What is the worst station in Europe?

Railway stations were the cathedrals of the industrial era. Rising high above platforms across the world massive station canopies constructed of steel and glass shone a light into the smokey station beneath. Many of the Victorian era stations are still masterpieces today- however concrete constructions of the 1960's and 70's have fared less well against the test of time. Birmingham New Street in the UK is famous for being dark, dingy and uninviting (a situation soon to change, at least at concourse level following a massive refurbishment) while Penn Station in New York is also often criticised for being an uninviting underground labyrinth.
Despite their floors these large stations are largely well looked after and well used. To meet my candidates for the title of 'worst large station in Europe' we have to travel south east from the UK-

Third Place-
Budapest Deli Palyaudvar, Hungary

Completed in 1969 this station must once have been an imposing sight- the only post war modern station in Budapest. Today it is, at best, dilapidated. Train, tram, metro and bus services seem poorly integrated and the station appears to have suffered from a long term lack of maintainance. The stairs from street level to the higher concourse and platforms are in a particularly bad state with decrepid shops and stalls hardly adding to the aesthetic.



Second Place-
Skopje, Macedonia

The original Skopje station was badly damaged in the devastating earthquake of 1963, resulting in a new modernist concrete structure being completed in 1969. While impressive at it's opening the station has suffered from many years of under-use and under-investment (compounded by the unrest in Yugoslavia during the 1990's). Today just a few platforms are in use and much of the station building is used as the cities bus station- and is in much better condition than the section still used for trains. The station boasts extensive graffiti inside and out, crumbling masonry and sets of escalators gathering dust which have clearly not worked for years. Some platforms do not even have tracks!
Fortunately major upgrade work began in 2014 and will see the station completely modernised - hopefully the results will be worth the wait and, together with new trains due to arrive in late 2015, could begin an upsurge in the popularity of Macedonia's railways.


First Place-
Sofia, Bulgaria

Another communist masterpiece of its time, Sofia station opened in 1974 and with its construction mostly of marble must have been an impressive sight at the time. Once again the the building in this fairly poor country has suffered from years of poor maintenance. Escalators which once moved passengers now stand dormant, beyond repair. The screens and clocks which once gave passenger information have long since stopped working, making the task of finding ones train quite challenging. While the station has a general air of dereliction the interior of the main concourse is still light and airy however the platforms are in a poor state. The addition of a burnt out car on one platform secures Sofia as my personal 'worst station in Europe'. Fortunately, like Skojpe, a major re-building program is now underway to upgrade the station to modern standards by early 2016.

GB Railfreight on the Caledonian Sleeper

Currently the only class 92 in the GBRf corporate colour scheme, 92032 worked the London - Glasgow sleeper on the night of
15th July 2015. This loco is not one of the dedicated 'sleeper' fleet and is more usually seen on freight workings.

Undoubtedly one of the finest looking locos on the mainline- 47847 departs
Glasgow Central with the empty stock working to Polmadie of
the previous nights sleeper from London- 09/07/2015

Continued unreliability of GBRf's dedicated fleet of class 92's for the Caledonian sleeper contract has led to a wide range of traction appearing on the trains. Class 90's continue to be hired in from DBS and locomotives from Freightliner have also now made appearances on the trains. The GB 'Heritage' fleet also continues to see action on front line sleeper services in addition to ECS duties with 86101 and 87002 working Anglo-Scottish sleeper services.
As well as electric locos being hired in Serco continues to hire class 67's from DBS to work the highland portions of the sleeper train until GBRf's rebuilt class 73's become available. On occasions class 47's from GBRf have also worked portions of the train, particularly from Castairs to Edinburgh, and empty stock between Glasgow Central and Polmadie depot.

The interesting selection of traction seems set to continue for some months yet as the dedicated class 92's receive modifications and maintenance to help them settle in to their new role on the sleeper. The teething troubles are hardly surprising considering the under-utilisation of the fleet for so many years. With some TLC the class 92's will almost certainly be able to provide many years of reliable service hauling the overnight trains from London to Scotland- ironically hauling sleeper trains (all be it to Europe) was one of the original purposes for which the class 92's were built back in the early 90's!

