It’s been a long day! I’ve spent most of the night/morning at the new Siemens/GTR depot at Three Bridges, waiting for the first of the new Desiro City’s to arrive from Germany via the Channel Tunnel. The set arrived at 02:19 this morning and myself and a video photographer were there to catch it.

It was quite a moment. What most people don’t realise is that this is the culmination of many years hard work. Siemens were named preferred bidder for the trains way back in 2011.

Once the set was safely stabled we had a couple of hours to rest before the real work started. 700106 arrived split into three sections. In between the sections (and at each end) were barrier wagons used to provide the brake force to allow the train to move (and stop!). The whole lot had to be split & the sections moved into the main shed using the diesel loco which had brought the train in. Needless to say, this took quite some time & it wasn’t until after 9.00am that the first four cars were moved, gingerly, into the shed.

So, here’s what 5 years hard work looks like this morning.

The first four cars of 700106 at rest on No6 road inside the shed. Believe it or not, but it only took 6 men to push this formation into place!

Now all that’s left to do is repeat the process 114 times over the next few years…