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Class 222 Formation/Livery | 222001-222006 | 222007-222023
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222 News Archive | About
the Class 222
News Archive
- 23/01/2008 222 Problems. It has recently been noted that
a lot of Meridian diagrams to either Derby or Sheffield are being
substituted by HSTs. HSTs can keep up to the timings set for the Sheffield
services in the new timetable, as proved today by 1F25 which should have
been a 5 car Meridian. The sudden dip in reliability is probably due to
needing a high availability of Meridians in the new timetable. This should
hopefully be rectified when the Pioneers move from First Hull Trains
- 16/01/2008
Rumours. Rumour has it that two
Pioneers will move from Fist Hull Trains to East Midlands Trains in the
last week of January. An exact date is not known but they cant arrive
soon enough for East Midlands Trains who are apparently hoping they will
be able to get their Corby service started on 20/03/2009. Check back here
for more information in the next couple of weeks
- 15/01/2009 Expectations. The next couple of
months are set to be an exciting time for the Class 222 fleet. The
past few months have been quiet but in the next couple of months we
can expect the movement of the First Hull Trains Pioneers to East Midlands
Trains, the refurbishment on first class of the Meridians, the painting of
the Pioneer and hopefully the return of 222103 which looking at the
timescale set for a repair is due to return any time soon. All this
information will be documented here.
- 21/12/2008 East Midlands Trains has changed the seat
numbering configuration on its HSTs. This is to provide less confusion to
customers if a Meridian is swapped for a HST or HST is swapped for a
Meridian. Currently this had only been done with stickers which are easy
to peel off. It could be done properly when the HST refurbishment program
starts alongside the Meridian first class refurbishment program in
January. Thanks to Paul who sent me this information via the guestbook.
- 21/12/2008 Concerns over Meridian capacity. Posters on
some forums have been reporting that the Meridians are struggling with
loadings on some Sheffield-London services. One of the culprits is the
0727 Master Cutler services to London which was full and standing before
it got to Derby! Hopefully East Midlands Trains will be able to introduce
solutions to this problem.
- 17/12/2008 The new edition of Journeys magazine states
that first class on the Meridians will be refurbished starting in spring
2009. The seat covers will be blue. It then goes on to state that standard
class will be refurbished during 2010. On another note the HSTs will also
be refurbished starting in spring 2009. All the refurbishments will take
until 2013. A picture of the mock-up of refurbished first class for the
Meridians is included in journeys magazines.
- 13/12/2008 New East Midlands Trains timetable. Today is
the end of an era as the old Midland Mainline timetable which has
existed since 1999 is coming to an end. This also marks a change for the
Class 222 Meridian fleet which will be leaving the Nottingham-London fast
route and joining the Sheffield-London route from tomorrow. Meridians on
the Sheffield-London route will diagram share with the new Kettering
(Corby) to London service. It is yet unknown which services will be run
with 5+5 Meridian sets although it is known which services will be 7 car
Meridians which can be seen by downloading my copy of the East Midlands
Trains timetable from the box below. When it is known which
services are operated by which formations on the Sheffield-London
route I will publish it on a page with other details such as how busy
the services is and what is the cheapest advance ticket at release which
could be of use to some people.
- 03/12/2008 The Class 222 Meridian fleet is due to be
refurbished soon. This will include - Leather Seating in 1st Class,
Wi-Fi Throughout, Better Mobile Phone Signal and Possible new seat covers
(although this point has not yet been confirmed). Thanks to Wayfarer sam on RailUK forums for
this information. More details will follow soon. When the refurbishment
starts I will create a page to keep track of which Meridians are
refurbished along similar lines to what I did when the Meridians were
being repainted.
- 03/12/2008 The Class 222 Pioneers are still due to move
to East Midlands Trains according to various persons. First Hull Trains
apparently want the fleet to be painted before they enter service which
will delay their introduction slightly. The first one is due to arrive in
January and be in service in March on Corby-Kettering shuttles.
