Third-Rail EMU Photos

[iands]

First time I've noticed the low-level headlight. Anyone know why the 377/3s don't appear to have them fitted? 

[John M Upton]

On 20/03/2024 at 08:05, iands said:

First time I've noticed the low-level headlight. Anyone know why the 377/3s don't appear to have them fitted? 

 

Not been fitted as part of the Project Aurora upgrade yet. All the 377/1's and 377/4's have been done, the first 377/2 (377202) is due out any day now and when the other 14 377/2's have been done, the 377/3's are next.

 

Anyone seen 377324 around by the way? It seems to have vanished.

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Thameslink here, Thameslink there, Thameslink blinking everywhere...

This morning south of Purley on the Brighton line.

[DY444]

On 20/03/2024 at 08:05, iands said:

First time I've noticed the low-level headlight. Anyone know why the 377/3s don't appear to have them fitted? 

 

On 21/03/2024 at 12:29, John M Upton said:

 

Not been fitted as part of the Project Aurora upgrade yet. All the 377/1's and 377/4's have been done, the first 377/2 (377202) is due out any day now and when the other 14 377/2's have been done, the 377/3's are next.

 

Anyone seen 377324 around by the way? It seems to have vanished.

 

In the previous Southern 377 major overhaul programme the 377/3s were the last to be done so I assume the fleet is being done in the same sub-class order as before.

[Southernman46]

Had a little reward from the Gods for being at Waterloo at stupid o'clock this AM going home off a N shift ...........................

I had hoped some while ago that SWR would do something like this to mark the "passing" of the 455's and pleased to see it done (and so well) and get the opportunity to record it for myself 👍

 

Edited March 26 by Southernman46

[John M Upton]

My office this evening with the 22:00 last one of the night through from Brighton to Portsmouth Harbour. 

 

 

[StuAllen]

Hayward Heath just now

[Northmoor]

Wandering around Bagshot while waiting for a new tyre fitting, I snapped one of the regular Ascot-Aldershot stoppers on my phone.

I still want to get a similar shot (using the proper camera) with one of the 8/10-car through Waterloo services at the change of gradient.

[SR71]

40 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

That Hornby Dublo bridge is showing it's years, all mine are yellow!

 

Is it an optical illusion or is it sized to clear the track when installed at ground level but has been put on the platforms making it a lot higher?

[Northmoor]

31 minutes ago, SR71 said:

That Hornby Dublo bridge is showing it's years, all mine are yellow!

 

Is it an optical illusion or is it sized to clear the track when installed at ground level but has been put on the platforms making it a lot higher?

Definitely an optical illusion, clearance above the carriages is only a couple of feet. 

 

Interestingly the three stations on the line all have different footbridges.  Bagshot has this concrete version (although there is a lattice bridge spanning the whole station site behind the camera), Camberley still has the original(?) SR-style lattice while Frimley's has been replaced with a modern open, painted steel version, which needs a serious repaint thanks to a few years of salt being spread on it in the winter. 

[Northmoor]

While Mrs Northmoor visited the V&A Museum today, I took a few hours to go "spotting" around South London.  A sign of the times that on a warm Saturday afternoon, I may have been the only enthusiast at the end of Clapham Junction's platforms.....  I wasn't specifically photographing anything in particular, although I do have half an idea that recording 455s should be a focus for this year.

[John M Upton]

Arty night shot at Gatwick Airport whilst waiting to drive down to Bognor this evening. 

Thameslink is such a dull operation that an eight car 700 going to Brighton is almost a "interesting" variation.

 

Yawn...

[John M Upton]

Endangered species, the Bognor to Littlehampton shuttle, discontinued in favour of a half hourly Bognor/Barnham only from the June timetable change.

