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Cross Country 43303 at Sutton Coldfield

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Description

Here working the 1V48 Leeds to Plymouth is Cross Country Class 43's, 43378 and 43303, making a welcome change from the line's regular suburban trains.

Sutton Coldfield has never been known for routinely scheduled express trains, but on Sundays only, Arriva Cross Country operates a single diagram via the route from Wichnor Junction to Birmingham New Street, passing through Lichfield, Sutton Coldfield, and Aston on the busy Cross-City Line, which normally doesn't see more than the slew of London Midland Class 323's.

The route is the primary diversionary route for Cross Country trains when the line between Birmingham and Tamworth is closed for engineering work, and throughout the years has seen all manner of diverted traffic pass along its rails.

The most infamous of these however was on the 23rd January, 1955, a diverted express from York to Bristol hauled by LMS Black 5 45274, took the sharp, 30mph corner at Sutton Coldfield station at nearly 60mph. The result was the train leaving the rails after leaving the tunnel at the north end of the platforms before smashing across the Down Line and onto the platform, completely obliterating the small station buildings and tearing apart the station roof as the carriages piled up on top of one-another. In all, 17 people were killed including the train crew. The cause of the disaster was owed largely to the crew's inexperience with the route, and their disorientation with the location of the speed restrictions.

Today however, the route is still  primarily operated by Class 323 commuter services on a regular basis, although aside from Sunday's unique HST working, during weekdays before dawn or after hours, Cross Country and Virgin Trains use the route to work empty stock Class 220 and 221 Voyager sets between Birmingham New Street and their main maintenance depot at Central Rivers near Burton-on-Trent. It also sees some evening workings by Cross Country Class 170's, either operating empty stock workings between Nottingham and their Tyseley depot, or some late evening workings between Derby, Nottingham and Birmingham.
Image size
2945x2085px 4.49 MB
Make
Panasonic
Model
DMC-GF5
Shutter Speed
1/160 second
Aperture
F/6.3
Focal Length
42 mm
ISO Speed
160
Date Taken
Jan 10, 2016, 11:09:31 AM
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