by Siemens.

They entered service in 2006/7.

 

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Another Class 142 resting at Platform 2 on its way East.

 

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Originally operated by ‘Virgin’ as the Virgin Voyager. It still retains the ‘Voyager name but the franchise moved to ‘CC’ trains some years ago.

 

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Another of the BREL/Alexander Class 144’s at Platform 2 again.

 

I sometimes feel that the so called North/South divide is for real when I see the wide range of elderly and sometimes unsuitable rolling stock that is foisted onto Northern passengers.

Particularly when I see the new shiny trains that Southern England enjoys in abundance.

 

Tram 122

 

The South Yorkshire ‘Stagecoach Supertram’ terminates at Meadowhall. The close proximity to the main railway line is shown in this view as tram 122 approaches the end of its journey.

The image shows clearly the ‘South West Trains’ inspired livery.

 

The overhead catenary shows up well.

 

Tram 116 which carries an overall advert for ‘East Midland Trains’ (EMT). 

 

‘EMT’, ‘Southwest Train’s and the’ Supertram’ operation are part of the ‘Stagecoach’ group.