Class 52 carries out SVR duties

D1015 Western Champion leaves Bewdley, on the Severn Valley Railway, with the 1315 from Bridgnorth on August 4. The locomotive was rostered to two daily round trips during the SVR’s operating days that week. It is one of two Class 52s based on the line, with the other being D1062 Western Courier. The class hauled express passenger services from London Paddington from 1962 until the mid-1970s, with the final locomotive withdrawn in 1977. D1015 returned the type to the main line after a 25-year absence with a railtour from Paddington on February 23 2002.