Major expansion for TfW 197s
The beginning of July brought the passenger debut of the first three-car Class 197s, with July 2 seeing 197110 work 1K50, the 08.57 Chester to Crewe, which was then followed by 197112 forming 1D48, the 15.00 Crewe to Chester. This heralded a significant increase in the number of the CAF-built units available for traffic with Transport for Wales, which was set to double the size of the accepted fleet to more than 30 by the end of July. Two-car 197043 made its passenger entry with 1F99, the 14.43 Chester to Liverpool Lime Street on June 30 and on July 3-11, 197001/016/020/042 and 197104/111 had all joined it.
ETCS-fitted examples 197030 and 197031 were moved separately from Donnington to Wolverton via an overnight stay at Basford Hall in late June; 66420 initially hauled 197031 to Crewe on June 20 and 66542 completed the job the next day. On June 22, 66515 had charge of 6Q97, the 10.05 Donnington RFT to Basford Hall, with 197030, 66569 working it forward to Wolverton the next morning.
Another new set, 197051, was transferred from Donnington to Arriva Traincare at Crewe behind 70005 on July 11. Fresh from modifications at Wolverton, 197105 was returned to Crewe by 66542 on June 21, with 66572 and 197005 following the same path five days later. Heading in the opposite direction on June 19 was 47830 with 197102.
New ground for Welsh units
Work is continuing to expand the operating sphere of the Transport for Wales Class 231s, the evening of June 23 seeing 231009 perform 3Q97, the 19.34 Cardiff Central to Cardiff Canton gauging run, via Aberdare and Merthyr Tydfil, thereby becoming the first of the Stadler units to work beyond Pontypridd.
Similar new ground was broken on July 9 when 231007 worked north of Gloucester for the first time with 3Z33, the 15.46 Canton to Cheltenham and 3Z32, the 17.33 return.
A Class 398 tram-train debuted at Pontypridd early on June 23 during overnight test running from Taff’s Well depot, with 398009 working two return trips from Radyr. The latest delivery to the type’s still under-construction depot is 398010, which arrived by road from Portbury Docks on July 7.
In contrast, the last two Class 769 Flex units remaining at Canton depot were removed by road from Cardiff Brickyard sidings on July 10-14, with 769445 and then 769421 joining their sisters in store at Long Marston.
Class 313s
