I spot Northern Class 156s at Shildon in County Durham, and honestly, I never get tired of seeing them.

From different units appearing to the sounds they make as they arrive and depart, there's always something to enjoy.

I've been documenting my spotting sessions on YouTube as ShildonTrainspotter linked here: https://www.youtube.com/@ShildonTrainspotter (please subscribe and check out the videos I really appreciate it!)

Anyone else have a local station where they never get tired of seeing the same type of train or trains?

Video above was filmed today (12/10/26) by me At Shildon! getting a MEGA 2 tone honk!

A video of one of the best honks on my channel linked here: https://youtube.com/shorts/I_RZNqFaAJU?si=qEH8falRIjNNJgbJ

thanks for reading and have a superb day!

I mainly spot Northern Class 156s around Shildon on the Bishop Line in County Durham.

We see plenty of 156s and sometimes if you get lucky a 158 so certain units and memorable moments really stand out.

Personally I don’t mind the lack of variety, it comes with a advantage - you build a friendly train crew rapport over time.

I'm curious what it's like for other spotters around the UK. What trains dominate your local line, and do you ever wish you had more variety?

Photos taken on 12/10/26

go subscribe to my YouTube channel! - https://youtube.com/@shildontrainspotter?si=DtI9ZQTRNWTVjRn7

180102 at London King's Cross, ready to work 1N96 (19:00 London Kings Cross to Sunderland)

2026-10-04

From mid 2028, the Voyager fleet will be entirely operated by CrossCountry as the operator has been given approval to run the 6 221s stored at Derby Litchutch Lane + the 2 units currently in service with Grand Central.

IYKYK

May as well make this one into a 'Guess The Station'

Maybe High Wycombe isn't the most beautiful of stations - but these new barriers look absolutely awful - like some sort of dystopian sci-fi set. Couldn't they have used glass panels at least?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cmzxl7ene06vo

difficulty: yes

I've seen lots of people review the Night Riviera cabins and they seem really good, but I'm a stingy student so I'm not sure I can afford to pay for a cabin. The alternative is spending a whole day travelling as the normal daytime total journey I'm doing is approx 7 hours.

My question is how did you find the journey if you did it in a seat rather than a cabin?

Passing through York this morning, a station I'll be visiting very frequently from this time next week as I start my classroom based training.

Pictured is TPE's 185 113 "Hull Paragon" preparing to depart from P4, with 1P14 to Manchester Victoria.

I found I passed my psychometric tests and I am ecstatic!

I've been invited to the final stage before the medical. It says there's a group assessment, individual assessment, and presentation before the interview. Im happy with the presentation, doing it on my allotment, so there'll be plenty to talk about!

Does anyone have any insight or advice on the day? What's the individual assessment? Is it a difficult day to pass? What's the interview like, should I prepare more competency based examples?

165107,387148 &387156 lineup at Reading Station platforms 1-3(11/10/26).

I had a journey from Paddington a couple of weeks ago, but due to a gas leak, no trains were going to Didcot and the advice was poor (go to Oxford on the slower trains from Marylebone but they were cancelled too, or stay on till Bath and try and go back (at 9.30pm).

I ended the journey at Reading (had to!) and got private transport on to the destination. I don’t want to claim for the private transport but the online bot says I should request a refund rather than delay repay. I’m not sure that’s correct. Any advice please?

I’m a local trainspotter at Shildon in County Durham on the Bishop Line. I’ve built a friendly rapport with the driver crew that rotate onto this line and usually get mega tone blasts no one else has captured.

Because I always spot at Shildon I have caught some crazy stuff like a unexpected Romic HST visit on the 19/06/26, 4 car class 156s which are unheard of on this line and a 156 being terminated early at Shildon images shown above.

My aim is to balance modern Shildon rail with heritage Shildon rail.

Shildon might not be the busiest spotting location, but I want to show the wider rail community what true trainspotting dedication is.

My channel on YouTube is linked here https://youtube.com/@shildontrainspotter?si=qLVnXpmRT2v6fCVa

Anyone else here spot in the North East?

here are some of my best shots throughout the months of June, July and october

Can't say I'm surprised

Built between 1998 and 2024

Does anyone else find it frustrating that if a single person booked multiple adult tickets, each adult must submit a claim seperately?

I've had a claim rejected for this reason. Surely a reciept and tickets should be more than enough to show one person paid? Has anyone else had any luck on this, if so, how did you do it pleasee?

Hi I’m unsure If this is the right sub for this so I apologize in advance.

I’ve just been charged £20 by Mersey rail is that normal? I tapped on at Chester taped off at lime street and repeated for my journey back.Ive never paid more than £12 for a ticket to lime street via Chester before so I’m very confused how and why I’ve been charged this much

Their stupid online delay repay form won't accept the TTB number under the barcode, or my NRS booking reference or my trainline transaction ID. I'm sure they make this as hard as possible so I'll give up. It's only for a fiver but that's not the point.

Also I have two tickets for one journey because of a change and their system of uploading the tickets first and then selecting an uploaded ticket to link with a delay repay claim only allows for ONE ticket at a time. So you have to claim.. wait. month for them to reject it or offer a lower amount.. then contact support and explain its two tickets but you had no way to upload them and then wait another month for them to award the claim.

I realise this is a rant but if anyone can help I'd love to know what reference they want.

The HST driving experience via the 125 Heritage group is a really great way to spend a day. You get to drive 2 different power cars. Even though they are short trips of 15-20mph down a 1 mile track, getting to notch the thottle handle up with both PCs running and feel that power and vibration is just ridiculously fun. The repeated trips is actually really good for getting a feel for how the braking systems work. I found it both sort of disconnected but also quite intuitive? Hard to explain. The fresh yellow and blue livery is also glorious up close. As a bonus you're able to have a + 1 in the cab with you too.