Page 85 - Rail Express - September 2019

POWERSCENE

but on July 4No. 66846escaped
north with atrain of 23 IVAvans for
store. Running as the6Z66/06.35
Bridgend (Fords) to EllesmerePort, the
trainreached Hooton at 12.24 having
travelled overthe Merseyrailthird
rail electricroute from ChesterNorth
Junction–arareopportunity to see a
freight train on that stretchofrailway
in daylight hours.
Unfortunately, apoints failureat
Hootonstoppedthe trainfromgoing
to Ellesmere Port,and No. 66846
retired to Shrewsbury (Coleham) for
the weekend, completing thetripto
EllesmerePort (Manisty Wharf)four
days later.Havingremained in the
generalarea, No. 66846 appeared on
the North Wales coast with No. 37521
on the 6C69/06.20 BasfordHall-
Talycafnballasttrain on July 15,
spending acouple of days reballasting
the Conwy Valleybranch line.

CLASS 67
JULY6found No.67029 RoyalDiamond
takingchargeofthe 1Z03/05.57
Tame Bridge-Kingswear as faras Crewe training forTransPennine Express Class 68s and Mk.5s continues to Scarborough, No. 68025 being pictured at the Yorkshire
Bristol Temple Meads,wherePacific coastal town on July19with the 5E68/05.01 from Liverpool Lime Street. Mick Atkin
No.60163 Tornado waswaiting to
takeover, althoughthe Class 67 also
handled the return leg from Bristol to
the West Midlands.
The Pullman-liveried duo of Nos.
67021and 67024 poweredanevening
VSOE charter (1Z91/17.44Southend
Central-Barnesand 19.45 return)
on July13, while Nos. 67006 Royal
Sovereign and 67029 were noted at
OxfordonJuly17double-heading the
5Z62/11.03 Eastleigh-Tyseley empty
stock.The following evening, both
67s along with Nos.66082 and66221
were atop the6F25/20.53 Bescot-
Warrington Arpleyfreight, with Nos.
67006 and 67029heading off to Crewe
IEMD forattention thenextmorning.
No. 67015handled the
1V80/09.45 LondonVictoria-Bath Spa
British Pullman and the 1O92 15.55
returnsingle-handedlyonJuly17, but
aweeklater (July 24) it commenced
three nights of work on ECML mail
traffichauling Class 325 EMU
No. 325006 on the 1E06/22.45
WillesdenPRDC-Low Fell. The
corresponding working from Newcastle
(1M80 21.43fromLow Fell)was in the
hands of Nos.67001and 325001,
locomotivesand sets swapping trains
the following night. TheActon Grangeclosuresaw the 6M90 Avonmouth-Clitheroe diverted via the Crewe-Manchester line, the working on July25seen
at Holmes Chapel behind No. 66756. Steve Morris
CLASS 68
GENERALLYacceptedasastand- Next day(July 25), No. 68009 took on July 19 on the 6C02/04.19 Basford continued to work the 6S31/09.43
by locomotivefor Chiltern Trains, 16 empty YKAs through Staffordon Hall-Carlisle Yard. Doncaster-Millerhill engineers’ trains,
No. 68009 Titan handledanumber the 6G94/12.22BasfordHall-Bescot, with No.70817aregularperformer and
of freight trains during themonth, andthatsameeveningworkedfrom CLASS 70 double-heading with No. 70802 on July
starting withthe 6K97/19.32 Toton- Toton back to Crewe with No. 68004. FREIGHTLINER exampleNo. 70003 8. Other reported pairingsinclude
BasfordHallonJuly9.Two days later Finally, prior to avisit to Gresty Bridge, undertookatrial runona ‘Jumbo’ stone Nos. 70806+70811(July15) and
it waspairedwithNo. 66059 haulinga No. 68009handled the6Z76/13.00 train on July18, handling the heavy Nos.70814+66741 on July26.
singleMHA wagononthe 6D95/14.41 BasfordHall-Stud farm (July26) 7A91/22.50 Merehead-Acton Yard with
Bescot-Toton, before becomingthe returningwith20loadedIOAs. aviewtoClass 70s beingused on such CLASS 73
25th differentmember of itsclassto Asilver-grey ChilternTrains trafficwhen Freightliner takes overthe ELECTRO-diesels Nos. 73201 Broadlands
handlethe Crewe CLS-Valleyflasks. example,No. 68015 had No. 66429 Mendipcontract laterthis year (see and73107 Tracy were turned outto
Thatoccurred on July 24 when Nos. ‘deadintow’onthe 6X05/12.46 also page 79). No.70003subsequently ‘top andtail’ the London Transport 4TC
68009+88010 coveredthe diagram. Carlisle Yard-BasfordHallengineers’ rejoinedthe other eight currently stock forming thefirst of UKRailtours’
Incidentally, thenineexamples not to trainonJuly2,while No. 68022(TPX operational Class70s in the DFGI pool planned ‘SwanageSundaySpecial’
have been noted on this turn areNos. livery) wasone of fivelocomotives (Nos. 70002/5/6/7/8/10/15/20) on trains, running as the 1Z73/09.44
68006/7/8,68010, 68012/3/4,68019 (66423/33, 66539and 37401 being container traffic. Waterloo-SwanageonJuly28.
and68021. the others)noted at Oxenholme early Colas Railfreight examples have The Network Rail pairing of Nos. ❯
September 2019 RAIL EXPRESS 85