Author Archives: Paul Bigland

Rolling blog: another day, another adventure!

05 Wednesday Dec 2018

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I’m en-route to Manchester Airport as I’ll be spending the next couple of days around Dusseldorf in Germany. All that will be a separate blog, this one’s about today in the UK.

Thanks to my in-laws (who were visiting as Dawn had sorted out her mum with a new phone) I got a lift to Sowerby Bridge station. I wouldn’t have minded walking but the weather has been particularly wet today. I half expected to look down on the residents of Sowerby Bridge from our eeryie atop the valley side to see them building an Ark.

Now I’m heading for Manchester, and for once I’m early – but only because the preceding service was running late, so arrived first! That said, it’s a comfortable refurbished Class 156 and there’s plenty of seats as it’s a quiet train.

When I get to Manchester I have the delights of ‘bustitution’ to look forward to as it would seem the line to the Airports closed due to engineering work. I wonder if I can get a tram…

23:57.

I eschewed the idea of a tram to explore the reality for RAIL passengers – which is what I do. Right now I’m at Piccadilly, waiting for a rail replacement bus to the airport. It’s obviously been a wet day in Manchester, just as it has been at home, the pavements are sparkling due to the lights reflected in the rain, but it’s been a hard day for the homeless. The rise of homelessness is a national disgrace, before Brexit we were the 5th richest nation on earth, but a decade of politically imposed austerity has wreaked havoc. A problem that was on the wane under the last Labour Government has mushroomed under the new ideology. Here at Piccadilly most of the lasttrains have gone and the stations slowly shutting down. The biggest queues are for fast food, not trains – as you can see in this picture.

Here’s the last departure for Chester.

The concourse still holds a lot of people. Like me, many of them are waiting for the rail-replacement buses to the airport, or the last train train back to York, which seems to be very popular with young students – I can’t think why!

Whilst I’ve been sat here I’ve been fascinated to watch a retired, long-bearded Muslim man collecting discarded food bags and crisp packets. After a while I realised what he was doing. He was collecting the food to feed to the birds. I caught his eye as he crumbled some crisps he’d collected to feed to pigeons who obviously knew he’d be there!

23:57.

Airport bound…

It’s now 01:36 and I’m at Manchester airport. So, in the best Private Eye tradition, tho wiĺl be (cont page 94)…

È

Not time for blogging, I’ve been too busy editing pictures – and watching the Government (and hopefully, Brexit) implode.

04 Tuesday Dec 2018

Posted by in Birmingham, Brexit, Politics, Railways

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As the old Chinese curse goes “May you live in interesting times”. We certainly are. According to the BBBC, tonight’s vote in Parliament which decreed the Government was holding Parliament in contempt was the first time it’s ever happened.  Just think on that…

It’s hard to explain to people unconnected with politics or economics just what an absolute f*****g shambles this county is in at the moment. Or as I saw on Twitter earlier;

fucktangular

I think “fucktangular” pretty much sums up the Brexitshambles, the Government and the ‘opposition’ at the moment. Never has this country been so ill-served by its political classes. Meanwhile, in other news most people will have missed, one of the architects of this mess, one Nigel Farage, has announced his resignation from UKIP as it’s completed the job he started and morphed into the British National Party. Their new Leader, Gerald Batten has welcomed arch-racist, several times convicted criminal  (and self publicist) Stephen Yaxley Lennon (aka “Tommy Robinson”) into the fold. Apparently, it’s OK to be a racist with a blazer in UKIP, but bomber jackets are just too common!

So, whilst Britain goes to hell in a hand-cart and we have five days of these political shenanigans to look forward to as our (entirely self-inflicted) national humiliation plays out in front of the world’s media I’ve not been eating popcorn, I’ve been editing pictures for clients and my website. Here’s a few samples to lighten the mood.

DG314373. HST Sheffield. 3.12.18crop

An East Midland Trains HST plays ‘peek a boo’ through a doorway at Sheffield station.

