A Lonely Stansted Express In East London
When I last visited Emerson Park station, I travelled in a rather clean Class 317 train, that had been refurbished for use on the Stansted Express. I was surprised to see that today it is still there.
As this is a train with a universal-access toilet, luggage racks, a First Class section and has been fully refurbished in only 2000, surely this train, which is one of fifteen, could be better employed somewhere else. These two airport routes are possibilities.
1. Routes to Manchester Airport from Liverpool and in the near future, Preston and Bolton.
2. Cardiff to Swansea via Cardiff Airport, after South Wales is fully electrified.
But then as Northern Rail are happy with their Class 319 Trains, perhaps we’re getting to the point that we’re going to have to put better class trains into storage.
On the other hand cities like Glasgow and Leeds are looking to create purpose-built rail links to their airports. So building these links will hopefully be more affordable as the trains might not need to be built.
It has also to be noted that according to the Future section in Wikipedia for the Class 317 trains, a demonstration is being built to see if it is worth fitting new traction equipment and an updated interior, to give the trains a life extension of twenty years.
Remember though that these trains are based on Mark 3 Coaches and thus are inbred to both chameleons and Lazarus, so it looks like if they refurbish the Class 317 trains, they’ll outlive some of the much younger trains.
TfL Rail’s Newly-Repainted Class 315 Trains
Until the delivery of Crossrail’s new Class 345 trains in a few years, TfL Rail will have to make do with the current Class 315 trains.
In the interim, they have given them a repaint.
As you can see, they are also removing the dreaded pink plastic, that I so dislike.
It’s Not Just An Elderly, White Male Prejudice
I find the pink, plastic interiors of British Rails Class 315, 317 and 319 trains not too my taste but I’ve always thought it was to do with being elderly, white and male.
The Pink Interior Of A Class 315 Train
But after a trip on a Class 315 train today, where I took this picture, I think there are others who think that the colour choice was that of a fifth-rate designer, who had some rather unusual preferences. An Asian lady in her twenties saw me take the picture and when I told her why, she wholeheartedly agreed with my opinion.
It is interesting to note, that all refurbishments of these trains in recent years have removed the pink plastic.
Enfield Town Is Almost Ready For Boris
I went through Enfield and Enfield Town station this morning before nine thirty. I used my Freedom Pass, which of course I couldn’t have done before the Overground takeover.
Apart from the 307 bus from Oakwood tube station, that I used to get to Enfield, which still thought National Rail was in charge, there didn’t seem to be too much to fault.
The Anonymous Widower 