4. The Cathedrals Express & the journey home-23.02.15

THE ARCHIVE FILES > Archive-2014 > 11. Trip to London-20-23.02.14 > 4. The Cathedrals Express & the journey home-23.02.15

Another early morning jaunt from our hotel in Covent Garden but this time a little later and this time to King's Cross for The Cathedral's Express. Later on, we took the train home from Euston to Milton Keynes.

Click here to search The Archive Files

Images 1-18 of 18 displayed.

180109, HT 10.42 King's Cross-Hull (1H02), 91104, GR 08.56 King's Cross-Leeds (1D07), 43308, GR 08.45 King's Cross-Dundee (1S09) & 91103, GR 09.56 King's Cross-Leeds (1D09), London King's Cross station
Despite it being relatively early on a Sunday morning a busy scene is in on view at King's Cross station. Deep in the train shed is Hull Trains' 180109 that will work the 10.42 departure to Hull. Next in line is 91104 that will leave in just over an hour leading the 1D07 08.56 to Leeds. An HST set led by 43308 is next that will leave first out of all the trains seen as the 1S09 08.45 to Dundee. Finally, 91103 will lead the 09.56 to Leeds.
Keywords: 180109, HT 10.42 King's Cross-Hull (1H02), 91104, GR 08.56 King's Cross-Leeds (1D07), 43308 08.45 King's Cross-Dundee 1S09 91103, GR 09.56 King's Cross-Leeds 1D09 London King's Cross station East Coast HST Hull Trains

365528, FC 08.38 London King's Cross-Cambridge (1C46), London King's Cross station
A pair of First Capital Connect Networker Express units sit at King's Cross' platform two. The units will work the 08.38 to Cambridge running as 1C46. First Group has operated these (and many other) commuter services since 2006 but their franchise expires later this year in September. I am sure that there will be stiff competition to run these services so it will be interesting to see if they will keep the franchise.
Keywords: 365528 08.38 London King's Cross-Cambridge 1C46 London King's Cross station FCC First Capital Connect Networker Express

43480, GC 08.31 Ferme Park-London King's Cross ECS (5N90), London King's Cross station
A Grand Central HST drifts out of Gasworks tunnel into King's Cross as the 5N90 empty coaching stock 08.31 from Ferme Park. 43480 is being watched by a pair of enthusiasts awaiting the arrival of The Cathedrals Express charter that is exactly what I am doing on this dull February morning.
Keywords: 43480 08.31 Ferme Park-London King's Cross ECS 5N90 London King's Cross station Grand Central GC HST

47746, 08.30 Hornsey-London King's Cross ECS (5Z24), London King's Cross station
In its drab WCR livery, 47746 brings the empty coaching stock for The Cathedrals Express charter into King's Cross station. The stock was stabled overnight at nearby Hornsey with it running in from there as the 5Z24. 47746 was previously numbered 47605 up until 1994 with it being based at various locations across the country ranging from Eastfield, Tinsley, Crewe and Old Oak Common (to name a few). Prior to this, it was numbered 47160 that I managed to capture in a quiet moment when it was on shed at Westbury in 1980, see..... https://www.ontheupfast.com/p/21936chg/29422475204/class-37-47341-47160-50015-33003
Keywords: 47746 08.30 Hornsey-London King's Cross ECS 5Z24 London King's Cross station WCR West Coast Railways

47580, outward leg of The Cathedrals Express, 09.11 London King's Cross-Shildon (1Z24), London King's Cross station
Having been dragged in at the rear of the empty coaching stock 47580 'County of Essex' is being prepared to lead the outward leg of The Cathedrals Express charter from King's Cross. 47580 has become a firm favourite with enthusiasts and charter operators alike due to its striking appearance in BR Monastral Blue and now adorned with a huge union flag. However, it does seem a shame that the owners could not have touched in the large area of filler on the corner of cab front with a pot of yellow paint!
Keywords: 47580 outward leg of The Cathedrals Express 09.11 London King's Cross-Shildon 1Z24 London King's Cross station County of Essex

Nameplate, 47580, outward leg of The Cathedrals Express, 09.11 London King's Cross-Shildon (1Z24), London King's Cross station
The nameplate and the three seaxes that make up Essex's coat of arms are seen on the side of 47580 as it waits at King's Cross station. Just underneath the 'County of Essex' of nameplate is a reproduction of Stratford depot's Cockney Sparrow complete with a BR issue waistcoat and cap emblazoned with SF (Stratford). Copies of this little character were unofficially fixed to many of Stratford's locomotives back in the 1980s with other features such as their trademark silver roofs also being common.
Keywords: Nameplate 47580, outward leg of The Cathedrals Express 09.11 London King's Cross-Shildon 1Z24 London King's Cross station County of Essex