PKP (mostly) 29th July - 5th August 2015

A trip to Poland for the Wolsztyn Experience and some general cranking.

29th July-
Flew to Berlin Schonefeld with Easy Jet from Gatwick. A slight panic on the way there when my friend forgot to set his alarm (of course he had the boarding passes)...

A fine train, but definitely not my favourite livery! 370 010 arrives into Berlin having worked the Berlin Warsaw Express from Poland.

Your author enjoying a polish meal onboard the
EuroCity train. Very tasty though perhaps a bit over
generous with the gherkins!

Despite a delay waiting to reach the runway at Gatwick we arrived into Berlin on time. Taxing across the completely new but out of use runway for the still unopened Brandenburg airport was quite a strange experience! Understanding that all the trains to the airport had gone over to 'Talent' units since my last visit I was very pleased to emerge from the subway to find myself standing next to a DOSTO driving trailer. On the other end was 143 193 with the RE14 service which was taken to Hauptbahnhof.
370 007 in a ghastly pink T-Mobile advertising livery arrived with the 13:37 to Warsaw.
Having failed spectacularly to procure a bratwerst at Hauptbahnhof we decided to go for a meal in the dining car- this proved to be an excellent decision with proper food on proper plates, and not too expensive either. Well recommended.
Transfer to Wolszytn was from Zbasyznek by a very nasty SA108 unit.







30th July-

ST43 382 pauses at Wolsztyn. The coaches were being removed for works attention.

First day with the Wolsztyn experience (which I will write about in more detail separately) .

ET22 1160 near Zbaszyn.

OL49-69 is the loco currently in use (OL49-59 is expected to return later in the summer after overhaul at Leszno).
Without regular scheduled steam services this year the operation is instead working 4 day schedules covering some regular trains instead of railcars.
Today the steam worked two round trips from Wolsztyn to Zbaszynek.
The day had a few surprises- firstly at ST43-382 at Wolsztyn in the morning with a freight, also including two of the 4 wheel 'heritage' vehicles based here being taken away for attention. With so few ST43's now in traffic it was good to see one in revenue service.

Lotos 181 092 heading towards Germany at Zbazyn.

Zbasyznek proved to be busy for freight and in our brief layovers the following was observed:
DB Schenker 170 046
ET22 845 + SM42 842 (LE)
Lotos 181 092
Lotos EU07 199
ET22 1160
Rail Polska M62M 015
DB Schenker 170 039 (LE)
Freightliner E189 211

These usually do their best to avoid me so I was pleased when Rail Polska M62M 015 caught a patch of light at Zbaszynek.

31st July-

Ol49-69 passes Blotnica with an afternoon return from Leszno. The sun fortunately started to shine on the day it mattered!

Short steam trips to Nowavies Mochy, Rakoniewice and Stefanowo. Plenty of time to wander around the town of Wolsztyn and enjoy cocktails and dinner at the excellent Powozownia restaurant/bar. 

1st August-

ST43-382 pulls out of Leszno roundhouse.

Classmates ST43-208 and ST43-406 are viewed from the cab.

Two return steam trips to Leszno.
SU42 504 parked up in the station at Leszno.
Various locos parked up in and around the depot including a pair of ST44's and an SM31 in the roundhouse.
ET43-382 was around again and being shunted around to take a coal train forward to, I believe, Glogow. I managed to blag our way into the cab of the diesel which wasn't difficult and then my friend ended up driving the thing- cheeky so and so!
Spend the afternoon linesiding the steam with the help of a car and a fast driver.

M62 1186 stabled at Miedzrzecz.

2nd August-
A longer steam trip to Miedzychod by way of Zbasyznek and Miedzrzecz (where Pol Miedz Trans M62 1186 was stabled). A reasonably extensive evening in the bar followed before saying an extended goodbye to the cocktails in the Powozownia.







3rd August-

A shot I have long wanted to take; SU45-089 with a train for Kostryn photographed on the river passing through Gorzow.

