TRACTION 2023 Part 1
FREIGHT
TRAFFIC & TRACTION: DRS’s 37401 & 37419 on the Dagenham Dock to
Garston cars; GBRf’s 92044 with china clay tanks for Dollands Moor; 37418 on
the last-ever rail movement of TTA fuel tanks; Colas Rail’s 56078 working
DCR’s Ravenhead sand; a grey primer 69008 heading to Eastleigh for painting;
Freightliner’s 47830 shifting intermodal flats from Crewe to Southampton;
37418 hauling a rake of 30 new box wagons to Warrington; 57012 rescuing a
failed 60076 on the Tyne Dock-Drax biomass; DB Cargo’s 92029 returns to the
main line after an eight-year absence; GBRf Class 69s on weed-killing
duties; Southern’s 73202 transfers to GB Railfreight; 73119 goes ‘Dutch’...
and DCR’s 56091 working Colas Rail’s Preston Docks bitumen tanks.
PASSENGER
TRACTION, RAILTOURS & SPECIALS:
47712 and LSL’s push-pull
Scotrail Mark 3 set return to Scotland; 56081 & 56098 on the ‘GBRf Class
56 Farewell’ tour; Deltic D9000 working from King’s Cross to Edinburgh;
50008 Thunderer visits Paignton, Whitby & Chessington South; Newark
‘Thunderbird’ 57010 on a LNER rescue mission; 47813 & 47815 hauling
service trains between Liverpool Street and Peterborough; 20189
returning from Cwmbargoed; one of GWR’s ‘Castle’ Class HST set visits
the Severn Valley Railway; 40145 & 86401 working the Northern Belle; a
record-breaking five Class 66s fronting ‘The Steely Spires’
charter...and the resumption of timetabled passenger services between
Wareham and Swanage - with a Class 117 DMU.
THERE's ALSO:
Rail Adventure HST power cars delivering new Merseyrail units; Deltic
55009’s successful main line test runs; 56081 hauling London
Underground’s 4TC set to St Leonards; 73970 and five Mark 1 coaches on a
GBRf staff training trip; GBRf Class 56s hauling new Avanti Hitachi
units for testing; 50007 hauling SWR’s 458505 to Widnes; 92015 & 92042
arriving at Dollands Moor with the first Tyne & Wear Metro unit; the
seemingly-endless procession of redundant rolling stock heading to
Newport Docks for crushing; 37800 with the only loco-hauled Southern
Class 313 scrap move to Eastleigh Works; Freightliner’s 47830 on a TfW
stock move to Wolverton Works; 37884 hauling Grand Central ‘Adelante’
180103 from Ilford to Wembley; Colas Rail HST power car 43272 running
solo from Derby to Plymouth...and the first working of 50021 ‘Rodney’ in
23 years.
