August Train Performance at 92.3%

Punctuality on the railways reached 92.3% during period five, according to monthly performance data released today by Network Rail. The data for Britain’s train services covers the period from 24 July 2011 – 20 August 2011. This compares to 94.2% for the same period last year. The moving annual
average is now at 90.6%.

Top 4 Performers for this period were: C2c (97.1%), London Overground (96.2%), Merseyrail (95.7%), East Midland Trains (94.4%)
Worst 4 Performers for this period were: Southern (88.8%), Virgin Trains (89.1%), East Coast (89.2%), Scotrail (91%)

Southern’s performance was severely affected by the Thames Water burst main and subsequent landslide that shut the Brighton Main Line impacting services on the 1st and 2nd August.

 

Railway Video – Harrow & Wealdstone

Colas Rail Plasser & Theurer 08-4×4/4S-RT Unimat 08-RT Tamper DR73908 passing Harrow and Wealdstone Station in North West London.

I have uploaded a further 9 videos captured in a 2 hour stint at Harrow & Wealdstone Station in North West London yesterday to my Youtube Channel.

Railway Photography – Acton Main Line

My latest trip took me to the West of London to a little station called Acton Main Line.  The station is located on the Great Western Mainline and is the first station out of London Paddington.  Train services are provided by First Great Western who operate a 30 minute service between London Paddington & Greenford, this is the only service that stops at the station and does not run on Sundays.

Passenger services passing the station are operated by First Great Western, Heathrow Connect and Heathrow Express.  Freight services are operated by EWS (DB Schenker), Freightliner, GB Railfreight & Hanson.

Acton Mainline is also host to a freight yard operated by EWS (DB Schenker) which is used by a large volume of stone trains serving the nearby terminal.  There is also a freight avoiding line that passes between platform 4 and the yard which is used by freight trains accessing/exiting the North London Line.

Stock Seen at Acton Main Line

Locomotives: Class 43 HST, Class 59 Diesel, Class 66 Diesel
Multiple Units: Class 165 DMU, Class 166 DMU, Class 180 DMU, Class 332 EMU, Class 360 EMU

Photographs

As usual, here is a little taster of the images I captured.  The full gallery of images can be found on my Photobucket site here.

First Great Western Class 43 HST 43037 passing Acton Mainline Station

DB Schenker Liveried Class 66 Diesel Locomotive 66152 at Acton MainLine Yard

Railway Photography – Harrow and Wealdstone

I managed to grab a rather sunny and warm 3 hours at Harrow and Wealdstone yesterday.

Harrow and Wealdstone is located on the West Coast Main Line (WCML) and is an interchange between London Midland suburban services, London Overground local services, London Underground Bakerloo Line services and Southern Railway services between Milton Keynes and East Croydon.

Virgin West Coast express passenger services also pass through Harrow and Wealdstone but are all non stop.

Freight services through Harrow and Wealdstone cover a vast spectrum of traffic carried.  Freight traffic on the West Coast Main Line (WCML) originate from several locations around the UK and also from the nearby freight yards at Willesden.

Stock Seen at Harrow and Wealdstone

Locomotives: Class 66 Diesel, Class 67 Diesel, Class 86 Electric, Class 90 Electric
Multiple Units: Class 221 Voyager DMU, Class 350 EMU, Class 377 EMU, Class 378 EMU, Class 390 Pendolino EMU, 1972 MkII Underground Stock

Photographs

To whet your appetite, here are a couple of the shots I managed to capture:-

Virgin West Coast Class 390 Pendolino Electric Multiple Unit 390044 at Harrow and Wealdstone.

Freightliner Class 90 Electric Locomotive 90048 passing through Harrow and Wealdstone.

To see the rest of the images I captured at Harrow and Wealdstone, please visit my Photobucket album here.

LMS 6201 Princess Elizabeth on the Cathedrals Express 28/04/11

Filmed at Welham Green in Hertfordshire, LMS 6201 “Princess Elizabeth” storms north from Kings Cross on the way to York via Stevenage, Peterborough & Doncaster on the Cathedrals Express.  This run will make the history books as it is the first time a Princess class locomotive has traversed the southern section of the East Coast Main Line.