Cumbria ‘37s’ end
Locomotive haulage on the Cumbrian Coast terminates, with Class 37s replaced by diesel multiple units.
LOCOMOTIVE haulage on the Cumbrian Coast terminated on December 28, with Northern now able to use diesel multiple units on the route.
The final northbound train was the 1531 Barrow-Carlisle, powered by 37424 Avro Vulcan XH558, while the final southbound train (also the final Northern ‘37’-hauled train), was the 1745 Carlisle-Barrow, powered by 37425 Sir Robert McAlpine/ Concrete Bob.
Class 37s and Mk 2s started working services on the line in May 2015, funded by the Department for Transport, in response to various cascades which left the North short of available trains.
However, in recent weeks Northern has received all 16 Class 170s from ScotRail, as well as five Class 156s and eight Class 158s from SR, and two Class 150/1s from Great Western Railway. This has enabled the operator to redeploy various diesel multiple units, including on the Cumbrian Coast.
The ‘37s’ had been introduced following the cascade of TransPennine Express Class 170/3s to Chiltern Railways, and a subsequent sub-lease of Class 156s from Northern to TPE to cover for that move. This provided more capacity for the region, with Government funding the additional stock hired from Direct Rail Services.
However, use of the ‘37s’ was not always popular, with local politicians criticising both their reliability and noise levels. Reliability affected the locomotivehauled coaching stock throughout their operations, while there were also regular problems involving crewing the trains.
Initially, two Class 37-hauled trains were hired from DRS, with a pool set up specifically for the locomotives. In the first few months the trains were top-andtailed by the Type 3s, and ran along the coast as well as serving Preston and Lancaster.
Reliability issues forced DRS to supply a third set as standby, following a number of failures. Performance remained below that required by Northern, and so last year DRS supplied Class 68s for one of the sets. These lasted until the autumn, when the ‘37s’ returned.
Class 37s hired from DRS remain in passenger use with Greater Anglia, in a deal officially due to end in May but which is almost certainly set to be extended.