The map below shows the area covered by East Midlands Railway and its predecessor East Midlands Trains.
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Trains from the East Midlands to London are called EMR Intercity and those from Corby, Luton to London called EMR Connect and are not part of day rangers.
The remainder, EMR Regional is split between a ranger based around Nottinghamshire and another based around Lincolnshire.
Roger & Ken chose a Nottinghamshire option and added an anytime single from Nuneaton to Nottingham as the rangers can only be used after 9.00 am on weekdays.
Participating train companies are Cross Country; East Midlands Railway; West Midlands Trains; and Northern. The area covered is shown below.
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After winter, a trip is planned using a Lincolnshire Ranger.
The planned itinerary was as follows:-
Nuneaton 07.24 – Leicester 07.53
Option of express or stopper service from Leicester to Nottingham
Leicester 08.48 - Nottingham 09.11
Nottingham 09.25 - Worksop 10.34
Worksop 10.39 - Nottingham 11.43
Nottingham 12.35 - Lincoln 13.29
Lincoln 13.35 - Nottingham 14.25
Nottingham 14.40 - Peterborough 15.41
Peterborough 15.49 - Leicester 16.49
Same train
Leicester 16.50 - Nuneaton 18.08
There was no time to travel on the Matlock and Alfreton branches in daylight
They were 5 mins late arriving at Lincoln and 30 mins late returning to Nottingham due to slow moving train in front. They missed their connection to Peterborough and with no suitable connections they went over to plan B which was to stay on the same train to Leicester
Actual Itinerary
Nuneaton 07.24 – Leicester 07.53
Leicester 08.25 - Nottingham 08.57 chance to travel on a class 222
Nottingham 09.25 - Worksop 10.34
Worksop 10.39 - Nottingham 11.43
Nottingham 12.35 - Lincoln 13.34
Lincoln 13.35 - Nottingham 14.55
Stay on train to Leicester arriving at least 30 mins late
Leicester 16.12 - Peterborough 17.11 missing out route via Grantham
Peterborough 17.50 – Nuneaton 19.08
Below are some of the railway items of interest you can see using this ranger
1] NET trams to Hucknall on former BR lines on Worksop Branch
2] Harry Needle’s vast storage site on both sides of the line as you approach Worksop https://www.harry-needle.co.uk/
3] Leicester depot home of UKRL http://www.ukrl.co.uk/
4] Nottingham Depot home for many EMR DMUs
5] Boden Rail at Nottingham at Nottingham Eastcroft depot
6] Most of the level crossings are automatic half barrier but the one near Creswell has gates, manually operated from a signal box and protected by semaphore signals
7] The crossing on the level of the East Coast Main Line and the Lincoln line near Newark
8] Restored station building at Mansfield Woodhouse
8] The closed Brush works at Loughborough https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brush_Traction
The Worksop line is known as The Robin Hood Line and signage has branding
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Hood_Line
The Leicester / / Loughborough line is known as The Ivanhoe line and signage has branding
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivanhoe_line
Pictures by Ken Jones
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| A good start to the day as we see 730 001 stabled at Nuneaton |
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| 170 637 is our Cross-Country train to Leicester |
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| UKRL at Leicester s where we saw 08,37, 43,47,56,58 and 91117, 91120 in Euro Phoenix livery |
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| 014 in EMR Intercity livery with service to London |
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| 222 001 at Leicester in older EMR Intercity livery |
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| 156 919 at Nottingham in new EMR Regional livery |
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| 195 005 at Nottingham with a service from Leeds |
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| New class 170 livery includes unit number on sides |
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| Poster advertising new EMR services – not exactly new trains but refurbished units |
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| 170 420 at Worksop for service to Nottingham |
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| Part of the vast storage sidings at Worksop, includes Greater Anglia class 720 and SW Trains class 701 units |
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| Older EMR Regional livery |
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| 66194 heads RHTT train through Nottingham with 66015 at the rear |
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| 158 856 arrives with our service to Lincoln |
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| Units on Nottingham depot with Boden Rail on the the far right |
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| The East Coast main line crossing near Newark |
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| 158 856 at Lincoln as we rush across the footbridge for our train back to Nottingham |
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| EMR Intercity 180113 is seen at Leicester with a train for London |
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| 170 398 has brought us from Leicester to Peterborough |
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| 801 109 is one of several Azumas stopped at Peterborough due to overhead wires down near Retford |
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| Southbound trains from Peterborough are not affected including this Thameslink service |
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| 66713 is seen with a freight passing the station |
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| 755 333 has just arrived with a service from East Anglia and will soon be departing on the return service |
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| 170621 is our return Cross-Country service to Nuneaton |