DG314173. Christmas Market. Bimingham. 30.11.18crop

The German Christmas market’s in full swing at the moment. Ironically, it’s sponsored by the city of Frankfurt – although how long this might continue in a post-Brexit world is open to conjecture. The fact this Bierkeller is filled with the younger generation says it all really.

DG314118. Curzon St Hs2 station site. Birmingham. 30.11.18crop

A birds-eye view of the site of the new High Speed 2 station site in Birmingham. Demolition of the old concrete foundations of the parcels distribution site is well underway.

 

 

 

 

Rolling blog: A long and winding road…

03 Monday Dec 2018

Posted by in Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel, Uncategorized

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08:08.

Another day another dollar, I’m in Derby this morning ready to do a job for a company that’s getting a Ministerial visit. Once that’s done I’m heading back to Yorkshire to meet my wife as we’re off to help two of our local station friends groups (Mytholmroyd and Sowerby Bridge) with their annual ‘carols by train’ event. It’s another busy week as on Thursday I fly to Dusseldorf to have a look at Siemens new Mireo train. It’s a quick trip but I’ve decided to stay a night so that I can have some time to explore Dusseldorf before coming home. It might be the last chance I get before all the Brexit madness explodes.

Just as I left the hotel the rain started bucketing down! It’s a miserable morning here, as these two pictures show. At least the lights on Derby’s new island platform add a bit of brightness to the day!

In the waiting room on platforms 4-5 is an excellent information board that tells of the history of the station and the old locomotive works.

11:30.

Job done (which I’m not allowed to talk about as it’s embargoed) I’m back at Derby station with time to grab a few shots before (by the look of it) the heavens open again!

It’s actually been a fascinating morning as I’ve learned a lot about some very interesting technological innovations and also more about the damage being caused to our economy by the madness of Brexit. I heard from a company that’s having to move a sizeable chunk of its business to the European mainland because of the fact we’re hellbent on leaving and it needs to stay within the EU regulatory framework to continue trading. This isn’t ‘project fear’, this is project fact.

13:09.

On the way back I’ve stopped off for an hour or so to get photo’s of another transport innovation. Well, in the UK anyway. After a decade of talking and planning (and re-planning) tram-trains are finally running between Sheffield and Rotherham. I didn’t have time to take a spin on one (that will have to wait for another time), but I did manage to grab a few shots of them in service in Sheffield town centre. Here’s the first of the fleet, 399201.

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13:36.

I’m typing this on the 13:35 Sheffield-Huddersfield, which is late, so it’s still sat in platform 4a. The reason? Well 4a was already occupied by two other late running Northern services, with one trapped behind the other! First off was a late-running local to Leeds which was waiting for a driver. Trapped behind it was a Scarborough service, which got the road just as soon as it was clear. The inbound Huddersfield was stuck outside the station, waiting for the platform to clear.

It’s one of those situations ordinary passengers don’t quite understand when they say “Why don’t you just make trains longer”? The two late trains were both 2-cars, so they fitted in the bay. Double them in size and you can’t fit both of them. So where do you put the other one when platform space is at a premium?

My train’s a 3-car Pacer which is running 5 minutes late at the moment with little realistic chance of making up time on the Penistone line.

14:45.

We’re bouncing and screeching our way along the lovely Penistone line and all the while the weather’s been picking up.

16:39

Despite horrendous traffic (came from Huddersfield by road) we made it in time to meet up with the Mytholmroyd friends and Carol singers.

After singing at Mytholmroyd the merry band caught a train to Sowerby Bridge, where they met Santa in the Jubilee Refreshment Room.

Here’s the merry band at the end of the day before singing on the train back to Mytholmroyd.

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Rolling blog: destination Derby…

02 Sunday Dec 2018

Posted by in Grand Central trains, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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It’s Sunday afternoon but there’s no rest for the wicked! I’m en-route to Derby for a night in a hotel before an early morning commission and an appointment with a Government Minister.

These short December days make it feel far later than it really is. As I type this on my phone I was surprised to see the time in the corner of the screen only showing 16:40.

