TRACTION 2017 Part 1
FREIGHT
TRAFFIC & TRACTION:
Network Rail’s 31233 soldiers on into 2017; Class 67s start test train
work for Colas; DRS take delivery of new Class 68 and 88 locomotives;
37602 & 37609 rescue the Daventry-Wentloog Tesco intermodal; 50017 &
50050 working a Bescot-Washwood Heath departmental; 60020 hauling the
Swansea Burrows-Onllwyn coal; 66305 rescues Heavy Haul’s 4S44 intermodal;
56078 & 56087 on a new Colas aggregates flow from Pengam; 66754 & 66757
hauling a Crossrail concrete train out of the new Thames tunnel; 70802
becomes the first of its Class to work the Dalston and Prestwick tanks,
former DRS Class 37/6s receive Europhoenix repaints; 88002 undergoing
testing on the West Coast main line; the return of the Hamworthy stone
traffic; GBRf take over the MoD traffic and ‘Silver Bullet’ china clay
tanks; the military naming of 66756 at Swanage...and the Settle-Carlisle
line re-opens to through traffic after a year of major repairs.
PASSENGER
TRACTION, RAILTOURS & SPECIALS:
The final day in service of Chiltern Railways’ heritage ‘Bubble Cars’
121020 & 121034; passenger services between Wareham and Swanage resume
after an absence of 45 years; 67010 working a loco-hauled GWR service to
Weymouth; Colas Class 47s on the Caledonian sleepers; 73202 makes a
brief appearance on the Class 442 farewell charity train; 68026 on the
Preston Docks branch; 47815 works a Lincoln-Finsbury Park Foot-ex; 31452
& 37608 ‘top & tailing’ the Derby-Barrow Hill ‘Brunswick Flyer’
shuttles; the first Class 88-hauled passenger train; 47375 on a railtour
in Hungary; Deltic D9009 Alycidon traverses the Central Wales
Line....and four generations of ECML traction running alongside each
other.
THERE’S ALSO:
37800 towing a Grand Central HST from London to Heaton; GBRf Class 73/9s
on test train duties at Peak Forest; 47815 hauling Class 319 units to
Long Marston for storage; the return to the main line after 26 years of
50008 Thunderer; 66599 with two 442 units in tow at Eastleigh; 73967
makes a rare ED appearance at Carlisle; 37884 hauling a rake of GWR HST
stock from Old Oak Common to Derby; 47812 on hire to DRS hauling
inspection saloon Caroline; 57310 hauling GWR Electrostar units to and
from Reading depot; 66768 hauling a Eurostar out of St Pancras
International to the scrapyard; the spectacular Severn Valley Railway
diesel gala including DRS passenger débutante 88003...and D1062 Western
Courier back in BR blue for the first time since 1976.
