THE RETRO YEARS: OCTOBER

Classic diesel and electric scenes from 1970s through to the 2000s.

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The transfer of Class 50s from the London Midland Region to the Western Region began in October 1972 when No. 400 (50050) was allocated to Bristol Bath Road. Nos. 401/402 (50001/50002) were next in July and November 1973 respectively, with most of the rest moving in 1974 after electrification of the West Coast Main Line through to Glasgow,

No. 421 (50021) being the last in 1975. Thus this shot of pre-TOPS No. 401 at Old Oak Common on October 13, 1973 is a relatively early one of the class on the WR.

The ‘Exmoor Belle' tour from Exeter St David's on October 3, 1970 (formed of Class 118 DMU Nos. 51328+59498+51313) was chiefly run to cover the Barnstaple-Ilfracombe line on the last day before closure, but it also visited the Barnstaple-Meeth line and is pictured during a photostop on its way to Meeth at Torrington, which had lost its passenger service in October 1965 but remained open for freight traffic until 1982.

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1976 was the last full year of Class 52 ‘Western' operations, with a number of tours being run in the final months. The ‘Westerns South Western' on October 30, 1976 ran from Paddington to Meldon Quarry, out via Newbury and back via Salisbury, and is pictured at its destination with Nos. D1009+D1023 in charge – the latter loco surviving in preservation today at the NRM in York.

The wild and windswept Yorkshire

Dales form the backdrop to this shot of an unidentified split-box Class 40 heading north across Ribblehead viaduct on the Settle & Carlisle line in October 1978. The ballast train has likely come from the sidings next to Ribblehead station, crossing the viaduct to run round at Blea Moor before heading back south.

‘Peak' No. 45011 heads west from Castleford, West Yorkshire, on October 28, 1978 with a diverted cross-country working from York to the South West. The cutting behind the loco is the former NER Whitwood goods branch that served the Aire & Calder Chemical Works.

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The final Saturday of the 1982 summer timetable was October 2, and on that day ‘Peak'

No. 46031 prepares to leave Huddersfield with the last leg of the 07.57 Weymouth to Bradford via Halifax. The train had arrived from Sheffield via Barnsley, which required the loco to run round at Huddersfield. Today this platform has been widened, with trains now using the former throughline to the right of the loco.

Changing generations at Carlisle on October 3, 1986 as Second Generation ‘Pacer' DMU

No. 143010 stables alongside First Generation Class 108 Nos. 54247+53964 in the retro green livery it had received earlier that year.

Despite being called ‘The 45 Finale', Pathfinder's trip from Bristol to Scarborough on October 3, 1987 was a little premature as regular Class 45 operation continued until August 1988 and special workings in early 1989. However, the Pathfinder trip produced No. 45106 from Bristol, Nos. 45007+45106 from Birmingham New Street (after the latter had failed) and Nos. 45007+45107 from Leicester. This pair are seen with the return leg of the tour approaching Hessle Road Junction on the Hull avoiding line (having earlier reversed at Paragon station). The now-demolished Boothferry Park stadium is in the background.

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Looking in the other direction to that of Picture 8 (page 80) at Stainforth & Hatfield, only this time on October 16, 1987 as Large Logo

‘Grid' No. 56128 powers a rake of empty MGR coal wagons towards Doncaster. The now-closed Hatfield Colliery is in the background, which was the location of a major landslip by colliery spoil in 2013 that completely blocked the railway line for around six months.

October 5, 1988 sees another ‘Grid' – this time Railfreight Triple-Grey No. 56134 with Coal Sector branding – at Redmire, North Yorkshire, at the end of the branch from Northallerton. Redmire was then the railhead for a quarry supplying limestone to British Steel on Teesside, but most of this branch today is the heritage Wensleydale Railway.

North of Wensleydale is Weardale and its branch from Bishop Auckland, which today is home to the heritage Weardale Railway, but back on October 14, 1988 was still in use for freight traffic conveying cement from the factory at Eastgate. No. 37507 is pictured heading west at Stanhope that day with a rake of empties.

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Dedicated Royal Train locos Nos. 47798 and 47799 were given their initial Royal Plum livery while still owned by BR's RES sector in 1995, but this was updated in summer 1997 under EWS ownership to Royal Claret with a red and yellow bodyside stripe, as seen on the pair at Wolverton Works on October 10 that year.

The final three Class 205 units were the last ‘Thumper' DEMUs to be withdrawn from main line service in Britain in December 2004 – almost 50 years since they were introduced in the late-1950s. These remarkable, and popular, machines were still needed to work peak-hour services on the non-electrified Uckfield line until new Class 171 DMUs were available to replace them. On October 11, 2004, Connex-liveried Nos. 205001+205009 shunts at Selhurst depot (with Norwood Junction station in the background) after earlier working the 07.22 Uckfield-London Bridge.

Type 4 No. 47832 was the only loco to receive the black livery and company branding of short-lived FM Rail, which was formed in January 2005 by the merger of loco spot-hire firm Fragonset and train operator Merlin, but which went into administration at the end of 2006. Here the loco heads the Queen of Scots rake at Battersea, South London, heading empty to Stewarts Lane depot after earlier working from Cambridge to Victoria.

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