Class 310 Allocations Question (historical)

[Wivenswold]

Good morning,

I'm slowly piecing together a record of the great EMU cascade within Network South East that commenced with the arrival of Class 317/2s on GN in 1987 and finished when LTS received 17 Class 317/1s in 1996/7. Most of it is making sense now but having trawled through countless Platform 5 books and online photos, one detail is still unclear.

Most of the Class 310s were allocated at East Ham Depot in 1987-90 despite them being used on London-Cambridge, London - Southend Vic lines and Clacton/Walton locals. Was their allocation for maintenance only pending their cascade to LTS passenger service? Was that a thing back in the day? It seems unusual for so many units to be allocated to a depot that was on a completely different line.

 

[delt1c]

Dont remember the 310's on Cambridge or Clacton services, when i used them it 312's

 

[Wivenswold]

Clacton had all of the 312s at the time but also a small number of 310s for the Walton-Colchester local service. These displaced the Class 313s that ran on the service for a while. In 1989 West Anglia was a mix of 302/305/310/315/321. There's cab ride video somewhere on You Tube from that time.

Edit: Here

 

[AndrewE]

No mention of the first electric services out of Euston here, which is where a lot (if not all) went on introduction, but that may not be relevant. Wikipedia says they were displaced by 317s starting in late 1987.

 

[Wivenswold]

Yes, it was a slow transition initially, there were still a couple of 310s hanging on at Bletchley at the start of 1989, within a year all of the 317s sent to replace them would themselves be replaced by 321/4s.

 

[MatthewRead]

Yes, it was a slow transition initially, there were still a couple of 310s hanging on at Bletchley at the start of 1989, within a year all of the 317s sent to replace them would themselves be replaced by 321/4s.

Correct me if I'm wrong 317's last operated out of Euston in February 1990 and were then displaced to the West Anglia Main Line.

 

[Wivenswold]

Yes, that sounds about right, they all transferred to Hornsey in readiness for what became the WAGN franchise, 21 allocated for West Anglia side and 27 for Great Northern which also had the 24 x 317/2.

The arrival of the Class 365s released the 317/2 to work on WA, around 17 of HE's 317/1s to go out on lease to C2C and for the 5 x 322 Stansted Express units to go up to Scotland.

 

[Warwick]

Aaaaargh! That grocer's apostrophe.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Just for detail , I hired a pair of 310's post the Watford crash in June 1996 to help out with -3 321 sets, they struggled to meet the schedules but at least provided seats.

The major Northampton FC Playoff's at Wembley caused a huge special train plan to be implemented , for which I hired in 3 x 9 car rakes of Central 310's , date escapes me now , but this was surely the last time they ran south of Northampton if not Rugby.

 

[AndrewE]

Aaaaargh! That grocer's apostrophe.

...or even (given the subject of this forum) the Gricer's apostrophe!

 

[87015]

Just for detail , I hired a pair of 310's post the Watford crash in June 1996 to help out with -3 321 sets, they struggled to meet the schedules but at least provided seats.

The major Northampton FC Playoff's at Wembley caused a huge special train plan to be implemented , for which I hired in 3 x 9 car rakes of Central 310's , date escapes me now , but this was surely the last time they ran south of Northampton if not Rugby.

They came back plenty of times - last ones I had off Leighton were in early ‘98 which was a short term wonder.

Also when the Trent Valley locals were increased in ‘94(?) some LTS units came back home to help out on the Rugby-Crewe’s but those trains didn’t last long and the 310s presumably a knock of 323 issues?

 

[ChiefPlanner]

They came back plenty of times - last ones I had off Leighton were in early ‘98 which was a short term wonder.

Also when the Trent Valley locals were increased in ‘94(?) some LTS units came back home to help out on the Rugby-Crewe’s but those trains didn’t last long and the 310s presumably a knock of 323 issues?

Nice units - but the 75 mph was a bit of a constraint.

 

[Clarence Yard]

If they stuck to 75mph!

 

[Taunton]

These must have been the slowest rated vehicles on B4 bogies. Why? Was it just to extend maintenance intervals? Were the WCML slow lines only rated for 75mph?

The first emus into Euston were good old 304 units, of which there was a considerable surplus in 1964-5. They were soon displaced by the first 310s.

 

[Belmont Circle]

Yes - WCML was max 75mph, back then.

 

[Belmont Circle]

Slow lines, that is.