I’m on a Grand Central service that was going to take me to Wakefield for an onward connection to Derby, but (surprise surprise) it’s been delayed by other late running trains, so I’ll miss my connection. Instead I’m going to stay on this train and go via Doncaster and Sheffield before heading down to Derby. This service (the 16:14 off Halifax) is actually quite quiet, which makes a change! I normally struggle to get a seat on GC services nowadays!

What’s good about this train is that omits the stop at ‘Pontycarlo’ (as Ponfefract is often known) as we run via Hare Park Junction to gain the East Coast Main Line from Leeds, which speeds up the journey considerably as there’s no crawl along the normally freight only line from Knottingley.

16:15

Best laid plans, etc!

Luke, our Guard has just announced we’re stuck behind an all stations service into Doncaster, which means we’re already late (again).

On the bright side, there’s a frequent service from Doncaster to Sheffield, so I won’t have long to wait when we do arrive…

17:37.

That went well! I stepped straight off the Grand Central service (which loads of passengers were joining) and crossed the platform to the bay where A rather special Pacer was waiting to head to Shefgield – the unique rebuilt 144012.

18:45.

On the move again after having a quick break in Sheffield between trains to grab a sandwich and a pint at the ‘tap.

Now I’m on a packed East Midlands Trains Meridian. As is often the case, I’m stuck in a vestibule. It was quite amusing as a group of young football fans asked me to take a picture of them with somebody on one of their iPhones. I’d no idea who it was but apparently they’d me a football commentator on the train and he agreed to a picture with them. As I’m not a footie fan I wouldn’t know him from Adam (unless he was Gary Linaker) but they were well happy and he seemed quite pleasant and unassuming.

19:48

I make it to Derby only 3 minutes late – and into the new island platform too!

DG314207crop

I’m now checked into the old Midland Hotel opposite the station and sorting out some work and pictures before nipping out for an hour to meet someone. Thanks to the power of social media a friend who lives here has realised that I’m in town, so for the second time in 4 days I’m meeting another of my Ride India friends, at the Railstaff awards I saw Katerina Deligianni, this time it’s Martin Ward.

21:38

What a lovely evening in Derby, chatting about the industry with Martin and an ex-colleague of his who now works for WMT. Here’s a clue where we were.

Now it’s back to the hotel for me as I have research to do and a busy day tomorrow.

Expect a rolling blog that takes in Government Ministers, trains, travel and Carol singing…

Crunching the StopHs2 social media stats: November 2018

02 Sunday Dec 2018

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It’s time to crunch the monthly Stop Hs2 social media statistics and see how their ‘campaign’ is faring – and the answer is not very well at all! Their ‘relaunch’ was a bit of a fiasco and the blizzard of tweets and facebook posts has reduced to little more than a flurry. Meanwhile, the ‘action’ on their website barely registers a pulse!

First off is Facebook. In October they managed 48 posts, this has now slumped to 22. As us usual is all reactive, not proactive. There’s no campaign news because there’s nothing going on. All that gets a mention is that their grandly titled ‘Chair’ (what’s she chairing in Bournemouth? Ed) Penny Gaines has been dragged to the phone to give another interview to the media. There’s no news from any ‘action’ groups as there’s not real action going on. All you get is posts of anything in the media that’s critical of Hs2, such as someone writing a letter to their local rag. Here’s the numbers crunched, with last month’s as a comparison.

FB 4

Despite them having nearly 200 more followers to almost hit the 9000 mark, the numbers are actually pretty pathetic. Remember, there’s 6.5 million people living in constituencies that Hs2 passes through, so, even if all the folk who follow them on Facebook actually lived on the route, they’d still only have reached 0.13%! That’s pathetic. Mind you, when you read some of the comments that get posted, you can see that this isn’t exactly the intellectual end, some of it’s plain barking!