Leaving Wolsztyn in the morning the original plan was to head directly to Gdansk. However until a chance discussion with Howard of the Wolsztyn experience I had not realised that the loco hauled trains for the Kostryn festival would still be running. I had wanted to cover these trains with SU45's for a couple of years so a new plan was very quickly drawn up, Instead of heading to Poznana and Gdansk we traveled by car to Zbaszynek and then on by railcar to Gorzow. The day was far from disappointing with SU45's on all the trains through Gorzow during our time there:
R88905 07:35 Krzyz - Kostryn - SU45 089
R80902 07:59 Kostryn - Krzyz - SU45 115
R80904 09:56 Kostryn - Krzyz - SU45 089
R88907 10:32 Kryzy - Kostryn - SU45 079
R80906 13:16 Kostryn - Krzyz - SU45 079
R88909 13:41 Krzyz - Kostryn - SU45 089
R88911 15:35 Krzyz - Kostryn - SU45 115

A smart SU42-506 arrives at Krzyz with 2 coaches from Pila.

Unfortunately it was only possible to get a ride with 089 and 079 (the only SU45 I didn't require) as in order to get to Chojnice (which it turns out is not pronounced anything like it is spelt) for the diesel train to Gdansk the following morning meant the last train we could take to Krzyz was at 14:08 from Gorzow leaving a long fester before the 17:26 on to Chojnice. Plenty of festival-goers clearly also had to take the long fester option as the station was littered with rucksacks and camping mats.

With all the loco hauled activity on the line to Kostryn I was not expecting to see any on the line to Pila- however I was quite mistaken as a very smart SU42 506 rolled in at 12:50 with the 11:57 from Pila with two double decks.
Making a note to watch subsequent arrivals from Pila was a good move as no sooner had SU45 rolled out with the 15:35 to Kostryn than another SU45 - 241, pulled into the station with the 14:41 from Pila!

Another departure from Krzyz to Kostryn. All in all four SU45 locos were in use on the line replacing the usual DMU's.

By this time attention had started to turn to what would form the 17:26 to Chojnice- I had naturally assumed and expected it to be a unit- but there was a set of articulated double deck coaches in the designated platform which had earlier arrived from Pila. With all the shunting going on I fully expected these to be moved to another part of the station- but instead SU45 079 shunted another coach onto the front and proceeded to sit there for some time. With no units in sight were we going to get lucky and get a hauled set all the way through to Chojnice?
The 16:00 from Pila arrived with a unit, and promptly announced it was going to form the 18:25 to Pila, meanwhile the front coach behind SU45 079 was opened up (the articulated set being locked out of use)- we were going to Chojnice hauled. Shame it was another run with, by now, very dud 079 - but still a massive bonus over the unit I expected!
Finally passed the 16:58 Pila - Krzyz which was unidentified but definitely a hauled set.

A huge amount of diesel hauled trains for 2015 in Krzys! I will definitely consider coming back next year for the festival weekend- of course that is if the SU45's last that long?

Very smart in the right light- Przewozy Regionalne EU07-186 at Krzyz.

11:56 Pila - Krzyz - SU42 506
14:41 Pila - Krzyz - SU45 241
16:58 Pila - Krzya - Unidentified loco
17:26 Krzyz - Chojnice - SU45 079

Other active locos seen at Krzyz:
PR- EU07 187
SM31 087
EP07 1026
Akiem (unbranded) 186 263
ET22 2008
EP07 435
PR- EU07 222
ET22 600
ET22 648
ET22 202
EP09 034

4th August-

SU42-532 at Rytel with the hauled service from Chojnice to Gdansk and Hel.

Having effectively missed a day in the Gdansk area while getting distracted by the festival diesels there was a bit of catching up to do today.
A lot of the ground was made up by taking the diesel hauled service from Chojnice to Gdansk, negating the need to ride it on the Hel line later. As promised SU42 534 was waiting with R50798 the 07:18 to Gdansk with two single deck coaches and an articulated set.
A good run up to Gdansk (including run around at Tczew) before leaving the train to drop off our bags at our hotel.

