European Railroad Discussion > Vintage diesels a go go

It's been a bumper few weeks for followers of older diesels on the national network, engaged on both revenue and rail tour duties.

As some may know we are currently in the midst of a train building boom, with much new rolling stock coming off the production lines at Bombardier in Derby, from CAF in Spain (and shortly CAF in Newport, South Wales), Stadler in Switzerland and Hitachi in Japan, Italy and Newton Aycliffe in NE England. One of the contracts CAF has is for sets of locomotive hauled stock for Trans Pennine Express, christened Nova 3. They come by boat to Portbury Dock near Bristol from where TOC (Train Operating Company) Rail Operations Group ferries them to the new depot in Manchester where they are commissioned. In service they will be powered by class 68s but their first taste of UK motive power on July 17th was a pair of ROG's 47s, 47812 and 47813 passing the new Worcestershire Parkway station which is on the Bristol to Birmingham mainline (low level) and the Cotswold Line from Worcester to Oxford (high level). The Nova 3 set is tucked in behind the 47s, the rest of the cars are the barrier and brake force vehicles.

On July 24th three STP (short term plan = extra) were due in about 90 minutes down the mainline from Gloucester to Bristol, one was a DMU but the other two were loco hauled. In addition there was the daily Robeston to Westerleigh oil train, which always merits a class 60, today the 60 was pioneer 60001 which emerged from Brush in Loughborough 30 years ago. Much older than 60001 was 37424 on the first of the extras, hauling inspection saloon Caroline to Exeter St Davids. For the last two years 37424, in BR large loco blue livery, has been masquerading as 37558 after it was named in honour of Avro Vulcan XH558 although it still carries its registered number on the nose. Caroline was empty so I assume the VIPs were being picked up at Exeter, where the combination would revert to push pull mode with 37424 pushing Caroline. 37424 emerged from the Vulcan Foundry in 1965, making it 53 years old.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/08/18 12:57 by 86235.

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A week after ferrying the CAF stock to Manchester ROG 47813 was out and about again, this time on the 6O86 from Long Marston to Eastleigh, a train of old JSA hooded steel carriers which are being converted at Eastleigh into open coil carriers. Long Marston is a former military base on the Cotswold Line east of Evesham which has been used to store OOS rolling stock for the past 20 odd years. 47813 entered service as D1720 in March 1964, a full year before 37424. Still equipped with its Sulzer twin bank 12LDA28C engine it sounded fantastic.

On Sunday August 5th GBRf Charity railtours, the passenger arm of GBRf, ran what it called the Dub and Grub, a 230 mile round trip from Birmingham back to Birmingham which took in the Marches Line south of Hereford. Now this was special as GBRf had lined up not one but two English Electric Class 50s, 50049 Defiance, in large logo blue, and 50007 Hercules, in standard rail blue. Here they are passing Abergavenny's down home signal looking and sounding magnificent.

And finally today, class 40 D213 Andania in full British Railways warpaint on its first test run for its new operator, charter train provider Locomotive Services (TOC) Ltd. Along with their steam stud they've also acquired, or signed exclusive haulage deals with the owners of, a number of vintage diesels. Whilst D213 has been operable it has not been certified for the mainline, this Crewe to Crewe round trip was its proving run. Just as it passed under the Monkmoor bridge it opened up with that characteristic whistle from the turbocharger. The 40s were under-powered and hugely over-weight but they were reliable, thanks to the EE 16SVT Mk 2 engine. There were plans to up-rate it to 2500 hp which would have made the 40s much more useful, but that never happened and they remained on secondary duties which required neither high speed or rapid acceleration. Living in London and SE England I very rarely saw 40s, in fact I can only remember riding behind one on two occasions, both in the 1970s! 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/08/18 12:53 by 86235.

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Excellent plus photo series. 
Definitely like them all but most especially the Class 37 and Class 40 photos.
ALLEN 

Love the Class 50s!

dwatry Wrote:
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> Love the Class 50s!

I was thinking of you as they sped past. They looked and sounded wonderful.

Cool pics.Too bad our backwards thinking railroads don't think like the Brits do.  It would be nice to see a few F's out stretching thier legs.

Super set of photos, Nik. The 50s and the 40 look tremendous. chris uk.

I had the pleasure of riding behind And Anna at the Swanage Diesel Gala when she came down a couple of years ago. She looked and sounded magnificent.Although I live in the S of England, I did manage to ride behind a few of these beasts, including the infamous 40126 (D326) of Great Train robbery notoriety.

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SO nice to see these.  It reminds me of taking Britrail around England, Wales and Scotland during the 80s, thanks to a Britrail pass.  Those were good times.