Avanti 390 at Derby - Thurs 30th Jan

[transportphoto]

Afternoon,

Looks like an Avanti 390 has been dragged to Litchchurch Lane this morning as 5Z57 from Crewe (https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:54014/2025-01-30/detailed).

Suggestion is that it’s received special vinyls for Rail 200. Has anyone any idea what it’s doing at Litchchurch Lane?

There appears to be a return path later as 5Z58 at 16:45 (https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:54314/2025-01-30/detailed).

First for the class?

TP

 

[matt]

There is a press event for the launch of the Rail200 event at Derby

 

[CR165022]

From what I've seen it's been numbered 390200, but appears to still be in normal Avanti Livery.

 

[Class15]

From what I've seen it's been numbered 390200, but appears to still be in normal Avanti Livery.

Renumbering trains for a press event… that is very odd…

 

[D365]

Renumbering trains for a press event… that is very odd…

Not the first time that this has happened. For example, did 60016 get renumbered in TOPS to 60500 to celebrate a magazine..?

 

[96tommy]

In case anyone was interested I believe it was 390016

 

[Ollie29]

In case anyone was interested I believe it was 390016

Any photos?

 

[sprinterguy]

Not the first time that this has happened. For example, did 60016 get renumbered in TOPS to 60500 to celebrate a magazine..?

Yep, it was renumbered at the same time it was named to mark the 500th issue of RAIL Magazine.

 

[fgwrich]

In case anyone was interested I believe it was 390016

Rather hastily modified given the clean area around the vinyl nameplate. If it doesn’t link to it, go straight to 11 minutes in for the Pendolino.

 

[Jamesrob637]

Is that why the 08:35 Manchester to Euston is constantly getting cancelled? If so, there needs to be a reason on Journey Check "due to the train being in a completely different location for a festival!"

 

[MickeyN]

Is that why the 08:35 Manchester to Euston is constantly getting cancelled? If so, there needs to be a reason on Journey Check "due to the train being in a completely different location for a festival!"

It was named Railway 200 as well

 

[DDB]

Just seen it in Derby station. Given the number of photographers on the platform I suspect there will be plenty of photos available soon!

 

[Trainman40083]

Photo of 390016 (390200) at Derby today. Seems it was a very last minute change from the intended 390020

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 30 Jan 2025 ==

Also said to be the first visit of a Pendolino to Derby.

 

[Liam L]

Renumbering trains for a press event… that is very odd…

Not officially, Still numbered as 390016

 

[edwin_m]

We were waiting outside Derby for several minutes on the 1749 Birmingham-Nottingham "waiting for a platform" presumably because this was sitting in 2.

Can't help thinking it would be cheaper and easier to send someone in a van with some decals to wherever the train is based rather than dragging to Derby and back just to have this done.

 

[Topological]

I wondered why there was a 390200 at Crewe with its coupler on display this morning (about 08:30 when my TfW went through)

 

[DaveyJones]

The Vinyls were on when it was seen at Crewe on its way. They weren't fitted at Derby

We were waiting outside Derby for several minutes on the 1749 Birmingham-Nottingham "waiting for a platform" presumably because this was sitting in 2.

Can't help thinking it would be cheaper and easier to send someone in a van with some decals to wherever the train is based rather than dragging to Derby and back just to have this done.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 30 Jan 2025 ==

Photo of 390016 (390200) at Derby today. Seems it was a very last minute change from the intended 390020

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 30 Jan 2025 ==

Also said to be the first visit of a Pendolino to Derby.

Derby was on the transit route for the Pre-commissioning units when they went from Washwood Heath to Old Dalby.

 

[Trainman40083]

The Vinyls were on when it was seen at Crewe on its way. They weren't fitted at Derby


== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 30 Jan 2025 ==


Derby was on the transit route for the Pre-commissioning units when they went from Washwood Heath to Old Dalby.

