Massive investment is currently being made by First Capital Connect in its fleet and depot facilities, considering the FCC franchise is a 'stop gap' until the planned major Thameslink investment and franchise changes are made, this is good news for passengers on the popular Thameslink and Great Northern lines.

First Capital Connect presently operate a fleet of 41 Class 313s from HSBC, 12 Class 317s from Angel Trains, 40 Class 365s from HSBC together with 66 Class 319s direct from Porterbrook, eight sets presently sub-leased from Southern, with a further four sets from December 2007 and another eight from December 2008. Until the end of June 2007, the heavy maintenance for the 319 fleet is undertaken by Selhurst, after which the contract is transferred 'in house' with FCCs own depots carrying out all levels of overhaul (except C6 refurbishment which is undertaken at Alstom Wolverton with 12 sets so far complete), this will place a considerable increase on depot facilities at Hornsey, Bedford and Cricklewood.

The Class 313 fleet is allocated to Hornsey (as it has been since 1976) and fully maintained at the depot, major repairs or accident damage being undertaken at Alstom, Wolverton. Refurbishment of the Class 313 fleet will commence this summer, but as a start all sets by the end of next week will sport the new First 'neon' colours. The Class 317 fleet allocated to Great Northern at Hornsey will follow the 313 fleet through refurbishment and at present the sets are painted in the WAGN purple colours.

The Class 365 fleet, the mainstay of FCC main line operations and once known as 'Networker Express' and shared between Connex South Eastern and WAGN are now all allocated to Hornsey. Recently a major refurbishment has commenced at Hornsey using contract staff which has seen a much improved and cleaner interior, new floor covering, seat moquette and dado panels are fitted and a heavy clean undertaken. The interiors look impressive and by the start of June three sets had been returned to traffic.

To facilitate the increase in maintenance at Hornsey a number of major improvements are about to be made at the depot, this includes a new wheel lathe, with a capacity of 6,000 wheel sets per year (the present lathe has a capacity of just 3,000 wheelsets). This new building which will be built during the summer will incorporate one of the most sophisticated wheel re-profiling lathes in the world and have line capacity to handle 16 car trains. The present wheel lathe building is to be gutted of its present equipment and converted into a heavy lift shop enabling the depot to take over Level 5 maintenance operations. The jacks from the present depot building will be transferred to the old lathe shed later this year after ground strengthening work has been completed. In the main shed building, one track, the furthest from the running lines will be converted into a level five maintenance track and a complete four car length set of lifting jacks will be fitted, enabling a complete train to be lifted at one time.

The dedicated staff at Hornsey depot benefit from the very latest in communications equipment, with a 'comms room' providing full access to all depot activities and work progress as well as a full internet based touch-screen system to access all the First Group engineering systems. By a close involvement with depot staff the management have been able to increase the quality of train presentation and increase the miles per casualty figures for all depot fleets.

Even with FCC having additional trains from Southern, the operator is still having difficulty in providing enough seats for passenger demand. Recently through the return of a long out of service Class 365 with collision damage and refinements to duties four Class 317s have been made available to return to their old stamping ground on the 'bed-Pan' line. It is interesting that these sets are 'hauled' by a Class 319 from Hornsey via the North london and West London lines and then via South London to reach Blackfriers and the Thameslink network. Slight modifications have been required to operate the two classes together.

To provide depot shunting for the increased depot operation, FCC have recently hired Class 08 No. 08750 from Wabtec to operate alongside resident Class 03 No. 03179 which has now been repainted in FCC livery.