POWER SCENE
Our authoritative class-by-class review of newsworthy locomotive workings.
Notable workings and Shed Talk
CLASS 20
ON March 15, English Electric Type 1s Nos. 20189+20205 left Tyseley and passed Tamworth High Level at 11.35 bound initially for Sheffield. Later the duo formed the 0Z21/15.36 Sheffield-Derby RTC prior to moving on to the Midland Railway Centre at Butterley five days later.
A development towards the end of the month saw the Railfreight Grey duo of Nos. 20118+20132 leave Worksop on March 28 to run light to Chaddesden. Next morning the 20s set off light to work the 6Z21/14.26 Long Marston-Chaddesden conveying 20 JNA wagons.
CLASS 37
WITH everyone hopeful that charter trains will operate this summer,
Locomotive Services sent off Type 3s Nos. 37521 and 37667 on March 4 with eight coaches on what amounted to a tour of the network. The first leg of the trip ran as the 5Z10/08.50 Crewe to Berwick-upon-Tweed via Shap and the Tyne Valley before heading to St Bees and then Carstairs with an overnight stop at Arnside.
The weekend was spent covering the lines to Mallaig and then Oban prior to the Class 37s taking the 5Z18/19.49 Oban-Euston overnight to Crewe where they were replaced by Class 40 No. 40145 (see page 38) with AC electric No. 90002 at the rear (departing from there at 05.10 on March 8).
West Coast’s No. 37668 ran light from Carnforth to Peterborough on
March 8 to collect ballast regulator
No. DR77801 for onward movement as the 6Z37/12.00 Peterborough to Scunthorpe Frodingham. Having returned to base, No. 37668 attached two coaches to form the 5Z37/10.40 Carnforth-Larbert on March 12 picking up No. 47854 at Larbert and heading further north as the 5Z38/18.09 to Upper Tyndrum. The purpose of this move was to act as a staff train between Upper Tyndrum and Bridge of Orchy during a weekend long possession. No. 37516 had previously moved from Fort William to Crianlarich to act as a stand-by locomotive, and on March 17 it was collected on the return journey. No. 47854 was deposited back at Larbert while Nos. 37516+37668, by now atop seven coaches (including five from the SRPS base), formed the 5Z37/14.40 Bo’ness Exchange Sidings-Carnforth.
There was an unplanned move for No. 37668 on March 26 when sent to the rescue of a track machine which had failed at Kents Bank, the Type 3 towing the machine to Carnforth Sidings.
Boden Rail’s Transrail-branded
No. 37240 made a belated return to work on the network on March 17 having spent more than 16 years on the Llangollen Railway prior to moving to Nottingham in December 2018. Its debut came on the 1Z40/14.59 Derby RTC-Crewe test train partnered with Network Rail Type 3 No. 97304. That evening, forming the 1Q43/17.35 from Crewe the pair visited Stalybridge,
Rose Hill Marple, and Hadfield before covering routes in the Merseyside area the following night. On March 26,
No. 37240 took two Network Rail DVTs Nos. 82111 and 82145 from Derby to Long Marston.
No. 37884 hauled a pair of Class 321 electric units on their final journey from Parkeston Quay to Newport Docks on March 5, while No. 37611 had four ScotRail HST trailers in tow (March 10) forming the 5S01/10.32 Doncaster Wabtec-Slateford via a somewhat circuitous route through Hexham, Dumfries and Shotts.
LSL example No. 37521 moved five former East Midlands trailers as the 5Z44/10.14 Gascoigne Wood-Crewe HS on March 16.
No. 97302 (ex-37170) took Windhoff MPV No. DR98003 from Crewe IEMD to Swindon on March 9, returning with No. DR98010 next day.
Amongst the regular test trains to navigate the network, the 3Q08/08.25 from Crewe CSFL on March 23, ‘top and tailed’ by Nos. 37175 and 37099, visited Llandudno Town and the Conwy Valley branch.
Following the derailment of Class 507 electric unit No. 507006 at Kirkby station on the evening of March 13,
No. 37800 was dispatched from Derby to Liverpool Lime Street on March 15 and to Kirkby the next morning ready to drawback sets Nos. 507021+507006.
DRS Type 3s Nos. 37407 and
37422 powered the 6Z80/10.31
Toton Yard-High Marnham high output ballast set on March 15, No. 37422 taking empty JZAs from York Works to Scunthorpe Trent three days later prior to collecting the HOBC wagons from High Marnham on March 19. That night Nos. 37424 and 37425 formed the 6P01/20.36 Whitemoor-Clacton-onSea with 17 empty wagons, returning
CLASS 43 CLASS 47
as the 6P01/05.00 Thorpe-le-SokenWhitemoor on March 22.
No. 37402 hauled a train of long welded rail from Doncaster Belmont to Basford Hall via Derby and Stafford on March 26.
POWER cars Nos. 43058 and 43059, in back-to-back formation, undertook a Locomotive Services training run over the Settle & Carlisle line on March 2, running on the outward journey as the 0Z43/08.25 Crewe-Carlisle and passing Appleby at 11.55, returning by the same route.
Three days later the former LNER duo of Nos. 43290+43299 were out on test, running from Derby via Chesterfield, Toton and Spondon on their way back to the Loram site in readiness for use on the New Measurement Train. Thus on March 7, Nos. 43062 and 43299 powered the 1Q28/12.46 Derby RTC-Heaton via Beighton Junction and the Durham coast and were next reported at Axminster and Yeovil Junction on
March 11 en route from Reading to Salisbury via Exeter St David’s. Following a jaunt over the S&C on March 21, the pair reached Holyhead and later Liverpool Lime Street on March 25.
AFTER residing at Eastleigh Arlington since December 3, No. 47749 (GBDF) ran light to Leicester on March 16 and then to Doncaster nine days later. Less than an hour after arriving there,
No. 47749 was ready to set off with the 0O66/13.53 Doncaster Down Decoy-Eastleigh towing the newly arrived No. 66798. The following day No. 47749 returned to Leicester having accompanied the recently-repainted No. 66793 north from Hampshire.