simple simon
Member
Friday doesn't appear to have been trial running as such. It appears that different testing was underway. 345037 and 345041 went into the tunnel from Old Oak Depot just after 6am and returned around lunchtime. Then, later it appears that there was something more closely resembling what happened earlier in the week but still not timetabled.
Friday's operations are different (ie not timetabled in open data) to those on Saturday to Thursday (timetabled as if the public service was running).
I had wondered about Friday as I saw nothing about trial running for that day on RealTimeTrains, but it was my first opportunity to travel to Custom House ... so I went anyway, in hope! What I saw there fully justified my journey and whilst I might have a twinge of disappointment for not seeing a Class 345 train every 15 minutes (per direction) what I did see more than made up for it.
On my way home I filmed the last fast trains on GEML local services at Manor Park and Forest Gate. Much to my surprise one of the trains I filmed was actually a Class 315. Next week (alas) the trains will be stopping at all stations* but hopefully I'll be able to see a 9-car Class 345 out and about. Hmm, sort of a 'back to the future' as the LNER Class 306 trains which served the Great Eastern Main Line after electrification also comprised 9 cars, albeit as three 3-car sets in multiple ... these of course were displaced by the 8-car Class 315 trains that were originally built for this route with many later being sent away for other services.
*When I was younger I could get from Ilford to Liverpool Street on a non-stop Class 312 (or occasionally Class 309, very nice!) train in just 12 minutes, now all GEML services from Ilford call at all stations and the journey takes 18 minutes - and people call it 'progress'.
As this thread is not about films I've added my YouTube video to the 'Photography Sites, Blogs & Videos' section - https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/crossrail-elizabeth-line-trial-running-begins.217455/.
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