NEW MOVES AND CHANGES
■ With no steam loco available, Class 45/0 45041 has been covering services at the Nene Valley Railway. Over the late May Bank Holiday it worked all three days. Meanwhile things were a little less successful for 45108 on May 31. Working the East Lancs Railway’s diesel diagram it was declared a failure at Rawtenstall while heading to Bury on the morning leg of the diagram. 33109 was dispatched from Bury to rescue the train, and once 45108 had been removed at Bury the former took over for the rest of the day.
■ The Severn Valley Railwaybased Class 14 D9551 was another guest loco for the Mid-hants Railway’s June 2527 diesel gala, the visit being announced at the start of June.
■ Following its successful appearance at the Severn Valley Railway’s May diesel gala, 33108 was immediately taken out of traffic for some much-needed TLC, including bodywork and a repaint. All being well the Crompton should see a return to traffic at the September 30 – October 3 diesel gala.
■ The June half term week saw some additional diesel turns at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, with 20031 working a full diagram on the Monday and Friday (June 1 and June 4) while 37075 covered the Wednesday and Thursday turns. This was in addition to the normal steam turn.
■ Class 20 D8110 completed its booked set of running days in May with a final day of running on May 29. The last train of the day was double-headed with the GWR steam loco Wightwick Hall, which had arrived from Quainton Road during the week and was due to take over services from the following day. For both out and back journeys the 20 led with the Hall tucked inside.
■ Following its overhaul and repaint, 33002 was back in service on June 1, working the South Devon Railway’s diesel turn, 1730 Buckfastleigh – Totnes and return, for that and the following two days.
■ With both main line diesels, 47205 and 31289, out of action, the Northampton & Lamport Railway obtained 33035 from Barrow Hill on a six-month hire to provide cover. Although it is currently only working push and pull services from Pitsford station, the railway hopes to complete its extension to Brampton later this year and finally provide a southern terminus for the line.
■ Following its stay at the Severn Valley Railway, which included a full repaint and a starring role in the May Diesel Bash, 47773 has returned to its normal Tyseley base, working for Vintage Trains. Although main line registered, the 47 was taken back to Tyseley by 50049 Defiance, which was back in main line action on June 5 when it worked a GBRF staff train from London Victoria to the Severn Valley Railway with 66737, the 50 bringing up the rear. 50049 was replaced by 50007 Hercules for the return journey. Signalling problems at Galton Bridge meant the train had to be diverted via Worcester and the Lickey Incline, with 50007 leading up the hill and 66737 on the rear.
■ Following the completion of work and a successful test run, Class 20 D8188 was back in service at the Spa Valley Railway, working all three days of the late May Bank Holiday, topped and tailed with steam.
■ Due to the current lockdown restrictions, all railways have a book-in-advance policy, which does mean that even if people don’t show the railway still has the sale. Conversely, it also means that if bookings aren’t forthcoming a train may be cancelled, as numbers can not be made up by pay-on-theday. This happened with the Pioneer Class 50 running day at the Severn Valley Railway on June 11, which was cancelled the previous week due to low bookings.
■ Following completion of a generator rebuild, 27001 returned to service at the Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway on May 30 when it worked the booked diesel diagram. This was only the railway’s second day of running since 2019, as it didn’t open at all in 2020 due to COVID-19 lockdowns.
■ Class 86/2 86259 got some additional mileage on May 22 when issues on the main line saw it leave Euston rather later than planned with the Cumbrian Mountain Express. Normally these are electric to Preston and then steam from there to Carlisle and back (out via the West Coast Main Line and back via the Settle & Carlisle). To make up time the steam loco was sent light engine to Carlisle, while the electric was run straight through, giving it a chance to relive the glory days of electric-hauled passenger trains over Shap.