European Railroad Discussion > Along the Trent Valley Line.

The Trent Valley Line is the generic name for the 50 mile stretch of Network Rail's West Coast Mainline between Rugby (82 miles from London) and Stafford (133 miles). It has always been home to fast long distance trains, passenger and freight, but over the last eight years has seen a remarkable increase in intermediate traffic using the new London to Crewe semi-fast services, which makes for a feasible day out from London. Last Wednesday I caught the 07:46 London Euston to Crewe, operated by London Midland and formed of a four car class 350 EMU, there's no catering even though the end to end journey is in excess of 150 miles and takes two hours and forty minutes. I rode it to Atherstone from where I planned to ride my bike to Lichfield, three stations along the Trent Valley line, with a diversion to Elford on the former Midland Railway Birmingham to Derby line. The 350s are, in reality outer suburban units with pairs of sliding doors and a mixture of 2+2 and 2+3 seats. But they have wide windows and go like the clappers (max speed is 110 mph). These trains are no slouches, the 82 miles to Rugby are covered in 55 minutes with one stop, Atherstone (102 miles) which is the fourth stop is reached in 74 minutes at 09:00.

1: At about 09:30 66534 OOCL Express passing Atherstone's handsome 1847 built station on the 4L97 Trafford Park to Felixstowe. The running lines are ordered (from left to right) down slow, down fast, up fast, up slow. None of the minor stations on the 4 track section of the Trent Valley have platforms on the fast lines
2: I hopped on my bike and following minor roads made my way, roughly paralleling the railway to the next major town, Tamworth, where I headed north along the Birmingham to Derby line, which crosses the Trent Valley at Tamworth station, the latter is Tamworth Low Level, the former, is Tamworth High Level. Elford is the location of a freight loop (siding) which is well used to allow passenger trains to overtake freights. This was my objective, the 60 hauled Lindsey to Kingsbury (an oil terminal just south of Tamworth). The 60 is 60092 and it has 30 tanks, roughly 3000 tonnes in tow.
3: Back to the WCML at Hademore, the stretch of the Trent Valley between Tamworth and Lichfield was four tracked as part of the post privatisation upgrade, this is Freightliner's 4M27 Coatbridge to Daventry, run on behalf of the J G Russell logistics company



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/20/16 23:26 by 86235.

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4: Another from Hademore, this time from the bridge in the background of the previous shot and another train dedicated to a specific logistics company, this time W H Malcolm. It's the DBS operated 4M25 Mossend to Daventry and DBS double head it with a pair of 90s, including today 90024 which has been vinyled in Malcolm inspired livery. The leading 90, in DBS cherry red is 90019 Multimodal.
5: And finally a couple of shots taken from the platforms at Lichfield Trent Valley station, this is the 4L92 from Ditton to Felixstowe at about 16:20. I caught the 17:13 from Lichfield back to Euston, and we caught the 4L92 up just as it was slowing for a crew change between Wembley and Willesden in NW London
6: Finally, a few minutes before my train home a late running Network Rail test train topped and tailed by a pair of DRS 68s

All in all a very pleasant day out and one I hope to repeat as I no longer work on Wednesdays, starting the wind down to finishing full time employment in February next year.

I took a few more shots https://nick86235.smugmug.com/Trains/2016/Autumn-2016/i-cnznBmv

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Really nice photos. The amount of catenary makes me wonder how much of the British rail system is electrified?

King_Coal Wrote:
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> Really nice photos. The amount of catenary makes
> me wonder how much of the British rail system is
> electrified?

Thanks, 40% of the network is electrified; 64% using 25kV catenary and 36% 750v DC third rail. And the % is set to grow as the Great Western mainline is progressively electrified over the next few years as well as the Edinburgh to Glasgow mainline in Scotland (and my own local line in North London, between Gospel Oak and Barking)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/16 11:10 by 86235.

Hi Nick! Good stuff! The Network test train has a pantograph up, is that the reason for it being topped and tailed by diesels or just simply there were no electrics available?

Jim

tq-07fan Wrote:
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> Hi Nick! Good stuff! The Network test train has a
> pantograph up, is that the reason for it being
> topped and tailed by diesels or just simply there
> were no electrics available?

The pantograph is not for current collection, it's testing OHLE geometry. Cameras record the behaviour of the pantograph as it tracks along the 25kV contact wire.

