It has been another busy week of fleet changes for the Tyne and Wear Metro as once again we have seen one of the new Stadler built units enter service as more of the original Metrocars have left the network for the last time for scrapping.
There have been two Metrocars which have headed off for scrapping over the past few days. The first of these was 4054 which headed off on Monday 24th March and that was followed just 24 hours later by 4064.
The usual process was followed by both of these units. They are top and tailed by two of their operational classmates from Gosforth Depot to Howdon from where they are collected by road and taken for scrapping. J Denham Metals of Shildon have the contract to scrap the units and that is where they ultimately end up for the work to take place.
One of the recent departures – 4084 – didn’t go directly to Shildon though and reports online have it as being at GCS Johnson, Barton Park Truck Stop for a time.
After the sadness of some of the old older going for scrap, more pleasing news to report is that of the entry into service of 555 027. This became the seventh of the Stadler built trains to be used in service when it carried its first passengers on Wednesday 26th March 2025. It joins 555 002–005, 555 020 and 555 021 in having being used in service.
Monday-Friday there are now scheduled to be four of the new trains in service whilst weekends do now also have two diagrams in operation.