Completely devoid of any Virgin Trains branding, with even the badge below the windscreen removed, the pioneer 'Voyager' unit 220001 moves from the up relief to the up main line just to the east of Didcot at South Moreton with the 07:24 Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth service on 12 November 2007. The franchise had been taken over by Arriva the previous day, but most of the 'Voyagers' seen during the day still carried some Virgin branding. Arriva are retaining the Cross Country name for the route with a new livery to follow shortly.

Pioneer 'Voyager' unit 220001 speeds through Dean with the diverted 10:45 Bournemouth to Manchester Piccadilly Cross Country service on 21 March 2009. After a dreary start, the sun was finally starting to burn off the low cloud leading to yet another day of hazy sunshine - the final day of a spell of settled high pressure weather conditions.

220004 finds a brief patch of sunshine at Tackley on 8 March 2007 as it heads down the Cherwell Valley with the 08:52 Edinburgh to Bournemouth Virgin Cross Country service . Note the flooded fields in the background, a common feature of this location in the winter and early spring.

220005 passes Little Haresfield on 30 May 2009 with the 09:07 Manchester Piccadilly to Bristol Temple Meads Cross Country service, while 60074 Teenage Spirit sits patiently in the loop with the late running 6B13 05:10 Robeston to Westerleigh Murco oil tanks. As 6B13 had lost its path, instead of waiting in the loop for just one train to pass, it waited for 40 minutes while 3 trains passed!

A more artistic type picture at Spetchley on 8 October 2008. With an impressive cloud formation adding interest to the picture, 220007 heads northwards with the 13:25 Plymouth to Manchester Piccadilly Arriva Cross Country service. A public footpath leads across this field to a footbridge over the railway.

Although for some odd reason during the whole time I was on the footbridge at Hinksey Yard in ideal photographic conditions on 9 January 2010 not a single railway photographer joined me, there was a constant procession of 'normal' passers by obviously testing their Christmas present cameras in the snowy conditions! Here the driver of 220014 gives a cheery wave to a couple of girls who are taking his picture, as he passes by with the 10:27 Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth CrossCountry service.

220021 is pictured just north of Heyford station on the Banbury to Oxford line on 18 April 2009. It is working the 06:55 Edinburgh to Reading Cross Country service. Probably not a location that is visited very often, as it requires a lengthy walk from the nearest road, something which puts off the majority of photographers!

Snow lays thickly on the ground and provides a 'load' for the Network Rail spoil wagons in the foreground, as 220021 passes Hinksey Yard on 9 January 2010 with the 1O30 09:27 Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth CrossCountry service. The footbridge in the background always used to be a popular photographic spot, but the nearby trees are now so tall that a patch of shade covers the tracks at this time of year, as can be clearly seen here.

Palindromic 220022 passes the Woodbury Lane Industrial Estate near Norton with the 10:07 Manchester Piccadilly to Bristol Temple Meads Cross Country service on 20 March 2009. I had not previously used this location for a southbound train and the convenient tree next to the footpath crossing has made an interesting picture from a mundane subject.

In nice evening light, with a dark threatening sky in the background, 220027 passes Bishop Wood with the 15:00 Bristol Temple Meads to Newcastle Cross Country service on 26 July 2008. Despite being repainted into Cross Country's new livery, the shadow of the former Virgin Railways shield can still plainly be seen on the nose! Overhead electrified lines are particularly difficult for photography, with most viewpoints from bridges being ruined by the wires getting in the way. I am particularly pleased with this location, as not only does the low angle suit the catenary, but the farm track running parallel with the line makes a particularly attractive composition.

Wrong line working at Ashchurch on 4 May 2010. 220027 & 220033 have just used the crossover at Ashchurch station, and are pictured proceeding cautiously northwards up the wrong line during an engineer's possession, resulting in single line working. They are working the 05:20 Plymouth to Edinburgh CrossCountry service.

The weak winter sun glints off the silver bodyside of 220029 as it heads northwards near Yarnton on 2 February 2008 with the 07:45 Bournemouth to Aberdeen CrossCountry service. I certainly wouldn't want to travel from one end of the United Kingdom to the other in one of these units!

220031 passes the stone terminal at Banbury on 21 September 2009 with the 06:21 Newcastle to Reading CrossCountry service. A surprisingly rural location (apart, obviously from the stone depot), and although surrounded by roads and industrial units, this view gives the impression of being in the countryside.

220032 speeds through Mottisfont & Dunbridge station with the diverted 08:27 Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth Cross County service on 21 March 2009. The shutter was deliberately pressed a little early so that the train would not obscure the view of the station building (now a private house). The passengers are waiting for the following South West Trains service, which on this day were having to share capacity on the line with both diverted passenger and freight services.

220033 passes Hatton North Junction with the 14:40 Reading to Manchester Piccadilly CrossCountry service on 19 February 2008. The line to the right leads to Stratford-upon-Avon, but sees virtually no traffic. The footbridge here is a pleasant spot for railway photography, well away from any road, although the ever present hum of the M40 motorway rather detracts from the rural atmosphere. The nearest other means of transport is the nearby Grand Union Canal.

221104 speeds past Fenwick on 13 September 2003 with the 1V67 14:21 Newcastle to Cardiff Central Virgin Trains service. There is certainly no need to use the tilting mechanism on this section of track, it being dead straight from Temple Hirst Junction to Doncaster, a distance of over ten miles.

Palindromic 221122 passes Fiddington (near Ashchurch) with the 14:24 Derby to Bristol Temple Meads CrossCountry service on 18 February 2008. This unit, in common with most of the fleet at this time has CrossCountry branding applied to the bodyside and the shadow of the former Virgin badge just visible on the front end. The low winter sun certainly accentuates this livery.

