ROGER CARVELL'S
EAST COAST MAIN LINE
NEWS
October /
November / December 2020.
The East
Coast Main Line (ECML) is a
393-mile long (632 km) major railway link between
London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster,
Wakefield, Leeds,York, Darlington and Newcastle, electrified
along the whole route. Services north of Edinburgh to
Aberdeen and Inverness use diesel trains.
The main franchise on the line is operated by Virgin
Trains East Coast.
The
route forms a key artery on the eastern side of Great
Britain and is broadly paralleled by the A1Trunk Road. It
links London, the South East and
East Anglia, with Yorkshire, the North East Regions
and Scotland. It also carries key commuter flows for the
north side of London.
It is important to the economic health of several areas of England and Scotland.
It
also handles cross-country, commuter and local passenger
services, and carries heavy tonnages of freight traffic.
Roger
Carvell is a rail enthusiast who contributes much of the
local content to this website. He now lives in Biggleswade,
near the ECML, but
on this page he reports on news and movements on this
historic line, close to his home and heart.
*ALL
PHOTOS ARE BY ROGER CARVELL UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED
**************************************************************************************************
COMPILED AND EDITED
BY GEOFF POOLE.
**************************************************************************************************
Dercember 1st 2020.
Below is a photo of a Class 60, at South
Biggleswade' which made a welcome reappearance, after a lengthy
gap, on
the southern part of the ECML.
Devon & Cornwall’s (DC Rail Freight) 60046
‘William Wilberforce’ heads down the
ECML on November 8th with ‘5Z60’, a Willesden to Chaddesden
Sidings, Derby, empty wagon working.
The JNA wagons are almost new and haven’t yet been ‘got at’ by aerosol ‘artists’!
ROGER
CARVELL.
***********************************************************************************************************************************************************
November 20th 2020.
COLLISION AND
DERAILMENT AT NEVILLE HILL LEEDS
On November 13th 2020 an empty LNER Intercity
Train approaching Neville Hill Maintenance Depot Leeds, ran into
the rear of of an LNER HST.
The leading HST was travelling at only 5 mph but
the following train was moving faster, at around 15 mph, and ran
into the rear of the slower moving train.
There were no injuries but both trains were
derailed.
SEE THE FULL REPORT OF THE RAIL ACCIDENT
INVESTIGATION BRANCH (RAIB) HERE.
The class 800 train (left) and HST set (right) involved in the accident (images courtesy of Network Rail)
*************************************************************************************************************************************************************
November 5th 2020.
Just captured these cleaning blokes, dressed in
moonsuits, at Biggleswqade station. They aim a lamp at the
ticket machines.
**********************************************************************************************************************************
November 1st 2020.
Bounds Green
LNER servicing depot, north London.
On October 9th a remarkable test train
arrived from Leicester for a brief visit.
This train is run by Data Acquisition and Testing
Solutions Ltd or DATS for short. The train is seen below
undergoing careful scrutiny by a
member of the servicing staff at Bounds Green, while an
Azuma, awaiting its next service looks on.
The train comprises two ex-EMT hst power cars at each end.
Coupled inside at each end are two ex-LNER Class 91
locomotives plus a DB red Class 90. A rake of nine Mk3 coaches
complete the train.
The train normally works at night, testing the newly
electrified sections of the Midland Main Line, south of
Leicester.
DATS supplies consultancy testing services not only to the
rail industry but to industry in general.
The two power cars suggest the train will also test
unelectrified lines.
I must thank a
very good LNER driver friend, Andy Hannah, for providing the
photos while on ‘early shift’ at LNER.
******************************************************************************************************************************************************************
October 24th 2020.
Over the weekend of Saturday and Sunday October
17 and 18, King’s Cross station was shut completely for more
engineering work to enable the disused east side portal of
Gasworks Tunnel, disused since 1977, to be reopened with
new track, switches and crossings and associated signalling.
Bill Bass, a railway photographer from North
London was on hand to put his camera over the wall on York Way
on the 17th to record the busy scene.
GBRf 66730 has arrived with fresh ballast and empty wagons to
take away spoil in the spit where the old line to Moorgate used
to run, a once
useful curve to link the ECML with the City of London.
For added interest, I stood at the very same spot
in 1976 to photo one of the last up passenger trains to use the
link, seen here at King’s Cross York Road. 31223 awaits the
‘right away’ at
the single platform, ready to deoart to Farringdon,
Barbican and Moorgate. This service was the very last in the UK
to use, weekdays only, non-gangwayed BR Mk1 suburban stock,
locomotive-hauled.
York Road station was rather inconvenient for
most commuters as it was a long walk to the Underground station
at King’s Cross itself, and its
closure went largely unmourned in the 1970s.
By then, commuters off the ECML would use the new
Great Northern Electrics service to Moorgate from Finsbury Park
via Highbury & Islington, once part of
London Transport’s isolated part of the Northern Line and
transferred to BR ‘s Eastern Region.
Nowadays, the Moorgate branch is run by Govia Thameslink Railway but there is talk of the line transferring to Transport for London.
The railway wheel comes full circle! Alas
the once busy curve, beneath my feet, way back in 1976 remains
silent.
*****************************************************************************************************************************************************************
October 17th 2020.
No ECML expresses at all today at Biggleswade. There is another big engineering blockade on at the ‘Cross.
The platform end up signal has probably
been on red for fifteen hours or more. Only local trains -
Thameslink - as far as Potters Bar where buses await to take
passengers (if any!) to St Albans and St Pancras.
Another weekend blockade is planned for later in the year. LNER trains are terminating at St Neots, down the line towards Huntingdon.
Coaches will take long-distance passengers
to Bedford for East Midlands Rly trains to the capital. Hope the
hard hats or orange army finish the job in time!
**************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
October 5th 2020.
Not a great deal of ECML news except for last
Monday’s return LSL private party special from Scotland.
On Thursday Sept 24 LSL at Crewe sent 40155 top and tailing with
electric 90001 ‘Royal Scot’ and their selection of Mk1,2 and
3 lounge, catering and sleeping cars.
On the Friday, Sept 25, the ex-Greater Anglia 90001, restored to original BR InterCity livery, set off for a tour of Scotland via the WCML.
While the private charter toured Scotland with
diesel power, 90001, light engine, worked south to York via
Edinburgh, to
await the train’s return on Monday, Sept 28.
Below is 90001 passing Arlesey in glorious sunshine, on the home
straight to Euston via the North London Line, with a reversal at
Wembley where 40155 would be waiting to take the train back into
Euston- another ECML train that finished at Euston.
The private LSL charter passing through Arlesey. Note the
‘promenade deck’ view point where the gangway used to be.
The empty stock returned to LSL Crewe with 90001 once more at
the head, with 40155, shut down on the
rear, Dead in Train or ‘DIT’ but hanging the tail lamp.
*******************************************************************************************************************************************************
October 5th 2020.
On Oct 4th 2020 , after so much overnight
rain, the heavens relented and I managed to nip out in the
afternoon and photo Devon and Cornwall’s 56103, in
gloomy conditions, head up the ECML to Willesden (WCML again!)
from Leicester via Grantham.
56103 is seen cantering just south of
Biggleswade, October 4th 2020.
************************************************************************************************************************************************