West Midlands Railway 196 101 test run through Yardley Wood Station

I got a tip off where I could see West Midlands Railway 196 101. So I walked down to Yardley Wood Station. This Spanish built CAF train would pass through at about 10:17 on 13/08/2020. Stopping for a moment before resuming it's journey back to Tyseley TMD.

Click here to see the Class 196 mock up at Tyseley post.

WEST MIDLANDS RAILWAY 196 101

I'd like to thank my Flickr friend and fellow train enthusiast Geoff Dowling for this tip off. He said that I might see the test run of West Midlands Railway 196 101 between 10:15 and 10:30 on the 13th August 2020. So I walked down to Yardley Wood Station to see it. Thought I might as well buy an E-ticket to Birmingham Snow Hill on the app as I walked down Highfield Road.

This Class 196 is currently the only full train that West Midlands Railway has, apart from that mock up I saw in Tyseley. Since arriving, it's been regularly doing test runs down to Stratford-upon-Avon or towards Worcester Foregate Street or Worcester Shrub Hill.

In this case, it was returning from Stratford-upon-Avon, probably going back to Tyseley TMD. It arrived around 10:17. Simulating a stop for a few seconds before moving on. I had another half hour wait at platorm 2, for the 10:45 to Birmingham Snow Hill.

Made by CAF in Spain, there is 26 trains of this Class on order. When the full fleet arrives in the UK, West Midlands Trains plans to replace the fleet of Class 170/5 and 170/6 Turbostar's and their Class 153's with the new Class 196's.

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dndimg alt="WMR 196 101" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/WMR 196101 Yardley Wood Station (Aug 2020) (6).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

Photos taken by Elliott Brown.

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