Night Photo Class 20311 HN Rail Diesel Loco Banbury Station 2017

Class 20311 Loco at Banbury

Class 20311 Diesel Loco
Photo: Charles Moorhen

New Underground Trains En Route To The London 

HNRail Class 20 311 diesel freight locomotive, at the rear of a train delivering new London Underground rolling stock, pauses a while at Banbury station on the evening of the 11th April 2017.  

Class 20311 was built in December 1961 and is allocated to GBRf  Peterborough.

Between 7th July 2007 and the 30th September 2010 Class 20311 was named 'The 20 'Fifty' Class.

Other locomotives used in the train were Class 20 20107, 20096 and 20314.

The train diesel multiple unit trying to muscle in at the right of the top picture is Chiltern Railways DEMU Class 165015, about to leave with a service to Marylebone station, London.

 

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Photo Class 47 Network SouthEast Diesel Loco Oxford Station 1990

Unidentified Class 47 'Network South East' Loco

Photo: Charles Moorhen

Unidentified Class 47 diesel locomotive, in Network Southeast livery, passes through Oxford station on the 23 February 1990.

Unfortunately I had somehow left behind my spotting notebook on this particular day.  Needless to say it has never happened since!

512 Class 47s were built, of which 30 have passed into preservation and can be found (at time of blog-page publication) at the following locations, though this may be subject to change for various reasons.

D1524  47004 - Embsay & Bolton Abbey Railway.

D1693  47105 - Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway.

D1705  47117 'Sparrowhawk' - Great Central Railway.

D1842  47192 - Crewe Heritage Centre.

D1855  47205/47395 - Northampton & Lamport Railway.

D1994  47292 - Great Central Railway Nottingham.

D1787  47306 'The Sapper' - Bodmin & Wenford Railway.

D1886  47367 - Mid Norfolk Railway.

D1895  47376 'Freightliner 1995' - Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway.

D1500  47401 'North Eastern' - Midland Railway Butterley.

D1501  47402 - East Lancashire Railway.

D1516  47417 - Midland Railway Butterley.

D1566  47449 - Llangollen Railway.

D1662  47484 'Isambard Kingdom Brunel' - (Private Location).

D1107  47524 - Dean Forest Railway.

D1778  47183/47579/47793 'James Nightall G.C. - Mid Hants Railway.

D1762  47167/47580/47732 'County of Essex - Carnforth.

D1933  47233/47596 'Aldeburgh Festival' - Mid Norfolk Railway.

D1606  47029/47635 'Jimmy Milne' - Epping Ongar Railway.

D1970  47269/47643 - Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway.

D1948  47505/47712 'Lady Diana Spencer' - Crewe Heritage Centre.

D1619  47038/47564/47761 - Midland Railway Butterley.

D1643  47765/47059/47631 - East Lancashire Railway.

D1946  47503/47771 - Eastleigh Works.

D1755  47541/47773 - (Location Not Known).

D1909  47232/47785/47820 - Wensleydale Railway.

D1656  47072/47609/47834/47798 'Prince William' - York Railway Museum.

D1654  47070/47620/47799/47835 'Prince Henry' - Eden Valley Railway.

D1966  47266/47629/47828 - Carnforth.

D1661  47077/47613/47840 'North Star' - West Somerset Railway.

 

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Night Photo BRCW Sulzer Class 33 Diesel Loco Cab Front at Night 1980s

Class 33 Cab In the Dark, Basingstoke

Photo: Charles Moorhen

Cab front of an unidentified Class 33 diesel locomotive stabled for the night on a siding at Basingstoke station in the late 1980's.

The Class 33 stands close to where one of Basingstoke's lever-operated signal boxes once stood, opposite the current signal box (see photo below) where the track diverges to Reading station.

As a young boy in the early 1960's, I was lucky enough, with a friend of mine, to be able to visit the older wooden signal box in question and watch for a while as a variety of Southern Region steam-hauled trains passed by in both directions. 

A treat I will never forget.

Basingstoke Signal Box     Photo: Charles Moorhen

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Night Photo Class 20314, 20107, 20311 Diesel Locos Banbury 2017

Class 20314, 20107, 20311 HNRail Locos

HN Rail Class 20314 Diesel Locomotive
Photo: Charles Moorhen

Class 20107 and Class 20096 heading London Underground rolling stock
Photo: Charles Moorhen

Late evening, on the 11th April 2017, a Derby to London train of new London Underground S1 rolling stock paused for around forty-five minutes at Banbury railway station.

Motive power for the train were four classic Class 20 diesel locomotives.  Heading the train were Class 20107, built in December 1961, and Class 20096 built in October 1961, both in BR standard livery.

