TRACTION 2025 Part 2

FREIGHT TRAFFIC & TRACTION: 37901 rescues 70008 on the Llandudno-Hope aggregates; DB Cargo and DRS start using the new East-West route for freight; 20302 & 20311 hauling an assortment of track machines from Parkeston Quay to Dollands Moor; 50008 towing the Mobile Maintenance Train from Hitchin to York, ex-DB Cargo 90021 & 90040 re-enter traffic for Freightliner; WCRC duo 37685 & 37706 on a Carnforth to Doncaster departmental working; GB Railfreight’s new bi-mode Class 99s undergoing testing; ROG Class 93s finally enter revenue-earning service; DCR’s 56301 goes full-retro BR blue as 56045; GBRf’s 69015 emerges from Eastleigh Works in red-stripe Railfreight livery; 37116 & 37405 on a snowplough move from Taunton to Wolverton Works; 47739 and 92032 on two moves of new JNA box wagons; DCR hire 56049 from Colas and 60026 from GBRf; 93006 being trialled by Freightliner...and the very last diagrammed GBRf Class 60 working.

PASSENGER TRACTION, RAILTOURS & SPECIALS: 97303 & 97304 hauling the ‘Britannic Explorer’ over the Cambrian route; former Trans-Pennine Class 68s and Mark 5 sets being tested prior to transferring to Chiltern Railways; a former GWR HST heading to new owners WCRC at Carnforth; 40013 breaks new ‘Forty’ ground with a visit to Oban; D1015 working the very last Pathfinder charter; 56103 & 56113 on the ‘Tytherington Quarrier’ railtour; 45118 leaving Bristol Temple Meads heading to Kingswear; 37901 on ‘The Brick & Tile’ charter; 50049 setting off from Bromley North on the ‘Kent Conundrum’ excursion to Margate; 37418 & steam device 7029 Clun Castle double-heading the ‘Shap Mountaineer’; Rail Adventure’s 43468 & 43484 on a Derby-Glasgow Central charter; triple-headed Class 20s on the LSL Chairman’s train...and the final day of GWR HST operation.

THERE's ALSO: 33012 hauling two Kirow cranes from Eastleigh to the London Gateway freight terminal; 50008 returning the same departmental kit to Eastleigh two weeks later; LSL’s 37521 & 37667 on hire to Colas for test train work; 20007 & 20205 hauling a Greater Anglia 720 unit from Wembley to Ilford; various transit moves to the ‘Greatest Gathering’ event at Derby Litchurch Lane;  Rail Adventure power cars hauling a track renewal train from Burton to Dollands Moor; 67005 & 67006 visit Devon with the Royal Train; 20007 & 20205 delivering new Tyne & Wear Stadler units; traction changes to the autumn RHTT operation; the first ROMIC-liveried HST debuts at the Mid-Norfolk Railway; D9000 in action at the North Norfolk Railway; 50021 hauling the preserved rake of TTA tanks on the Dean Forest Railway…and 89001 returns to the main line for testing.
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