The modern railway is not as boring as you may think
Aclassic complaint I often see online is that the railway these days is boring. Everything is the same and that there is, therefore, not much worth heading out for. Usually for this column I have to look for such claims and quote them, but we all see this attitude all the time, such is the regular posting of such comments on social media. There is no right or wrong answer. If you were around in the 1970s and 1980s then there was certainly a lot more to see – of that there is no debate. However, at the risk of being a heretic, everything was blue for a sustained period in BR days until sectorisation. Surely that was boring?
The reason for my thinking about these comments came from a recent trip to Wakefield in connection with my work. My commute takes me from Norwich to Wakefield, with a change at Peterborough. Norwich to Peterborough is a trip I have made so many times over nearly two decades that I fancy my route knowledge, but I have noticed that it has got busier for freight, and of course there is the added interest of the storage site at Potter’s Group, Ely.
On the trip between Norwich and Peterborough, alone, I witnessed two freights on the Breckland Line (one operated by DB Cargo UK and the other by Freightliner Heavy Haul), the stored High Speed Trains at Ely, and Class 66s on freight trains in March Down Yard again. Before I’d even departed Norwich, I’d also seen a Rail Operations Group Class 37!
At Peterborough there were four former c2c Class 387s stored in Nene Carriage Sidings that had just transferred to Great Northern, while in the half hour or so I had to wait at Peterborough there were at least five freights operated by three of the freight companies. Heading north to Yorkshire my traction was a Class 801/2 instead of the booked Class 800/1 – for many that would represent a disappointment, but it is still something different and a change to the booked haulage. Having just settled in my seat there was one of Network Rail’s ‘new’ Class 153s stabled, while I also caught a glimpse of my first Class 69 stabled on GB Railfreight’s Peterborough depot. Not only was it a Class 69, but it was 69005, which has been outshopped in BR green and named Eastleigh in a similar style to 33008 back in the late 1980s. Having been unsure about seeing it in pictures, I must say that in the flesh it did look good.
Anyway, there was a surprise or two at Grantham with a Class 56 stabled there (one of the Colas examples), while my second ROG Class 37 of the day was also there, heading for Doncaster hauling Class 465s from Ely.
Arriving into Doncaster I caught a glimpse of a Class 73/1! Not even a rebuilt electro-diesel but an original JB. GBRF had sent 73107 north for driver training purposes, and this was stabled in the yard. Doncaster has always been an interesting location for something unusual and this trip was no exception. More Colas Class 56s could be found, but I was also able to get my first sight of the Locomotive Services Group Midland Pullman HST stabled in Doncaster West Yard, albeit with Intercity Swallow-liveried 43049 on one end.
What struck me most about the train was the vivid blue of the HST and how good it looked (also, 43049 looked superb in its retro colour scheme).
Wabtec’s Doncaster Works was also home to Scotrail Inter7city HST power cars and two of Harry Needle Railroad Company’s Class 47/7s as well, to further add to the list of interesting trains that could be seen heading north.
As for the trip south, well, I was able to view a Crosscountry HST at Wakefield Westgate due it being delayed, while at Doncaster Swift Freight 321334 had appeared – I’d previously seen this stabled at the former Royal Mail Terminal site at Doncaster, having attended the launch of the train last year.
During the day a Transpennine Express Class 68 had arrived in Belmont Yard with a MK.5A rake of coaches – again, that was a nice surprise. Class 66s operated by DB
Cargo UK, Freightliner and GB Railfreight were also all stabled in the yards. At Peterborough, the Class 69 was still there, while a Northern liveried Class 156 was also operating on an East Midlands Railway service. Even arrival back at Norwich found Direct Rail Services 37419 stabled there. So, what is the point of this list of sightings from my trip to Wakefield? Well, it shows that there is still plenty of variety if you go and look for it. Passenger trains passed during my trip included Class 43, 91, 150, 156, 158, 170, 180, 185, 220, 331, 387, 700, 720, 745, 755, 800, 801, 802 and 803, while locomotive-wise there were Class 08, 37, 43, 47, 56, 60, 66, 67, 69, 73 and 91. That’s really not too bad a list? All of the different liveries and operators need to be included too, to enhance the amount of variety on offer on our railway in 2022.
We sometimes forget that the railway is not run for enthusiasts (even though there are so very many enthusiasts hard at work running the railway on a day-to-day basis), but we have to make the best of what we have.
And it could be a lot worse. Several years ago, the Department for Transport issued a rolling stock strategy document that made the case that standardisation made sense, and from an operational point of view it can be argued that it does. Commonality of components, driver competence, route availability and so on would make operations much easier, although as has been seen with the fatigue cracking suffered by the Hitachi Class 80x fleets last year, there can also be widespread delays and cancellations should there be a problem.
However, it was clear that the DFT wanted to standardise fleets…yet four days later, Transpennine Express announced two new train orders (I believe these were the Class 397 electric multiple units and MK.5A fleets). There is probably little doubt that TPE would have preferred one fleet of Class 802/2 bi-modes rather than having four very different fleets (some of which are still not in squadron service), and there is the possibility that had another bidder won the franchise then there would have been a fifth fleet (involving Class 442s).
I’m not saying there is a wealth of interest out there, because yes, compared to the 1970s and 1980s, the railway does have less to see than it did back then, but to say it’s boring is unfair. The railway is what you make of it.
Trial by social media
This is perhaps a difficult subject to focus on, but it is one that I think needs addressing. In recent weeks, a couple of other publications and I were drawn into a debate on Twitter about the use of certain people whose views and behaviour were not popular with many on social media. There were even calls to boycott a particular magazine by a few people (not Railways Illustrated), and suggestions that by using certain individuals, the magazines, journalists, or both, backed the views spouted by these people on Twitter. The suggestion I saw was that by printing pictures, the magazines and journalists were complicit in derogatory views against certain elements of the community.
I understand the concerns, but I was also troubled by them. Let me try and explain. Magazines receive many images each day from a number of contributors. Many are well-known, others are known to the editors and journalists, and some are ‘new’ names. The process is the same for our sources. Some observers on Twitter suggested we should check everyone’s background; that simply isn’t possible. We cannot be judge, jury, and executioner. Also, do views that disagree with you mean you’re wrong? We see with politics how wide apart many people are. For what it’s worth, I check people I engage with on Twitter before responding to a comment that I think requires correcting or shooting down, as I like to know the rabbit hole I may be about to enter. That’s instant – not everyone who submits news and/or pictures to a magazine is quite so easy to check.
So, please, consider this when going online to criticise the use of someone. Even if we do use something submitted from someone for possible publication, it doesn’t mean that the editor, journalist, or publisher believes or agrees with that person’s views.
Life, and the media, isn’t always black and white.