A touch of class
The regal class 309s operating the London Liverpool St - Clacton & Walton route were the first 25Kv EMUs to be constructed by British Rail in 1962/63. Built at York Carriage Works they were designed for 100mph running and configured in three separate formations:
- 601–608 – Two-car units (309/1)
- 611–618 – Four-car units containing a griddle car (309/2)
- 621–627 – Four-car units (309/3)
While the 2-car units could be operated on their own, they were designed to be run in tandem with a pair of 4-car units so improving the power-to-weight ratio and making the rush-hour timetable more robust.
Originally classified as AM9 (pre-TOPS) they were actually designed for use on an electrified East Coast Mainline, but when the electrification project failed to get off the ground they were diverted instead to the Great Eastern Main Line and became known as the 'Clacton Express' trains. With a 10-car formation generating some 3,384 horsepower, they were significantly more powerful than the Britannia Pacifics they replaced.
In later years the formations were tweaked and the 2-car units augmented to 4-car sets. These elegant units would eventually be displaced from the Clacton route between 1992 and early 1994 with the final trains running in January 1994. Not surprisingly the contemporary class 321 replacements lacked the visual elegance of the 309s, both externally and internally, and, perhaps tellingly, became known as the 'Dusty Bins' due to the 3-2-1 class number resonating with a certain TV show of the day.
In this shot, a Clacton and Walton - Liverpool St service (1F48), unit 626 leading, is captured approaching Colchester with an up express. Colchester Depot (30E/CR) is on the right with an unidentified class 31 and class 47 resting up.
Sadly the once wrap-around front windows adorning the cab had been designed out by this time and replaced by a pair of non-curved panes on each side. Much less expensive to replace when cracked / damaged.
This image was captured on a Yashicamat 124G twin lens reflex, and cropped. A relatively cheap medium-format camera that was superb for across-the-frame sharpness for non-moving subjects and which gave the Nikkor lenses a decent run for their money. With the reverse waist-level finder however, moving subjects were tricky and, as I found, best left to the Nikkormat FT2.
Yashicamat 124G, and Ilford FP4 film (cropped from 6x6 neg).
Rescanned image, original deleted.
7th September 1976
(Technical info courtesy of Wiki)
A touch of class
The regal class 309s operating the London Liverpool St - Clacton & Walton route were the first 25Kv EMUs to be constructed by British Rail in 1962/63. Built at York Carriage Works they were designed for 100mph running and configured in three separate formations:
- 601–608 – Two-car units (309/1)
- 611–618 – Four-car units containing a griddle car (309/2)
- 621–627 – Four-car units (309/3)
While the 2-car units could be operated on their own, they were designed to be run in tandem with a pair of 4-car units so improving the power-to-weight ratio and making the rush-hour timetable more robust.
Originally classified as AM9 (pre-TOPS) they were actually designed for use on an electrified East Coast Mainline, but when the electrification project failed to get off the ground they were diverted instead to the Great Eastern Main Line and became known as the 'Clacton Express' trains. With a 10-car formation generating some 3,384 horsepower, they were significantly more powerful than the Britannia Pacifics they replaced.
In later years the formations were tweaked and the 2-car units augmented to 4-car sets. These elegant units would eventually be displaced from the Clacton route between 1992 and early 1994 with the final trains running in January 1994. Not surprisingly the contemporary class 321 replacements lacked the visual elegance of the 309s, both externally and internally, and, perhaps tellingly, became known as the 'Dusty Bins' due to the 3-2-1 class number resonating with a certain TV show of the day.
In this shot, a Clacton and Walton - Liverpool St service (1F48), unit 626 leading, is captured approaching Colchester with an up express. Colchester Depot (30E/CR) is on the right with an unidentified class 31 and class 47 resting up.
Sadly the once wrap-around front windows adorning the cab had been designed out by this time and replaced by a pair of non-curved panes on each side. Much less expensive to replace when cracked / damaged.
This image was captured on a Yashicamat 124G twin lens reflex, and cropped. A relatively cheap medium-format camera that was superb for across-the-frame sharpness for non-moving subjects and which gave the Nikkor lenses a decent run for their money. With the reverse waist-level finder however, moving subjects were tricky and, as I found, best left to the Nikkormat FT2.
Yashicamat 124G, and Ilford FP4 film (cropped from 6x6 neg).
Rescanned image, original deleted.
7th September 1976
(Technical info courtesy of Wiki)