69006
Beeston, 7 March 2024
Spotted my first Class 69 yesterday whilst waiting for a train at Beeston, Nottinghamshire…
69006 Pathfinder Railtours Peter Watts 50 years service 1973-2023 (the former 56128) passed through the station with train 6X49, the 06.13 departmental (IFA points & crossing carriers) from Toton North Yard to Beeston Sidings.
43087 leads ‘The Royal Duchy’ past Truro signal box
4 August 2014
In the early hours of this morning Truro signal box (formerly Truro East) signalled its last train. The semaphore signals will be removed and control of the section will be handed to a panel in Exeter power box.
The Great Western Railway (GWR) type 7a structure dates from 1899 and is fitted with a 54-lever frame that came from Bristol East Depot Main Line signal box in 1971.
43087 11 Explosive Ordnance Disposal Regiment Royal Logistic Corps and 43042 were in charge of train 1C81, the 12.06 First Great Western service, ‘The Royal Duchy’ from London Paddington to Penzance on the 4 August 2014 and although 43087 was scrapped in December 2022, 43042 (now named Tregenna Castle) can still be found working in Cornwall.
British Railways Mk.1 Sleeper First (SLF) E2080
Peak Rail, 11 January 2014
While British Railways Mk.1 passenger carriages are incredibly commonplace on heritage railways, Mk.1 sleeping carriages are definitely a rarity with (as far as I’m aware) only six still in existence.
Most were built with asbestos insulation, which was expensive to remove professionally and so were sold for scrap but a few were bought by preservation societies for use as volunteer accommodation.
E2080 was built in 1959 by Metropolitan-Cammell Carriage & Wagon Co Ltd and was preserved in 1983, initially on the Dart Valley Railway (now the South Devon Railway) before moving to target=”_blank”>Peak Rail in the late 1980s.
When I visited Peak Rail in April last year it was still undergoing restoration.
91111 For the Fallen
London King’s Cross, 7 January 2015
With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.
Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.
They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England’s foam.
But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;
As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.
Poem by Robert Laurence Binyon (1869-1943)
91111 For the Fallen
London King’s Cross, 7 January 2015
My (so far, only) visit to the Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway has featured here before but this vehicle is something I’d pretty much forgotten about.
19001
Bo’ness, 2 November 2018
Previously used on West Coast Main Line (WCML) services this Mk.3b Driving Van Trailer, number 82113, was being used by Artemis Intelligent Power to test the viability of using hydrostatic transmission to reduce engine emissions and had been fitted with two JCB diesel engines and…
19001
Bo’ness, 2 November 2018
A second driving cab.
Following conversion 82113 was renumbered as a diesel locomotive and allocated the TOPS number 19001. Since my visit it’s changed hands and is being/has been used to carry out magnetic wheel adhesion testing by Lenz Labs of Edinburgh.
‘Join the Ghost Train’ vinyl adorning 170425
Dundee, 26 October 2017
Although I’m not a huge fan of Halloween (or All Hallows’ Eve as it’s known in Scotland) it was nice to see ScotRail getting into the ‘spirit’ of things back in October 2017.
170425 & 170475
Dundee, 26 October 2017
170425 later departed with train 1T82, the 12.13 Saturdays & Sundays excepted (SSuX) service to Glasgow Queen Street.
Class 25/3 D7659 (25309)
Rowsley South, Peak Rail, 7 April 2023
D7659 was the final Class 25 locomotive built by Beyer, Peacock & Co Ltd (in 1966) and had a fairly uneventful pre-preservation career.
Renumbered 25309 under British Rail’s TOPS system in April 1974 and again (to 25909) in December 1985, withdrawal beckoned in September 1986. After asbestos removal the locomotive left Vic Berry’s scrapyard in Leicester on 2 June 1988 for display at Coalville Open Day on 4 June before moving into preservation at the East Lancashire Railway (ELR).
Now owned by pop impresario Pete Waterman, D7659 is based at Peak Rail in Derbyshire and today hauled three return trips between Rowsley South and Matlock, the above pic is of the 13.00 departure from Rowsley South.
Is it really over four months since I posted anything here? 😬
Clearly, one of my New Year’s resolutions for 2023 must be to post more often!
Class 101 DMBS 50164 Daisy
Midland Railway-Butterley, 1 January 2010
These two class 101 diesel multiple unit (DMU) vehicles formed set no.101685 and were amongst the last five class 101 sets to be withdrawn from service by First North Western in December 2003.
Built by Metro-Cammell in 1956, 101685 had regained its early British Railways livery in 1994 and was named Daisy (unofficially) after the diesel railcar in The Railway Series books by the Rev. W. Awdry.
Class 101 DMCL 53160 Daisy
Midland Railway-Butterley, 1 January 2010
Both vehicles are now preserved at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway
D6700 (37119, 35350)
Loughborough Central (GCR), 21 August 2022
Having arrived with train 2B25, the 14.45 departure from Leicester North
I spent an enjoyable hour at Loughborough Central station on the Great Central Railway yesterday, mainly because I wanted to photograph the first built Class 37 (or English Electric type 3) diesel locomotive, D6700, which is currently on loan from the National Railway Museum in York.
Built by the English Electric Co Ltd at Vulcan Foundry, D6700 entered service in December 1960 and was first allocated to Stratford Depot (30A) in East London.
Renumbering under the TOPS scheme (to 37119) followed in February 1974 and again (to 37350) in March 1988 (when it was fitted with regeared cast frame type CP7 bogies).
Repainted back into green livery in August 1988 ‘D6700’ became something of a celebrity and appeared at many open days before acquiring the name NRM NATIONAL RAILWAY MUSEUM in November 1998.
Withdrawal followed in December 1999 and D6700 was claimed for preservation by the NRM.
43184
Derby, 6 August 2022
Last month CrossCountry unveiled one of its High Speed Train power cars in the livery it first carried in the 1980s… 43184 was built in 1981 at Crewe Works and renumbered 43384 when rebuilt with an MTU engine in 2008.
CrossCountry have reinstated not only the original TOPS number but also the the set number ‘253051’ across the power car’s nose.
I had a tip that 43184 was leading train 1E67, the 16.27 service from Plymouth to Leeds so I popped down to Derby hoping to grab a pic in the failing light… and I’m glad I did.
For the record 43303 (the former 43103) was on the rear of the train.
Railway Miscellany 