FB 1

fb2

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Now let’s have a look at Twitter.

stophs2 twitter

Not exactly setting Twitter alight, are they? A 61% decrease in tweets. The show’s over folks – the ‘relaunch’ has sunk without trace and numbers are returning to normal, despite a 3% increase in followers too! Mind you, 3% of sod all was never going to make much of an impact anyway! An average of 21 retweets from 6363 followers is pretty unspectacular when it come to getting any message out! Oh, and don’t forget the usual caveat, many of these Facebook and Twitter followers won’t be supporters. They’re just there to keep an eye on what they’re up to, so the numbers are worse than they look.

 

A Favour.

Whilst you’re here, please take a moment to click on an advert or tow, they help pay for this site and allow me to keep blogging. Many thanks!

 

 

Rolling blog: Midlands meanderings

30 Friday Nov 2018

Posted by in Birmingham, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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09:29

Morning folks! I’ve had a later start than normal as it was a late night last night. It was a fabulous evening (which you’ll hear more about later), but right now I’m concentrating on catching up with some emails and admin over a coffee at the wonderful art deco Centenary Lounge at Moor St station before making the most of the sunny weather here in Birmingham.

Time to hit the rails, more soon…

13.56.

Phew! It’s been a busy few hours, the weather’s been pretty good here in Birmingham but I’ve finally stopped for a break and chance to download a few pictures. To start, here’s a couple from last night. The entertainment was excellent, but also a challenge to photograph. Come on, you didn’t think I was going to leave my camera at home, did you?

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Last night’s compere was an old friend, Richard Salkeld, who works in the Comms team for GWR, here he is in typical ‘selfie’ mode with Andrew Haines, the new Chief Executive of Network Rail.

DG313623crop

Whilst I’ve been bumbling around Birmingham I’ve been out updating shots for the Rail Delivery Group that include the new West Midlands train livery which is being carried by more and more of the fleet. Here’s a couple of examples.

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Of course, I couldn’t not pop in to see how work’s progressing on the site of the new HS2 station that’s being built at Birmingham Curzon St on the site of the old parcels depot. So, here’s an overview of the site as the old concrete base is being broken up.

DG314081crop

Right, that’s it for new. More later. Hopefully my journey home won’t be quite as complex as yesterday!

15:55.

Ho hum. I’m heading for Manchester on Cross-Country’s 15:57 from Birmingham – and it’s absolutely rammed! There’s 17 of us crammed into a vestibule on this 4-car train!

I’ve written and blogged about this plenty of time before, but in this day and age, 4-5 car trains between Birmingham-Manchester is just mad – and they’re diesels running all the way under the wires, which is doubly mad.

So, there’s not much chance of doing anything productive on this train. It’s like being back on the tube in London.

16:48.

We’ve just left Stoke and the crush has eased. There’s still no seats available, but I’ve managed to find a perch in the luggage rack!

18:07.

After arriving at Manchester and fighting my way through the Friday crowds in the city centre from Piccadilly to Victoria I’m now standing on Northern’s 17:55 to Leeds! Well, I’m actually jammed in a luggage rack at the end of the saloon…

As usual things calmed down a bit after Rochdale, where a lot of folk got off. It didn’t mean there were any spare seats, just that we could all breathe! This is how things look after calling at Littleborough, our last stop in Lancashire before crossing the Pennines.

19:18

Bugger! I had to change trains at Jensen Bridge. It’s a Victorian gem of a station, but the weather’s not up to much this side of the Pennines!

Now I’m having a drink in Williams Bar in Sowerby Bridge before heading home. Well, it IS Friday…

Rolling blog:Birmingham bound…

29 Thursday Nov 2018

Posted by in Birmingham, Railstaff awards, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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11:23

It’s almost time to brave the elements and head to Birmingham for tonight’s Railstaff awards. I’ve spent the morning pottering around and catching up with various bits, including scanning another 20 old rail slides from 1996 which have been added to the Tinsley depot open day gallery here. The weather is worse than predicted in the Pennines as the sunshine’s never really materialised but gales have. I doubt there’s many leaves left on the trees now, most have been blowing past the house in whirlwind pirouettes! Here’s how things look from our bedroom window right now.

