‘Scene’ in the Derwent Valley on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

Friend and fellow railway enthusiast Peter Rose has taken his camera for another daily walk and has sent me this selection of images for which I thank him.

 

Regular readers will know that he likes to see his images in their environment and I must admit that they look good against the rural background.

 

All the images were taken just South of Ambergate junction on the ‘Midland Mainline’.

 

The junction used to see Manchester bound trains heading Northwest and Sheffield and beyond bound trains heading Northeast.

 

Nowadays, the Northeast branch still sees heavy traffic whilst the Northwest branch is just that, a branch line serving the Derwent Valley stations until it terminates at Matlock.

 

We start with a train that has just joined the main line on its way from Matlock via Derby and Nottingham to Newark Castle. 

 

156922 ‘EMR Regional’. Metro-Cammell built ‘Super Sprinter’ DMU

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

 

Working 2N23 the 08-37 Matlock-Newark Castle.

 

 

 

 

67027 ‘Charlotte’ leads 67023 ‘Stella’. Alstom built Diesel Electric Locomotives

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

 

Working the 1011 ‘Network Rail’ Derby RTC-Derby RTC.

 

A round trip so to speak. 

 

 

 

222023 ‘EMR Intercity’. Bombardier built high speed DMU

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

 

Working IC27 the 0900 Sheffield- London St. Pancras.

 

 

 

 

43207 leads 43366 ‘CrossCountry’. BREL built HST

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

 

Working 1V50 the 0606 Edinburgh-Plymouth.

 

 

 

 

221139 leads 221136 ‘CrossCountry’.  Bombardier built high speed DMU

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

 

Working 1V48 the 0640 Newcastle to Bristol Temple Meads.

 

‘Scene’ on the Rails in York on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

Towards the end of the summer (remember that?) friend Peter Rose and I had a day in York. He favours the trains on view whilst I was occupied with the buses. 

 

Several blogs covering some of the buses seen on the day, have already appeared.

 

This blog with Peter’s permission features his images of the railway interest.

 

800 108 ‘LNER’ AZUMA. Hitachi built bi-mode multiple unit

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

 

Working service 1E13 the 07-55 Inverness-London Kings Cross.

 

 

 

 

68034 ‘Direct Rail Services’. Stadler Rail (formerly Vossloh Espana) Eurolight diesel electric locomotive

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

 

Working service 1F66 the 12-34 Scarborough-Manchester Victoria.

 

 

 

 

221125 ‘crosscountry’, Super Voyager. Bombardier Transportation built DMU

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

 

Working service 1V58 the 11-39 Newcastle-Penzance.

 

 

 

 

155343 ‘northern’, Super Sprinter. Leyland Bus built DMU 

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

 

Having worked service 2R90 the 11-50 Hull-York.

 

 

 

 

68024 ‘Direct Rail Services’, Centaur. TRANSPENNINE Express Livery. Stadler Rail (formerly Vossloh Espana) Eurolight diesel electric locomotive on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

Working service 1F66 the 11-54 Liverpool-Scarborough .

 

 

 

 

180101 ‘Grand Central’ Alstom built Diesel Hydraulic Multiple Unit

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

 

Working service 1A65 the 1230 Sunderland-London Kings Cross.

 

‘Scene’ at Reading and Oxford Railway Stations on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

Class 800 ‘Great Western Railway’ No. 800 006. Hitachi Super Express

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

 

Brand new only having been introduced in January 2018 as part of the UK Government's 

‘Intercity Express Programme’ (IEP).

 

 

 

Class 43 ‘Great Western Railway’ No. 43016. HST

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

 

 

 

Class 165 ‘Great Western Railway’ No. 165111. BREL York built DMU

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

 

 

 

 

Class 43 ‘First Great Western’ No. 43069. HST

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

 

 

 

 

Class 450 ‘Southwest Trains’ No. 450 039 Siemens Desiro EMU 

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

Class 168 ‘Chiltern Railways’ No. 168322 Clubman. Adtranz/ Bombardier built DMU

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

 

Originally built for ‘TransPennine Express’ as Class 170’s but were converted to 168/3’s  to run with new build Class 168’s.

 

 

 

Class 221 ‘crosscountry’ No. 221 140 Super Voyager. Bombardier Belgium built 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.

144018

 

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.

158797

 

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.

 

142017

 

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

 

221008

 

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

 

144009

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.