56090, 13.33 Crewe Basford Hall-Longport Colas (6K39, 14E) & 196002, 13.34 Birmingham New Street-Crewe (5Q83, 4E), Crewe station
Old meets new at Crewe station. Having just celebrated its
forty-first birthday two weeks previously veteran 56090 faces a brand new train arriving at one of the south-facing bay platforms. Whilst the Grid is in service and about to leave with the 6K39 13.33 Basford Hall to Longport infrastructure train made up of a set of loaded MCA bogie open wagons 196002 was arriving with a test train running as 5Q83, the 13.34 Birmingham New Street to Crewe. These smart looking Spanish constructed (by CAF) Class 196s will soon be in operation on the West Midlands Trains network as a replacement for their ageing Class 170 units.