WAGN's Best Impressions remembered 2009-04-04--016
317649 approaches Shepreth Branch Jn. (south of Cambridge) working an afternoon Cambridge - Liverpool Street services. To the right of the train is Addenbrooke's Hospital, while on the left are two new bridges over the railway which had yet to be opened - the Addenbrooke's Link Road and the Cambridge Guided Busway; Cambridge South station will be located between the two.
The EMU carries the original livery of the West Anglia Great Northern franchisee, designed by Ray Stenning's Best Impressions after that company had designed a new livery for Stagecoach-owned South West Trains (which was subsequently adapted for use on Stagecoach's bus fleets, replacing its original "stripes" livery). Sadly, this attractive livery was only ever carried by the 317/6 subclass; these EMUs had been built between 1985 and 1987 to replace slam door class 312s on Great Northern outer suburban services, and were refurbished under Prism Rail-owned WAGN in 1998, being reclassified from 317/2 to 317/6 and renumbered at the same time - 317649 was originally 317349. The refurbishment included replacing 3+2 seating with 2+2 to match the class 365 "Networker Express" units on the GN, but the livery was not applied to the 365s as their paintwork was still under warranty. When WAGN was split in April 2004, all the 317/6s ended up with the Greater Anglia franchise (known as 'one' initially), and when this company was rebranded as National Express East Anglia a white stripe was added to the livery so that "national express" and "East Anglia" branding could be added - as seen here.
On this particular sunny Saturday I'd been sat at home (as there wasn't really much of interest about) when a gen message came through that a Freightliner container train had been seen heading north through Elsenham, the pair of 86s on the front being dragged by a 66 as the train would be routed via Dullingham and Bury St. Edmunds to reach Ipswich (and subsequently Felixstowe). I rushed into Cambridge to get a shot of it after taking the Newmarket line at Coldham Lane Jn. (see here) and then wondered what to do on such a lovely day, having made the effort to go out. So I came to Shepreth Branch Jn. to photograph units of various sorts.
Visit Brian Carter's Non-Transport Pics to see my photos of landscapes, buildings, bridges, sunsets, rainbows and more.
WAGN's Best Impressions remembered 2009-04-04--016
317649 approaches Shepreth Branch Jn. (south of Cambridge) working an afternoon Cambridge - Liverpool Street services. To the right of the train is Addenbrooke's Hospital, while on the left are two new bridges over the railway which had yet to be opened - the Addenbrooke's Link Road and the Cambridge Guided Busway; Cambridge South station will be located between the two.
The EMU carries the original livery of the West Anglia Great Northern franchisee, designed by Ray Stenning's Best Impressions after that company had designed a new livery for Stagecoach-owned South West Trains (which was subsequently adapted for use on Stagecoach's bus fleets, replacing its original "stripes" livery). Sadly, this attractive livery was only ever carried by the 317/6 subclass; these EMUs had been built between 1985 and 1987 to replace slam door class 312s on Great Northern outer suburban services, and were refurbished under Prism Rail-owned WAGN in 1998, being reclassified from 317/2 to 317/6 and renumbered at the same time - 317649 was originally 317349. The refurbishment included replacing 3+2 seating with 2+2 to match the class 365 "Networker Express" units on the GN, but the livery was not applied to the 365s as their paintwork was still under warranty. When WAGN was split in April 2004, all the 317/6s ended up with the Greater Anglia franchise (known as 'one' initially), and when this company was rebranded as National Express East Anglia a white stripe was added to the livery so that "national express" and "East Anglia" branding could be added - as seen here.
On this particular sunny Saturday I'd been sat at home (as there wasn't really much of interest about) when a gen message came through that a Freightliner container train had been seen heading north through Elsenham, the pair of 86s on the front being dragged by a 66 as the train would be routed via Dullingham and Bury St. Edmunds to reach Ipswich (and subsequently Felixstowe). I rushed into Cambridge to get a shot of it after taking the Newmarket line at Coldham Lane Jn. (see here) and then wondered what to do on such a lovely day, having made the effort to go out. So I came to Shepreth Branch Jn. to photograph units of various sorts.
Visit Brian Carter's Non-Transport Pics to see my photos of landscapes, buildings, bridges, sunsets, rainbows and more.