 

 

[Gwiwer]

The timetable change appears on paper to be disastrous for most passengers and benefits no-one.  Bognor retains through trains to London for example but not to neighbouring Littlehampton.  Brighton loses its long-standing direct trains to Portsmouth.  There are still only two trains an hour along the west Coastway to and from Brighton despite sometimes serious overcrowding and folks from Shoreham eastwards having to abandon the railway as they simply cannot get on.  Among other things.  

[John M Upton]

They have changed the plan a little from the original proposals.

 

So the service pattern Monday to Friday should be:

 

2 trains per hour Brighton/Southampton (both now stopping at Woolston)

 

1 train per hour Brighton/Portsmouth & Southsea 

 

1 train per hour Brighton/Chichester all stops via Littlehampton 

 

2 Trains per hour Barnham/Bognor 

 

2 Trains per hour Bognor/Victoria via Horsham (attaching/detaching Portsmouth portion at Horsham) 

 

Those Portsmouth portions, one becomes several stops Chichester to Portsmouth Harbour, the other is all stops (except Bedhampton) after Chichester to Portsmouth Harbour.

 

The Littlehampton/Victoria via Hove remains unchanged. 

 

Sundays also remain unchanged!

[Claude_Dreyfus]

On 13/04/2024 at 23:10, John M Upton said:

Thameslink is such a dull operation that an eight car 700 going to Brighton is almost a "interesting" variation.

Maybe so, but the interesting variation that turned up at Three Bridges from Brighton at about 7:00am last week was not appreciated! Got a little cosy by East Croydon...

[Rich_F]

On 13/04/2024 at 23:10, John M Upton said:

Arty night shot at Gatwick Airport whilst waiting to drive down to Bognor this evening. 

Thameslink is such a dull operation that an eight car 700 going to Brighton is almost a "interesting" variation.

 

Yawn...

 

Try being a semi regular user of the peak East Grinstead line Thameslink services.

 

When they actually run, aside from the 07:14 to Bedford that's solidly a 12 coach, it's a good game to guess if you're going to get an 8 or 12 coach unit turn up!

[phil-b259]

4 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

The timetable change appears on paper to be disastrous for most passengers and benefits no-one.  Bognor retains through trains to London for example but not to neighbouring Littlehampton.  Brighton loses its long-standing direct trains to Portsmouth.  There are still only two trains an hour along the west Coastway to and from Brighton despite sometimes serious overcrowding and folks from Shoreham eastwards having to abandon the railway as they simply cannot get on.  Among other things.  

In the absence of more drivers or more rolling stock - both of which require authorisation from the DfT in Whitehall (who are still peddling the notion that trains are running round empty) any changes that Southern do is always going to be a robbing Peter to pay Paul sort of thing.

 

 

Edited April 15 by phil-b259

[John M Upton]

7 minutes ago, phil-b259 said:

In the absence of more drivers or more rolling stock (both of which require authorisation from the DfT in Whitehall (who are still peddling the notion that trains are running round empty) any changes that Southerns do make were always going to be a robbing Peter to pay Paul sort of thing.

 

 

 

As an example, GatEx Class 387's are scheduled to be used on the Coastway West from June, to Southampton and/or Portsmouth from Brighton.  There was a route clearance test run a couple of weeks back.

[Gwiwer]

7 hours ago, John M Upton said:

They have changed the plan a little from the original proposals.

A marginal improvement in parts.  

 

Do the Victoria - Littlehamtons still get Hove shuttle connections or does Brighton - Littlehampton become another even more difficult option.  

 

One day the DafT might realise even they cannot get blood from a stone.  Machines can only work so hard.  They break.  They need maintenance.  They cannot be in two places at once.   Travel patterns post-Covid have shifted (often away from Central London working) but in truth since the train service has not been restored to anything like where it was before the operator and the DafT cannot reliably ascertain what demand patterns really exist now.  The 313s have gone but there is a little slack in the 387 fleet hence their deployment along the coast.  They have been familiar visitors to East Sussex for some time.  

