UK: August 26 marked the first day of the operation of eight-car formations of Stadler Class 777 EMUs on Merseyrail services to Southport, as well the first day in almost 46 years when no Merseyrail services were operated by a Class 507 EMU.
The last day of scheduled use of the remaining Class 507 EMUs built by BREL in 1978-79 was August 25. This follows the withdrawal of the Class 508 units in January.
Two Class 507s made a brief return on August 28 when a signalling failure at New Brighton trapped three of the Stadler trainsets in the station, but this was short-lived with Class 777s taking over the diagrams later that morning.
A farewell special to mark the withdrawal of the Class 507 fleet will operate over parts of the Merseyrail network on September 15 with proceeds going to local charities.
