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EMT's 156405 made a guest appearance at the Midland Railway Centre's DMU Gala weekend, 13th-14th September. 156405 is seen at Butterley in multiple with preserved 'pacer' 141113. Photo: Neil Hendry

• NX East Anglia. 156407 (with Wherry Lines branding) had partial white stripes with National Express branding applied in the first week of September.

Later in the month, 156417 received revised "Ride the Bittern Line" branding, plus front end emblems and partial white stripes.

A hybid set formed of 52402 (Chapelfield) and 57416 (One/NX striped) was running on 19th and 20th (photo).
156416 was back together on Monday 22nd.

• First ScotRail's fire damaged 156446 was towed from Corkerhill to Motherwell TMD by 156430 on Saturday 6th. Underframe repairs are being carried out by Brodie Engineering.

• Northern Rail held a Community Open Day at Heaton Depot, on Sunday 14 September.
A shuttle train between Newcastle Central station and the Depot was run using 156484 + 158754 (photo).

One of the trains on display inside the shed was 156448 (Hadrian's Wall) (photo).
Present in the sidings behind the shed were: 156464 (Northern white) (photo), 156469 (Bishop Auckland) (photo), 156433 'Kilmarnock Edition' (SPT livery) (photo) .

Unusually, several class 156s were operating in Yorkshire during the month.
On Monday 1st, recent repaint 156487 was working on the York - Blackpool route, next day it was seen paired with a class 150 on the Leeds - Harrogate - York route.
Friday 5th saw both 156421 (First livery) and 156454 on Selby - Wakefield turns.
On Saturday 6th 156440 (First livery) worked the 08:19 and 13:49 Leeds - Morecambe trains.

156452 (First livery) was operating between Leeds and Manchester Victoria on Tuesday 16th, On the 18th it reached Bridlington on the 07:41 train from Sheffield, and worked several Hull-Sheffield trips that day.
On Saturday 20th it was noted on the 09:27 Lincoln - Sheffield - Adwick, and later on a Meadowhall - Scunthorpe service (photo).

The only 156 repaint in September was 156421, previously in tatty First livery. It was noted in Northern livery on Monday 29th, working the Manchester Victoria - Clitheroe route.

August 2008

	NX East Anglia. The last two 156 units in ex Central Trains livery have both received white stripes with National Express branding. 156412 was the first to appear on August 8th. The other green unit, 156418, is seen at Norwich on 13th August with newly applied stripes. Photo: Dan Adkins
Two units in the debranded 'one' livery have also received white stripes, 156416 (photo) on 12th, and 156409 by 20th.

• Five Northern Rail units were repainted at Newton Heath during August:
156473 by Thursday 7th (photo),
156479 by Saturday 16th
156491 by Saturday 23th (photo),
156481 by Wednesday 27th and
156487 by Sunday 31st.

At the end of the month only 4 units (488,489,497,498) remained in Northern Spirit livery.

• First ScotRail. 156446 suffered an engine fire at Stranraer station on Friday 8th August, after arriving on the 11:42 from Glasgow Central.

The local fire brigade were called, but the train crew managed to extinguish the fire using portable appliances.

Car 52446 was badly scorched on the driver's side. 156446 was towed back to Corkerhill Depot by another 156, and remained there out of service for the remainder of the month.

July 2008

First ScotRail. At the begining of July, the "SPT-rail" branding was removed from the 28 Carmine and Cream liveried units. SPT has had no involvement in the ScotRail franchise since November 2005. Debranded 156434 and 156436 pictured at Glasgow Central on 26th July.

• Northern Rail ran special trains to a Stakeholder event on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway on Sunday 13th. 156448 came from Newcastle, 156475 + 156490 (photo) from Southport and 158910 came from Hull.

The return working from Keighley to Leeds was and 8-car train formed of 156448 + 158910 + 156490 + 156475, before the units were split for the separate destinations.

Newton Heath painted four more units in Northern livery during July:
156482 by Friday 4th (photo)
156475 by Sunday 13th (photo)
156483 by Saturday 19th (photo)
156480 by Friday 24th (photo).

• NX East Anglia. The last 156 to retain rainbow stripes on it's in one livery, 156417, had these covered over in the middle of July.

Also removed was the "10th Anniversary 2007" branding from the right hand sides, althought "The Bittern Line" is retained on the left hand sides. (photo).

• East Midlands Trains. Two EMT 156s visited Liverpool on Monday 21st. 156411 arrived on the 07:42 from Nottingham (photo), and later in the day 156401 arrived coupled to 158780 (photo).

Reports from Northern Railway Forum and Class_156_Sprinters, Scot-Rail, Anglia-Gen.


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