 

Other omissions of note include the continuing absence of any direct service between Arundel / stations to Crawley and Littlehampton.  Empty trains arrive at Bognor several times an hour.  I have corresponded with Southern before on this and suggested one could usefully be diverted to Littlehampton.  They replied "Thank you for your correspondence".  End of.  

Edited April 15 by Gwiwer

[Peter Kazmierczak]

A raft of three 455s worked down from Wimbledon to Bournemouth this lunchtime. This must've slipped under the local enthusiast grapevine, as I was the only one at Branksome to see it.

[Northmoor]

Not too often you get a 12-car 455 rake, @Peter Kazmierczak.  I believe that for Princess Diana's funeral, some Basingstoke stoppers ran in this form to cope with the numbers.

 

Anyway, I arrived at Waterloo this morning to find the celebrity 455/8 almost adjacent:

 

Also spotted on the commute this month, a 701 in passenger service:

 

Last Thursday, a real oddity when the 1950 Reading service left from Platform 1, I don't normally get to see the station from this side:

 

As predicted it needed a convoluted route to get to the Reading Line platforms at Clapham, losing eight minutes being pathed through all the conflicting movements.  Fortunately, despite the guard seemingly always managing to be well away from the doors when stopping - delaying opening the doors by vital seconds - the driver clearly tried and managed to make up two minutes, so still made the connection at Ascot.

 

 

Edited Thursday at 20:21 by Northmoor

[Gwiwer]

7 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

Not too often you get a 12-car 455 rake

But I shall never forget one such occasion.

 

On my last shift before retirement all had been going quite well until around 10.15 when a train became gapped leaving Waterloo.  That was a pair of 455s.  Being able to see the exact location thanks to today's technology I immediately knew that a rescue would take around an hour.  Another 455 would have to be dispatched from Waterloo down towards Vauxhall, manual releases of interlocking would be required and it would then have to shunt back bang-road and couple to the front of the casualty.  

 

Which put Waterloo platforms 1 - 4 and the Main Slow lines out of use and caused the expected significant network-wide disruption.  

 

I was due to sign off at 11.00 and we had just about got some sort of service restored by 10.58 when the 10.27 Waterloo - Waterloo "rounder" via Kingston called at Clapham 22 minutes late but on the Down Slow.  That was going to be my final dispatch.  I announced the train on the radio-mic (because it was running out of timetable order and because it would be the last time I did such a thing) and when ready I gave a good long blast on the whistle, checked all was good to go and gave the guard the tip.  And was then presented in a very ad-hoc manner with my retirement gifts right there on the platform in front of hundreds of frustrated and long-suffering passengers.  

 

As the clock ticked past 11.00 we were alerted to the casualty having moved off and would we please stand by with the station wheelchair and bottles of water as it was still carrying passengers who had been trapped aboard for an hour.  We did .  There was no way I was walking away when all hands were needed.  

 

To ease its passage into Wimbledon Depot the train had been routed onto the Down Main Fast meaning that the rear coaches were off the platform end.  The guard had managed to get everyone on board into the middle so there was no-one left to clear from the back.  With passengers off and with the guard now off the train which was proceeding as e.c.s. someone had to give the driver a green-light tip to start.  That - for those who don't know - is a process very seldom used but employed when the guard has left a train which will proceed with only a driver, or when the guard's signal bell is defective, or when a train has over-run a starting signal at red and is later authorised to move .  

 

Guess who was first to the front?  

 

In all my years I had never had to give a "green tip" but at 11.25 and some 25 minutes into my retirement I dispatched a 12-car 455 comprising of rescue unit and the pair of failed ones.  As I had, technically, retired at 11.00 I couldn't even claim the overtime!  

 

Job done.  Professional railwayman to the last.  

[Chris116]

I went to the second day of the Mid Hants Steam Gala today catching the 0722 from Wimbledon and got a nice surprise when I got to travel as far as Surbiton in this unit!

 

 

Picture taken at Surbiton. Sadly I could not get the front of the unit due to the platform barrier.