221127 glints in the low winter sun as it passes Kilnhurst on 27 December 2003 with the 06:03 Bristol Temple Meads to Newcastle Virgin Trains service. The railway at the bottom of the garden is either a railway enthusiast's dream or a bloody nuisance, depending on these householder's views!

Superb evening lighting at Spetchley on 8 October 2008 as 221129 speeds south with the 9V65 12:05 Edinburgh to Plymouth CrossCountry service. Despite the new livery, a sign of the unit's former operator can just still be seen, Note the shadow of the former Virgin Trains logo on the yellow front.

My first railway picture of 2008 shows a pair of de-branded ex Virgin Class 221 'Voyagers' passing at Hinksey Yard, near Oxford in superb low winter lighting on 2 January. 221130 approaches with the 06:00 Glasgow to Bournemouth Arriva Cross Country service, while 221123 slows for a signal check whilst working the 11:45 Bournemouth to Glasgow service. At the start of 2008 most of the 'Voyager' fleet were in this transitional state, although a few sets have received Cross Country branding, and some retain evidence of their former operators.

I went to Heyford station on 29 October 2008 with the aim of taking a picture showing both the railway and canal with a background of autumn colours. Unfortunately only one tree seems to be putting on much of a show at this location. 221130 rounds the curve and passes the narrowboats on the Oxford Canal as it works the 1V94 09:54 Manchester Piccadilly to Reading Cross Country service. The Oxford Canal parallels the railway up the Cherwell Valley between Oxford and Banbury, and although it is basically a contour following canal and therefore wanders about a bit, there are a number of places where both the cut and the line are in close proximity. However, getting good picture with both included is far from easy!

Just the right size gap for a five coach Voyager! On 17 December 2008, 221130 passes the flooded fields near Tackley with the 11:27 Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth CrossCountry service. The flooding of the River Cherwell is a regular winter occurrence, with huge areas of water appearing between the river and the Oxford Canal, which shares the valley with the river and the railway. One of the bridges over the canal can be seen in the background of this picture directly above the centre coach.

CrossCountry services were diverted away from the Bristol to Gloucester line on Saturdays in the latter part of 2008 due to engineering work. Not long after sunrise on 18 October 2008, 221133 passes Magor with the 06:10 Exeter St Davids to Manchester Piccadilly service, having just reversed at Newport. Note the pink tint to the sky which I hoped was going to herald an improvement in the weather, which although apparently clear as I was driving from Gloucester, was in fact dull and drizzly in South Wales. The colour in the sky however only lasted a short while and then after a period when it looked like it might possibly brighten up, it started raining seriously.

Sporting the new East Midlands Trains livery, 222001 passes Barkby Thorpe (near Leicester) with the 09:30 Nottingham to St Pancras service on 26 July 2008. Formerly open countryside between Leicester and Syston, new development can be seen on the horizon, and presumably in a few years time the field behind the train will also succumb to mew house building.

222001 speeds past Sharnbrook on 21 April 2010 with the 13:15 Corby to St Pancras East Midlands Trains service. Note the crossover allowing access to the bi-directional freight line. The train is approaching the site of Sharnbrook station, which closed in 1960.

Meridian unit 222003 passes Milton Ernest with the 09:30 Nottingham to St Pancras service on 16 August 2007. Class 222s come in 4, 5, and (as here) 8 coach formations. The train has crossed over the River Great Ouse, which the line repeatedly re-crosses in the Bedford area. The tracks on the right are the freight lines, which take an easier gradient at Sharnbrook a few miles to the north of this location.

222003 Tornado rounds the curve on the approach to Wellingborough on 23 April 2010 with the 13:55 St Pancras to Sheffield East Midlands Trains service. The name Tornado strictly speaking applies just to driving car at this end, as it has the same number (60163) as the newly built Peppercorn Class A1 steam locomotive.

222008 speeds past Barrow Upon Soar with the 11:18 Derby to St Pancras East Midlands Trains service on 12 September 2009. Note the new the footbridge in the background, which replaces the one damaged in an accident by rail contractors that resulted in a train driver being injured when his train ran into the wreckage.

Not exactly what I was expecting to see at Swakerstone, on the Stenson Junction to Sheet Stores Junction line on 24 November 2008. Presumably working the diverted 08:10 Burton-on-Trent to St Pancras East Midlands Trains service, 222012 passes a few remaining autumn leaves in some welcome early morning sunshine.

222013 speeds past Souldrop on 21 April 2010 with the 10:47 Sheffield to St Pancras East Midlands Trains service. The first signs of the year's new green leaves are showing on the trackside bushes, as well as the blackthorn still being in full bloom.

An infrequent visitor to the East Coast Main Line, former Midland Mainline 222021 passes Bishop Wood (between York and Doncaster) with the 17:03 Scarborough to St Pancras East Midlands Trains service on 26 July 2008. This is the only daily East Midlands service from the East Coast resort.

222023 passes non-stop through East Midlands Parkway station on 11 March 2010 with the 09:02 Nottingham to St Pancras East Midlands Trains service. The signals here have recently be repositioned, replacing ones which were much nearer the bridge that I am standing on, and therefore were somewhat in the way, photographically.

Hull Trains had a very small fleet - just four Class 222 4 car units. 222104 is pictured here passing Woodhall (between Selby and Gilberdyke) with the 09:48 Kings Cross to Hull service on 14 March 2008. As can be seen, this is a very straight section of railway. The flat lands to the north of the River Ouse presented very few engineering difficulties to the original builders of the line.