After the Ely pick-up 20240720--058
The "Midland Pullman" HST set operated by Locomotive Services has just departed from Ely, working 1Z56 05.34 Chelmsford - Durham. The power cars are 43046 Geoff Drury 1930-1999 and 43049, although the numbers displayed are prefixed with the London Midland Region "M". [Pole, 6/6 sections (~8m)]
With a booked station stop at Ely (to pick up passengers) of seventeen and a half minutes, I expected it to be an easy move from Barway to somewhere west of Ely. However, this was not the shot I originally planned, as I intended to do another going-away shot at either North Fen or Welney Road at Manea (a bit more risky, as there was further to drive on slow fen roads). But with the train having passed Barway some three or four minutes early, I was on the outskirts of Ely sooner than I'd expected, with the train waiting at Ely Dock Jn., so I changed my plans; as I arrived in the car park I had about twenty minutes to get into position and set up - more than enough time!
1Z56 was actually four minutes late setting off from Ely, and was about to stop at the signal immediately to my right; it passed Ely North Jn. six minutes late. The reason for the delay was a late-running East Midlands Railway service from Norwich to Liverpool, which then delayed a Great Northern service from King's Cross to King's Lynn because it had to use the same platform. At one stage there were four trains at Ely!
First to arrive was 1Z56, at platform 2. Then, nine minutes later than scheduled (at 07.49) 170515 arrived at platform 1 to reverse with 1R62 from Norwich to Liverpool. Four minutes later, and pretty much bang on time, 170103 followed 1R62 in from the north to arrive at platform 3, working Cross Country's 1L26 from Leicester to Stansted Airport; it departed after less than a minute, just as Freightliner's 4E24 from Felixstowe to Leeds rolled in off the Soham line and stopped on the Goods Line on the east side - it was eighteen minutes early, but was booked to recess here for a short time, and departed only two minutes early.
170515 on 1R62 set off seven minutes late (nine minutes was in the schedule for the reversal), but was soon replaced at platform 1 by a pair of 387s on a Great Northern service from King's Cross to King's Lynn; this had been running on time but had been held at Ely Dock Jn. waiting for a free platform and subsequently arrived five minutes late and departed four minutes down.
After 1R62 had gone past, I raised the pole expecting 1Z56 to be next (but not having looked closely at the signalling map). I was therefore puzzled to here the clatter of wheels crossing the first river bridge north of the station but not the sound of a Paxman diesel engine, and then the whirr of electric motors... The 387s were photographed, and then I kept the pole extended for the HST - which did come next, after just a moment (but then was stopped at the signal).
Thankfully the slight delay did not allow any of the high cloud to move in front of the sun (and, in fact, I think the thin cloud that had been there cleared). Nor did it allow a train going the other way to block the shot, as happened when I'd been here about six weeks previously for the Northern Belle (when a container train appeared at exactly the wrong time).
I attempted to photograph the return working in the evening, which was booked to call at Ely just after 8pm. I planned to do a going-away shot from the bypass bridge (on a single line the back of the train doesn't look quite so obviously the back), but the clouds suddenly built up about five minutes before the train was due, and I didn't get it in sun.
Visit Brian Carter's Non-Transport Pics to see my photos of landscapes, buildings, bridges, sunsets, rainbows and more.
After the Ely pick-up 20240720--058
The "Midland Pullman" HST set operated by Locomotive Services has just departed from Ely, working 1Z56 05.34 Chelmsford - Durham. The power cars are 43046 Geoff Drury 1930-1999 and 43049, although the numbers displayed are prefixed with the London Midland Region "M". [Pole, 6/6 sections (~8m)]
With a booked station stop at Ely (to pick up passengers) of seventeen and a half minutes, I expected it to be an easy move from Barway to somewhere west of Ely. However, this was not the shot I originally planned, as I intended to do another going-away shot at either North Fen or Welney Road at Manea (a bit more risky, as there was further to drive on slow fen roads). But with the train having passed Barway some three or four minutes early, I was on the outskirts of Ely sooner than I'd expected, with the train waiting at Ely Dock Jn., so I changed my plans; as I arrived in the car park I had about twenty minutes to get into position and set up - more than enough time!
1Z56 was actually four minutes late setting off from Ely, and was about to stop at the signal immediately to my right; it passed Ely North Jn. six minutes late. The reason for the delay was a late-running East Midlands Railway service from Norwich to Liverpool, which then delayed a Great Northern service from King's Cross to King's Lynn because it had to use the same platform. At one stage there were four trains at Ely!
First to arrive was 1Z56, at platform 2. Then, nine minutes later than scheduled (at 07.49) 170515 arrived at platform 1 to reverse with 1R62 from Norwich to Liverpool. Four minutes later, and pretty much bang on time, 170103 followed 1R62 in from the north to arrive at platform 3, working Cross Country's 1L26 from Leicester to Stansted Airport; it departed after less than a minute, just as Freightliner's 4E24 from Felixstowe to Leeds rolled in off the Soham line and stopped on the Goods Line on the east side - it was eighteen minutes early, but was booked to recess here for a short time, and departed only two minutes early.
170515 on 1R62 set off seven minutes late (nine minutes was in the schedule for the reversal), but was soon replaced at platform 1 by a pair of 387s on a Great Northern service from King's Cross to King's Lynn; this had been running on time but had been held at Ely Dock Jn. waiting for a free platform and subsequently arrived five minutes late and departed four minutes down.
After 1R62 had gone past, I raised the pole expecting 1Z56 to be next (but not having looked closely at the signalling map). I was therefore puzzled to here the clatter of wheels crossing the first river bridge north of the station but not the sound of a Paxman diesel engine, and then the whirr of electric motors... The 387s were photographed, and then I kept the pole extended for the HST - which did come next, after just a moment (but then was stopped at the signal).
Thankfully the slight delay did not allow any of the high cloud to move in front of the sun (and, in fact, I think the thin cloud that had been there cleared). Nor did it allow a train going the other way to block the shot, as happened when I'd been here about six weeks previously for the Northern Belle (when a container train appeared at exactly the wrong time).
I attempted to photograph the return working in the evening, which was booked to call at Ely just after 8pm. I planned to do a going-away shot from the bypass bridge (on a single line the back of the train doesn't look quite so obviously the back), but the clouds suddenly built up about five minutes before the train was due, and I didn't get it in sun.
Visit Brian Carter's Non-Transport Pics to see my photos of landscapes, buildings, bridges, sunsets, rainbows and more.