Desiro360
Member
Today I visited London with the purpose of seeing some trains on the East Coast Main Line and take some photos of the new Class 379 Electrostar that is replacing the Class 317's on the Stansted Express services.
I arrived at Manningtree Station just before 10am. After purchasing my return tickets to London which included use of the Underground I boarded the 10:02 train to Liverpool St which was formed of a pair of Class 360's (360 102 was the front unit).
En route to London the driver made some pretty good announcements which included reminders to read the safety notices, not put feet on seats and keep our belongings with us at all times.
When I arrived in London I had a look to see if any of the Class 379's were present and amazingly I saw two of them. I managed to identify one of them as 379 019 which was forming the 11:40 to Stansted Airport.
Then I got the Circle Line to Kings Cross St Pancras Station before having Lunch at Starbucks inside St Pancras International Station. Once that was done I purchased return tickets to Hatfield at Kings Cross and boarded the 12:36 train to Peterborough which was formed of 365 501.
At Hatfield I managed to see plenty of high speed action which mainly consisted of Intercity 225's, HST's, 313's, 365's, 321's, a 317 and 180's. I also got to see repainted 321 348 on its way back to Illford Depot from Doncaster Works and a pair of DRS Class 37's hauling I think a ballast train.
After being at Hatfield for two and a half hours I boarded the 15:25 train back to Kings Cross which to my amazement was 365 501 again so I got to ride the same Networker unit twice in one day.
Back in the Capital I returned to St Pancras to have a quick look at the Eurostar's which is one of my favourite trains. I was lucky to get one of them with the new Eurostar logo on the side. This set was Temple Mills based 3019/3020 and was working service 9O40 which was the 16:22 to Paris Nord.
I returned to Liverpool St to try to get more Class 379 action at the height of the Evening Rush Hour. I did indeed get to see some more of them from the top of the station. Units 379 010 + 379 020 were in charge of the 17:10 to Stansted Airport whilst 379 012 was the front unit on the following 17:25 to Stansted Airport. Finally 379 024 was the rear unit of a service from Stansted.
To round off my day in London I boarded the 17:38 train to Ipswich with 7 minutes to go till it departed. This was formed of a 12 coach Class 360 with 360 113 being the rear unit. The trip back to Manningtree was slightly delayed due to congestion in the Shenfield and Chelmsford areas.
I had a very enjoyable day out which was aided by the good weather. I hope you enjoy some photos from the day attached below
This is my first post on this forum so be polite please.
I arrived at Manningtree Station just before 10am. After purchasing my return tickets to London which included use of the Underground I boarded the 10:02 train to Liverpool St which was formed of a pair of Class 360's (360 102 was the front unit).
En route to London the driver made some pretty good announcements which included reminders to read the safety notices, not put feet on seats and keep our belongings with us at all times.
When I arrived in London I had a look to see if any of the Class 379's were present and amazingly I saw two of them. I managed to identify one of them as 379 019 which was forming the 11:40 to Stansted Airport.
Then I got the Circle Line to Kings Cross St Pancras Station before having Lunch at Starbucks inside St Pancras International Station. Once that was done I purchased return tickets to Hatfield at Kings Cross and boarded the 12:36 train to Peterborough which was formed of 365 501.
At Hatfield I managed to see plenty of high speed action which mainly consisted of Intercity 225's, HST's, 313's, 365's, 321's, a 317 and 180's. I also got to see repainted 321 348 on its way back to Illford Depot from Doncaster Works and a pair of DRS Class 37's hauling I think a ballast train.
After being at Hatfield for two and a half hours I boarded the 15:25 train back to Kings Cross which to my amazement was 365 501 again so I got to ride the same Networker unit twice in one day.
Back in the Capital I returned to St Pancras to have a quick look at the Eurostar's which is one of my favourite trains. I was lucky to get one of them with the new Eurostar logo on the side. This set was Temple Mills based 3019/3020 and was working service 9O40 which was the 16:22 to Paris Nord.
I returned to Liverpool St to try to get more Class 379 action at the height of the Evening Rush Hour. I did indeed get to see some more of them from the top of the station. Units 379 010 + 379 020 were in charge of the 17:10 to Stansted Airport whilst 379 012 was the front unit on the following 17:25 to Stansted Airport. Finally 379 024 was the rear unit of a service from Stansted.
To round off my day in London I boarded the 17:38 train to Ipswich with 7 minutes to go till it departed. This was formed of a 12 coach Class 360 with 360 113 being the rear unit. The trip back to Manningtree was slightly delayed due to congestion in the Shenfield and Chelmsford areas.
I had a very enjoyable day out which was aided by the good weather. I hope you enjoy some photos from the day attached below
This is my first post on this forum so be polite please.
![321 419 [2].jpg](/data/attachments/5/5246-bab761423d32313276c85f0e5503a445.jpg)