SU42-1007 and SU42-1006 haul EIC 5530 from Hel to Gdynia, seen passing Kuznica on the Hel peninsula.

Back to the station to catch EU07 1521 on a freight before boarding EP07 1065 up to Gdynia. Plan was to take the EIC to Hel which I expected to be the CD 754... not the case, the Goggle was nowhere to be seen and instead SU42 1006 and SU42 1007 were in charge of the train. No windows to hear the locos on the run up to Hel, not that they make any noise anyway. The return EIC was photographed as well as the other locos stabled at Hel- SU42 1005/8/10. Interesting to note that the yellow DMU's on the route had been strengthened with the addition of a loco hauled coach- I hadn't expected the DMU's to have conventional couplings- but they do.
Most trains on the Hel line seemed to be between 10-15 minutes late all afternoon.
A pleasant afternoon was spent on the beach followed by an excellent but somewhat rushed meal before taking the unconventional move (for a rail trip) of the 20:10 boat back to Gdansk. A very pleasant day.

5th August-
Having been to Hel and back today was a chance to catch some freight on the line south of Gdansk which I was expecting to be busy. Every trip has a disappointment or two and today was to be it. In 2 1/2 hours just one southbound freight was photographed, the northbound line seeing only a little more traffic (looking straight into the sun of course). I'm sure the line can be busy- I think I will put this down to poor luck to make up for the SU45's earlier in the week!

 Unbranded EU07-166 was the only southbound freight seen between Gdansk and Tczew. 

Seen was:
Newag 6Dg 139 (LE)
DB 170 048
ET22 1174 (LE)
EU07 096
ET22 1097
EU07 166 (Unbranded white/grey livery- anyone know the operator?)
A couple of passenger and a few Pendolino trains also broke the silence:
EP07 391
EP09 040
EU07 072
EP07 1040
EU07A 003


The intention was to finish the trip with a loco hauled run from Tczew back to Gdansk, but even that didn't work with the timetable if we were to make our flight. We settled on a unit back and ended up quite pushed for time once it was missed due to not realising our noodle lunch in the shopping centre was going to come as a sit down meal! On a positive the food was good and the cafe area has a great view over the station so we could see that no more freight was missed.
A quick 'tourist' wander around Gdansk resulted in us missing the planned airport bus (are you spotting a theme here!?)... so a huge ice cream was instead conquered in this time. The bus to Gdansk airport is slow and fairly unpleasant. This situation will change on 1st September when a new rail link to the airport is opened- A DMU was in the airport station testing when we passed.

Conclusions:
Overall an excellent trip. Wolsztyn was great fun (and I highly recommend the footplating experience)- with any luck 2016 will see daily steam services resume, most likely on the line to Leszno.

SU45-079 approaches Gorki Notecki

Covering the SU45's on the Kostryn trains was a real unexpected bonus of the trip and most enjoyable- having done it once I will definitely be tempted to return next year.
The Hel Line was good entertainment, though clearly a shadow of the summer fun it once was with 'real' SU42's- great beaches near the line though if one wants a break from the trains. Unfortunately as a result of the 'change of plan' we never made it to Leba to sample the diesels on this line.
Since I was last in Poland in 2012 a lot more EMU's have come on stream and far fewer locos now wear traditional colours (only one active ET22 spotted in green all trip)- however there is still much of interest in Poland and I will of course be back.
Travel for the whole trip was on point to point tickets with many of the Polish regional trains being purchased on board. I think we may have paid an extra couple of zloty for the privilege. This arrangement is certainly much more hassle than using a railpass which as I usually would for such trips.
Thanks are due to Jon Wright for convincing me that Wolsztyn was a good idea, and for his company on the trip. Also to Howard at the Wolsztyn Experience for all his assistance during the week and especially his gen on the SU45's.

A somewhat shabby SU45-241 arrives into Krzyz with a set of articulated double deckers from Pila.

While I'm away...

I'm out of the country this week on another railway adventure. Here are a few clues as to what you may be reading about next!

