Photo BR Class 33002 'Sea King' UK Diesel Loco Through Leamington Spa Stn 1988

Class 33002 Diesel Loco 

Class 33002 Loco at Leamington Spa   Photo: Charles Moorhen

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British Rail 'Crompton' Class 33002 UK diesel locomotive photo, in BR blue livery, passing through Leamington Spa railway station heading in the direction of Banbury on the 8th August 1988.

 

Built by the Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Co. Ltd., at Smethwick, England - one of a total of 98 locos of the class - 33002 (original number D6501) which was at one time named, 'Sea King', was delivered new to Hither Green Depot, Kent, in 1960.

Used on passenger, goods, and 'push-pull' EMU services, locomotive Class 33002 served for 37 years on the British Rail railway network before being withdrawn on the 13th February 1997.  It was temporarily re-instated in January 2002.

33002 was saved from the scrapyard fate of so many of its class by eventually being purchased by the South Devon Diesel Traction Group.

 

 

 
Class 33002, in BR Dutch livery, seen at the South Devon Railway in 2005 shortly after its arrival.  (Photo:  Richard Bruford).

 

 

The loco, the oldest surviving Crompton diesel Class 33, has since been fully restored and is once more in its original working order.

Class 33002 diesel loco can be seen in service at the South Devon Railway, Buckfastleigh, Devon, UK.


Class 33 locomotives on YouTube:

Class 33002 at Loughborough.
Class 33002 on South Devon Railway.

Class 33002 on Great Central Railway.

Class 33002 leaves Spanwick Junction.

Class 33s in the 1990s.

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Photo Class 31306 and 31280 British Rail UK Diesel Locos Bletchley 1988

British Rail Class 31306 Diesel Locomotive, Bletchley 1988

Photo:  Charles Moorhen

The driver of UK diesel loco Class 31306, in Departmental Dutch Yellow Style livery 'smiles for the camera' as his loco heads through Bletchley station in front of BR Blue liveried Class 31280 on a beautiful sunny in August 1988.

 

Class 31306 was introduced from Brush Traction, Loughborough, in 1957 and carried the number D5839.

Class 31280 was built at Brush Traction, Loughborough, and introduced into service in 1957 and initially carried the number D5810. (See Historical Note below)

I also managed to spot Class 31306 three weeks earlier at the same station but unfortunately was unable to photograph it.  Perhaps there is some truth to the old saying, 'everything comes to he who waits' after all.

 

 

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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Photo Class 205032 BR Network South East DEMU Train Basingstoke 1988

Network South East Class 205032 Train Looking Its Age at Basingstoke Station

Photo: Charles Moorhen

Back to the days of the 35mm film camera for this shot of well-worn UK trains British Rail diesel multiple unit, Class 205032 in Network South East livery, as it stands in Basingstoke station on the 9th September 1988.

The fleet of 34 Class 205 trainsets were built at BR Eastleigh, Hampshire, UK, between 1957 and 1962 and were operated by the Southern Railway, replacing steam traction.

Class 205032 diesel multiple unit passenger train was built and entered service in 1962 and was eventually withdrawn in 2004.  205032 was fortunate in being rescued and now resides at the Dartmoor Railway.

In all, 10 trainsets managed to avoid the fate of the scrapyard, and seven examples are preserved, in various states of repair, at a number of heritage railways, such as those listed here:

205009 - Eden Valley Railway.

205018 - Lavender Line.

205023 - Swindon and Cricklade Railway.

205025 - Mid-Hants Railway.

205028 - Dartmoor Railway.

205032 - Dartmoor Railway.

205205 - Epping Ongar Railway.




Basingstoke railway station historical note:
In the mid-1800s, a special train was permanently kept in a state of readiness at Basingstoke, Hampshire, by the London & South Western Railway for the sole use of the Duke of Wellington - hero of the Battle of Waterloo -  should he require it.

Wellington was not a fan of what he described as the 'new fangled railways', and it is not known if he ever used his train.

What would he have made of the example above?

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Photo Class 31173 British Rail UK Diesel Locomotive Peterborough 1988

BR Class 31173 Diesel Loco, Peterborough

Photo:  Charles Moorhen

A close up view of UK British Rail Class 31173 diesel locomotive in BR Blue livery pulls into Peterborough station hauling a train of postal coaches, an operation long since confined to history and memory, in 1988.

Class 31173 was built at Brush Traction, Loughborough, in February 1960.  The locomotive was withdrawn from British Rail service on the 14th April 1989 and subsequently scrapped at MC Metals in Glasgow.

 

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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Night Photo Class 43157 Yorkshire Evening Post Intercity 125 Peterborough 1988

Class 43157 Intercity 125, 'Yorkshire Evening Post' Peterborough Station

Photo:  Charles Moorhen

UK Class 43157 'Yorkshire Evening Post' Intercity 125 High Speed Train is seen in this night photo at Peterborough station in December 1988.

