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On 29th November 2023 with the temperature hovering around zero and with the overnight frost still lingering in the shadows, Freightliner 66588 leads sisters 66587 ‘AS ONE, WE CAN’ and 66623 ‘Lest We Forget’ at Colne Bridge heading towards Huddersfield, working 6M25 from Hunslet Yard to Crewe Basford Hall.

With less than two weeks left in public service now with TransPennine Express, Mark 5A set TP13 approaches Colne Bridge in steady rain on 27th November 2023 with 1U36, Scarborough to Manchester Piccadilly. Motive power was provided by 68027 'Splendid'.

Locomotive Services Limited's D213 "Andania' whistles its way west along the Calder Valley line approaching Brighouse on 27th November 2023, working 0Z72, York Parcels Sidings to Crewe Holding Sidings.

Four TransPennine Express liveried class 68s within 15 minutes pass Colne Bridge in heavy rain on 27th November 2023. 68025 'Superb' and Mark 5A set TP02 heading east with 1U39, Manchester Piccadilly to Scarborough... ...followed a few minutes later by 68019 'Brutus' and 68020 'Reliance' with a pair of FNA-D nuclear flask carrier wagons, working as 6Z30, Crewe Coal Sidings to Leeds Balm Road... ...whilst passing in the other direction, 68027 'Splendid' and Mark 5A set TP13 with 1U36, Scarborough to Manchester Piccadilly.

It’s an interesting short film. It really reinforces how ‘cutting edge’ BR’s use of technology was in this part of its operations at that time, to improve efficiency.

A copy of Bits, Bytes and Bauds, together with other useful information about TOPS, is available here; http://www.samhallas.co.uk/railway/bbb.htm Scroll down the page to ‘direct link’

I saw similar reference yesterday in a couple of other railway forums that I frequent so it may be accurate, or at least reasonably close to it. There are only four DB Cargo class 60s currently operational in the active 'WCAT' pool; 60024, 60040, 60062 & 60074.

Showing evidence of working through this years RHTT season, Colas 66847 Terry Baker approaching Brighouse on 20th November 2023 with 3S14, Grimsby Town to York Thrall Europa, via all points of the compass in Yorkshire... ...with 66849 Wylam Dilly on the rear.

Which seems a tad unfair to Sainz and Ferrari as it was impact damage from the drain cover that necessitated the change of PSU, if the media reports are accurate.

“In September 2020, Alstom signed the sale and purchase agreement to acquire Bombardier Transportation with revised price terms, which reduced the price range by €300m. The updated terms revised the price range for the acquisition of all Bombardier Transportation shares from €5.5bn to €5.9bn compared with the initially announced range between €5.8bn and €6.2bn. The revised offer was reportedly the result of Bombardier’s poor quarterly performance and the Covid-19 pandemic.” The above quote is from railway-technology.com It would be interesting/amusing/concerning (delete as appropriate) to learn how much of the issues with manufacturing and the various Aventra contracts at Derby were uncovered during Alstom’s due diligence work prior to their purchase of Bombardier.

Probably not a great surprise, but clearly very worrying to staff directly affected and those in the supply chain too. http://alstom: Train manufacturer puts 1,330 jobs at risk in Derby

A trio of smiling Pendolinos (Pendolini?) line up at London Euston on 31st January 2016, with 390136 on the left which was to form 1H17 to Manchester Piccadilly.

Always difficult to be completely sure without seeing Hornby's sample for oneself and up close. Here are a couple of my images of the full size version to compare with the image shown on Hornby's video. The usual caveats about perception of colour, light angles and colour output on display screens also applies. 802218 9M12 Brighouse 13982022 802216 1P21 Heaton Lodge Junction 24082020 Hopefully the final versions will also include evidence of the various 'yellow' warning notices. It's not clear if they're present on the Hornby video. Also, I'll keep my fingers crossed that the destinations shown in the bodyside displays are relevant to the actual route that the 802/2s serve. Good news about 21pin though. 👍

Good to see some people being imaginative with this years Remembrance Day tributes. 👍 Well done the locals in Stourbridge who put this together. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-67328047

My subscription copy arrived at least a week ago Stewart.

Sky News take on todays announcement. https://news.sky.com/story/humiliation-for-mark-harper-and-blow-to-rail-industry-with-rollback-on-ticket-office-closures-12997228

With the feather to take the 'Down Fast', a South Western Railway class 158 accelerates away from Eastleigh on 25th September 2023 with a service from Romsey to Salisbury, via Eastleigh and Southampton Central.

I recall many many years ago working for a Manager who adopted the tactic of locking the meeting room door (from the inside obviously) at the prescribed time at the start of a meeting, thereby denying entry to those who had the temerity and lack of respect by turning up late. Needless to say the message got through to most people pretty quickly. I guess that sort of ‘direct action option’ is not available in today’s world of work, or academia.

I completely agree. I agree too, although as I appreciate you know, Liverpool-Norwich isn't a CrossCountry route. Seems a bit unfair on Birmingham NS really. I suspect one of two things is happening here; 1. Beacon Rail, who own the Mark 5A is keen to find work for them quickly, otherwise their expensive asset becomes a liability. I Imagine they're knocking on the door of any operator that might just be able to make use of them. The same, but to a slightly lesser extent and with less urgency for DRS and the class 68s. 2. CrossCountry Voyagers and class 170s are, as I understand it, pretty rigorously diagrammed. Although CrossCountry are supposedly getting more Voyagers from Avanti West Coast, they may not get all that they want/need. Especially with Grand Central having already taken a couple of units on a short term lease and by all accounts impressed with them (not a surprise when compared to their unreliable and incendiary class 180s). CrossCountry might need additional rolling stock, under keen leasing terms, to cover for their Voyagers when they're being refurbished. Just my thoughts to add to the pot.

Yes for sure. Although it could be argued that until a couple of weeks ago CrossCountry were already running three types of unit in the form of HSTs based at a third depot - Plymouth Laira. Four if you count Leeds Neville Hill, where HSTs routinely received some overnight maintenance. The piece in Modern Railways goes into detail about full fleet refurbishment of both the Voyagers and class 170s, plus additional services that CrossCountry would like to introduce. The comment about the 68s and Mark 5s is in the last couple of sentences and references "...could be deployed on Nottingham to Cardiff services...".

This thread is about 68s and Mark5.

I quoted as the comment appeared in the magazine.

Comment in the November issue of Modern Railways on page 12 that CrossCountry "is considering taking on the fleet...". Remains to be seen, of course, if "considering" actually amounts to anything specific in terms of a contract to lease.

Yes, WB is one of the settings on my list to work through.

That's interesting. I do use a couple of different cameras and although they're both Fujifilm, they're different models and I know from past experience that despite being set up with almost identical settings, they don't always produce similar, consistent results. Your initial comment was timely as I hadn't been entirely happy with several of my images recently - a couple of the Colas 66s on the local RHTTs last week also spring to mind. Time for a factory reset and a few tests I think. Thanks again Jim.