A FABULOUS day of Trains At Exeter St Thomas (GWML) 20/06/2026

An AMAZING day of fast express trains as well as stopping services at this station on the outskirts of the city centre! Services from: CrossCountry GWR #railway #trains #220 #train #221 #crosscountry #gwr #800 #trainspotting #trainspotter What are headcodes? In the UK rail network, a headcode (or train reporting number) is a unique 4-character alphanumeric codeused by staff, signallers, and computer systems (like TOPS and TRUST) to identify an exact train service.[1] The code is strictly structured as follows: 1st Character (Train Class): A number from \(0\) to \(9\) defining the train's priority and type. For example, \(1\) or \(9\) means an express passenger train, \(2\) is an ordinary stopping passenger train, and \(5\) is an empty coaching stock move. 2nd Character (Destination Region/Route): A letter (A-Z) that generally indicates the area or route the train is heading to (e.g., \(M\) for Midland, \(S\) for Scotland). 3rd & 4th Characters (Identity/Sequence): Two digits used to distinguish between different trains running the same route, or to signify the specific service number for the day. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7] Originally in the 19th and 20th centuries, this information was displayed physically on the front of locomotives using oil lamps and white discs. Signalmen used these lamp patterns to determine the train's class and where to route it at busy junctions. [1, 2, 3] Source: Google. Recorded between 12:50 and 15:26