Stabled between duties at Bristol Temple Meads on the 9th February 2016 is Great Western Railway Class 150 three car set 150926.

Unit History
This Class 150 three car set was formed in 2015 from 150126 with the addition of spare Class 150/2 Driving Motor Second (DMS) 57212 whose original partner 52212 has been withdrawn due to collision damage in 1989. 150126 is one of the first production batch (50 two car units) of “second generation” Diesel Multiple Units. I still consider these to be modern vehicles but they are now over thirty years old as they were built at York works in 1985. When built 150126 was used on East Midlands duties based at Etches Park, Derby and I first saw 150126 at Long Eaton on the 4th March 1986. Following the introduction of the class 156 units on East Midlands duties in 1988 the class 150/1 units migrated to Birmingham suburban duties for the next twenty five years before migrating to Great Western.

Tags:   9th February 150126 150926

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First Bristol Wright Streetdeck H45/28F 35107 (SO15 CUG) waits for its next duty on the approach road to Bristol Temple Meads station, 1st February 2016. The Streetdeck is Wright’s first integral bus design rather than a body on a standard chassis and was introduced at the end of 2014 with a series of demonstrators. Fleet production started almost immediately with the first deliveries to Brighton and Hove in March 2015. Deliveries to First Bristol commenced in August 2015 with 35103 – 35116.

Tags:   1st February

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Stagecoach Mansfield 37004 Alexander Dennis Enviro 200 B37F (SN63YRD) stands in Mansfield bus station, 4th February 2016. SN63 YRD is a second generation Enviro 200 which were built between 2006 and 2015 and features an integral chassis and body.

Tags:   4th February

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60040 Territorial Army Centenary approaches Nottingham station with 6M57, 07:52 Lindsey – Kingsbury loaded oil tanks, 4th February 2016.

Locomotive History
60040 was built at Brush, Loughborough at the beginning of 1991 and was eventually accepted into traffic on the 6th February 1992, allocated to Stewarts Lane MPD for construction traffic duties. I first saw 60040 at the Brush works on the 12th April 1991. Between June 2005 and September 2011 it was in and out of store on a regular basis. However in June 2008 it was selected for repainting into a promotional livery for the Army and lost its Brecon Beacons nameplates in favour of The Territorial Army Centenary, which were unveiled at the National Railway Museum, York. In November 2011 it entered the class 60 overhaul programme at Toton and was released back into traffic in June 2012 repainted into Standard DB Schenker red livery.

Tags:   4th February 60040

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66016 leads 66150 over the Sawley Cut before heading over the River Trent itself at Sawley with 6D44, 11:09 Bescot – Toton, 11th February 2016. The opening of the Trent and Mersey canal in 1777, which joins the River Trent at Sawley was the beginning of twenty years of investment in the waterways around Sawley with the opening of the Soar Navigation (joining the Trent opposite Trent Lock) and the Erewash Canal (joining the Trent at Trent Lock) in 1779, and the Derby Canal in 1795 (which joins the Erewash Canal at Sandiacre). Also from 1783 the main river channel was dredged and consolidated with improvements to the banks and towpaths, and the erection of two weirs at Sawley. These had to be bypassed by two short canals, or 'cuts', the Sawley Cut of 1793 and the Cranfleet Cut of 1795.

Tags:   11th February 66016

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