The line is leased by LUL in order to test and commission the next generation of London Underground trains, known as Sub Surface Lines (SSL) trains. Serco Assurance were awarded the contract to manage the whole of the test track of behalf of LUL which will give them the opportunity to attract other interested parties to the line.

In October 2013 the BRB Residuary was abolished and the line passed to NR ownership.

December 2013

This Thursday (2nd January) sees the first of several engineers trains running from Whitemoor to Old Dalby in connection with work to install the next generation of OHLE which is being trialled and tested at Old Dalby prior to being rolled out across several major routes over the next few years. Part of this work includes re-ballasting and track renewals on several sections of the test track.

Timings for some of these are here and further workings are expected well into January, these certainly won't be the only ones so plenty of activity likely well into the New Year.

All are GBRf operated and likely to be top and tailed probably with class 66's.

Neil Booton was at Widmerpool on 17th December and noticed new OHLE masts in place and quite a bit of equipment in the yard - no sign of any security though hence the following photographs of new trial portal structures in the process of being erected for trials presumably, were taken

37194 worked 3Z10/11 on Monday 11th whilst the visit of the PLPR set from Tuesday to Thursday brought the surprise appearance of Arriva blue liveried 67003 and Wrexham & Shropshire silver & grey liveried 67015.

37601 with UTU3 & DBSO 9701 worked 3Z10/3Z11 on Monday 4th whilst 20311/314 & 20118/096 took charge of 7X09 Old Dalby - Amersham.

3Z10 is down to run again on November 11th (UTU4), November 25th (UTU1) & December 2nd (UTU2).

Also one of the Plain Line Pattern Recognition sets is booked to visit for two days calibration on November 12th & 13th with top and tail 37's or 67's. Arriving around 1030 on Tuesday morning in the 3Z10 path and down to leave in the 3Z11 1730 slot ex Old Dalby on Thursday

I have had at least two reports of heavy handedness recently

October 2013

Now that NR are responsible for the test track they appear to be wasting no time in putting it to good use with reported activity at Widmerpool.

Future plans for the test track include testing Bombardier's CITYFLO 650 automatic train control system for London Underground and testing of new mainline infrastructure such as the Series One Overhead Contact System (OHLE) proposed for MML and GWML.

Network Rail are now promoting Old Dalby and High Marnham as 'Rail Innovation and Development Centres' which can only be a good thing if it means life for Old Dalby after 2015.

The Windhoff overhead wiring train may also coming to the test track. Known by the acronym HOPS - High Output Plant System -  it will probably be working north of Plumtree where there is no OHLE at the moment.

September 2013

On Tuesday 17th the OHLE MPV arrived from Crewe TMD and stayed until Friday 20th, when it travelled to Romford Engineering Sidings. Timings can be seen here 

Here are a few pictures of the train at Widmerpool on 19th September

On Monday 16th Network Rail were reported to have set up a compound in the old goods yard at Widmerpool where two OHLE vehicles were observed (My thanks to Steven Wallis for this information).

3Z10 / 3Z11 on Monday 9th was worked by 97303 with DBSO 9703 on the rear but the consist did not include SGT2

Planned further visits included UTU1 on September 2nd with SGT2 and UTU3 on the 9th.

Julian Gray

3Z10 unusually top and tailed by 31285 & 31105 on 19th August despite a DBSO being in the consist, shown here near Melton Junction.

Ben Wheeler

Meanwhile life goes on with a bit of variety in the class 20 pool. The 20's are 142 & 189, the latter formerly in BR green and owned by Michael Owen / 20227 Locomotives Ltd. They are in use with the orange HN pair 311/314 on Derby - Old Dalby movements whilst 096/107/901/905 are handling the West Ruislip portions from either Derby or Old Dalby.

June 2013

47714 was seen arriving at Asfordby test centre on Wednesday 19th from the the Old Dalby direction, this was around 1515 and it was with the two translator wagons. Presumably it had just taken an SSL unit to Old Dalby for testing or maybe to Widmerpool for storage. A further four units were stabled adjacent to the depot at Asfordby in the sidings on the eastern side.

 UTU1 and UTU3 visited on Monday 17th, together with the new SGT coach (which has an extended coupler to accommodate ‘dusty bin’). 'Dusty Bin' is the black, dustbin-like piece of kit which is mounted on the end of a Mk2 coach to replace the Structure Gauging vehicle DC460000. The system is called Laserflex and can only be accommodated with an extended coupler to the next vehicle. In future, SGT2 (as it’s known) will tend to run in tandem with a UTU set in order to maximise the use of night-time paths.

June 24th and July 1st are also likely to see calibration runs to Old Dalby with UTU2 and UTU4. Both trips are booked for a single class 31 or 37 with DBSO at the other end.

20901, 20905, 20311 & 20314 appear most frequently on the SSL movements between Derby, Old Dalby and West Ruislip. 20096 & 20107 appear now and again too.

Deliveries of SSL trains to Amersham are now sporadic. Delivery of units to West Ruislip depot will now become the norm. New deliveries will now mostly be for the Hammersmith & City Line, but Hammersmith depot itself is at full capacity and they have to receive a train of S-stock, commission it and then remove an old train of C-stock from service. Neasden depot is now at full capacity, so can no longer carry out this commissioning work, so West Ruislip is now taking on these duties instead. Metropolitan Line S8 units that have come back to Derby for modification may well be moved back to Neasden, but all new deliveries should now go to West Ruislip. are still arriving from Litchurch Lane and departing for London on an irregular basis.

Bad News

Photos on the test track are quite difficult to get now as the foot crossing at Asfordby Hill has been removed and fenced off, also the yard at Widmerpool has a locked gate and a no access sign and general overgrowth of vegetation has made shots few and far between,

The newly re-opened Pullman Inn looked overgrown and closed down recently