365537, FC 07.46 Peterborough-London King's Cross (1P49) & 365510, FC 09.08 London King's Cross-Peterborough (1P46), London King's Cross station
A coming together of Class 365s at King's Cross station. To the left and operated by First Capital Connect 365537 arrives with the 1P49 07.46 from Peterborough. To the left 365510 is being operated by Great Northern and is leaving with the 09.08 to Peterborough. Two identical units operating on the same route between the same station and yet operated by two different operators.....our privatised railway at its very best I'd say!
Keywords: 365537 07.46 Peterborough-London King's Cross 1P49 365510 09.08 London King's Cross-Peterborough (1P46), London King's Cross station

47580, outward leg of The Cathedrals Express, 09.11 London King's Cross-Shildon (1Z24) & 91103, GR 09.56 London King's Cross-Lees (1D09), London King's Cross station
The grand twin trainsheds of King's Cross dominate the scene and dwarfing the trains inside them. To the right, 91103 will work the 09.56 to Leeds in just under an hour's time whilst to the left 47580 'County of Essex' is about to leave with the outward leg of The Cathedrals Express charter to Shildon running as 1Z24. Interestingly, this charter was also named The Great Goodbye as a nod to it taking passengers to the National Railway Museum (Shildon) to observe, for the final time, all six surviving LNER streamlined Class A4s together in the form of 60007 'Sir Nigel Gresley', 60008 'Dwight D. Eisenhower', 60009 'Union of South Africa', 4464 'Bittern', 4468 'Mallard' and 4489 'Dominion of Canada'. As usual, the NRM put on a great display and I have seen a number of pictures of the lineup and very impressive it looked too.
Keywords: 47580 The Cathedrals Express 09.11 London King's Cross-Shildon 1Z24 91103 09.56 London King's Cross-Lees 1D09 London King's Cross station County of Essex

47580, outward leg of The Cathedrals Express, 09.11 London King's Cross-Shildon (1Z24) & 180109, 10.42 London King's Cross-Hull (1H02), London King's Cross station
47580 'County of Essex' gets the 1Z24 Cathedrals Express away from King's Cross at exactly the right time heading for Shildon on County Durham. The charter was also named The Great Goodbye taking passengers to see, for the last time, all six surviving A4 streamlined Pacifics together in one place celebrating the seventy-fifth anniversary of Mallard's speed record in 1938. To the right and totally dwarfed by the trainshed towering above it is 180109 that will work the 10.42 to Hull.
Keywords: 47580 The Cathedrals Express 09.11 London King's Cross-Shildon 1Z24 180109 10.42 London King's Cross-Hull 1H02 London King's Cross station County of Essex

47746, outward leg of The Cathedrals Express, 09.11 London King's Cross-Shildon (1Z24) & 67026, stabled thunderbird, King's Cross station
Having brought the empty coaching stock in from Hornsey a little earlier 47746 now has an easy time of it being dragged all the way to County Durham! With a driver sitting in the rear-facing cab it leaves King's Cross at the rear of the 1Z24 09.11 to Shildon, The Cathedrals Express with 47580 'County of Essex' leading at the front. Station thunderbird 67026 is seen to the right stabled in front of King's Cross' power box.
Keywords: 47746 The Cathedrals Express 09.11 London King's Cross-Shildon 1Z24 67026, stabled thunderbird King's Cross station

365518, FC 09.38 London King's Cross-Cambridge (1C48), London King's Cross station
Framed by one of King's Cross' brick arches 365518 'The Fenman' is seen about to work the 09.38 to Cambridge. An East Coast service waits in the adjacent platform.
Keywords: 365518 09.38 London King's Cross-Cambridge 1C48 London King's Cross station First Capital Connect The Fenman.

