NEWS UPDATE
BRUSH TRACTION
WITH Wabtec expected to vacate its section of the famous ‘Falcon Works’ site at Loughborough imminently, just 10 years after taking over Brush Traction, long-term inmates Nos. 73134, 92021, 92040 and 92045, along with last-built Class 92 No. 92046, (all owned by GB Railfreight) were on the move in December. Nos. 92021 and 92046 were moved by road to Worksop on the 14th, while 92040 and 92045 followed on the 16th.
All four Brush-built electrics were stored at Crewe EMD in a mass cull of the Eurostar UK fleet on April 24, 2001, along with Nos. 92020, 92032 and 92044, the latter three of which have subsequently returned to action with GBRf. Nos. 92045 and 92046 have been at Loughborough since July 2008, while Nos. 92021 and 92040 moved to the Brush site in November and December 2018 respectively, having spent almost a decade at Coquelles (Pas-de-Calais) in France.
Finally, No. 73134 (stored in April 1999 and moved to Loughborough in April 2015) made the 55-mile trip to the HN Rail storage facility on December 19, leaving just the Rail Operations Group/ DATS quartet of Nos. 43050, 43076, 91122 and 91128 on site.
COLAS RAIL
AFTER a five-month sojourn in store at Arley on the Severn Valley Railway,
No. 43277 has finally been called to Loram Derby for attention ready to return to work with new owner Colas. On December 10, No. 43272 worked light engine across to the SVR (0Z45) before returning as a 0Z46 Kidderminster-Derby RTC with the former VXEC power car in tow, still branded for its interim operator EMR.
CROSSCOUNTRY
FOLLOWING last issue’s headline news of the removal of CrossCountry’s
HST fleet from service, the situation only marginally improved throughout December. It seems that XC has retained a Sundays only diagram (XC802) for the fleet, with power cars Nos. 43301 and 43357 appearing regularly through the month, while Saturday, December
18, saw Nos. 43207 and 43366 on the XC803 diagram, covering the 1V50 06.06 Edinburgh-Plymouth and 1E63 15.27 Plymouth-Leeds. Nos. 43301 and 43357 were also out on December 24, in charge of a 1Z60 11.06 Edinburgh-Plymouth.