ChrisTheMightyHoodVB
Drags! Class 25 'Rat' 25288 pressed into passenger service at St Pancras when the wires were down on the WCML
Travelling the railway in the British Rail era, Between 1983 and 1991 I spent many happy hours with my friends riding the rails around the UK. Fortunately, I managed to record many of the railway locos and scenes encountered on film for posterity. Those days are now long gone, but happily the photos remain for me to reminisce over and share ;), , A slightly shaky hand-held long exposure shot of 25288, seen at St Pancras ststion, long before the station's transformation into a EuroStar terminal. The locomotive had been pressed into frontline service on a passenger relief train as there was disruption on the WCML. Note the Mk III air-con stock, Also note the wires - 'Bedpan' suburban electrification had just arrived in 1983., , Locomotive History - D7638 was new to Tinsley on November 30th 1965. Further transfers were:, , April 1966 to Wath (41C)., July 1967 to Carnforth (10A)., July 1967 to London Midland (Western) Lines., July 1967 to Carnforth (10A)., May 1968 to Springs Branch (8F)., June 1968 to Liverpool Division (D08)., May 1973 to Springs Branch., , Renumbered as 25288 October 1st 1973., , October 1982 to Crewe., Withdrawn February 19th 1987., , After withdrawal 25288 was stored at Basford Hall until moved (see details below) to Leicester Humberstone Road on July 27th 1987 and into Vic Berry's yard on July 30th 1987. The locomotive was placed in the stack during October 1987. By the second week of April 1988 25288 had been scrapped., , 25173, 25201 & 25288 Crewe – Vic Berry, Leicester July 29th 1987; (the last Crewe - Vic Berry convoy?). See here for more details on 25288: www.derbysulzers.com/25288.html, , The British Rail Class 25, also known as the Sulzer Type 2, was a class of 327 diesel locomotives built between 1961 and 1967 for British Rail. They were numbered in two series, D5151–D5299 and D7500–D7677. In 1974, they were renumbered in the series 25001-25327. , , The first 25 locos became known as Class 25/0 and were built at BR Darlington Works. The Class 25/1 locomotives were built at Darlington and BR Derby Works. The Class 25/2 locomotives were built at Derby with some built at Darlington. The final batch of locomotives were designated Class 25/3 and built by Derby Works and Beyer, Peacock and Company of Manchester., , The Class 25s were primarily designed for freight work, but a significant number were fitted with boilers for heating passenger trains. Throughout the 1970s they could be found at work across the whole of the British Rail network although the Eastern and Southern Regions never had a long-term allocation. , , Though regular performers into the early 1980s on Crewe-Cardiff passenger trains, they are best known in that respect for their use on the summer Saturday trains to Aberystwyth, a task they relinquished in 1984. They were also often seen in action when the WCML wires were down, dragging trains, and rescuing failed locomotives, mainly on the LMR. The final Class 25 locomotive was withdrawn from operational service in March 1987. More info here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_25, , A "grainy" shot taken with a Soviet made Zenith TTL SLR camera and standard lens, using Ilford HP5 (ASA400) film Scanned from the original negative with no digital restoration., , You can see a random selection of my railway photos here on Flickriver: www.flickriver.com/photos/themightyhood/random/
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