On 19th April 2024, Southern Railway Merchant Navy 35028 "Clan Line" returned to mainline operation after overhaul. It was joined by Mark 2a support coach 17096 "Mercator" and DB's 67006 "Royal Sovereign".
The test run used the West London Line, North London Line and the Hounslow Loop.
Between the services, Clan Line waited for approximately 20 minutes at Willesden S.W.S., so it was possible to get between the West and North London Lines using TfL's bus network. With better knowledge of the bus network, it might have been possible to get photos on the Hounslow Loop as well but this would have been risky as there was only a few minutes wait at Latchmere Junction between the Hounslow Loop and West London Line.
The first place to see Clan Line clearly was Kensington Olympia were there was a large crowd down platform 2 alongside the disused Motorail terminal. Imperial Wharf was the first station Clan Line passed, followed by West Brompton, but Olympia has the wide straight platform that also had no other services scheduled in at the same time. This meant that the view from the shorter platform 3 was also clear for a view of the other side of Clan Line with the exhibition space in the background.
The last photo in decent light taken through the level crossing barrier at Acton Central. When I arrived after walking from the bus the barriers were already down and the long signal blocks made it difficult to know if there was time to get onto the platform.
The first night photo of the test, Clan Line increased speed on each run so it was challenging to judge how fast it would pass so balancing shutter speed and light levels was difficult.
South Acton was the hardest station of the evening to get to on the buses. The best bus to get from Shepherds Bus was the 94 to Acton Green and then it was a 10-15 minute walk though the houses to South Acton. Despite this, the photo of it passing South Acton has to be one of the best night photos of the test run.
West Brompton was the hardest station to get a clear photo of Clan Line passing though because it has very orange lighting that is sufficient for passenger use but doesn't provide much light. There is also a flicker to the light so one photo could be alright but the next photo could be very dark.
Through Egham the line speed is up to 70mph, so Clan Line was able to get up to a reasonably high speed, this made getting a clear photo of it in the dark difficult.
The light test run appears to have gone very well and the loaded test run is planned for Monday 22nd around the Dover loop. Clan Line's return to railtour use is planned for 27th April with UK Railtours "THE CLAN LINE 50TH ANNIVERSARY PULLMAN" to mark 50 years of Clan Line's first tour in preservation.
