Overground trains on the WCML?

[cr767055]

I've been seeing some unusual trains on the WCML near Long Buckby and Rugby recently. I saw a Class 315 branded in Overground livery and just today, a Northern Class 323, also fully liveried without any loco at the front either, just moving on it's own. Does anyone know why these sort of rolling stock have appeared all of a sudden?

 

[causton]

315 (and 317s) are being stored just outside Northampton in warm storage, and are frequently taken on short runs up and down from Northampton to Bletchley etc to keep them in working orders.

323s will be going to and from Wolverton for refurbishment at Wolverton Works.

No need for a loco if the route is electric all the way either

 

[JonathanH]

I've been seeing some unusual trains on the WCML near Long Buckby and Rugby recently. I saw a Class 315 branded in Overground livery and just today, a Northern Class 323, also fully liveried without any loco at the front either, just moving on it's own. Does anyone know why these sort of rolling stock have appeared all of a sudden?

323 going to Wolverton for a refresh

Realtime Trains - 507I 1308 Allerton Depot to Wolverton Centre Sidings

Realtime Trains provides live realtime running information for the Great British railway network using open data.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[cr767055]

315 (and 317s) are being stored just outside Northampton in warm storage, and are frequently taken on short runs up and down from Northampton to Bletchley etc to keep them in working orders.

323s will be going to and from Wolverton for refurbishment at Wolverton Works.

No need for a loco if the route is electric all the way either

I think the Overground train had a loco on the front. That's good to know thanks.

 

[DBS92042]

I think the Overground train had a loco on the front. That's good to know thanks.

That would've been 315816 the other day, on its way to Booths for scrapping. 57301 was taking it there

 

[edwin_m]

No need for a loco if the route is electric all the way either

Only if the unit in question is permitted to run under its own power on that route. There are tables in the Sectional Appendix which show what is cleared to run where. Generally pre-1990 units have grandfather rights over the entire network but classes introduced later are restricted to the routes on their safety cases, which may only be the ones the owner/operator intended to use them on.

323s had a so-called go-anywhere safety case but clearing for a new route would still involve checking the assumptions in the safety case against the parameters of the infrastructure on that route. However they did and probably still do run regularly as far south as Northampton so if they weren't cleared to Wolverton then getting that agreed wouldn't be a huge amount of work.

There may also be cases where there's no driver with both the route and the traction knowledge, and it may be easier or cheaper to loco-haul than to run with a traction-qualified driver and a route conductor.