At the rear of the train, in Harry Needle Railroad Company livery, were Class 20314, built in February 1962, and Class 20311, built in December 1961.

Class 20311 standing next to Chiltern Railways DMU 165 015
     Photo: Charles Moorhen

The new London Underground stock, sandwiched between the four ageing diesel locomotives, built by Bombardier in Derby, have air-conditioning, more space, improved accessibility and better customer information systems.

The trains have an increased passenger capacity of up to 25%, compared with their predecessors, while providing enhanced comfort.

 

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Photos and Article Class 31 Diesel Loco British Rail Workhorse

Class 31 31288 on the sidings at Northampton Station    
Photo: Charles Moorhen

Trainspotting Class 31 Locos

The Class 31 diesels, a one-time powerful workhorse of the British Rail network, became one of the railway enthusiasts favourite freight locomotives.

As romantic and evocative as the steam locomotive was, with such impressive names as Mallard, the IronDuke and TheFlying Scotsman, like all good things it was inevitable that the golden age of steam would someday have to come to an end.

And so it was that in the mid-1950’s the dawn of the diesel locomotive, such as the Class31, began to creep over the horizon.

By 1967, the majority of steam locomotives had passed into history, (though fortunately a number were saved by heritage lines in England), superseded by a cleaner more efficient type of motive power – the diesel locomotive.

Although there was a certain amount of initial animosity against these new and powerful machines by railway enthusiasts, one such diesel locomotive - the Class 31 - did eventually become a firm favourite among enthusiast and train-driving crews alike.

                                                                  31306 at Bletchley - late 1980's   

                                                    Photo: Charles Moorhen

As one of the classes of diesels known as the ‘Pilot SchemeLocomotives’, ordered by British Railways to replace their costly and out-of-date steam locomotives, the Class 31  was built by Brush Traction in Loughborough. 

With a top speed of 90 mph (though the majority never exceeded 75 mph) and weighing in at 49 tonnes, the first of the class made its appearance in public service in September 1957.

Incidentally, the building of the full fleet took only five years to complete with the final locomotive leaving the works in 1962.

Originally intended to be used mainly on the Eastern Region, they were soon to be seen frequently on the Western and London Midland regions and eventually across the whole of the railway network performing freight duties; although they also carried out relief passenger work. With a fuel tank capacity of 750 gallons (2409 litres) of diesel, they were ideal for a wide variety of duties.

             

Class 31467 locomotive Entering Bletchley station

     Photo: Charles Moorhen  

The Class 31’s, which were later divided into sub-classes 31/0, 31/1 and 31/4, with a few classified as 31/5 and 31/6, were easily identified by the large head-code boxes on the roof above the cab. 

However, the first twenty examples of the fleet were not fitted with these boxes and were quickly nicknamed ‘Skinheads’ by enthusiasts.  

The sub-class, 31/4, was powerful enough to haul a train of up to eleven BR Mark 3 carriages though in practice the actual number of carriages hauled at any one time was often fewer than five. 

                                                                                                                                                                       

Apart from the day-to-day work that the Class 31’s carried out, four of the fleet made brief appearances on television. 

31233 and 31107 were used in a ‘crash’ scene for the BBC series ‘Top Gear’ on the 21st August 2006, to promote safety at level crossings.

31414 featured in an episode of ‘Casualty’, while 31108 was seen in an episode of ‘EastEnders’ filmed on the Nene Valley Railway near Peterborough – once again involving a railway level crossing.

                                  Class 31462 passing through Banbury in the late 1980's
                                                                    Photo: Charles Moorhen

Like the steam locomotives that they superseded, the Class 31 fleet of diesel locomotives eventually became redundant with many ending up in pieces in scrap yards. However, around twenty-five or so survived this fate and were bought by heritage railway lines up and down the country.

31018, the first locomotive built, is now in preservation in BR Blue livery at the National Railway Museum in York, while the last locomotive to be built is preserved in BR Green livery.

 

With a number of these sturdy locomotives still surviving...the legend of the 31 lives on!

                        Class 31168 in a neglected state on Bletchley sidings in the late 1980's                             Photo: Charles Moorhen

                                      

 

Class 31 Diesel Locomotive Historical Note:

Whilst hauling a train in which Queen Elizabeth II was travelling on 4th January 1961, D5667 (31240), broke down south of Cambridge.  

 

Two onboard Brush fitters, on hand to deal with any mechanical problems that may occur, were unable to fix the problem and a steam loco had to be sent for in order to rescue the stricken diesel adding over an hour to the completed journey.

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