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Rolling blog: Out to Anglia.
19 Thursday Jul 2018
Posted in ACoRP, I love my job, London, Railways, Travel
19 Thursday Jul 2018
Posted in ACoRP, I love my job, London, Railways, Travel
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20 Sunday May 2018
Posted in Brexit, London, Railways, Royal Wedding 2018, Travel
After a brief night at home I’m once again speeding down the East Coast Main line to London and (eventually) Brighton. Weatherwise, it’s a glorious day for travelling, although I have to admit that I’d have been quite happy spending the day at home. Our garden’s really coming into bloom right now, so it would’ve been lovely to sit in the sun with Dawn, the newspapers and a glass of something. Instead i’m enjoying watching some lovely countryside flash by my train window as I head South.
Today’s the first day of a major railway timetable change that affects my route. Every train time across the GTR network (Great Northern, Thameslink and Southern) has changed and no-one is quite sure what to expect. Industry insiders have told me the new timetable was too complex to model. They know their will be failures but they can’t predict where. As I’m spending the next couple of days on Southern and Thameslink services, I’ll blog about my experiences.
On another matter, I’ve had chance to process my thoughts about what I saw around yesterday’s royal wedding. What struck me was just how cosmopolitan the crowds were who went to Windsor to enjoy the spectacle. As I watched them catch their trains from Waterloo I was impressed by the sheer variety of folk making the journey. I’d say the majority were women, but there were plenty of couples too, as well as entire families. They weren’t all dyed-in-the-wool Royalists either, this wasn’t a wall of union jack T-shirts. What fascinated me was how many of the women were dressed as if they really had been invited to a wedding. I wasn’t too surprised about how many Americans were going due to the brides origin, but I was by the number of Japanese and other asian nationals – as well as all the European languages I heard. I can only put it down to the fact most people enjoy fairytales, and the idea of a mixed-race woman marrying her Prince is such a tale. It was a joyous coming together in celebration from people of all creeds, colours and nationalities. After all the shit that Brexit has thrown up, the wedding (albeit briefly) took us back to the heady days of the 2012 London Olympics, when we seemed a bigger, more confident and outward looking nation – such a contrast to what we’ve become now.
15:39.
Well, I’ve managed to catch a Thameslink service to Brighton without a hitch. Within a few minutes of strolling across the road to St Pancras, buying a ticket and disappearing down into the ‘box’ I was boarding the 15:27 which was running to time and formed of a 12 car Class 700. The weather in the capital’s just as stunning as it was up North. As we passed through Blackfriars station I could sèe that the South bank of the river was awash with people enjoying that lovely combination, a day off, sunshine and a fantastic view across the River Thames!
18 Friday May 2018
Posted in London, Musings, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel
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09:00
After a night at home I’m heading back to London this morning as I have a job to do early tomorrow that’s not entirely unconnected with a wedding taking place near London. Meanwhile, it’s a bright sunny day and ideal for travelling, so expect a few observations and pictures from my wanderings today. Here’s the first, taken on my walk to the station from a winding cobbled road under the Wainhouse tower. I love this view!

That’s Sowerby Bridge down there. I’m always amazed how green it looks now the trees are in leaf because if you looked at the same view just 50 years ago it would have been denuded of the vast majority of the woodland. This would have been an industrial, not a pastoral view.
10.27
I’m now in Halifax, waiting for the London train after popping into the town’s Borough market to buy breakfast. It’s a lovely Victorian building which has this clock as its centrepiece.

Despite not being as busy as it once was it still has a delightful variety of stalls selling all manner of things.
14.15. I’m now in London after an easy trip down the East Coast with Grand Central. Sadly, it was on one of the class 180s they’ve recently acquired from GWR, not one of their newly refurbished sets which I had the pleasure of travelling in on Wednesday. Here’s how the new Standard Class seats look in 180104;

Here’s looking through a refurbished Standard Class saloon.

A table bay of four showing off the new seat trim and moquette. I rather like the way the exterior orange stripe has been replicated on the inside.
15:00
After taking a short break to organise a new commission on Monday (which involves another overnight in London or Brighton) i’m on the move again, passing through the perpetually busy Liverpool St station.

