Diesel multiple units

• In the 1980s most Tyseley DMUs were three-car Class 116 sets, but there were also a number of mixed sets containing vehicles of other types. They never had many Class 100 Gloucester-built units, but there were one or two odd cars in use at various times. In this shot a Class 100 DMBS peeks out into the evening sun while standing at New St (platform 10b).
• Met-Camm power twin E50321+E51427 arrives at Quorn with the 16:20 Loughborough - Rothley. This was taken at 16:25 on Friday 29th April 2005, and it was something of a consolation prize after D123 on the 15:45 from Loughborough came past while the sun was behind a cloud.
• A Class 101 power-twin formed of vehicles 53160 and 53164 arrived at the Chasewater Light Railway in late 2006. This set carried unit number 101685 in its last years of service working off Longsight depot in Manchester, where it was colloquially known as "Daisy",. It was withdrawn from traffic at Christmas 2003, a mere 47 years after these vehicles entered service. This shot was taken at 13.21 on Sunday 14th January 2007, and shows the 50 year old DMU departing from Chasewater Heaths with 53164 leading.
• Tyseley based DMU twin T208 coasts through Ryecroft Jct with a Hednesford - Walsall service in a shot which was probably taken during the summer of 1989. Ryecroft was still looking remarkably rural back then, despite the fact that it's almost in the centre of Walsall. New housing would soon be built on the land to the right, and unchecked tree growth would close down the view, but at this stage you could still see Mill Lane bridge in the background and trains off the Sutton Park line were visible as they crossed Cartbridge Lane.
• T408 forms a southbound Cross-City train, seen leaving Four Oaks in the late summer of 1989. Much was to change at Four Oaks when electrification came in 1992/93. Apart from the masts and wiring the signalbox closed, with control of the line passing to the Aston Signalling Centre (located at Duddeston in the old Vauxhall Shunt Frame). The DMUs also disappeared, being superceded first by a mix of older EMUs, and a year or two later by the Class 323s which are still used today. Trains still turn back at Four Oaks - in the midweek off-peak timetable there are six trains an hour on the Cross-City, of which two turn at Lichfield Trent Valley, two at Lichfield City and two at Four Oaks.
• 150003 departs from Kidderminster at 16:28 on Friday 10th August 2007.
• 150102 climbs through Leamore, just south of Bloxwich, with a northbound Cannock line service. This photo was taken at 16:13 on Thursday 5th April 2007. Much has changed in the subsequent couple of years. The operating franchise was transferred from Central Trains to London Midland in November 2007, and houses were built on the open ground to the right of the railway.
• Taken just a few yards south of the previous shot, 150217 passes Leamore at 16:05 on Monday 30th May 2005. The train is 2H69, the 15:42 New St - Rugeley Trent Valley. I'd gone out for 66557 on a Rugeley-bound coal train but it came about one minute too soon, just before the sun emerged and just before I'd got my camera out of the bag. Not wishing to waste the rather nice light I hung on for the unit, which was just about worth doing as it was one of the recent acquisitions from Anglia, and had yet to be spoilt by having Central Trains branding splashed all over it.
• The ex-Anglia Class 150s subsequently gained Central Trains branding. This pair are led by 150229, and were working a service to Shirley when photographed at Summerfield, just south of Kidderminster, at 15:03 on Thursday 9th August 2007.
• 150235 approaches Cosford at 13:58 on Saturday 20th September 2008. It was forming 1D15, the 13:33 New St - Chester, which I'd have expected to be formed of a Class 158. Doesn't sound at all right, a Class 1 train formed of a 150.
• 150237 passes Leamore at 14:16 on Wednesday 21st February 2007 while forming the 13:35 Stafford - New St (2H15). I'd gone out hoping to bag a Class 66 on a coal, but this unit was the only train that came past in what was rather nice light.
• 150248 formed 2094 Worcester - Weymouth on Thursday 8th May 2008, photographed passing Croome Perry at 15:17.
