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One Railway's 156416 'Saint Edmund' lost the rainbow stripes from it's one livery after repairs at Crown Point depot on 20th. 'One' offically became 'National Express East Anglia' on Wednesday 27th. 156416 is seen departing Norwich on 22nd February, with 156407 (with stripes) in the background. Photo: Geoff Tibble

• First ScotRail. 156467 returned to Corkerhill from Brush Barclay (Kilmarnock) on 1st February.

January 2008

• First ScotRail. 156467, damaged in October, was taken by road to Brush Barclay (Kilmarnock) for underframe repairs on 3rd January.

• One Railway. 156407 ran from Norwich to Doncaster on 13th, for a C4 overhaul (bogies and couplings) at Wabtec, returning on 19th (photo) Sister unit 156409 went to Doncaster on 27th.

Bittern line 156417 had lost it's 'one' logos by the end of the month (photo), as had Green 156419.

• East Midlands Trains. 156411 was borrowed by CrossCountry on Tuesday 18th to work 1V14 09:00 Nottingham - Cardiff, and 1M66 1245 Cardiff - Nottingham return.

Two EMT units visited Liverpool on Friday 11 January 2008.

Due to the failure of 158785 at Norwich, the 1M05 05:52 Norwich - Liverpool was started at Nottingham at 08:42 with 156401, which returned to Nottingham on 1L19 1152 Liverpool - Norwich where it was swapped for 158866.

On the same day 156413 worked 1L05 07:06 Mansfield Woodhouse - Norwich and then 1M19 10:57 Norwich - Liverpool.

December 2007

With engineering work at Shields Junction in Glasgow blocking access to Corkerhill depot, the former EWS Depot at Motherwell was used by First ScotRail to service class 156 units during the Christmas period. 156503 and 156496 were two of the units stabled at Motherwell TMD on 31st December. Photo: Graham Scott (with permission from EWS)

• One Railway. 'East Suffolk Lines' branded 156422 was given an official launch on Monday 3rd, with a VIP trip from Ipswich to Felixstowe and back.

A hybrid set formed of 57416 (one livery) and 52419 (green) was in use from Norwich on 5th and 6th of December (photo)..

Re-formed 156416 'Saint Edmund'', had lost it's 'one' branding by the end of the month

November 2007

One Railway's 156422 had 'East Suffolk Lines' promotional branding applied to it's one livery at Crown Point depot on 16th. The unit is seen here arriving at Ipswich on 24th November. Photo: Keith Parlow

• First ScotRail. Bombardier completed the final two of the 20 unit refresh programme: 156474 left Derby on Thursday 1st, and the last 156485 departing on Friday 16th (photo).

• The new East Midlands Trains franchise started on Sunday 11th of November. EMT inherits the fleet of 11 class 156 units previously operated by Central Trains.

All 11 units are in CT green livery, and have had branding removed (or partly removed).

Problems with rolling stock availablity have seen a few instances of EMT 156s working from Nottingham to Liverpool in place of 158s.

On Wednesday 21st, 156408 worked 10:52 Liverpool - Norwich as far as Nottingham (where 158770 worked forward) and on Thursday 29th 156401 took over the 12:57 Norwich - Liverpool from Nottingham (158773 worked in from Norwich).

• Northern Rail. By the 17th, 156438 had been repainted into the lastest Northern Rail livery. There is no picture vinyl or website address on the purple mid bodyside on this unit. (Photo).

Northern's Porterbrook owned units are now receiving new HID/LED light clusters, of the type already fitted to the former Central Trains 156s. 156420 was the first noted at the end of the month. (Photo).

October 2007

• First ScotRail. on Monday 22nd October, 156467 sustained severe underframe damage when it ran into several large tree stumps which had been placed on the line ahead of Busby Viaduct.

The unit was on the 18:46 East Kilbride - Glasgow Central service, fortunately train stayed on the rails and none of staff or nine passengers on the train were injured. [BTP appeal for Info]

Bombardier completed two more interior refurbishments during October: 156453 which left Derby on Tuesday 9th, and 156477 departing on Tuesday 23rd.

The last two units sent to the Litchurch Lane works were 156474 - south on Wednesday 10th (photo) and 156485 south on Wednesday 24th (photo).

• One Railway 156418 struck the bufferstop on arrival at Sherringham on Wednesday 10th, whilst working the 10:45 train from Norwich. Four passengers were treated for minor injuries. The unit sustained damage to the front gangway connection and obstacle deflector.

During repairs at Norwich Crown Point depot, it was given a heavy interior clean and fitted with new seat covers and carpet in the 'one' colour scheme. 156412 also had a retrim earlier in the month, so eight of nine units have now been done.

Crown Point depot put a misformed set into traffic on Saturday 20th. 57402 (Chaplefield livery) and 57419 (ex-Central Trains Green) were paired whilst the other halfs were stopped for engine changes. Vehicles 52402 and 52419 were also paired together on Monday 22nd, before the sets were reformed that night.

Reports from Northern Railway Forum and Class_156_Sprinters, Scot-Rail, Northern_Rail, Anglia-Gen.


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