86235 Wrote:
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> King_Coal Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Really nice photos. The amount of catenary
> makes
> > me wonder how much of the British rail system
> is
> > electrified?
>
> Thanks, 40% of the network is electrified; 64%
> using 25kV catenary and 36% 750v DC third rail.
> And the % is set to grow as the Great Western
> mainline is progressively electrified over the
> next few years as well as the Edinburgh to Glasgow
> mainline in Scotland (and my own local line in
> North London, between Gospel Oak and Barking)

I guess it is the case that in terms of train mileage the percentage is very much greater than 40%, because it is clearly the busiest routes that get electrified first. After the GW electrification almost none of the main passenger flows will be diesel operated, and freight traffic ( in spite of Nick's wonderful photos) is already pretty marginal and heading downwards in most sectors.

These pictures are great, but also show a dying breed - it shouldn't be like that, but I don't see much hope at the moment!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/16 08:29 by spflow.

spflow Wrote:
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> and freight traffic
> is already pretty marginal and heading downwards in most
> sectors.

'heading downwards in most sectors' is a bit of a generalisation. Coal is in likely terminal decline, given the closure of coal fired power stations, and the metals sector is unlikely to grow, but there is clearly a market for automotive; witness the flows of JLR from Halewood to Southampton and of BMW from Cowley to Purfleet and Southampton, and Ford's inwards flow from Dagenham. DBS has just invested in a new automotive hub at Ripple Lane in East London, which they hope to attract traffic to which is either imported or exported by rail or sea, although how the authorities deal with the problems at Calais are pretty critical to success moving vehicles by rail through the Tunnel. Elsewhere I guess domestic oil traffic is unlikely to grow, unless the reports of an oil bonanza under Gatwick Airport turn out to be true. Construction is still a growth sector, witness all the trains carrying aggregate to the myriad of terminals in and around SE England. And this is likely to grow if, or when infrastructure projects such as Hinkley Point C (now given the green light), Heathrow or Gatwick expansion are approved and the house building needs of London and the Home Counties are taken into account. And finally there's intermodal, which has prospered in recent years.

Of course all this is also heavily influenced by how the EU exit negotiations go. At the moment all those who forecast doom and gloom would appear to have egg on their face, the economy continues to perform quite well. But I'm reminded of that period of WW2 between September 1939 and May 1940, the phony war. I suspect that when article 50 is triggered and the relative negotiating positions of the UK and the EU become apparent, that's when we'll know for sure whether Brexit will be hard or soft, which in turn will impact our economic prospects, including those of railfreight.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/16 14:13 by 86235.

I recognise that there are some bright spots in the UK freight scene, and plenty of straws to clutch at, and I certainly hope some of them come off. I just can't help feeling that overall it all looks rather bad for lots of different reasons, and one can only hope that the stupidity of much highway freight operation gets recognised. However, we now live in a "post-truth" world in which reality comes a poor second to belief. Either that or I am just getting old and cynical!

The freight taffic in the UK tends to be of the bulk haul nature. Stuff that is too big for road haul.
​Yes coal is in decline. But container traffic seems to be steady along with other things such as steel, sand and gravel and other bulk goods.

spflow Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I recognise that there are some bright spots in
> the UK freight scene, and plenty of straws to
> clutch at, and I certainly hope some of them come
> off. I just can't help feeling that overall it all
> looks rather bad for lots of different reasons,
> and one can only hope that the stupidity of much
> highway freight operation gets recognised.
> However, we now live in a "post-truth" world in
> which reality comes a poor second to belief.
> Either that or I am just getting old and cynical!

I say!! Stiff-upper-lip old chap, keep calm and carry on....they don't like it up 'em, what-what??!! 

exhaustED Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> spflow Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I recognise that there are some bright spots in
> > the UK freight scene, and plenty of straws to
> > clutch at, and I certainly hope some of them
> come
> > off. I just can't help feeling that overall it
> all
> > looks rather bad for lots of different reasons,
> > and one can only hope that the stupidity of
> much
> > highway freight operation gets recognised.
> > However, we now live in a "post-truth" world in
> > which reality comes a poor second to belief.
> > Either that or I am just getting old and
> cynical!
>
> I say!! Stiff-upper-lip old chap, keep calm and
> carry on....they don't like it up 'em,
> what-what??!! 

And your point is?

I notice in frame 5 that not all of the containers appear to be the same height.  Does the UK have some containers that are somewhat larger, and only used for domestic traffic?

march_hare Wrote:
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> Does the UK have
> some containers that are somewhat larger,
> and only used for domestic traffic?

No, all ISO containers come in two heights 8'6" and 9'6". I think that all 1TEU boxes are 8'6" high but the 2TEU ones come in both heights, and I think all 45' boxes are 9'6".

If you look at no.4 - the Malcolm train, they are a mixture of 45' boxes (the last two visible containers are from the Dutch leasng company Unit45.com) and Malcolm's own 50' boxes and curtainsiders which they introduced in 2014. I think they are domestic only and they are 9'6" high.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/03/16 12:28 by 86235.