This last week or so Yoshi has been making new friends and catching up with old ones – he’s a very sociable pup and seems to win over almost everyone with his lovable, if somewhat excitable, demeanour. Even those who don’t much care for dogs, if you can believe such tortured souls exist, often fall under his spell.

In advance of his own visit to the groomer later this week, Yoshi accompanied me when it was my turn to have my hair cut ( what’s left of it these days ) and was only slightly disturbed to find that the barber I frequent has a new kitten in residence. Yoshi certainly wasn’t likely to be organising a party in celebration of this discovery and after a few barks there was a tense stand-off situation in place until nine week old Abu, for that is the kitten’s name, was formally introduced to our boy and the barking started all over again. Abu couldn’t give a monkeys about the canine interloper and things soon calmed down with both protagonists unharmed by their close shave with each other.

This was followed by a long walk and after that an opportunity for Yoshi to chill out in his favourite chair….

A detailed look at the Real Time Trains website on Thursday evening revealed COLAS Class 37 No. 37175 would be paying a visit to Yeovil with a test train; 3Q07 Exeter Riverside to Exeter Riverside via Yeovil Pen Mill and Salisbury. It was a cold night and my initial thought was to head to Yeovil Pen Mill to capture the working, but as the service had been looped west of Crewkerne to allow a passenger train to get ahead of it, I thought better of this and we headed to Yeovil Junction. Because of the amount of salt spread around the car park and the station, Yoshi remained safely in the car while I went off to wait for the arrival of the test train. Unfortunately, the Class 37 was propelling the train which was a bit of a shame, but made for a different shot as it roared straight through the station abandoning any plan for it to head to Pen Mill.

The following evening I popped into Bournemouth to catch a glimpse of one of the new Class 701 Arterio units which are still on test more than two years after they were supposed to enter revenue earning service and South Western Railway currently have no date for their introduction. Indeed, SWR are yet to formally accept any of the fleet of 90 units which have been built in Derby. A statement from the train operator said; “SWR is waiting for Alstom to supply an Arterio train that meets our specification.” When this does happen, SWR have a planned programme of further testing and driver training.

As part of its 2017 franchise agreement, South Western Railway committed themselves to 750 new carriages, made up of 60 ten-car and 30 five-car trains intended to enter service on the Reading, Windsor and London suburban lines in late 2019. The units were given the name Arterio in 2020 when they were unveiled at Wimbledon depot. The name is meant to symbolise its role as an artery for connecting the capital and beyond.

Delays into service have been caused by complex new software integration and unions highlighting issues with cab design. As a result SWR has decided to retain 12 of its Class 707 ‘Desiro City’ trains until August 2022 rather than transferring them to SouthEastern as previously planned.

In 2021 Yoshi and I spent a few lunchtime walks around Poole in order to see 701’s on test runs.

On a July 2021 visit to Eastleigh we were lucky to see Brush Type 4 Class 47 No. 47727 ‘Edinburgh Castle’ hauling 701007 on 5Q10 Widnes Transport Tech to Eastleigh TRSMD.

We missed a late addition to the timetable last Sunday in the guise of GBRf Class 73 Electro-Diesels No’s 73965 and 73963 top and tailing 1Q51 1025 Woking Up Yard Recp to Woking Up Yard Recp via Weymouth as I was enjoying a fabulous nut roast followed by a delicious lemon cheesecake. This particular test train had been scheduled to run at night earlier in the month but had twice been cancelled. However, here’s a trio of videos featuring ED’s working test train’s on the Bournemouth to Weymouth line from previous years:

That’s all for this time – please check back again soon for more tales from Yoshi HQ.