East Coast Main Line Trains at Hadley Wood on July 30th 2021

1st time to Hadley Wood on the East Coast Main Line and also my 1st time on the East Coast Main Line since September 2019

Featuring services from LNER, Thameslink, Great Northern, Grand Central and Hull Trains

Hadley Wood station opened by the GNR (Great Northern Railway) on May 1st 1885 and it's located on the border of North London and Hertfordshire.

It opened as just a two track station however the present layout dates from 1959 when the ECML was quadrupled to 4 tracks.

Nowadays the outer platforms 1 and 4 are used by Great Northern services to and from Moorgate and Welwyn Garden City whilst the centre platforms 2 and 3 are only used for emergencies only.

Staffing at the station is part time and there is a self ticket machine and as well as Oyster cards can be used here although at present only go up North as far as Potters Bar although there are plans to expand to Welwyn Garden City although there won't be for the time being.

Great Northern services serve now operated by Class 717s which replaced the Class 313s in October 2019 although built identically to the Class 700s on Thameslink however the one main difference is the nose of the train fitted with a centre door which is to enable emergency on the tunnel section of the Northern City Line between Drayton Park and Moorgate.

Class 387s now occupy the mainline workings from London Kings Cross to Cambridge, Ely and Kings Lynn although at the time of filming Class 387/2s from Gatwick Express were hired in both for Great Northern as well as Great Western Railway.

On LNER nowadays majority of services are occupied by Class 800 and 801 Azumas although the main difference is the 801s are electric only whilst the 800s are fitted with a Diesel engine for non electrified routes especially for service such as Harrogate, Lincoln Central, Hull, Aberdeen and Inverness and soon in December 2021 Middlesbrough.

The Class 91s been on the ECML since 1988 are still going for now although it's days in service are numbered and are likely to be replaced by end of 2022 although according to LNER plans for a new timetable have recently been pushed back until May 2023 at the earliest.

Thameslink Trains now Class 700s still run certain services from London Kings Cross although most nowadays go via St Pancras International via the Canal Tunnels with services to Peterborough from Horsham and Cambridge to Brighton.

Also as well as Class 802 Paragons being in service on Hull Trains also they are also used for driver training and route knowledge in preparation for the launch of East Coast Trains and Class 803s however since filming East Coast Trains was rebranded as Lumo on September 7th with operations due to begin in Late October.

On May 8th 2021 all LNER Azumas were temporary withdrawn from Service after cracks were discovered on GWR IETs on the Jacking Plates which caused widespread disruption which also included Hull Trains and Transpennine Express.

Although those were able to reinstate services gradually within days however GWR and LNER were disrupted for a few weeks although repairs are ongoing however it was revealed in June in Railway Magazine that repairs could take up until the end of 2022 to complete on all trains.

As for the station itself eventhough it's sandwiched between two tunnels however sometimes you just don't know which train fast or slow will turn up next.

Music used:
JJD - Adventure
Music provided by NCS

Video link:
NoCopyrightSounds
   • JJD - Adventure | Glitch Hop | NCS - ...  

Filmed on Friday July 30th 2021 on iPhone 11 and edited on iMovie

#lner #eastcoastmainline #hitachi #thameslink #class800 #class802 #class700