I would have thought they might have gone Nuneaton -Leicester or Castle Donington to avoid a run round at Derby

 

[Liam L]

We were waiting outside Derby for several minutes on the 1749 Birmingham-Nottingham "waiting for a platform" presumably because this was sitting in 2.

Can't help thinking it would be cheaper and easier to send someone in a van with some decals to wherever the train is based rather than dragging to Derby and back just to have this done.

The unit was sent for a press event not for vinyls to be applied.

 

[Russel]

The clean patches around the name plates certainly highlight the terrible state of the rest of the train!

 

[Elorith]

Is that why the 08:35 Manchester to Euston is constantly getting cancelled? If so, there needs to be a reason on Journey Check "due to the train being in a completely different location for a festival!"

Several sets are currently at Longsight for repair hence the shortfall.

 

[Snow1964]

The Alstom Press notice.

30 January 2025 – Alstom, global leader in smart and sustainable mobility, has announced that it will host the UK’s largest ever gathering of historic rail vehicles – The Greatest Gathering– to mark the 200th anniversary of the modern railway. 

On Friday 1, Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 August 2025, Alstom’s historic Litchurch Lane Site in Derby will open to the public for the first time in over 50 years. Britain’s biggest and oldest remaining train factory will be home to more than 50 rolling stock exhibits from the past, present and future of the railways.

Tickets will be on sale from 9am on Friday 31 January at The Greatest Gathering priced at £30 for adults and £15 for children (ages five to 15), with a family ticket (two adults and two children) costing £65 – plus booking fees. Children under five go free. Tickets are being sold by the event’s media partner, Mortons Media Group Limited.

Alstom to host Britain’s biggest rail celebration as part of Railway 200

Locomotive that hauled the world’s first passenger train on a public railway was built in 1825 by a legacy Alstom company

www.alstom.com

 

[sprinterguy]

The clean patches around the name plates certainly highlight the terrible state of the rest of the train!

The modern railway does seem to be terrible at presentation on the rare occasion there's a vaguely publicised naming event like this. Generally under BR a loco, or occasionally unit, selected for a naming ceremony would be spotless in appearance*, rather than road weary workaday condition where the maximum level of attention appears to have been "Eh, give it a wipe with your sleeve where we're going to put the sticker".

*Dishonourable exception for the 47 that was named "Thunderbird" at Kings Cross in 1992, which ironically had to be pushed in and pulled back out by another loco due to a lack of fuel in the tanks, IIRC.

 

[py_megapixel]

Is there not a class that actually has a unit number 200 that they could have chosen instead?

 

[tram21]

Is there not a class that actually has a unit number 200 that they could have chosen instead?

Not one which is such a prominent part of UK rail history!

 

[Class15]

Is there not a class that actually has a unit number 200 that they could have chosen instead?

Possibly a 66 is the only one I can think of, although 66200 has probably been exported - most of the later ones of the EWS order have been exported.

Maybe a Class 08 - they have definitely had a prominent part in UK rail history!

A 390 seems a very odd choice to me, but I’m happy to be proved wrong.

 

[Kite159]

Possibly a 66 is the only one I can think of, although 66200 has probably been exported - most of the later ones of the EWS order have been exported.

Maybe a Class 08 - they have definitely had a prominent part in UK rail history!

A 390 seems a very odd choice to me, but I’m happy to be proved wrong.

66200 is still in this country, in EWS colours.

(Unless it's been exported in the last week as I saw it at Rugeley last Friday). Although a 66 is more a 'prominent part of UK rail history' for freight

 

[DanNCL]

There’s been an 08200 and a 37200 but not sure if either still exist.

A 390 seems a very odd choice to me, but I’m happy to be proved wrong.

It’s an Alstom product for an Alstom event.

 

[hexagon789]

Apparently it's intended to be used in the re-run of the failed 2021 record run later this year.

 

[Trainman40083]

The big question is "Will the Pendolino that is 390200 at the event be the same one as attended the press launch? Will a freshly painted one be used instead?