By the early 1990's the class 304 fleet built for suburban work primarily around Liverpool and Manchester was getting very depleted with withdrawals and with new stock (class 323's) suffering delayed introduction BR transferred 11 class 305/2 sets from the Anglia Region of Network South-East to cover for the shortfall in available train sets. Mechanically very similar to the 304's the 305/2's were originally built for Lea Valley line services out of London Liverpool Street to the likes of Bishops Stortford and Hertford East and unlike the older class 305/1's used on the inner suburban and Great Eastern mainline they were 4-car units instead of 3-car sets. By the mid 1980's the 304's had all been reduced to 3-car sets so there was an increase in seating capacity initially with the arrival of the 305's but this didn't last as Regional Railways soon reduced half of the new arrivals to 3-car units. That is evident in this picture with 305 504 on the left in Regional Railways livery having just arrived with 2H05 the 12.51 from Hazel Grove being a 3-car set while stabled alongside in Regional Railway/Greater Manchester PTE livery 305 511 is still a 4-car set.
