Avanti West Coast
OnWednesday, January 17, and for the following two days, unbranded plain white Class 805 No. 805002 ran ECS (Empty Coaching Stock) from Oxley Depot as 5Q30/06.40 to Glasgow Central and return at 12.32.
A combination of weekend engineering works and then Storm Isha meant that after AWC’s Glasgow Central (1M17) left for London Euston at 16.40 on Saturday, January 20 with Class 390 No. 390155, the next direct service to Euston from there didn't depart until 13.33 on January 22, when No. 390013 worked 1M10/09.34 which departed 79 minutes late.
Weather warnings from the Met Office resulted in AWC telling passengers not to travel north of Preston after 15.30 on January 23. The last scheduled service from London to Glasgow departed at 15.30 (17.41 from Preston) and was expected to be extremely busy. The last trains from Glasgow and Edinburgh left before 17.00. Train services to and from Scotland were not expected to resume earlier than 12.00 on January 24.
On Wednesday, January 24 Storm Jocelyn meant that the first AWC direct service from Glasgow Central to London Euston on that day was 1M12 which departed at 11.54 worked by Class 390 No. 390125. Also, on the same day the first arrival direct from Euston (1S58) at Glasgow Central was at 16.57 formed with No. 390047.
LNER
Observed on Wednesday, January 10, Class 91 No. 91110 Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, in Lest We Forget livery, was at platform 1 at King’s Cross at the head of the 1D17/14.03 departure to Leeds.
A visit to Leeds by a correspondent on January 25, to sample Class 91 haulage, found No. 91110 on the 11.15 to King’s Cross, No. 91111 on the 12.45, and No. 91119 on the 13.15.
Great Western Railway
In mid-January two grey containers, understood to contain the fast charge equipment, were seen on hard standing on the opposite side of the track from platform 5 at West Ealing station. The battery train trials are now understood to be planned for March.
On Wednesday, January 10, a journey was made from West Ealing to South Greenford on the 2G22/11.10 from West Ealing to Greenford, formed of Class 165 No. 165120. A few minutes later, No. 165120 was seen again, approaching South Greenford, now forming the 2G23/11.25 from Greenford to West Ealing. A short hop was made from Drayton Green to West Ealing on Friday, January 26, using the 2G25/12.00 departure from Greenford formed of No. 165125.
ScotRail
All ScotRail services across the country were suspended from 19.00 on Sunday, January 21, and there was no rush hour services on Monday morning, as the extreme weather from Storm Isha arrived. With the safety of passengers and staff of paramount importance, Network Rail had taken the decision to close the railway to public services while the worst of the weather hit the infrastructure.
This followed a further review of the weather forecasts that afternoon, which showed that the conditions would be much worse in many areas than earlier forecasts had predicted. Heavy winds of up to 70/80mph were expected, which could lead to trees and other debris falling onto the tracks, making conditions unsafe to operate trains. This could also lead to trains being trapped on the network. Line closures continued into Monday. Each route then had to undergo a safety inspection, which meant it was later on Monday before any trains could run.
As a result of the storm, the Overhead Line Equipment (OLE) was reported damaged between Motherwell and Cambuslang. Due to damage to the OLE wires between Motherwell and Glasgow Central, the line northbound was blocked. Train services running to and from these stations were cancelled or delayed by up to 60 minutes. Disruption
