Class 317 Rare Scenes

During my Christmas visit to Cambridge I saw two rare sightings of Class 317. Normally the Cambridge - London Liverpool St services are worked by the Class 317/6 units or occasionally a Class 317/5. These units were built originally for commuter services out of Kings Cross to Cambridge, Peterborough and Kings Lynn. Nowadays the Class 365 Networkers work all of the services between Kings Lynn/Cambridge - London Kings Cross. Today I got the treat of Stansted Express Class 317 884 replacing a Class 317/6 on a Liverpool St service whilst FCC refurbished Class 317 339 was replacing the booked Class 365 on a Kings Cross service.

I was not expecting to see one of the light blue Class 317/8's as they normally work the Stansted Express services with the Class 317/7's. Also the First Capital Connect 317's normally work Kings Cross - Peterborough commuter services. The diagrams they are working are shown below;

Class 317 884 - 14:51 Cambridge - London Liverpool St
Class 317 339 - 14:55 Cambridge - London Kings Cross

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Class 317
• NXEA
• National Express East Anglia
• First Capital Connect
• NXEA 317
• FCC 317
• West Anglia Main Line
• Great Northern Main Line
• Cambridge Station

[Trainbuff2008]

want to see one of these Brandnew! check my channel background and decide for yourselves which looks best.

[Desiro360]

@Trainbuff2008 I like its brand new livery, the blue grey is the best :)

[Trainbuff2008]

They've been using 317s with stansted express scrubbed on the side on all routes out of liverpool street for ages now even to hertford east what would be a rare thing now is if an FCC unit went down to London liverpool street instead of Kings X, personally i think all these livery's are a shambles and BR were the only ones that knew how to design a good livery i think all these units should be returned back to good old NSE or Blue/Grey livery complete with a yellow stripe designating first class

[Desiro360]

Thanks for the info, I agree about the NSE livery, nice colour scheme. It reminds me when I first started trainspotting back in 1993 as a child :)

[Trainbuff2008]

Well as a fan of BR trains 317/5s don't exist in my book there was only ever the 317/1s 301-347 then 317/2s 348-372 with their cosmetic differences, note the single arm pantographs recently fitted to the Fcc units.

[Desiro360]

The Class 317/5 subclass was created when the units were being refurbished. The single arm pantographs on the FCC units are the modern Brecknall Willis high speed design. :)

[soundseeker63]

I find it wierd how when Stansted Express services were introduced in 1991, they were served by band new class 322s. Now they are served by older, less plush 317s. Eh? Why would they do that?

I also find all the 317 subclasses bewildering. 317/3/4/5/6/7/8.....huh? Why? They are all techincaly the same!

[Desiro360]

Thanks for that useful info, hope you've had a good Christmas :)

[WrongRoadRailways]

I remember seeing a 317/8 leaving Cambridge on 21/12/09. There are two Cambridge - Kings X runs Monday - Friday booked to be Class 317s: the 19:15 and the 19:45.

[nxea321446]

merry christmas and a happy new year

[2010 im aiming to produce more videos and better quality]