Xx
15 Tuesday May 2018
Posted in London, Photojournalism, Railways, Travel
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I’m on my way back to London for a couple of days as I’m covering tomorrow’s annual “Community rail in the city” event. ACoRP staff and community rail partnership workers and volunteers will have a variety of stalls on many of London’s main stations from 7am until 7pm. You can find details here.
It’s a glorious day for travelling. The sun’s shining and the East Coast Main Line’s behaving itself. As a consequence I expect to have a busy afternoon when I arrive – this weather’s a photographic Godsend! First stop will be Euston to get some shots of Hs2 work around the station, so watch out for some pictures shortly…
15:14
As promised, here’s the first pictures. This is one of the new blocks that have been built to rehome people having to move out of nearby homes to make way for Hs2. They’re quite impressive as they look to allow far more natural light in than the blocks they’re replacing. They also have private balconies

Right now, I’m having a late lunch in nearby Drummond St. Understandably, the restaurants here have been concerned that trade will suffer during Hs2 construction due to direct routes to the station being blocked. I’m optimistic that won’t happen and that the influx of hundreds of extra workers to the area may have the opposite effect. Either way they’ll continue to get my business. I wonder how many of those opposing Hs2 have ever done that? Here’s Ravi Shankar’s Tuesday special – a delicious veg Biriyani

Ok, it’s the end of the day – and the blog. It’s been lovely to catch up with an old friend – and old haunts. Now I’m staying in a part of the world that’s still familiar, but only because I’ve been around long enough to see it change!

05 Saturday May 2018
Posted in GTR, New trains, Rail Investment, Siemens
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Earlier this week I was a guest of Siemens and GTR, who allowed the press to have a look at the new Class 717 trains Siemens are building to replace the 42 year old, BR built Class 313s that work services from London Moorgate to Hertford North and Welwyn Garden City. The 313s are the oldest trains still in daily passenger service on the UK mainland. Having travelled over 150 million miles in their careers, they’re overdue retirement.

On the 27th March 2017 a pair of Class 313’s with 313018 leading arrive at Oakleigh Park with a service to Moorgate.
Their replacements will be 25 6-car variants of the Desiro City. GTR already operate them as the Class 700s on Thameslink and Great Northern services in 8 and 12 car formations but the 717s are different in several ways. The main difference is that, because they have to work though the old single bore tunnels to Moorgate, they need to have a door in the cab front to allow passengers to be evacuated in an emergency. Unlike the 313s which use an old wooden ladder, the 717s are fitted with a folding staircase which can be deployed in seconds, either by train crew or passengers.

Here’s a video of the staircase being deployed.
It’s safe to say the 717s are an enormous step-change from the old 313s as they’ll have air-conditioning, plug sockets, free wifi, a passenger information system (PIS) and an area for persons of reduced mobility. As the seats are cantilevered off the side of the body they’ll also have a lot more luggage space as well as be a lot easier to keep clean. The seating arrangements are also more spacious as they’re 2+2 not 3+2. Plus, there’s no chance of the seat squabs being thrown out of the hopper windows by vandals as often used to happen on the 313s! As the 717s are 6 cars with open gangways and not 2 3 cars coupled together they can carry a lot more passengers (albeit with less seats). Here’s the numbers.
313s: Seated 462. Standing 384. Total 846.
717s: Seated 362. Standing 581. Total 943.
As someone who used to live on the route and used these trains regularly I think this is the right balance. There’s no point in having more seats on a train if you can’t get on it to get to work and have to wait for the next one! But in the off-peak there should still be sufficient seats.
Other differences include the fact that, whilst the 313s maximum speed is 75mph, the 717s is 85mph. GTR told me that the higher speed, along with the 717s quicker acceleration and better braking will allow some minutes to shaved off the present timetable in the future. Also, the 25 717s will be covering 21 diagrams, so the slack in the fleet will allow for extra service to be introduced at some point. Reliability is a factor too. The MTIN figures (Miles per Technical Incident = failure rate) for the 313s is 6,000 whilst the 717s will be at least 10,000.
Right, enough of the number crunching. Meanwhile, over in Germany we started our day at Siemens Krefeld factory where the 717s are being built. First on the agenda was a briefing by Siemens (the train builders, GTR (the operators) and Rock Rail (the financiers). Here’s Richard Carrington, Siemens Project Director, rail systems giving us a run through of the project.

