sprinterguy
Veteran Member
Hello all,
I travelled to Shrewsbury yesterday from New Street, making use of one of London Midlands' stoppers on my outbound journey while they were actually running during the current dispute. My train, the 14:05 New Street to Shrewsbury, formed of 170505, was diverted via Soho Junction and Bescot, not making its' booked stop at Sandwell and Dudley due to this diversion which caused problem for a couple of unfortunate passengers bound for that location who had boarded at the last minute after the thorough announcements from the guard detailing this alteration had been made before leaving New Street. This diversion was very fortuitous for me however, as it brought up a treasure trove of railway interest: My first question is why did this diversion take place, as on my return journey that evening (the 19:33 departure from Shrewsbury) the train did run via Sandwell & Dudley, and on the outward journey upon arrival at Wolves there was both a Pendolino, presumably from Euston, and a VT Voyager (221143) on one of the Birmingham to Scotland runs in the platforms, which suggests that there wasn't any engineering work going on?
Secondly, as my train was about to diverge from the direct Sandwell route to Wolverhampton, I saw an unusual sight at LMs' Soho depot: One of the driving cars from one of LMs' 323s had been split from a unit, and was stabled at the end of the siding nearest the depot building, with it's inner end against the buffer stops. I think that the cab end was coupled to the cab end of the driving car usually to be found at the other end of the unit, as the centre carriage of the unit was outermost furthest from the buffer stops, which was a very strange thing to see. The coupled up centre carriage and driving car were from 323208, can anyone confirm if the displaced driving car at the end of the siding was also from this unit and that it's formation was just very confused? If so, can anyone tell me why the unit has been split like this, or is it a case that the driving car is from another unit, and that a "hybrid" formation 323 is currently running around with carriages from two 323s due possibly to accident or mechanical damage to any of the carriages I saw at Soho?
There's more! A couple of minutes after this, as we passed over the Midland Metro and the Snow Hill lines where they run between Jewellery Quarter and the Hawthorns, I saw 66189 presumably sat atop a train of open wagons I think, in the siding at the scrap metal place/old Handsworth cement terminal that the Midland Metro has to traverse a flyover to avoid crossing on the level. I'm a semi-regular user of the Midland Metro and I've traversed the line between Soho and Perry Barr junctions a few times now, but I've never seen any train in the sidings there, which look like they haven't seen any traffic in some time. Does anybody know what this train was? Is it a regular booked working or just a one off? I assume it was scrap metal?
Finally, at Bescot yard itself, I was surprised to see 59201 sat in the yard, which gets me a little closer to clearing the diminutive 59/2 fleet (which I admire from their National Power blue days-Awesome livery that was), but I didn't think that the 59/2s ever made it as far north as Bescot. Why was it there?
I will also just add that I felt a little twinge of sadness that Wrexham and Shropshire are no more on the route I was taking, and who would undoubtedly have been the company I would have travelled on if they had still been around, as I did several times in the past. RIP W&S.
Any help with my queries would be much appreciated!
Thanks in advance guys and girls!
I travelled to Shrewsbury yesterday from New Street, making use of one of London Midlands' stoppers on my outbound journey while they were actually running during the current dispute. My train, the 14:05 New Street to Shrewsbury, formed of 170505, was diverted via Soho Junction and Bescot, not making its' booked stop at Sandwell and Dudley due to this diversion which caused problem for a couple of unfortunate passengers bound for that location who had boarded at the last minute after the thorough announcements from the guard detailing this alteration had been made before leaving New Street. This diversion was very fortuitous for me however, as it brought up a treasure trove of railway interest: My first question is why did this diversion take place, as on my return journey that evening (the 19:33 departure from Shrewsbury) the train did run via Sandwell & Dudley, and on the outward journey upon arrival at Wolves there was both a Pendolino, presumably from Euston, and a VT Voyager (221143) on one of the Birmingham to Scotland runs in the platforms, which suggests that there wasn't any engineering work going on?
Secondly, as my train was about to diverge from the direct Sandwell route to Wolverhampton, I saw an unusual sight at LMs' Soho depot: One of the driving cars from one of LMs' 323s had been split from a unit, and was stabled at the end of the siding nearest the depot building, with it's inner end against the buffer stops. I think that the cab end was coupled to the cab end of the driving car usually to be found at the other end of the unit, as the centre carriage of the unit was outermost furthest from the buffer stops, which was a very strange thing to see. The coupled up centre carriage and driving car were from 323208, can anyone confirm if the displaced driving car at the end of the siding was also from this unit and that it's formation was just very confused? If so, can anyone tell me why the unit has been split like this, or is it a case that the driving car is from another unit, and that a "hybrid" formation 323 is currently running around with carriages from two 323s due possibly to accident or mechanical damage to any of the carriages I saw at Soho?
There's more! A couple of minutes after this, as we passed over the Midland Metro and the Snow Hill lines where they run between Jewellery Quarter and the Hawthorns, I saw 66189 presumably sat atop a train of open wagons I think, in the siding at the scrap metal place/old Handsworth cement terminal that the Midland Metro has to traverse a flyover to avoid crossing on the level. I'm a semi-regular user of the Midland Metro and I've traversed the line between Soho and Perry Barr junctions a few times now, but I've never seen any train in the sidings there, which look like they haven't seen any traffic in some time. Does anybody know what this train was? Is it a regular booked working or just a one off? I assume it was scrap metal?
Finally, at Bescot yard itself, I was surprised to see 59201 sat in the yard, which gets me a little closer to clearing the diminutive 59/2 fleet (which I admire from their National Power blue days-Awesome livery that was), but I didn't think that the 59/2s ever made it as far north as Bescot. Why was it there?
I will also just add that I felt a little twinge of sadness that Wrexham and Shropshire are no more on the route I was taking, and who would undoubtedly have been the company I would have travelled on if they had still been around, as I did several times in the past. RIP W&S.
Any help with my queries would be much appreciated!
Thanks in advance guys and girls!