The Goole to Leeds line sees a very infrequent service, with just two trains a day from Goole and one from the Leeds direction. On 25 June 2008, 153304 & 150224 arrive at Rawcliffe station with the 18:49 Goole to Leeds Northern Trains service. Although one person got on when these units stopped here whilst heading for Goole half an hour earlier, on this occasion not only did nobody get on or off, but the train appeared to be completely empty as well!

Evidence of recent lineside vegetation clearance at Levington on 18 April 1996, as 153306 passes with the 16:17 Ipswich to Felixstowe Regional Railways service. It may look like a dull day, but this was actually almost a bright interlude! However, the dark clouds in the background soon took over.

153308 & 158883 pass the chicken farm at Quarrington with the 07:35 Nottingham to Skegness East Midlands Trains service on 25 July 2009. Rauceby station can just be seen in the far distance beyond the level crossing by the trees. You can see where East Midlands got the idea for their livery from, as the colour bands on the ends of the Class 153 bear a striking resemblance to the South West Trains livery on 158883. Several South West Trains 158s have strayed away from the former Southern Region in recent years, even reaching as far as Scotland!

153312 leaves Blaenau Ffestiniog in the pouring rain with the 11:45 service to Llandudno on 4 June 2005. It seem to rain every time I visit the town! The 1992 built Ffestiniog Railway Double Fairlie locomotive David Lloyd George can just be seen in the background waiting to leave for Porthmadog.

In 2009 it is quite common to get pictures of two different liveries in an East Midlands Trains service using several units coupled together, such is the profusion of liveries in the fleet. However, this is something of a bonus, with three different versions of EMT colours in one train! 153326 in the current colour scheme leads 153384 in rebranded Central Trains livery, with 158774 in the former East Midlands colours bringing up the rear. The train is the 09:55 Nottingham to Skegness and the location is (I hardly need to type this really!) Kelby Lane, between Ancaster and Rauceby. The prominent sign is either an excellently placed piece of railway infrastructure immediately identifying the location, or a bloody nuisance completely messing up the shot, depending on your viewpoint!

153327 speeds through the long closed Oaksey station (between Kemble and Swindon) on 13 March 1995, whilst working the 14:03 Cheltenham to Swindon Regional Railways service. Oaksey station was only open for 35 years and probably saw little traffic even then. It closed in 1964 along with the other local stations between Kemble and Swindon. It is probable that it would be busier now if still open due to the massive increase in the size of Swindon in the intervening years. Compare this view with a picture of 47802 taken from the other platform.

153328 & 150147 accelerate away from Snaith on 16 June 2010 with the 18:49 Goole to Leeds Northern Trains service. The Goole to Knottingley does not abound in good photographic locations, and the three daily trains conspire to run at the most awkward possible time for ideal photographic lighting, with the sun being virtually straight down the track. However, the line wiggles a little at Snaith and a convenient footpath crossing provides this well lit viewpoint.

In superb crisp evening light on 17 June 2010, 153328 & 150272 take the Knottingley line at Potters Grange Junction, Goole with the 18:49 Goole to Leeds Northern Trains service. This is one of only two daily trains on the route. This wide view gives some idea of the expansion of the industrial estates next to the railway in recent years, and proves that this view from the opposite side of the line in 1998 would no longer be possible. The waste ground in that pictures is now where the buildings on the right stand.

Ancient and modern at Ruskington. 153329 passes a couple of reminders of the steam age as it works the 14:53 Lincoln to Peterborough Central Trains service on 1 May 1999. The footbridge has obviously recently had a fresh coat of paint, but the impressive telegraph pole on the right no longer serves its original purpose. 153329 was rebuilt in 1992 from one half of Class 155 155329, the other half becoming 153379.

Under leaden skies 153331 passes Saltmarshe with the 08:41 Sheffield to Bridlington Arriva Trains Northern service on 9 August 2000. Normally this train would be worked by a Class 156 unit, and indeed one half of 156454 can be seen tacked onto the back of 153331. This shows the usefulness of the single car 153s, which can be used to deputise for a defective coach in a two car set. This picture also gives a fine view of the 1905 built North Eastern Railway signal box. Saltmarshe station is oddly named, as it is adjacent to the village of Laxton, with Saltmarshe itself being over a mile away!

Running very slowly, presumably because of a permanent way restriction, 153333 approaches Millbrook on 21 April 2010 with the 09:33 Bedford to Bletchley London Midland service. Just before the train came into view a Cuckoo was calling from the large tree on the right - conclusive proof that spring has arrived. And yes, that really is a wooden mock of a biplane on the right! I'm not sure what the purpose of it is, presumably just to confuse rail passengers and give them something to talk about!

In superb evening light, 153365 approaches the level crossing at Winthorpe (near Newark) with the 18:11 Lincoln Central to Newark North Gate Central Trains service on 30 April 2005. In the best tradition of DMU operation the unit is displaying the incorrect destination! Typical of many secondary routes this line shows a mixture of bullhead and flat bottom jointed track.

A very strange working pictured at Compton Beauchamp (between Didcot and Swindon) on 30 April 2007. 153369 & 158817 were booked to work the 5F77 Reading to Westbury empty stock move and indeed started out along the Berks & Hants Line, which is the obvious direct route. However, for some unexplained reason, after getting nearly half way there they reversed and came back to Reading, and then traveled via the west curve and continued to Westbury via Swindon! Neither Class 153 or 158 units are a common sight on the GWML, and certainly not with Taunton on the destination blind!

153377 approaches Tredington level crossing on 10 October 2008 with the 2M98 12:26 Southampton Central to Worcester Foregate Street First Great Western service. This side view clearly shows the unusual FGW livery, with what appears from a distance to be a series of wavy lines. These are in fact made up of the names of various places served by the company. Certainly ingenious, and something that could never been done when liveries were purely applied in paint!

153379 seems to have suffered a paint attack, probably by some local vandals from a bridge. It is seen here passing Stenson Junction on 4 November 2009 with the late running 10:40 Derby to Crewe East Midlands Trains service. The unit is still in the garish green livery of its former operator Central Trains, albeit with the addition of East Midlands branding.

153379 passes Wickenby on 14 December 2009 with the 09:28 Grimsby Town to Newark Northgate East Midlands Train service. The unit is still carrying the former Central Trains livery, albeit with the removal of any signs of the former operator and a subtle new company branding. The house just visible by the line in the background marks the site of the former Wickenby station.