Took the great grandchildren out with me the other day when I went to film Class 37 405 coming up the Cumbrian Coast line with a set of overhauled tank wagons. these had originated at Warrington Arpley and were destined for Workington Docks Now in HNRCL colours (Harry Needle to us) 405 is seen at Foxfield. The two little wains encouraged the driver to blow the horns and we got a secondary 'Toot' when the driver recognised me.It was Steve Forest, an old colleague of mine from when he worked for DRS When we got back I got to wondering whether I had filmed it before. Turned out it was way back in 2014 on a Nuclear move from Sellafield to Barrow Docks when the loco still belonged to us. Top and tailed with 37 608 Pacific Grebe, the Nuclear boat was in the background and you get glimpses of the three Brunei navy Corvettes that were a feature Ramsden docks for many years. The wind noise is a bit much but it was February on the Cumbrian Coast It is making me wonder how many other locos I have filmed over the decades that could get the same treatment? Watch this space Kev
So another favourite class 37 of mine was 37 194 which I first photographed at Inverkeithing, Scotland in August 1992 when it was named 'British International Freight association' and was seen double headed with 37 251 on an Inverness to Edinburgh working. Just after this picture it would be crossing over the iconic Forth Bridge By September 2000 it lay, semi derelict, at Barrow Hill Roundhouse in its later 'Mainline' colour scheme before being restored and returned to traffic by HNRCL looking resplendent in the companies Orange livery seen with a restored Class 31 in original British rail green behind it. The original plan was for 194 to go out on hire However it was purchased by Direct Rail Services in 2004 and being repainted into DRS livery at Barrow Hill it went into Nuclear service. Still fitted with Mini plows Amazingly, I only ever filmed it once, seen at Dunnerholme in a classic 37/20 formation paired up with 20 303 If I wanted to model it I would need a donor loco Oh look, Here's Brooklyns 00 scale Lima railblue 37. Hmmm! More soon on that one soon. Meanwhile what happened to the real one? It had its English Electric main engine robbed to get one of the Class 37/4s being prepared for the Cumbrian Coast Passenger workings running again and the rest of the loco went for scrap Kev
That's a really cool series of pics covering the life of that loco Kev. I too like that orange scheme on that engine.
looking through the spreadsheets of images and video files of Class 47s one immediately stood out 47 810 was a regular on the Cross country services though Chesterfield in 1996-97 in it's Intercity executive livery and with ''Porterbrook' nameplates fitted Usually seen on the Poole-York-Poole services The Sulzer rattle when they set off is a classic sound Seen from Tapton Bridge at Chesterfield. This area will form the basis for my new Z gauge layout and I have already done a 47 and some Mk II coaches to recreate this train in Z Away from Chesterfield it often cropped up at Manchester Piccadilly station More soon of D1924 aka 47 247 aka 46 655 aka 47 810 (renumbering history) Kev
So I next got acquainted with it when I joined Direct Rail Services . in 2012 it was used on the training runs in advance of the loco hauled Cumbrian Coast passenger services with a hotpotch of Mk II coaches, The workings, TOPS code 5T20 and 5T21 ran between Carlisle and Barrow in Furness in the fabruary of that year which meant some of the film ain't great!. because of my shift patterns then I didn't have a stills camera with me just the rather rubbish Toshiba Camilo camcorder which wasn't great. It had acquiered new nameplates 'Peter Bath MBE' two years later it had the new livery and we used it to shunt Crewe gresty Bridge depot before the July 2014 DRS Depot open day. As more 68s were put into service the 47s became surplus and when I was at Eastleigh works in 2017 it was in for a major overhaul before moving to LSL's charter fleet. The DRS logo and nameplates had been removed And now we see it quite often on their charters, either hauling them or sitting at the back behind the steam loco as back-up Now restored to its original two tone green British railways livery and renumbered back to D1924 which was its original Pre-TOPS number and named 'Crewe Diesel depot' Kev