No fatal passenger accidents for a record 8th year

A busy scene at Waterloo- Britain's railways are now busier and safer than ever before according to the latest RSSB report.

The Rail Safety and Standards Board has recently published figures revealing that there has now not been a fatal passenger accident on British trains for a record 8th year. This is a great achievement that the rail industry should duly be proud of- confirming rail travel as one of the very safest ways to move around the UK. The network is now busier then ever before with more and more leisure travelers and commuters choosing to take the train. The last fatal rail passenger accident was in February 2007 when a Virgin Trains Pendolino derailed at Greyrigg killing one passenger.
More however could be done to curb railway suicides which reached an all time high this year. Investment is already being made by Network Rail and train operators who work closely with organisations such as the Samaritans to try to prevent people from ending their lives on the railways.

World Heritage Status for the Forth Bridge

A Scotrail 170 approaches North Queensferry on the Forth Bridge back in 2010 before the 'endless' task of painting it finished!

67021 exits the Forth Bridge heading south into Dalmeny with
one of the loco-hauled Fife Circle trains. These are now in the
hands of Class 68 locomotives from DRS.

In early July 2015 the Forth Rail Bridge in Scotland was officially awarded 'World Heritage Status' by UN's cultural committees meeting in Bonn. The bridge, completed in 1890 was the longest cantilever bridge in the world at it's time of construction (today it is surpassed only by the Quebec bridge in Canada) spanning the Firth of Forth between Edinburgh and Dundee in Scotland.

The bridge was designed by Sir John Fowler and Benjemin Baker to a grand design (partly to reassure the public after the collapse of Thomas Booche's spindly Tay Bridge which disastrously fell into the Firth of Tay in 1879. 125 years since its completion the Forth Bridge is still carrying up to 200 trains a day and with it's heritage status, also awarded to to structures such as the Pyramids of Giza and the Great Wall of China it is set to be preserved for the future as a Scottish Landmark. 

The bridge is famous for the 'Never ending' task of painting it. A constant maintenance crew have been based on the bridge for much of it's life- however in 2011 Network Rail completed a re-pair and repaint on the bridge which will will last for the next 20 years. 

A Scotrail DMU looks somewhat insignificant against the vast Forth Bridge and the firth below.

Loco hauled on the Cumbrian Coast

37409 'Lord Hinton' leads 2C34 the 14:35 Carlisle - Barrow towards Nethertown on a beautiful stretch of the Cumbrian Coast. 9th July 2015

In an amazing turn of events loco hauled passenger trains have returned to one of the UK's most scenic railways. Four trains in each direction six days a week between Carlisle and Barrow-in-Furness are now in the hands of class 37's from DRS hauling the companies refurbished Mk2 coaches. 

37603 powers along the Cumbrian Coast with the 14:37Barrow-in-Furness to Carlisle on 9th June 2015. On a beautiful day it ishard to imagine how exposed this coastal railway, and the ramshackleseaside cottages can become during a stormy winter. 

In order to fill a shortage of DMU's following the transfer of class 170's from Transpennine to Chiltern the Department for Transport has funded these loco hauled trains, which in turn allow Northern to loan class 156's to Transpennine. This also tallies with a long standing ambition of DRS to run additional 'workers' trains to the nuclear complex at Sellafield- by far the largest single employer in the area.

These trains are ultimately going to be operated with a single class 37/4 in push/pull formation with three standard Mk2 coaches and a DBSO, however for the start of operations the DBSO's have not been available resulting in top and tailed trains. Because there are only a limited number of ETH fitted 37/4's (and only one is required per trainset) the second locomotive has often been from the DRS freight pools, giving a chance to experience regular passenger turns with freight 37's- who would have though it in 2015!?

66424 leads 37605 and flasks as they head southbound on a gorgeous summers evening at Ravenglass on the Cumbrian Coast line. Nuclear traffic makes up a large proportion of the freight workings over the Cumbrian Coast line with trains serving the large nuclear reprocessing facility at Sellafield. 9th July 2015.

