European Railroad Discussion > Out along the Trent Valley Line

On Saturday I enjoyed a couple of hours at Rugeley, in Staffordshire, along the Trent Valley section of the West Coast Mainline. It was quite productive

1: Avanti West Coast 390 155 passing Rugeley North Junction on 09:55 Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston.
2: Around the middle of the day there are six freight trains scheduled through Rugeley Trent Valley, this was the first 4M27 Coatbridge (in Scotland) to Daventry (a logistics centre east of Birmingham). Operated by DRS with one of their Stadler class 88s (electric with last mile diesel capability) 88009.
3: This was a surprise, a London Overground class 378 running from Wembley to Alstom in Widnes, North of Crewe for refurbishment.

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4: Now a GBRf operated intermodal, 4L05 from Ditton (O'Connor) to Felixstowe South. Ditton is on Merseyside near Liverpool. 66708 Glory to Ukraine is the power.
5: One of Avanti's new Hitachi class 805s on a London to Chester service. They look good in Avanti's livery, and they have different seats than Great Western's 800/802s. But I suspect all the other deficiencies; poor window seat alignment, a poor ride and cramped interior are exactly the same as on Great Western. And they don't tilt, which means a lower maximum speed.
6: Finally, a non-intermodal service, Heavy Haul's 70016 on 4M82 Walsall to Dowlow Quarry.

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That's a productive day.  Gerry

GPutz Wrote:
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> That's a productive day.  Gerry

Thanks Gerry

Cool shots, Nick.  I like the Class 88!