Lets look at a look at a loco that started out as one class 47 and was converted mid life into another, Class 57 When I used to ride behind it, back in the late 90's, 47 807 was in the infamous Purple and White 'Porterbrook' livery. If ever a color scheme divided opinion it was this one Personally, I didn't mind it The picture above is on a York-Poole working seen at Chesterfield in 1997 The same loco on a Bournemouth-Glasgow at Manchester Picadilly the same year And powering up for the climb from Sheepbridge to Dore and Totley on the Midland main Line. Looking a bit grubby and ready for the washing plant Yaers later I was photographing 57 304 at Preston station. This was a Virgin Rail 'Thunderbird' rescue loco fitted with Delner couplers at either end to recover the Virgin Multiple units (2220s, 221s and the 390 class 'Pendolino's if they got stuck) especially if the wires had come down. This was the same loco after conversion. Some of these locos were named after characters and vehicles from the 'Thunderbirds' TV series and this one was 'Thunderbird Gordon Tracy' complete with 'International Rescue badge' The mods needed to the front end to fit the Delner and the modified headlights are evident in this picture, The major mod to convert 47s to 57s was the removal of the original Sulzer power unit and the installation of an EMD 12-645 unit with a heavy duty alternator type, the same as a class 56 . More soon ( in DRS Service) Kev
The 57s were originally conversions for Freightliner and when they decided to concentrate their fleet on EMD Class 66s other rail companies picked the 57s up on lease. in 2012 DRS took over the Thunderbird operations for Virgin with the locos repainted in DRS livery 57 304 with sister engine 57 302 on Crewe Gresty Bridge depot Sat waiting at Carlisle Citadel station for a call. Now renamed 'Pride of Cheshire' In Gresty Bridge prior to the Depot Open day in 2022 with a class 88 AC bimode and an EMD 66 behind The video Starting with it as 47 807 in Porterbrook and finishing in DRS livery The difference in engine sounds is most marked deciding which loco to do next now, I'm quite enjoying this Kev
Another loco that has been here there and everywhere is 20 102. The class was introduced in 1957 as part the BR Modernisation programme and at just 1000 Horsepower usually worked in pairs. Construction continued until 1968 by which time 228 had been put into service. They are simple rugged machines. Originally painted in BR Green they have carried a number of colour schemes over the years I never saw it in railblue but first encountered 20 102 at The RFS works in Kilnhurst where it had returned from work on the Channel Tunnel construction. Still carrying its CT number 2008 and in better condition than some of the ones that returned from France There was always an interesting selection of main line and Industrial locos at this site in those days 2008 seen with 20 107, still in railbue, and and 08 331 as '001 Terence' DRS bought 15 of these RFS machines but only seven survived to become 20/3s in Nuclear service. They actually acquired this loco in 1994 but it was only in 1998 it received the DRS early colour scheme 2008-20 102 became 30 311 after a major overhal and modifications and is seen Top and tailing a Low Level waste train of ISO containers at Workington Docks with 20 301 in the foreground The normal method of operation was to split the locos on the 'Wall Line' set the rear loco, 301,forward and let the Docks shunter propel the PFA wagons onto it. Draw forward and then 311 would drop onto the back. The top and tailing was necceasary as in their wisdom British rail had 'rationalised the signalling system in the are which meant to get to Drigg from Workington involved going North to Maryport to crossover onto the Up line to head south again! After being sold I spotted in store at West Coast Rails Carnforth depot in 2011. Its "Class 20 fifty" anniversary nameplates were gone A year later it was at Barrow Hill now owned by HNRCL But by 2019 it looked a lot different! Last I heard they were being used to move scrap redundant GWR coaching stock to the scrapyard in London More soon Kev
Couldn't leave it there. nagging away in the back of my memory was the thought of 311 and 310 nearly a quarter of a century ago at Barrow Hill as we started to grow the Heritage centre after saving the last surviving Midland Railway Roundhouse for preservation When the A.C Electric group decided to move their collection to the Barrow Hill Roundhouse, DRS hauled the 25 Kv AC electrics ( along with a rake of Passenger coaches to provide Brakeforce) The Class 81, 82 and 83 were run round to propel the complete train onto the Springwell branch Remember this is December 1998 and it was shot on an Sony 8MM camcorder but actually the quality is not bad Kev
