NEWS UPDATE
DC RAIL
STORED at Toton since February 2009 and sold to an unnamed private buyer in October 2019 (see December 2019 issue), No. 60060 has finally been moved away from its long-term Nottinghamshire home. On August 5, the erstwhile James Watt was transferred by road to Knighton Junction, a few miles south of Leicester station. The following day it made the second stage of its journey, being tripped to UKRL's Leicester depot by HN Rail Class 20s Nos. 20118 & 20901 in top and tail formation under an 0Z60 headcode. Here it will be used as a spares donor for the DC Rail fleet.
DB CARGO
AUGUST was a quiet month for the DBCUK fleet, with only No. 90028 sidelined WQAA at Crewe EMD, although colleague No. 90040 was further downgraded during the same period from the WQAA-WQAB pool. The only other major fleet news was a shake-up of the WBRT pool ahead of the RHTT season with Nos. 66060, 66099, 66143 & 66161 being replaced by
Nos. 66015, 66074, 66092 and 66206.
FREIGHTLINER
HAVING been stored in the DHLT pool in May and June, Nos. 66599, 66953, 66955, 66956 and 66957 have now departed their original storage locations, although only three have actually been gainfully employed. As reported in the last issue, Nos. 66955 and 66957 were sent south to Westbury on July 25. However, this pair has remained out of use at the cement works site. On a more positive note, the first week of August saw Nos. 66956, 66953 and 66599 all return to work, on the 1st, 4th and 7th respectively.
Meanwhile, repaints into the G&W-inspired orange, black and yellow continue, with No. 59202 outshopped from Toton and No. 90009 currently at Wolverton being prepared for its rebranding.
GB RAILFREIGHT
CLASS 56 conversion No. 69001 continues to visit Progress Rail at Longport for fettling, the first of the Class 69s making the trip back to the Potteries on July 31, just 11 days after it was last on site. After layovers at Peterborough and Hams Hall, it made the final leg of the journey to Longport on August 2 sandwiched between Nos. 66794, 66799 &
66758. It returned to Tonbridge West
Yard to resume test runs and driver familiarisation on August 11 paired with Beacon Rail blue No. 66796, the former Euro-spec Class 66/7 being deposited at Eastleigh Works for the attention of Arlington Fleet Services. However, the planned move of No. 69003, the former No. 56018 (still its official TOPS identity), to Eastleigh in August did not take place.
On August 19, No. 66754 was involved in an altercation with a tractor at Three Horse Shoes level crossing on the March-Peterborough line in Cambridgeshire while working the 4L02 03.50 Hams Hall-Felixstowe South intermodal service. The locomotive suffered minor damage and was removed to Whitemoor yard the following day (20th) and will be moved to Longport for repairs in due course.
No. 66799, the former Rail4Chem No. 6602, which arrived in the UK on
July 30 (see September issue), has transferred to Longport. It moved to Peterborough on July 31 where it joined No. 69001 for the onward journey to Progress Rail's facility.
No. 66769 has swapped its Europorte 2-inspired paint scheme for a new black and orange livery courtesy of AFS at Eastleigh. Its first duty in its new look was to run to London Victoria on August 11 to be named. Dedicated after football organisation LMA (League Managers Association), it also wears prominent Prostate Cancer UK branding to help raise awareness for the charity and the condition.
LNER
AN eleventh Class 91 was reactivated in August, No. 91127 being recorded on the 1A26 10.25 Bradford Forster Square-King's Cross on August 22. This leaves just No. 91114 in the IECA pool to return to work.
Meanwhile, Eversholt Leasing has made a further batch of Class 91s available for scrapping, Nos. 91103, 91104 & 91108 being advertised, along with a separate group of the former ECML electrics available for lease or disposal. This includes Nos. 91122 and 91128, currently leased to Rail Operations Group/DATS for overhead line testing and the seven locomotives awaiting their fate at Doncaster Belmont Yard: Nos. 91112, 91115, 91116, 91118, 91121, 91125 and 91131.
LOCOMOTIVE SERVICES LTD
MIDLAND Blue Pullman-liveried Nos. 43046 & 43055 have departed Neville Hill after some mechanical work, which also included the repair of accident damaged No. 43055 after its unfortunate scrape with No. 47614 (47853) pushing some coaching stock. The pair worked back to Crewe DMD as an 0Z21 on August 12, both returning to action the following day (13th) in charge of a 5Z42 10.30 Crewe-Dundee ECS working ahead of the Perth to York ‘Jorvik Pullman' on August 14.
SCOTRAIL
FORMER FGW celebrity HST power car No. 43185, named Great Western in May 1992 and returned to InterCity Swallow livery in October 2016, has not had the luck of the other commemorative Class 43, No. 43002, that has currently assumed pride of place on the turntable at the National Railway Museum, York. Previously stored at Haymarket as a spares donor for ScotRail's Inter7City fleet, it has followed ‘Christmas tree' No. 43030 to Brodie Engineering at Kilmarnock, the former Wabtec site.
No. 43030 was the rear power car in the Stonehaven incident in August 2020. Its partner in that derailment, No. 43140, was scrapped in April of this year.
WEST COAST RAILWAYS
FOLLOWING the return to traffic of No. 47813 in May, WCRC put two more of its former Rail Operations Group Class 47/8s into traffic in the form of Nos. 47815 and 47848.
Unlike No. 47813, which retains its debranded ROG colours, the pair have been given an exterior refresh. While No. 47848 has been outshopped in standard WCRC maroon ‘dip', No. 47815 has regained a very welcome coat of BR two-tone green, recalling its repaint ahead of the York Railfest event in June 2004, courtesy of then owner FGW. It wore this livery with both Abertawe Landore and Great Western names until given the Riviera Trains corporate ‘Oxford blue' scheme in early 2014. The pair were recorded on test on August 3, before being partnered on a 1Z24 07.40 Carnforth-Scarborough railtour on the 26th, which they covered for the entire journey due to the failure of the booked steam locomotive. This leaves only
No. 47812 from the ex-ROG batch to work for its new owner.