180109, HT 10.42 London King's Cross-Hull (1H02), London King's Cross station
A former First Great Western Adelante now is use with Hull Trains that is also part of the First Group is seen at King's Cross. Introduced in 2000 the units have been blighted by reliability issues and still require specialist maintenance to keep them running. They are the only high-speed trains in the world to utilise hydraulic transmission. 180109 waits at the buffers from where it work the 1H02 10.42 service to Hull.
Keywords: 180109 10.42 London King's Cross-Hull 1H02 London King's Cross station Hull Trains Adelante

82201, GR 09.56 London KIng's Cross-Leeds (1D09) & 365537, FC 09.38 London King's Cross-Cambridge (1C48), London King's Cross station
A comparison with https://www.ontheupfast.com/p/21936chg/25366390204/x55019-10-20-newcastle-london-kings is interesting. Whilst the Deltics have long gone (even though both shown in the 1978 photograph are still extant) King's Cross station looks reassuringly familiar. In this 2014 photograph DVT 82201 will leave at the rear of the 1D09 09.56 to Leeds whilst FCC's 3656537 will depart with the 1C48 09.38 to Cambridge.
Keywords: 82201 09.56 London KIng's Cross-Leeds 1D09 365537 09.38 London King's Cross-Cambridge 1C48 London King's Cross station East Coast First Capital Connect DVT

43480, GC 09.56 London King's Cross-Sunderland (1N90) & 82218, GR 10.15 London King's Cross-Edinburgh Waverley (1S12), London King's Cross station
Open access operator Grand Central is owned by Arriva UK Trains that itself was taken over by Deutsche Bahn in 2010; how complicated! And, as for the history of GC itself, a book could be written on that! One of GC's short set HSTs stands at King's Cross that will work the 1N90 09.56 to Sunderland. It is waiting next to an East Coast DVT, 82218, that will also head north after the HST at the rear of the 1S12 10.15 to Edinburgh.
Keywords: 43480 09.56 London King's Cross-Sunderland 1N90 82218 10.15 London King's Cross-Edinburgh Waverley 1S12 London King's Cross station Grand Central HST East Coast DVT

Frontage, London King's Cross station
The Cubitt brothers (Lewis, Thomas and William) were all involved in various aspect of civil engineering with William going on to be the Lord Mayor of London for two concurrent terms from 1860 to 1862. The superb brick frontage of King's Cross was designed by the youngest of the bothers, Lewis, who did a lot of work for the Great Northern Railway under its resident engineer George Turnbill. The station opened in October 1852 but over the years it became a little lost as it became surrounded by more modern developments. Indeed, under BR in the early 1970s a large single story extension was added with most of the now paved area in the foreground covered. Whilst the thirty five-metre tall clock tower remained the whole area was a bit of an architectural mess. The recent and massive redevelopment of the station has once again revealed the grandeur of the frontage in its full glory; let's hope that it stays this way for many years to come
Keywords: Frontage London King's Cross station

350242, LM 15.34 London Euston-Birmingham New Street (15.34 London Euston-Milton Keynes), London Euston station
Our train home from London to Milton Keynes just pokes its nose into the daylight leaving the rest firmly in the gloom that is Euston station! My wife, son and I took 350242 working the 15.34 to Birmingham New Street finding it reasonably busy with no problem finding seats together. However, there were a further two sets out of sight in this image meaning that it was a twelve car train.
Keywords: 350242 15.34 London Euston-Birmingham New Street London Euston station London Midland Desiro

390040, VT 16.00 London Euston-Birmingham New Street (1G34) & 350242, LM 15.34 London Euston-Birmingham New Street (15.34 London Euston-Milton Keynes), London Euston station
The concrete brutalist structure of Euston must make it one of the ugliest and most austere stations on the network. Yet, despite its size the platforms, in places such as this are surprisingly narrow not that many trains extend this far out of the darkness and into the most welcome daylight. To the left Virgin's 16.00 'fast' to Birmingham New Street will leave in just over half an hour worked by 390040. Meanwhile, London Midland's 350242 will also work to Birmingham as the 15.34 departure. However, despite the Desiro leaving twenty-five minutes before the Pendolino, it will arrive over an hour later as it stops at many stations and takes the Northampton route. My wife, son and I took the 'slow' train as far as Milton Keynes.
Keywords: 390040 16.00 London Euston-Birmingham New Street 1G34 350242 15.34 London Euston-Birmingham New Street London Euston station Virgin Trains West Coast London Midland Desrio Pendolino

378215, stabled, London Euston station
Between duties at Euston station, London Overground's 378215 sits idle on platform eleven awaiting its next turn of duty. Given that it's 15.30 I suspect that it will work an early evening commuter service to Watford Junction. These Bombardier Capitalstar units have proved to be highly effective on commuter and cross-London services being, for all intents and purpose a long corridor from end to end with side-facing seats and they are capable of moving vast numbers of passengers.
Keywords: 378215 stabled London Euston station

Images 1-18 of 18 displayed.