Shortly to become the old order in East Anglia, 156407 departs from Great Yarmouth with 2C31 1747 to Norwich via Reedham.

This unit was part of the first batch delivered to British Rail in 1988-1989 and based at Norwich Crown Point, replacing its older MetCam sisters based at NC. Transferred away in the mid-late 1990s to Tyseley depot in Birmingham, they returned to Crown Point in the mid 2000s as part of a 150/156 swap deal between National Express franchises Central Trains and 'one' Anglia. Come 2019, they are to be replaced again with new Stadler bi-mode units.

Evidence of the recent rationalisation of the layout at Yarmouth is on the far right hand side of the picture; the installation of the 'floating' base which will eventually house equipment cabinets necessitated the removal of the shorter Platform 1. Further resignalling work will see closure of the signalbox and removal of the semaphore signals.

Tags:   Super Sprinter Greater Anglia Norwich Great Yarmouth 156407 MetCam 156 DMU

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It may be rather nondescript now, but before long this view will be history.

The franchise specification for the new East Midlands franchise calls for a new fleet of units to replace the current fleet which, at times, is unsuitable due to the amount of passengers using (or attempting to use) it. Even 4 coaches, at times, is insufficient for the numbers of passengers wanting to travel.

158812 and classmate round the curve at Chinley with 1R90 1257 Norwich to Liverpool Lime Street. The journey takes just under 6 hours to cover the 240-odd miles, including a 15 minute pause to attach a second unit at Nottingham.

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Love 'em or hate 'em, they've been a big part of the UK rail scene for the past 30 years and certainly in the North West their time is running out now that crew training has started on the new Northern Class 195 units. These will facilitate a cascade which will see the 142's drop out of the bottom of the fleet, being replaced predominantly by Class 150's.

142005 - which has been a North West unit continually since being delivered wearing GMPTE orange livery - is seen leading an UID classmate away from Mobberley with the 1641 Manchester Piccadilly-Chester service.

Update - as it turned out, this photo of a random 142 has a bit of historic significance. 4 months after this photo was taken, 142005 was the first of the class to be withdrawn from service. Amid fanfare from Northern and with stickers on the side, it retired to Newton Heath depot in mid August 2019 to await its fate. It had to wait until December 2019 before being despatched by road to CF Booth, Rotherham for disposal.

Tags:   goodbye scrap Pacer 142005 Northern 142 Nodding Donkey Chester Manchester Piccadilly Mobberley

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