TESTING TIMES:

On March 10 No. 70806 traversed the Torbay branch hauling a single wagon forming the 6C46 08.18 Westbury-Goodrington reaching Paignton at 11.17. Also that day,

No. 70805 had Railvac No.2 for company on the 6X85 05.36 DoncasterWelwyn, while something of a rarity now was the sight of 10 bogie tank wagons forming the 6Z35 10.08

Carlisle Yard-Immingham SS traversing the Settle & Carlisle line behind

No. 70809 on March 12. Four days later No. 70809 was inside No. 56302 on the 6K30 11.56 Carlisle Yard-Longport heading a dozen loaded JNAs, while a similar pairing next day found Nos. 56090+70809 hauling a short-formed 6K38 10.15 Longport-Basford Hall.

CLASS 73

Under repair at Leicester since late February, Caledonian ‘ED’ No. 73969 was joined at the East Midlands depot by stable companion No. 73970 on March 14. The latter had been hauled from Craigentinny to Doncaster by

No. 67023 and from there to Leicester behind No. 66757. Repairs completed, No. 73969 left on March 17 for

Scotland running under its own power as the 0Z73 07.14 Leicester-Craigentinny via Crewe and Shap. No. 73970 followed suit on March 23, initially hauled by

No. 56081 as the 5M47 11.16 LeicesterDoncaster Down Decoy with the two former Class 508 barrier coaches. Three days later Nos. 66726+73970 set off from Doncaster for Tyne Yard and then across the Tyne Valley to Carlisle before heading to Millerhill Yard. The GBRf Class 66 then took up Caledonian sleeper work, hauling No. 73971 on the 1S25 21.01 (Sun) Euston-Inverness early on March 28.

CLASS 87

An Inter-City tour, ‘The East Anglian’, ran on March 16, when No. 87002

Royal Sovereign with its attractive rake of Mk.3 coaches and DVT No. 82139 formed the 1Z87 07.02 Crewe-Norwich. The special returned from a wet and dreary Norwich at 15.15.

CLASS 90

To commemorate the centenary of the Malcolm Group, begun as a familyowned business in the 1920s, Class 90 locomotive No. 90021 has been resurrected from store and overhauled at Toton TMD. Now sporting a revised version of the company’s colours and named Donald Malcolm, No. 90021 departed from the East Midlands depot on March 25 and was hauled to Crewe IEMD by No. 67020.

CLASS 91

Following a period of inactivity, some Class 91s have returned to ECML use, including No. 91107 Skyfall noted working the 1D10 10.33 King’s CrossLeeds on March 14 and the 19.33 from London the following evening. Similarly, No. 91130 Lord Mayor of Newcastle left York with the 12.02 departure on March 15 and No. 91114 Durham Cathedral, the last to see further use, powered the 10.33 Kings Cross-Leeds on March 16. On the ‘other side of the coin’ Nos. 91103/4/8 were each taken for scrap from Doncaster to CF Booth at Rotherham during the third week of March (see Power by the Hour, p24).

The Network Rail Melton RIDC at Asfordby, Leicestershire, as seen from the air on March 25, with a variety of traction and rolling stock in view, including an SWR Class 701, WMT Class730 and Railfreight large logo grey Class 56. Just out of a shot a WMT three-car Class 730 waits to head out onto the test track. Paul Clark