309 611 at Manchester Oxford Road. 15/11/86.
One of the refurbished "Clacton Express" class 309 EMU's is seen well out of its usual sphere of operations at Manchester Oxford Road. From construction in 1962-63 up until 1994 these units were exclusively used between London Liverpool Street, Clacton and Walton-on-Naze.
On this occasion the unit was part of a 2x4-car consist coupled with 309 615 forming the Hertfordshire Railtours 'Network Exile' railtour covering electrified routes in the West Midlands and North West which was a first for the class. Ironically in the early part of 1994 as the class were being withdrawn from service as new class 321 units took over their work on the services out of London Liverpool Street. The remained eight serviceable 4-car sets of class 309 stock were transferred to Manchester Longsight Depot to replace aging class 303 and 305 units. They took over Manchester - Crewe, Stoke and Stafford services lasting until May 2000. 309 611 depicted here wasn't one of them as it had been withdrawn in December 1991 from Clacton Depot, being broken up at Mayer Newman's Scrapyard at Snailwell in March 1992.
309 611 at Manchester Oxford Road. 15/11/86.
One of the refurbished "Clacton Express" class 309 EMU's is seen well out of its usual sphere of operations at Manchester Oxford Road. From construction in 1962-63 up until 1994 these units were exclusively used between London Liverpool Street, Clacton and Walton-on-Naze.
On this occasion the unit was part of a 2x4-car consist coupled with 309 615 forming the Hertfordshire Railtours 'Network Exile' railtour covering electrified routes in the West Midlands and North West which was a first for the class. Ironically in the early part of 1994 as the class were being withdrawn from service as new class 321 units took over their work on the services out of London Liverpool Street. The remained eight serviceable 4-car sets of class 309 stock were transferred to Manchester Longsight Depot to replace aging class 303 and 305 units. They took over Manchester - Crewe, Stoke and Stafford services lasting until May 2000. 309 611 depicted here wasn't one of them as it had been withdrawn in December 1991 from Clacton Depot, being broken up at Mayer Newman's Scrapyard at Snailwell in March 1992.