The year of the staycation

After a locked down start to the year, we were later able to get back onto the network. Rail Express picks out some of the key railway moments of 2021.

JANUARY

■ The Isle of Wight’s venerable Class 483 units bowed out of service, with the last working leaving Ryde Pier Head at 23.17 on January 3. The Island Line network then shut down for a two month upgrade – that wasn’t completed until November!

■ East West Rail – the replacement rail route that will eventually reconnect Oxford with Cambridge via Bletchley – received confirmation from the DfT on January 25 that a £760 million funding package for the western Bicester-Bletchley section was in place.

■ LNER put its remaining 10 Class 91 electric locos and Mk.4 sets into warm store as another Covid-induced lockdown decimated traveller demand. The sets were hastily scrambled back into use over the summer, due to issues with ‘Azuma’s (see May).

ÍJANUARY: No. 483007 at Ryde depot on January 3 being readied for its final day in service, while a replacement Class 484 stands nearby. SWR