After a thorough briefing on the 717s, gave us a tour of the production line. Here’s the birth of a 717. After the individual aluminium sections are welded together the windows and doorways are cut out.

This is the upside down underframe of a 717 . Workers are positioning and welding in place brackets and other components. These used to be positioned using templates. Now, lasers mounted overhead mark out the positions.

In a building known as the ‘Cathedral’ the different body-shell parts (sides, floor, roof and ends) are welded together.

Once the bodyshell is complete it’s cleaned down before being taken to the paint shop where it’s given the livery of the company it’s going to be used/owned by.

Afterward the paint job’s been applied the shell is transferred to the fitting out line for final assembly. In this next picture you can see what’s behind all the cosmetic panels passengers will never see.

The next picture shows Sabri Esslimani, the factory’s Head of Assembly explaining the computer controlled inventory and monitoring system to RAIL magazine’s Paul Stephen and Modern Railways Philip Sherratt.

Here’s two cars from 717015 on the assembly line. A few months before, this area and the bays to the right would have been full of Class 700 vehicles. The big TV screen in the foreground records how the construction of each car’s progressing.

One of the cars from 717014 in final assembly, having its seats fitted.

Before leaving Krefeld for Wildenrath we were given the opportunity to try out the emergency ramp on one of the lead cars of 717013 which was ready to leave the factory. It’s a far better system than the little wooden ladders used in the 313s and capable of evacuating 30 people per minute. Even so, I hope I’ll never need to use one of these for real!

Here’s the group, including staff from Siemens, Rock Rail and GTR.

The next part of the day was a chance to see the 717s on the test track at Wildenrath (a former RAF airfield) which has several different loops for train testing, the largest of which is just over 6km. Sets 717001-012 were already at the centre, with several inside the 410m long shed that had been built as part of the Class 700 programme. Here’s 717005 and 004.

Outside the shed were 717007 and 002.

The highlight of the trip was the chance to travel on and explore a completed set, then take turns to drive it around the test track! Here’s the cab layout of the set concerned, 717003. As you can see it’s very different to a 700/707 cab due to the gangway. Some of the controls have been mounted on the door which closes off the cab from the gangway when it’s not in use. When it is, the door’s swung out at an angle before being locked in place.

Here’s a look through the train, as you can see, it’s a step-change in quality from the 40 year old class 313s.

I’ve added some more pictures here to show details of the seats. Here’s a standard pair showing how much space is underneath them because of the way they’re cantilevered off the body side

Tip-up seats adjacent to one of the doors.

A Priority seat (that’s marked multiple times) right next to the wide doors.

Finally, 717003 whizzing around the test track. Soon these will be a common sight on the ECML between Hertford, Welwyn and London. GTR told me that as each 717 is accepted into service a pair of 313s will come off lease and be returned to the ROSCO until all 44 Class 313s used by GTR are replaced

If you want to see more pictures from the trip, follow this link to a gallery on my Zenfolio website.
01 Tuesday May 2018
Posted in Infrarail, London, Railways, Rolling blogs
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I’ve become a London commuter for rhe day. Starting off by using ‘Shanks’s pony’ to get to Gipsy Hill station on the first leg of my trip to ExCel in the docklands.
Things have already fallen apart. Due to a points failure at West Croydon the 08:00 Southern service I’d planned to catch has been cancelled and the following 08:12 is delayed for unspicified reasons. Still, I’ve given myself leeway and it’s a beautifully sunny, crisp morning, so let’s see what happens…
08:33.
A 4 car 455 finally arrive to take me one stop down the road to Crystal Palace. I had no problem getting a seat as most passengers were waiting for the following train to take them into the capital.

I always enjoy a visit to Crystal Palace, it’s a huge, labrynthine place whose fortunes have waxed and waned over the years. Now it’s very much on the up as a lot of money’s been spent restoring it and making platforms accessible (it has some mammoth staircases).

As well as having Southern services, nowadays the station’s the terminus of Overground services from Highbury & Islington in North London. I’m using one of them (the 08.36) for my next leg to Canada Water.
14:41
No time for blogging earlier, it’s been a busy day at Infrarail shooting pics of the speakers, networking and catching up with old friends. Here’s Transport Minister Chris Grayling taking questions after his keynote speech.

