BLS - Fixture Reports

The Branch Line Society (Test)

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The East Midlands Depot Tracker
Saturday 2nd March 2013

On the 2nd March 2013 the Society operated the next in a sequence of "Tracker" tours. The East Midlands Depot Tracker, comprising 2 Class 156 units from East Midlands Trains, departed from Crewe with a full complement of Society Members and a sizable number of non–members (some of whom have subsequently joined the Society). The full details of timings and the route covered are shown below but in brief the train completed all booked lines that were available on the day and actually managed to complete several lines at both Etches Park and Eastcroft Depots that had not been planned but which were added in at the last moment – this included the carriage washing plants at both depots and resulted in the train being fully externally cleaned on three occasions!

156401 coming on to Etches Park

The train ran to (or near) time for most of the day despite a couple of delays and returned to Crewe in the evening only a few minutes late. Finally it should be mentioned that the train crew provided by East Midlands Trains and the depot staff at both Eastcroft and Etches Park entered into the friendly spirit of the day and provided a very special day out by ensuring as much as possible in route mileage was covered. It remains for the Fixtures Secretary to publicly thank East midlands Trains, the Depot staff at Etches Park and Eastcroft and, last but certainly not least, the Fixtures team on board.