DG313470crop

OK, time to walk down to Sowerby Bridge station and try my luck…

12:38.

My departure was delayed by the arrival of a torrential rainstorm the swept in up the valley you can see in the picture. The beauty of living where we do is that you get to see ’em coming so don’t get caught out!

Having dodged between showers I’m now on Northern’s 12:22 to Manchester Victoria which is running to time (unlike others). This is what a supposedly sunny day in the Calder Valley looks like! Talk about it’s grim up North…

Hopefully things will get better the further South I get.

13:46.

I’ve just arrived at Manchester Piccadilly after walking across from Victoria – and those white numbers don’t tell a happy story. They’re delayed trains.

There’s a Cross-country service to Bournemouth here that’s 25 down before starting its journey.

I was going to take the ‘scenic’ route to Birmingham via Crewe but as services are disrupted I’ve opted for a direct train. I’m now on the delayed Cross-country service to Paignton via Brum. We’re held awaiting a driver, with an expected departure of 14:25. Let’s see what happens…

14:47.

We left at on time at our new time and we’re now on our way to Brum. The trains very busy but the crew are doing a sterling job dealing with passengers who’ve been delayed by the weather. One of the problems with heavy winds is the sheer amount of stuff that becomes airborne and gets blown onto the tracks or into the overhead wires. Euston station’s Twitter account’s just posted a picture of a large chunk of sheet metal on the tracks near Leighton Buzzard. You certainly wouldn’t want that slicing through a train’s windscreen, hence the speed restrictions that are in place. I’m just waiting for the picture of the regulation kids trampoline as these always seem to blow away in the slightest breeze.

15:00.

It’s one of those days. My train failed at Macclesfield! One of the doors refused to close again despite the best efforts of the crew and other helpers, so we were told to detrain and catch the Bournemouth XC service that pulled in alongside us! Here’s some pictures of the fun!

Now I’m rammed in the 1st Class vestibule with 14 other people. Two middle-aged women immediately went into a long, outraged whine. One of them’s upset because she’s on her way to an awards ceremony. I felt like saying “so am I love”. Still first world problems eh?

15:58.

I could only stand the whining of entitled people as far as Stoke where I abandoned my train in order to catch the one behind. It gave me less than 30 minutes to wait and the chance to explore something new. The former Virgin 1st Class lounge at Stoke has been taken over by the Titanic brewery! The new pub has only been open 6 weeks and makes a welcome addition to the stock of station bars. Take a look.

Whilst I was there I ended up emailing pictures to a magazine and sorting out a short-notice commission on Monday (don’t you just love Government Ministers diaries?)

I’m now on the 15:45 to Bristol Temple Meads which gets me into Birmigham in time to check into my hotel and head to the Railstaff awards at the NEC. At least there’s plenty of space on this one

Next stop, Birmingham..

17:21.

Having dumped my bag at the hotel, looked for accommodation in Derby for Sunday night and had a little wander through the Xmas sights in central Birmingham, it’s off to the NEC I go!

Next stop, the Railstaff awards…

18:56.

Looks like a fun night!

Wednesday reflections

28 Wednesday Nov 2018

Posted by in British Railways, Down memory lane

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Today’s the last in the week where I’m based at home. It’s been a fruitful few days despite the awful weather. Staying indoors has given me time to write and to scan another hundred-odd slides from the 1990s, which has been in interesting look back in time. The pictures I’m scanning at the moment are from an open day at the old Tinsley locomotive depot in Sheffield in 1996. In those day the depot and adjacent marshalling yard were a shadow of their former selves. The depot was used by one of the BR freight sectors (Railfreight Distribution) to service their ageing Class 47 locomotives. Much of the place was taken up with stored or withdrawn examples awaiting scrapping. When RfD was bought by Wisconsin in 1995 they decided the place was surplus to requirements so the depot finally closed its doors in 1998.