Now I’m on a Flybe plane from London City airport to Dusseldorf for phase 2. The great thing about flying from here is that the airport was only a 25 minute walk from ExCel!

16:24.
Landed in Dusseldorf after a fascinating flight over London and the port of Rotterdam. You really appreciate its size from the air. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get any decent pix, but here’s London from above, showing the Eurostar reception sidings at Temple Mills.

30 Monday Apr 2018
It’s great to be on the move again. Much as I’ve enjoyed my time at home it doesn’t take long before I start getting itchy feet!
I’m currently en-route to London but i’m not quite sure what to expect as the weather forecast seems to be mixed to say the least. It was certainly cold when I left Halifax this morning. Despite the sun making every effort to break through the clouds, a chilly wind dispelled any temptation to think it was summer. I was very happy to see my Grand Central service hove into view so I could settle in a lovely warm coach with a coffee and soak up the scenery on the way. The trees along the lineside have really burst into life in the past week. Leaves are appearing at a rapid rate, which is making the areas Network Rail’s been busy clearing really stand out.
Despite claims in the Guardian newspaper that this has somehow been carried out in secret, it’s hard to miss where dozens of trees have vanished! Then again, the clearences have been such a ‘secret’ Network Rail had posted details on their website – as NR Chairman Sir Peter Hendy pointed out on Twitter!
The imminent arrival of summer’s not just evidenced by trees. As we raced down the East Coast Main Line I noticed dozens of bright yellow fields where the rape seed’s flowering. I can see I’m going to be busy with the camera soon…
Right now my train’s flying along the ECML South of Sandy and the closer we get to London the moodier the skies are becoming, so my photographic plans may have to change…
On the bright side, despite the weather warnings, the ECML’s behaving itself and the “knitting” (as the overhead wires are known by many) is staying firmly in place!
13.35
Now i’m passing Hadley Wood and the sky’s gone from moody to leaden! The only colours are in the PPE of the dozens of Network Rail’s ‘team orange’ that we keep passing every few minutes as they carry out a host of trackside assignments.
14.08.
‘Tis cold and wet in the capital today, so i’ve not moved far from Kings Cross, just over the road in fact – to St Pancras, one of my favourite stations.

Here’s the statue of Sir John with the latest art installation in the background, this one’s from Tracy Emin. As I was here I thought I should pop into the newly refurbished bar which carries the great man’s name. The Betjeman Bar has undergone its 3rd incarnation since it opened in 2007. Thus time the changes are more cosmetic and less profound. The bar’s stayed in place. Most of the work appears to be confined to tiling areas such as the one opposite the bar, repainting and redecorating. It does look rather smart.

I wandered on down the road to Euston to check out what’s going on with Hs2 building work. As usual, there’s constant change! Footpaths have been moved to allow construction of the temporary taxi rank

Here’s the diverted footpath which cuts along the edge of Euston Sq gardens, forming 2 sides of the square. I might add 30-45 seconds to the journey from Euston to Euston Sq tube but I’ve already seen someone grumbling about the ‘inconvenience’ on Twitter!

With the weather remaining gloomy and cold I decided to head over to nearby Drummond St (a mini Indian quarter full of great places to eat) to sit and have a meal at an old haunt – Ravi Shankar, an Indian vegetarian restaurant I’ve been frequenting for nearly 30 years. As it was ‘early doors’ the place was very quiet with just a handful of customers. As is often the case, none of them were local – all were from outside of London. Next to me were two Doctors from the Midlands who’d been on a course at UCH. Besides them were a couple of friends who’d also popped in to eat before catching their train – from Paddington! I couldn’t help cracking a wry smile at this because local anti Hs2 campaigners had made a great fuss about how Drummond St would suffer at the hands of the project, yet it’s clear an expanded Euston station will bring in more business, not less – and it’s not the locals who’re frequenting the place that much anyway. I saw this when the nearby pub the Bree Louise, closed a couple of months ago. Yes, there were some locals in there on the final night, but all those who moan about Hs2 on a regular basis were noticeable by their absence. A few months later there was a minor Twitter furore when a Journalist mentioned the pub had closed. The replies made it obvious none of those who were outraged at the news were regular drinkers at the pub. Funny old world…Anyways, I had a delicious Chana Masala with a couple of chapattis at Ravi’s and enjoyed a few moments to reflect on past times…