 

According to the NREA 'The Spotter's Companion' for 2004, Intercity 125 43157 had by this time lost its name.

Note the Post Office trolleys on the platform to the right of the picture.  These, and the Post Office workers who made use of them, were once a very common sight on railway stations throughout Britain. 

Now, just a part of railway history.

Diesel power unit Class 43157 has now been re-numbered and is operating as one of the Cross Country Trains fleet as Class 43357.  Its name has been removed.

                                                Class 43357 in Cross Country Livery



The Peterborough train image (top) was the first long exposure night photo of a train that I had ever taken.  I used a Pentax 35mm camera.

Not possessed of a tripod at the time, I had to improvise with a platform trolley, similar to the example to the right of the picture, and balance the camera upon that to get the shot.   




News Update:
Seeing East Midlands Trains colourful livery of red, white, orange and red flashing along the railway tracks, will soon become a thing of the past.

Abellio will take over the East Midlands Trains franchise on Saturday 18th August 2019. The Class 43 HST Intercity 125 and Class 222 diesel multiple unit will gradually be phased out by brand new Hitachi trains that will be a variant of the bullet-nosed Class 800 bio-mode DMU.

The new trains will have a lavender livery and be branded with 'EMR' on both sides.

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Photo British Rail Liveried Class 310086 4-Car EMU Northampton 1988

Class 310086 British Rail EMU, Northampton Train Station

Photo: Charles Moorhen

Class 310 086 EMU British Rail commuter train, in standard British Rail blue livery, is seen waiting at platform 2 of Northampton railway station in June 1988 with a destination board that reads 'special'.

Class 310086 unit coach numbers are as follows: 76170  62111  70771  76220. 

    

Note the use of curtains in the windows of the First Class carriage. Talk about luxury!                                                                                                                                                          

50 of these 4-car slam-door trains were produced, as part of the West Coast Main Line electrification project, at British Rail C & W Works, Derby, between 1965 and 1967 and had a maximum speed of 75 mph. 

This class of non-corridor electric multiple unit was replaced on the Euston to Birmingham service in 1987 by the unattractive, box-shaped Class 317, which itself was superseded by the Class 321 and then by Class 350.

On the 11th October 1984 Class 310 310086 & Class 310 310067, forming an eight-car 17:54 service from Euston to Bletchley, was involved in a serious accident with a freight train.
The freight train, headed by Class 86 86006 & Class 85 85035, collided with the electric multiple unit.

The driver of the passenger train had passed a signal at danger.

Three passengers died as a result of the collision and the driver of the passenger train, along with 17 others, were injured.

Following refurbishment in 1985, the Northampton-line Class 310's continued in service until eventually being withdrawn between 2001 and 2002.

Class 317327 EMU in Network Southeast livery, Northampton.  Photo: Charles Moorhen

 

The Class 317 4-car electric multiple unit replaced the Class 310's on the Euston - Birmingham service.

          Class 321437 Waits at Wolverton Station en route to London Euston                               Photo: Charles Moorhen

 

       

 

The Class 321 4-car electric multiple unit (321437 seen above in Silverlink livery)  subsequently took over from the Class 317 units.

Class 350104 Waits at Rugby Station

                                                       Photo: Charles Moorhen

 

 

The Desiro Class 350 4-car electric multiple units subsequently replaced the Class 321 units on the Euston to Birmingham line.

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Photo BR Class 09018 D4106 Diesel Shunter Loco Lives On 1988

Class 09018 (D4106) Shunter, Dover Marine Station

Photo: Charles Moorhen

Diesel Electric Shunter Locomotive 0-6-0 Class 09018 - original number D4106 - one of a class of 26, photographed as the sun is about to set on sidings close to Dover Marine Station (now a cruise liner terminal).  

Class 09018 (D4106) was built in November 1961 and allocated to Derby Locomotive Works (BREL).

Little shunters such as this, a variant of the Class 08, were built between 1959 and 1962 at the British Railways' Darlington Works.

The locomotive above was used for general shunting duties in the Dover area during the years of Channel Tunnel Construction.

The angle of the photograph is a bit odd as I had to get between the 09 and another train which was directly behind me, thereby severely restricting how I used the camera. Nowadays, Health and Safety would have had a fit if they'd seen me getting this photograph.

Unlike many ex-British Railways locomotives, 09018 escaped the fate of the scrapyard cutting torch.  

After a number of years it was eventually purchased by the Harry Needle Railroad Company who, in 2012, sold it to the Bluebell Railway in Sussex where it now resides working on the heritage railway.

D4106 (09018) on sidings at the Bluebell Railway

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