Mainline Railways
Modern Railways and Electric Multiple Units
TRAIN OPERATORS
East Midlands Railway
Cross Country
Greater Anglia
Grand Central
TransPennine Express
Merseyrail
West Midlands Trains
South Eastern
South Western Railway
Southern
Hull Trains
Thameslink
Lumo
Caledonian Sleeper
London Overground
London North Eastern Railway
ScotRail Trains
Chiltern Railways
Great Western Railway
Northern Trains
Avanti West Coast
TFL Rail
Transport for Wales
HEADCODES
It is key to know headcodes when trainspotting on the mainline as trains are not displayed by class but by headcodes on trust-worthy websites like @realtimetrains.co.uk.
1xxx - Express Passenger
2xxx - Standard Passenger
3xxx - Parcels, Specially Authorised Freight, Empty Coach Stock, Rail Treatment
4xxx - Freight (MAX SPEED 75MPH)
5xxx - Empty Coach Stock
6xxx - Freight (MAX SPEED 60MPH)
7xxx - Freight (MAX SPEED 45MPH)
8xxx - Freight (MAX SPEED 35MPH)
9xxx - Specially Authorised Passenger, Class 373
RAILTOURS
Railtours are special services usually hauled by heritage traction. To see when one is going through your local station, check out railadvent.co.uk Once you've found one, go onto realtimetrains.co.uk either by searching or by going to the website via RailAdvent. RealTimeTrains gives you up-to-date information about when trains are passing and stopping.
Whether you want to see steam or diesel traction, railtours are amazing for stepping back into the past and see them blast through at full mainline speed (if certified that is). There are only a selection of heritage steam and diesel engines that are mainline certified - meaning they are suitable to be on the mainline.