Oh, and admire the stunning wisteria display on the building across the road…

19:29.
Sadly, the weather’s never picked up so I’ve found myself caught in Euston’s gravitational pull. Having explored (on a full stomach) I’ve visited another old haunt, the ‘Doric Arch’ pub in Euston station. I’ve not been in here for years as other watering holes like the Bree Louise and Euston Tap took precedence, but the Doric (the former Head of Steam) used to be somewhere where I’d often arrange to meet friends when I still lived in London. Despite it being taken over by Fullers and seeing prices hiked as a result its still a busy place. The old railway memorabilia’s been preserved, so – although it’s been spruced up it really doesn’t feel that different. What has changed is the range of drinks, like most places they’ve added craft beers. The Doric shares something in common with a lot of railway station bars, it’s a popular location for ‘secret assignations’. You could often spot couples who weren’t married to each other. They may have met through work (or on the train) but there they’d be, having a smooch before going home to their respective partners! Not that I’m levelling any accusations about anyone in this picture, obviously…

Meanwhile, one thing that I’ve always cast envious eyes at is the huge model of a BR Class 9F that sits atop the bar. I’m glad to see that it’s still here.

Right, it’s time to head off. I’m staying with old friends in South London, so it’s off to the Victoria line I go…
29 Sunday Apr 2018
I’m expecting to have some interesting stuff to blog about this next week as there’s quite a bit of variety in my calendar. Tomorrow I head back to London in readiness for Infrarail, the 3 day railway trade show which is being held at ExCel in London’s docklands. I’ll be there for the opening but then I’ve got to hot-foot it over to London City airport in the afternoon as I’m on a press trip with Siemens to Dusseldorf, a group of us will be visiting their Krefeld plant to see the new Class 717 trains under construction. These trains will be replacing the vintage BR built Class 313’s operating services out of Moorgate and Kings Cross stations in London. After visiting the factory we’ll transfer to the test track at Wildenrath where we’ll have the opportunity to drive one of the new trains, so watch out for pictures on my Twitter account @paulbigland1 and website as well as keeping an eye out for the new blog.
Later that day we’ll be flying back to London, giving me the opportunity to spend a full final day at Infrarail before I head back up to Yorkshire.
There’ll be more variety later in May as I’m off to New York for a week. We’re going to celebrate my wife’s 50th birthday and meet up with some of her family, but I’ve arranged a bit of time to explore, so expect pictures of the New York subway as well as general cityscapes. I was last in the states in 2007, the camera technology’s changed a bit since then, so I’m looking forward to seeing what I can capture. By the way, here’s a link to the 2007 rail images.
24 Tuesday Apr 2018
Posted in High Speed 1, London, Memory Lane, Rail Investment, St Pancras station, Travel
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High Speed 1, London, Memory Lane, Railways, St Pancras, Travel
I consider myself fortunate to have an extensive photo archive because, whilst the memory may fade as I get older, the photographs don’t. They’ll always be there to transport me back in time and allow me to relive my past – and to reflect on how much things have changed. Here’s one example…
I’ve known London’s St Pancras station ever since the early 1970’s and I’ve been a regular visitor since. It’s hard to credit now but at one time this magnificent building with its fantastic Gothic frontage was threatened with demolition. Luckily, sanity prevailed and it was saved. I remember it in its BR days when it was run-down and shabby, All the long-distance services had been withdrawn so it was often quiet with little activity compared to other London termini. As all trains were diesel operated it could be a noisy, dirty place and glorious arched roof, whilst offering maximum protection from the elements offered little in the way of natural light. Here’s a shot taken in 1991 when the local services to Bedford had already been electrified and diverted via the Thameslink tunnels.

On the far left you can see a parcels van stabled in one of the centre roads. This would have been part of a travelling Post Office set that sat here during the day before being used overnight. The HST sets had taken over from the earlier ‘Peak’ Class diesel locos to run the remaining long distance services to Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield. The Class 56 was sat here as St Pancras was a traincrew depot and BR drivers were still passed out to work both passenger and freight trains. The old taxi rank to the left was deserted in those days. The only time it sprang to life was in the evenings when it would be full of Royal Mail vans delivering sacks of letters to the various mail trains which left the station each night, adding welcome life to what was a sadly underused station. Here’s an October 1993 shot of the Travelling Post Office train which was always stabled in ‘siding A’ during the day before coming to life in the evening. I can’t remember where this used to run to now, maybe others do?