• When I visited Whittlesey on Friday 8th September 2006 I had to have a picture of the signalbox. Ideally the train in this shot would have been a freight, preferably one with a GBRf Class 66 on the front as this is their patch. If it had to be a unit I'd have preferred a One Railway version. In the event the only freight which came west in the right time slot was the Whitemoor - Tallington trip which was hauled by 66240, and it passed while the sun was behind a cloud (again). In fact four or five units came past before the sun shone properly on one of them, and that one happened to be 158783 working 1M22, the 12:57 Norwich - Liverpool.
• 158950 passes Croome Perry while forming the 14:51 Great Malvern - Weymouth. This picture was taken at 15:18 on Friday 3rd October 2008.
• An unidentified Class 158 passes Bagillt at 14:01 on Friday 24th October 2008. It's forming the 12:35 Holyhead - Cardiff, due Flint 14:03.
• Wrexham and Shropshire ran three additional trains in connection with the Shrewsbury - Gillingham play-off game at Wembley on Saturday 23rd May 2009. The first was a relief train, propelled by 67015. The second was a footex top-and-tailed by 67010 and 67021. The third one was also a footex, and the most interesting of the three as it used a pair of Class 168 units hired from Chiltern. These units aren't normally seen north of Birmingham. but 168215 did a test run to Shrewsbury on Tuesday 19th May. The footex itself was formed of 168216 and 168217, and ran as 1Z03 10:07 Shrewsbury - Wembley - Marylebone. It's seen here passing Hamstead, a few minutes early, at 10:58.
• Two Class 170s head east through near Walcot, between Shrewsbury and Wellington. This was taken at 12:54 on Thursday 10th December 2009, and the train was the 12:47 Shrewsbury - New St.
• 170110 formed 1M75, the 16:45 Cardiff - Nottingham, on Tuesday 13th May 2008. It's seen here passing Spetchley at 18:21.
• On the same day as the shot at Whittlesey above, 170201 worked 1E78 12:38 Liverpool St - Peterborough via Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds. It's seen here arriving at March, bang on time at 15:15, and passing 66555 standing in the down loop. The freight is 6M14, the Harlow - Bardon Hill stone empties. This is a bit of an opportunist shot, as I'd only stopped in March to get a drink, and 6M14 was stood in the loop as I drove over the level crossing. It followed the unit, but when it departed the sun was yet again behind a cloud and the scene was only half-lit.
• 170398 runs alongside the motorway as it passes Bescot at 14:22 on Saturday 3rd March 2007. Stour Valley trains were being diverted via Bescot at this time, in addition to the regular Trent Valley trains which are booked this way at weekends. I suspect the train is 2J41, the 13:57 New St - Shrewsbury (due Wolves at 14:15). Scheduled Trent Valley diversions no longer produce a significant volume of traffic along the Grand Junction, not in the daytime anyway, as many of them are booked to run via the Stour and call at New St. However a Stour diversion is a different thing altogether and trains tend to follow each other when this happens. The spot from which this photo is taken was once the site of Bescot Drop Forgings. It's currently something of a wasteland, with several large piles of earth in place. However the land has been acquired for development and this view is unlikely to be available for long.
• 170507 whizzes through Portway in the glorious late-afternoon light of Wednesday 31st October 2007. A couple of freights passed around the same time, but neither were lit as well as this unit.
• A Class 170+153 combination led by 170506 arrives at Bloxwich at 17:05 on Friday 11th June 2010. This was the 16:39 New St - Rugeley Trent Valley. The trackwork in the foreground was unused when this photo was taken, traffic into the smelter works having finished a few years previously. The loop, siding, and the connection into the smelter works, have all subsequently been removed. In fact this shot is no longer possible because the railway has placed a large container-like structure roughly where that three-way set of points used to lie.
• 175105 passes Penmaenmawr at 11:18 on Friday 24th October 2008. It was forming the 10:30 Holyhead - Cardiff.
• 175102 approaches Craven Arms at 17:36 on Tuesday 2nd June 2009. This service was the 13:10 Milford Haven - Manchester, due here at 17:28.