The passenger trains are not the only attraction (not withstanding the scenery) of this line- the proximity of the nuclear facility at Sellafield also produces several flows of interesting freight trains along this line, usually in the hand of DRS's varied fleet and often with interesting wagons such as the nuclear flasks. Trains can run each day from Sellafield to a variety of locations on the network to serve Britains nuclear power stations and also docks such as Barrow where nuclear materials are imported and to the low level waste depository a few stops down the line at Drigg.

Usual traffic on the line is formed of a selection of Northern Rail's DMU's from classes 142, 150, 153 and 156- while adequate for the job the certainly do not provide the level of comfort of a loco-hauled Mk2. 10th July 2015.

2C42 the 17:37 Carlisle Barrow pulls into St Bees on 9th July 2015 with
37423 'Spirit of the Lakes' at the helm. Here it will cross the other loco hauled set before continuing on to Barrow-in-Furness.

The current loco's and stock are due to run for the foreseeable future but if you want to catch the top and tail operation, complete with freight 37's you will have to be quick- the first DBSO has already started training on the Cumbrian Coast route. If you like great scenery, and class 37's I can only say that you really must get yourself up to Cumbria- and hope to have the glorious weather I have enjoyed. I hope to be back before long to try a few more of the spectacular photographic locations this part of the world has to offer.

On 10th July 2015 'freight' 37218 is seen heading north from Seascale with 2C41 the 14:37 Barrow - Carlisle.

Double Thumpers at the Spa Valley

Different styles of Thumper meet at Eridge on the Spa Valley Railway. 1317 and 1133 on loan from the Lavender Line.

The weekend of 4th and 5th July 2015 marked a historic occasion for the Spa Valley Railway- it was 30 years since the closure of the original line from Eridge to Tunbridge Wells.
To mark the anniversary it was decided to do something special, and thanks to many very generous donations to raise the funds for road transportation it was agreed to bring a 'guest' class 205 Thumper unit to the line to join the resident class 207.

'Oxted' 2D 1317 was one of the units working on the line on its very last day, so it was fitting that the DEMU was purchased by the Spa Valley Railway when it finished its service with Southern (numbered 207017) in 2004. It has been restored to blue/grey livery as it would have worn on the last day of service. In the future the the unit will also be re-united with it's original trailer coach which is currently being restored. 1317 has been restored beautifully and is in many ways the best example of a thumper in preservation- it will be the only three car set, and also unlike the remainder of it's class mate and the class 205's it retained its original filament lamps throughout it's BR career while other units received more modern strip lighting. The units has been finished internally with prototypical 'trojan' moquette seat covers and looks quite the part.

1133 at Eridge. The author recalls traveling on the Uckfield
line with this unit on many occasions- and photographing it in
the near platform - still used by Southern services today.

1133 is a slightly older 'Hampshire' unit which passed to the Lavender Line on completion of its service with Southern (as 205033) on the (London)-Oxted-Uckfield and Ashford-Hastings routes. The motor car has been restored to a high standard and currently runs with the restored driving trailer coach from 205021, on loan from Hastings Diesels. While 1133 did not run on the final day of the Tunbridge Wells - Eridge line (that honour befell 1125 which hauled the final train) the unit did take part in the final 'Last Thump' railtours bringing down the curtain of the class running on the British main line for Southern.

Complete with the headboards from 30 years ago 1317 prepares to lead the 4 car train away from Eridge.

On the Saturday the two units operated all services on the line and the weather was beautiful from start to finish making this a fantastic, and well supported day out. Later on in the evening both thumpers joined together to run as a 4 car train. There was even a special photo-shoot organised at Eridge where the units were shunted into adjacent platforms in order to re-create the side by side photograph from 30 years earlier.

Recreating the scene from 30 years previous. 1317 and 1133
stand side by side at Eridge.

The two thumpers pass at Groombridge. The different in front
end styling can clearly be seen.

All in all I think everyone agreed that this was a splendid day out and one which no thumper fan would want to have missed. If you did- 1133 will be staying at the Spa Valley for the summer affording a few more opportunities to catch the DEMU's together- the next at the railways summer diesel gala from 30th July- 2nd June.