Now we move on a few years – to April 2002…

Here’s a post-privatisation scene when services were run by Midland Mainline who took over BR services in 1996. Class 170 Turbostars had been introduced in 1999 to run the stopping services to Leicester freeing up HSTs for other work. They didn’t last long as they were transferred to Central Trains in 2004 after being displaced themselves by the arrival of the Class 222 ‘Meridian’ fleet. The station was looking sadly neglected at this point, but appearances can be deceptive, as you’d have noticed if you’d turned around from this view. The station was being prepared for its new role as an international terminus…

This view taken a few months later in October 2002 shows the new Eastern train shed being built outside the Barlow roof . The whole area was one massive building site that was constantly changing. I was very lucky to get to visit the Hs1 construction sites on a regular basis as I was documenting the project for RAIL magazine. If you want to see more of the photos of HS1 being built, visit this gallery on my Zenfolio website.
At the same time the new platforms and trainshed were under construction work was going on at the front of the station to extend the London Underground ticket offices and concourse on Kings Cross St Pancras tube station. This entailed demolishing the ramp at the front of the station, building the new entrances to the tube station, then rebuilding the ramp.

On 8th April 2004, shortly before the Barlow train shed was closed for conversion to the new Eurostar terminus, there was a last ‘Peak’ at St Pancras when 45112worked a special train to Derby and back.

For a while the Thameslink line was severed in order to allow construction of the ‘Thameslink box’ (which would later house the new Thameslink station. This meant that Thameslink trains from the North terminated in the new East side platforms which would later be used by the high-speed ‘Javelin’ service into Kent. Here’s the first of the class, 319001 in Connex livery and 319450 in Thameslink livery on the 29th October 2004.

Finally after years of being a building site St Pancras was reopened as an international station by Queen Elizabeth 2nd on the 6th November 2007. It remains one of my favorite stations. The transformation was a superb job by all concerned. The station went from a dingy, decaying, underused space to a destination in it’s own right. Compare some of the early photos to these…





It’s sometimes easy to forget just how much of our railway heritage has been transformed since privatisation. First St Pancras, then Kings Cross next door. Now things have moved on up the road to Euston, which is to be completely rebuilt as the London terminus of High Speed 2. I look forward to documenting that fantastic project too…
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16 Monday Apr 2018
Posted in London, Memory Lane, Railways, Travel
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I’ve been scanning more old slides today. There’s an ecletic mix which includes royalty, personal shots going back 20 odd years, travel images and also railway shots. Two of the rail shots caught my eye as they sum up how much has changed since they were taken in 2001. Not just on the railways, but also across London. Neither of these shots are possible now.
Here’s the first example. A Waterloo to Paris Eurostar (set 3211) passes Vauxhall on the 25th January 2001 with the Houses of Parliament providing a historic backdrop.

There’s two reasons why this is a historical shot nowadays, although only one is probably immediately obvious (to railway enthusiasts at least). In 2007 Eurostars stopped using Waterloo and the ‘classic’ line through South London because the service was transferred to St Pancras International. The second reason’s because new building has blocked off the view of Parliament. London’s booming housing market has meant that a row of apartments now occupy the land next to the railway.
Here’s another historic view from the same year, taken a month later on the 25th February 2001. One of the (then) brand new Gatwick Express units (460004) leaves London’s Victoria station with the 15:00 service to Gatwick Airport.

Both railway enthusiasts and London commuters will get this one but probably for different reasons. The Alstom built Class 460s are already history, having been withdrawn by 2012 to be converted into the Class 458/5’s. OK, the old slam door train behind it has gone too – but the biggest change in this scene is the iconic view of the old Battersea Power station. The area’s now part of a massive housing redevelopment which has hemmed in the power station and closed off the view.
I consider myself fortunate that I lived in London for so long and managed to capture shots like this. As the old Joni Mitchell song lyric says, ‘you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone’…