Stalking…

It’s 19th of September and I asked my Son what train his young Lady was travelling down on today. The look he gave me was… well, lets leave it at that shall we… He admitted that she was due at St Pancras at 13:10 but he was clearly uncomfortable in passing on that info. I do not understand why – Is he shy? Is he embarrassed that he has a girlfriend? Is he embarrassed by me? Possibly the latter…

Now the truth of the matter is that I was going stalking. Or maybe Hunting is a better choice of word since sneaking up on my quarry is not really an option. My target was going to be the East Midland Railway’s Class 222 units and I was going to be using a long lens in the hunt. It was just coincidental that I would be doing it on the same day his girlfriend was travelling down from Leicester to visit for the weekend.

In other posts I’ve spoken about the Class 455’s that are rapidly nearing the end of their working lives after over 40 years of service. I’ve mentioned the Networkers (Class 465 / 466) also threatened with the cutters torch. What I haven’t mentioned is the Class 222 Meridian units. These now find themselves on notice from East Midlands as their replacement, the Class 810 units, are now entering testing and crew training. If things go to plan the 222’s will be out of service in spring 2026 and it is rumoured that 222001 has already been taken out of service.

With this in mind, I’ve been planning on doing a Midland Mainline photo trip for a while. It just happens that, with a combination of other things and the weather, I should find myself heading out to Elstree & Borehamwood on the same day that Alasdair’s lady is travelling south 🙄 In the end it proved to be useful as I was able to advise him of a delay to her train, of which more later 😎

It was a successful outing – I took 20 shots during the course of the day though not all were of 222’s. Most of them were shot using the new 100-400mm lens as it is a good area for testing such a beast. Here are some shots from Elstree & Borehamwood…

I then travelled south to Mill Hill Broadway. Unfortunately they’ve put some new barriers between the lines north of the station, removing the only really viable shot at that location, so it was on down to Brent Cross West for some more shots…

…Good to see a couple of youngsters out there recording things on their mobile phones 👍

And then it was down to Cricklewood to catch some more 222’s along with Thameslink 700’s and EMR’s 360’s on Corby runs 😎

…and ultimately Alasdair’s girlfriend’s train which was running 18 minutes late when it passed through – Something I was able to appraise him of via WhatsApp…

…Got a friendly wave from the driver on that one 😎👍

To close out the day 66620 showed up on the Hope to Dagenham cement tanks…

…The only shot all day taken on the short lens 😅 But that’s the Midland Mainline for you – too much furniture and lots of curves make a longer lens the right tool for the job 😎👍

What does the future hold for the 222’s – No one seems to know. Rumours suggest that they could bolster the Cross Country fleet but that could be problematic as I don’t think they are compatible with their 220 / 221 units. They might find a home with an open access operator – Lumo is reportedly intending to use some of them on a Euston to Stirling service! Or maybe Chiltern Railways could use them on longer journeys to replace the 168’s and provide improved passenger comfort? Who knows – They’re good workhorses and it will be sad to see them go.