- 30/10/2008 222022 has gained coach B (60542) back
again (see below news item)
- 28/10/2008 Looking at this picture
dated 8th October 2008 222022 appears to have lost coach B (60542) I
am not sure if it is still in this state but thought it was worth a
mention
- 26/10/2008 A railway magazine has published that an
agreement to transfer the four Class 222 Pioneers currently with Hull
Trains to East Midlands Trains is in the final stages - See below in the
Truths/Rumours section for more information
- XX/10/2008 222017 is returned to traffic after being
painted in East Midlands Trains livery (vinyls
were used before but these have been removed due to poor performance)
- 13/10/2008 222018 is returned to traffic after being
painted in East Midlands Trains livery
- 13/10/2008 222018 has gained its fifth coach (coach B)
the coach number is 60444 from 222007 (222004 in the first place) which
has been converted from first to standard
- 11/10/2008 222013 makes a test run from Nottingham -
Norwich and return then Nottingham - Lincoln and return for clearance runs
and to test timings with the prospect of using Class 222 Meridians on
Nottingham - Liverpool runs for Connect services and for the new Lincoln -
London service starting in December
- 03/10/2008 222009 is returned to traffic after being
painted in East Midlands Trains livery
- 03/10/2008 222009 has gained its fifth coach (coach B)
the coach number is 60557 which is from?
- 02/10/2008 222007 is returned to traffic after being
painted in East Midlands Trains livery
- 02/10/2008 222007 has had coach D -? replaced with
60442 which has been converted from first to a first / standard mix
- 29/09/2008 222023 is returned to traffic after being
painted in East Midlands Trains livery
- 21/09/2008 222002 and 222008 are now both back in
traffic in their previous formations before being mixed
- 26/10/2008 - A railway magazine has published that an
agreement to transfer the four Class 222 Pioneers currently with Hull
Trains to East Midlands Trains is in the final stages - See below in the
Truths/Rumours section for more information
- XX/10/2008 222017 is returned to traffic after
being painted in East Midlands Trains livery (vinyls
were used before but these have been removed due to poor performance
- 13/10/2008 222018 is returned to traffic after being
painted in East Midlands Trains livery
- 13/10/2008 222018 has gained its fifth coach (coach B)
the coach number is 60444 from 222007 (222004 in the first
place) which has been converted from first to standard
- 11/10/2008 222013 makes a test
run from Nottingham - Norwich and return then
Nottingham - Lincoln and return for clearance runs and to test
timings with the prospect of using Class 222 Meridians on Nottingham -
Liverpool runs for Connect services and for the new Lincoln - London
service starting in December
- 03/10/2008 222009 is returned to traffic after being
painted in East Midlands Trains livery
- 03/10/2008 222009 has gained its fifth coach (coach B)
the coach number is 60557 which is from?
- 02/10/2008 222007 is returned to traffic after
being painted in East Midlands Trains livery
- 02/10/2008 222007 has had coach D -? replaced with
60442 which has been converted from first to a first / standard mix
- 29/09/2008 222023 is returned to traffic after being
painted in East Midlands Trains livery
- 21/09/2008 222002 and 222008 are now both back in
traffic in their previous formations before being mixed
- 19/09/2008 222022 is returned to traffic after being
painted in East Midlands Trains livery
- 12/09/2008 222021 is returned to traffic after
being painted in East Midlands Trains livery
- 12/09/2008 222002 has had its formation changed with
60248 replaced with 60242
- 05/09/2008 222005 is returned to traffic after being
painted in East Midlands Trains livery
- 29/08/2008 222020 is returned to traffic after being
painted in East Midlands Trains livery
- 22/08/2008 222004 is returned to traffic after being
painted in East Midlands Trains livery
- 16/08/2008 222013 makes a test run from Derby -
Liverpool via Hope Valley Line with the prospect to using Class 222
Meridians on Nottingham - Liverpool runs for Connect services
- 15/08/2008 222016 is returned to traffic after being
painted in East Midlands Trains livery
- 14/08/2008 222021 is spotted having gained an extra
coach (60552) to make it a five cars long
- 08/08/2008 222003 is returned to traffic after being
painted in East Midlands Trains livery
- 07/08/2008 222003 is currently being painted
into East Midlands Trains livery
- 01/08/2008 222019 is returned to traffic after being
painted in East Midlands Trains livery
- 25/07/2008 222006 is returned to traffic after being
painted in East Midlands Trains livery
- 27/07/2008 222021 is taken out of service at Derby on
the Saturday only service from Scarborough to London due to many faults
- 18/07/2008 222012 is returned to traffic after being
painted in East Midlands Trains livery
- 11/07/2008 222001 is returned to traffic after being
painted in East Midlands Trains livery
- 11/07/2008 222002 is returned to traffic after being
painted in East Midlands Trains livery
- 10/07/2008 222002 is mixed with working coaches from
222008. These replaced broken coaches from 222002
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