Tag Archives: transportation

Showing Visitors HydroFLEX

2025 is 200 years after the Stockton and Darlington Railway first operated. While some might debate what the first true railway was, the UK industry is celebrating this year as Rail200. There are events taking place across the country throughout the year. One of these was held at the Severn Valley Railway at Kidderminster and we took one of our trains to be part of the display. This was our HydroFLEX unit, and I went along to support the visitor tours.

HydroFLEX is the first UK hydrogen fuel cell powered unit that is cleared for mainline running. We use it to test the technology and learn what is involved in a hydrogen fuel cell train. There are multiple technologies that will be needed to decarbonise the railway, and this is one of the ways forward that is being explored. We had it open to view at Kidderminster and had a steady stream of visitors coming to look at it. They had lots of interesting questions and some interesting opinions on all sorts of things – many not to do with hydrogen power!

The train is a converted Class 319 – a type I used to ride frequently when Thameslink operated them, and we lived along the Brighton mainline. Three of the vehicles are basically unchanged other than interior changes including a boardroom configuration. The fourth car is the one where everything is different. It has four fuel cells that provide power along with a battery under the vehicle. These fuel cells generate a lot of heat along with the electricity, so large cooling fans are incorporated.

The fuel cells are supplied by high pressure hydrogen tanks. There are 36 of these tanks made from spun aluminium wrapped in Kevlar. We would take visitors through this vehicle to see the changes that make it a hydrogen powered unit along with all of the safety systems. It is a cramped space, so we had to pre-book visitors five at a time. We could have shown many more people if we could have fitted them in because demand was high.

It is really interesting to be involved in a technology demonstrator of this sort. Our team has worked so hard on creating and developing this unit and we have learned so much that will hopefully be taken forward to trial operations and will then feed into the design of a production train. The train regularly goes out on the mainline so you can see it if you are in the right place at the right time.

Trains Are Back on the Pier

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The rebuilding of the Island Line on the Isle of Wight has been a drawn-out process. New (sort of) trains and a rebuild of the track to increase capacity took place a while back. More recently, the tracks up Ryde Pier were closed for refurbishment. That meant the trains did not go all the way to the ferry. That has now been completed and, while I was out watching the hovercraft, I was pleased to see the trains back on the pier. I hadn’t planned for photographing them but why not while I was there.

Some of Lyon’s Trams Look Cool

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I was in Lyon for a couple of days for a work trip. Lyon has an extensive tram network, but they don’t just have regular looking trams. They are clearly bothered about design and style – this is France after all – and so the cabs of some of the trams are far cooler than the average. I don’t know how much extra it costs to get a custom cab design, but I think it is worth it when they make the system look better.

Some Features Show Better in Video

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I was at Ryde one Saturday morning watching the Hovertravel service on a windy day. Because hovercraft are not in contact with the surface, there is no grip to counter any crosswinds. The technique for operating is therefore like flying a plane. You have to yaw into the wind to offset the drift the wind produces. When taking stills, you don’t really show this but, when watching it happen, the drifting is very obvious.

Consequently, video is the way to go. I got some clips of the hovercraft coming in, first over the water and then as it transitioned to the sand flats. For the hovercraft, the change of surface makes no difference. It does mean, when the wind is right, you can get head on shots when they aren’t coming straight at you!

National Railway Museum

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I was fortunate a little while ago to have a tour of the National Railway Museum. Our company had sponsored some of the development at the museum and we were invited to come and see some of the parts of the museum that are normally out of sight to the regular visitors. This was a most interesting visit, and our team really appreciated the time there. This was actually the first time I had been to this excellent museum.

As part of the Science Museum, the National Railway Museum is free to the public. They are expanding the facilities a lot currently but, if you were to visit now, you would still have plenty to see. There are trains of all types and age. The main hall is focused on a turntable. Apparently, the collection does get moved regularly so what you see at any one time can vary.

The majority of the collection is UK trains but there are other exhibits. A series 0 Shinkansen is part of the collection. Additionally, there is a Eurostar cab vehicle. Some famous locos are there, like Mallard, holder of the steam speed record. There are other less famous ones like the last steam loco built for the UK. I liked seeing the HST power car having had a lot of involvement with that fleet earlier in my career.