Here’s a few shots from the day. You can find a dedicated gallery to the event on my Zenfolio website here. Just be aware that I’ve a lot more pictures to add to it next week!

05659. 47325. Tinsley depot open day. Sheffield. 27.4.1996crop

Class 47 No 47325 unofficially named “Red Rum” stored at Tinsley. The loco had been out of service for some years but was only officially withdrawn the previous month. It was eventually cut up a few miles down the road at CR Booths, Rotherham in May 1998.  

05638. 47291. Tinsley depot open day. Sheffield. 27.4.1996crop

47291 inside the depot, displaying the damage to the No 1 end cab that it suffered in a head-on collision with another class 47 (47200) back in November 1995. It never returned to service and languished until June 2004 when it was cut up by CF Booth, Rotherham. Collision damage was a far more common occurrence in those days, so this wasn’t an unusual sight! 

05642. 47265. Tinsley depot open day. Sheffield. 27.4.1996crop

47285 under repair inside the depot. Unlike the previous examples this loco had a longer career. It worked for Railfreight Distribution then was bought by EWS, whom it continued to work for (on and off) until 2002 when it was bought by Fragonset in November 2002. In January 2005, Fragonset and Merlin merged to form FM Rail and 47285 was cut up the month after by R Hull Rotherham. 

05647. 47525. Tinsley depot open day. Sheffield. 27.4.1996crop

47525 stands under the tower at Tinsley. This loco had a long and chequered career, It was transferred from RfD to Freightliner in January 1998. It worked for them for several years before being withdrawn and spending a long time in store before it was finally scrapped by EMR, Kingsbury in August 2010. 

My thanks to the very useful website http://www.class47.co.uk/ for the historical information on the individual locomotives.

Tomorrow I’m back on the rails heading for the NEC in Birmingham as I’m a guest at the annual Railstaff awards. I’ve not been for a couple of years, the last time I was there was to present a prize. This time I’m completely off-duty. As I’ll be staying in Birmingham tomorrow night I’ll be exploring the railways somewhere, depending on the weather – although it’s looking good for the Midlands these next couple of days, so I’ll almost certainly have a look at the Hs2 work in the city whilst I’m there. Watch out for the rolling blogs appearing.

 

Down memory lane; When Eurostar’s visited Clapham Junction.

27 Tuesday Nov 2018

Posted by in Down memory lane, Eurostar, London, Railways

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It’s a miserable afternoon here in the Pennines, for most of the day it’s been impossible to see across the valley due to the mist and murk, so I’ve been busy writing and catching up scanning more old rail pictures, this time from Sunday 21st April 1996, which was a bright sunny day in London. Engineering work Between Latchmere Junction and Kensington Olympia had closed the line, which meant that Eurostar trains running from their Depot at North Pole into Waterloo International had to be diverted via Kew East Junction and Clapham Junction. This involved hauling them with pairs of Class 37 diesel engines and translator vehicles as far as Clapham Junction, where the Eurostars could pick up the 3rd rail and proceed under their own power.

This was such an unusual sight that I spent a few hours at Clapham recording the process. I’m glad that I did as now – 22 years later – it’s not something you’ll ever see again. You can find the bulk of the pictures in the Eurostar gallery on my Zenfolio website, but I wanted to flesh out the details in a blog.

05540. 3223 being dragged ECS via Kew from North Pole. 37074. 37185. Clapham Jn. 21.4.1996crop

Two hired-in Class 37s, 37074 in Mainline Livery and 37185 “Lea and Perrins” in Civil Engineers ‘Dutch’ livery  stand in platform 4 at Clapham Junction, attached to Eurostar set 3223/3224 by translator cars that have couplings and air hoses that are compatible to both. The 37s have hauled the set from North Pole depot but will leave it here to run into the carriage sidings, ready to return to North Pole with another Eurostar. The company had its own fleet of Class 37s (37601-612) which had been rebuilt to haul the cancelled ‘Nightstar’ trains and also provide assistance like this. I’ve no idea why these two were hired-in,  but they made a colourful sight!

