ChrisTheMightyHoodVB
Class 25 'Rat' 25266 (ex D7616) seen at Preston station π Audio Rats! π
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 ;), , Once a familiar sight in the North-west of England, 25266 is seen here at Preston station, awaiting its next duty. Note the duplicate cab side number showing through the paintwork. This is where the cabside recess for the tablet catcher equipment would have been, before being plated over., This shot is in monochrome as I gave up battling with the colour balance from the print :), , Something new for 2023...Sound & Vision on SoundCloud - more memories from a mis-spent youth π, During the 1980s, whilst travelling around the British Rail network, I made a number of tape recordings to capture the railway scene of the time, many from the front window, some from the platform, using my trusty ghetto-blaster - and now these recordings can finally be heard :), , Visit SoundCloud here to relive some sounds of the 'Rats' in the 80s: , soundcloud.com/sound-vision-10193594/rats-from-the-platfo..., , soundcloud.com/sound-vision-10193594/rats-from-the-platfo..., , π Audio Rats π, , Locomotive history - D7616 ew to Eastfield (65A) on May 12th 1966. Further transfers were:, , August 1968 to Liverpool Division (D08). , September 1968 to Preston Division (D10)., November 1968 to Nottingham Division (D16)., October 1971 to Birmingham Division (D02)., January 1972 to Nottingham Division (D16). , May 1973 to Toton. , , Renumbered as 25266 December 5th 1973., , January 1974 to Longsight., August 1974 to Springs Branch., October 1975 to Longsight., January 1976 to Springs Branch., May 1976 to Cricklewood., January 1984 to Crewe., , 25266 was withdrawn on September 19th 1986 and was the 297th Class 25 withdrawn, one of seven retired during September 1986. After withdrawal 25266 was stored at Carlisle (KD) from January 1987 to December 1988. It was moved to Carlisle Upperby on July 14th 1988 but then returned to the storage line. On December 7th 1988, 25266 was towed to Workington, the next day to Carnforth and Basford Hall. On December 16th 1988 25266 moved to Leicester depot and finally reached Vic Berry, Leicester on December 20th 1988. The locomotive was scrapped by the end of February 1989. , , Scottish Rats Although the Scottish Region had received a batch of brand new Class 24s for use on duties from Inverness depot, the Region had not, so far, received any new Class 25s. However, between April & September 1966, thirteen Class 25s were delivered from Derby Works to Eastfield (65A) including D7616. These were the only Class 25s delivered with a cabside recess to accommodate tablet catcher equipment (most were plated over after transfer away from the Scottish region, but a few escaped - see photo in comments below)., , Although based at Eastfield these Type 2s spent much of their time in South West Scotland alongside the BRCW Type 2s quickly sending many Ayr & Hurlfordβs Crabs, Black Fives & BR Standards to the storage lines and additionally helped Dumfries lose its steam allocation effective April 30th. At the end of May Ayr placed seven steam locomotives into storage because of the Type 2s arrival. Additionally at this time, with the arrival of these Type 2s, the return of some re-engined NBL Type 2s to service and the tranfer of more Claytons to Haymarket, the Scottish Region were able to put the first of the Class 26s through Works for the fitting of slow speed control equipment & dual braking for use on MGR workings., , See more on D7616 / 25266 here: www.derbysulzers.com/25266.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, D5151βD5299 and D7500βD7677. 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, , Taken with a Zenith TTL SLR camera and standard lens. Scanned from a print with minimal 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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