There are many artefacts aside from the trains. The gates that used to be at Euston station are most impressive. The nameplates from many locomotives are on the wall. There are two nameplates from Earl of Mount Edgcumbe which made me smile. My time around the main collection was slightly limited by other work commitments and, ultimately, the need to get on a train to Derby. After so long having never visited, I am really pleased to have finally made it there. If you are looking for a day trip in the area, do consider it. It is a short walk from the station.

Photographing Ferries – Is It the Pandemic Again??

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During the pandemic, I did spend a bit of time checking out the various ferry services in Washington. Now I am back in the UK and taking a trip to the Isle of Wight, I did get some sunny conditions on one of the Wightlink ferries, Victoria of Wight. We took this ferry across to the Island but came back on a different boat. We were on an earlier ferry than planned so this would have been our ride if we had stuck to our schedule. Anyway, some nice sun on this ferry as it made its regular crossing from Portsmouth to Fishbourne.

A Few Trains in York

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Work took me to York for the day. York is one of the parts of the UK rail network that was absolutely instrumental in the development of the nation’s railways, and it is still a major intersection. Trains between London and Scotland come through but it also has services across the Pennines to the west and to many local destinations.

After my meetings had finished, I headed back to catch my train to London. I was a little early for it so walked around the station to see what else was there. The Hitachi trains are now a big part of service with the LNER Azumas, the Lumo services and some Transpennine Express services. Then there are other types to be seen too. A lot has changed since I was last working in the industry in the UK, so it was interesting for me to see what is now in use and what is still around!

Retro Livery on an Old 455

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When I was a youth in the ‘80s, I remember new trains showing up in the area where my dad lived. At the time, I wasn’t familiar with the details of the classes of train, but I could recognise the differences as things changed. The big deal with these new trains was that they had sliding doors rather than the older slam doors. In the years to come, I came to know that these were known as Class 455s.

It is now 2025 and some of them are still in service. A lot of them have already been replaced and the new trains to replace the remainder have been built but their service entry has been a protracted process. Meanwhile, one of the units has been repainted to be in something close to the colours that it wore when it was introduced. You can’t have exactly the old BR livery because modern access requirements mean contrasting colours are needed for doors but, otherwise, it is close. I had been wondering whether I would see it soon one morning on my way to London and, lo and behold, as I got off my train, it was on an adjacent platform. Not sure that I will get a chance to get a better shot of it so glad to have caught this one.

Crewe Seems to be Home to Old Locos

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It has been a long time since I was last at Crewe, and I recently found myself back up there on a delightfully sunny day. In days gone by, Crewe would always be a location that had a variety of unusual rolling stock parked up and, apparently, that hasn’t changed. The interesting change is that, in the old days, a lot of the oddities looked like they had seen better days. This time everything looked in great condition.

There was an HST set that seemed to be marked up for excursions to Scotland. It was painted in a scheme like the old Blue Pullman sets. I don’t know the service details, but it looked like it was set up nicely. There were some old locos too. A Class 90 was gleaming in a great paint finish but the one that really caught my eye, even if it was a bit poorly located for getting a photo, was the Class 89.

This is a unique loco. Built in the 80s, it was never selected for production. I remember seeing it when I lived in Huntingdon when it would be used on the east coast main line. I understand it had been stored for a long time but now it seems like it has been well restored, and I am told that it will be running in service before too long. I have no idea how difficult it is maintaining a one off electric loco but I wish them well.

My Usual Hovercraft Spot is Out of Bounds!

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The family was gathering for lunch for my birthday and my mum was coming across on the hovercraft to join us. Whenever I have previously been down at the hovercraft terminal, I have been on the beach just to the east of the slipway. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that there is a large infrastructure project underway along the shoreline and that section is cordoned off. The only option is a small path on the other side of the terminal.

This was not an ideal spot as things are more backlit. I decided that video might be a better bet given the conditions. Even when mum was making her return trip, the light was still not great. We both stopped by to watch an earlier trip arrive and depart. As the departure headed out, the blast of propwash was a bit more than expected and my hat departed my head! Got to focus on the shot and then grab the hat later. Someone had caught it for me anyway!