05562. 3216 stabled in the yard. Clapham Jn. 21.4.1996crop

Eurostar set 3216/3215 stabled in the carriage sidings at Clapham Junction. It certainly made a change from the usual slam-door stock.

05569. 3223. Clapham Jn. 21.4.1996crop

Staff uncouple the Class 37s from 3223. Note the protective shield placed over the live 3rd rail to allow the crew to get between the two vehicles safely. On the platform wearing the high vis vest over his shirt is one Tim Shoveller, who’s climbed the heady heights of the railway hierarchy and is currently Managing Director, North West and Central region for Network Rail.  

05575. 3223. Clapham Jn. 21.4.1996crop

The 37s have moved off, the nose doors are shut, and 3223 prepares to head off under its own power to Waterloo International.

05577. 3224. ECS to Waterloo. Clapham Jn. 21.4.1996crop

Away we go! with 3223 leading and 3224 trailing, the set heads for Waterloo International.

05583. 37185. 37074. Clapham Jn. 21.4.1996crop

Job done, 37185 and 37074 move into the carriage sidings to wait their next turn, with barrier vehicles at either end. 10 of these were converted from old parcels vans by removing the bodies and adding weights and  compatible couplings.

05567. 37604. 37605. stabled in the yard. Clapham Jn. 21.4.1996crop

Eurostar 37s 37604 and 608, along with 37074 and 37185, plus 37605 on its own, stabled in Clapham Yard

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Siemens opens a rail bogie service centre in Lincoln

26 Monday Nov 2018

Posted by in Engineering, Eurostar, Railways, Siemens

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On Friday 23rd I attended the official opening of Siemens new rail bogie service centre which has been built at their existing gas turbine manufacturing facility  in Lincoln. The facility allows Siemens to carry out bogie overhauls ‘in house’.

A disused building dating from 1874 has been converted for the purpose at a cost of £8 million. Work involved relaying and strengthening 5000 square metres of floor space before installing cranes and other equipment needed to overhaul the bogies. 32 people are currently employed at the facility which began production in September, overhauling spare bogies for the Eurostar e320 trains built by the company. Bogies from the Desiro City fleet of Class 700/707/717 trains will also be overhauled on the site, which has room to be expanded if demand requires it.

Here’s a selection of pictures from my visit.

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A bogie off a Eurostar e320 that’s just been unloaded onto the bogie assessment area. Here a condition assessment is undertaken before it’s moved into the cleaning booth behind it. In the booth the bogie is cleaned using a ‘dry ice’ blasting technique using a solid form of carbon dioxide which is accelerated in a pressurised air stream. This allows the bogie to be cleaned without using toxic chemicals or water, thus cutting down on pollution.

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After cleaning, the bogies are placed on these adjustable jacks to be stripped.

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A view of one side of the shed, the bogie stripping area is on the right of the picture. On the left is the UAT station, the axle bearing press station and the wheelset rebuild station.

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The axle blasting area is where the wheelsets are mechanically cleaned to remove any painted areas. The Finnblast machine is a fully automated system that works by blasting an abrasive air mixture through the nozzle in the blasting chamber with the compressed air acting as the driving force. The speed of the abrasive when charging from the nozzle is about 200 metres per second.

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The wheelset disassembly area. Here the axlebox housings and bearings will be removed using the hydraulic bearing puller in the background.

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No caption needed!

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The axle bearing press station, where the bearings are fitted back onto the axle using the hydraulic press that you can see in the background.

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Inside the axlebox housing, showing the sensor that monitors the temperature of the bearing.

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The bogie press. This is where the rebuilt bogie is subjected to pressing. This reflects the weight characteristic of the particular car a pair of bogies will run beneath and it’s a fully automated process. Using measurements taken in specific locations during the bogie overhaul process it will press against the agreed criteria. The results are automatically generated from the machine. These results must fall within the agreed tolerance range for the bogie to pass.

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All set up and ready to go. Overhauled Eurostar e320 bogies await return.

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