1121's trailer leads 2H 1133 at Ford Farm Crossing. The second
track is the mainline from Oxted to Uckfield.

Also running on the Saturday was another DEMU- Hastings Diesels 1001, these days the only Thumper to get a chance to stretch its legs on the mainline network. A sighting of 1001 working the Warwickshire Wanderer tour brings the total number of 4-SRKT engines heard for the day to four- not something easy to achieve since 2004 when thumpers bowed off the main line!

1001 with the Warwickshire Wanderer railtour bound for Stratford on Avon seen passing Wandsworth Town.

Early Bluebird

It is already warm at 06:20 on the hottest day of the year as 73141 'Charlotte' leads a test train and 73201 'Broadlands' through Hersham on 1st July 2015. This time of year, with super long days, brings about all sorts of opportunities that cannot be taken at other times. This photograph is possible for just a few months as at other times of the year the sun rises on the other side of the railway. 

By next summer it is highly likely that the class 73/0's from GB Railfreight will have been replaced by Network Rail's own class 73/9's. 

The train here is seen with the first leg of its days schedule, 1Q85, from Woking to Waterloo. On the next part of the trains duty while heading down to Southampton the test vehicles developed a fault resulting in the train returning early to Hither Green.

How time slams by... 10 years since the end of South West Slam-Doors

The empty stock, led by 3CIG 1497 approaches Wimbledon on a gorgeous June morning. 4VEP 3417 is on the rear.

Heritage repaint 3417 'Gordon Pettitt' stands at Waterloo.

Where did 10 years go??!!
Actually when I think about it an awful lot has changed in the past 10 years, purely on a personal level I have started and finished University, got my first 'proper' job- and then my second 'proper' job! I've made a lot of friends, had a lot of fun and, of course, seen a lot of trains!
It somehow just doesn't feel like a whole 10 years have gone by since we had to say goodbye to the slammers though. After all these were the trains that got me into the hobby and I will never forget those early days for me, with my Platform 5 book, a handful of unit diagrams from long since deceased Yahoo Groups and a London Travelcard.
The format was simple- how many of the 'slammers' could I do in a day, and what were the best units I could get a ride on. Even in the dying days of the 400 series stock there were still CEP units around, and these probably got the most attention, then there were those units which were in unusual liveries- South Eastern had the green CEP 1592, the unique Connex CEP 1602, and still retained some CIG's and CEP's in Network South East colours (all be it very shabby!). On Southern there were the 'phase 1' CIG's- some still with string luggage racks in their compartments and 3514- the only VEP to receive the attractive green livery which came in with Govia taking the franchise. On the South West division four 4-VEP's lingered on in NSE colours, and of course there was 'Gordon Pettitt', VEP 3417 which received a stunning repaint into BR Rail Blue.

The blue/grey livery of 1497 is reflected in the windows of the
modern Northam traincare depot which would maintain the
replacement fleet of Siemens class 450 and 444 'Desiros'.

By the beginning of 2005 it was clear that the last of the slammers, condemned so many years previously, were not going to see out the year.
The first of the three operators to say goodbye to the slam doors was South West Trains. The final passenger service train was run in late May leaving just two 'Seaside Slammer' excursions, the first on the 11th June for staff, and the public outing on the 18th June to bring the curtain down.
Celebrity unit 3417 'Gordon Pettitt' together with 3-CIG 1498 'Freshwater' (overhauled and painted into Blue/Grey livery for its retirement on the Lymington Branch, which would remain as a 'Heritage' slam door operation) were turned out for the public tour. The weather could not have been better for the run down to Weymouth which ran outwards via the Guildford New Line and the Portsmouth Direct before rejoining the mainline at Southampton. The return was a run straight up the mainline concluding with a 'fast' run up from Bournemouth to Waterloo.
This was a fitting end to slam door operation in the South West, and now left just two operators to battle it out for the honor of running the last Mk1 slam door train later in the year.

VEP 3417 in the sunshine at Brockenhurst on the outbound run to Weymouth.