37417 heads through Lea Marston on 17th Oct 2007 with 6G42 Birch Coppice - Bescot.

37042 arrives at Didcot with a rake of ex Yeoman box wagons, the working was not one that I had been expecting and took me somewhat by surprise. The photo was taken during May 2004. 37042 was stored just a few weeks later in June '04, although later reinstated for a short period for engineering duties in January 2005.

(35mm Scan)

The returning trip 6G42 Birch Coppice - Bescot is pictured here at Whitacre Junction at 11:44. The light here was perfect, but for some shadows which would have been less pronounced had the trees lost their leaves.

37401 passes through Lower Moor near Pershore with 6Z80 09:37 Bescot - Long Marston on 19th March 2008. The working was conveying brand new Lafarge cement wagons which were going to store until a new flow commenced. This shot is local to me and had become overgrown some years ago. I set about removing some of the overgrowth in spring 2007 and it took nearly a year for something rateable to run at the right time to take advantage!

37408 'Loch Rannoch' accelerates away from Ystrad Mynach station with the 2F34 14:15 Rhymney - Cardiff service on April 2nd 2005. The only full sun shot I have of 408 before its demise and for some reason the shots got some major colour cast problems.

The following morning 37406 is pictured again at Edinburgh with the return at 00:55Hrs. The shot was taken shortly after 406 had shunted the Fort William portion of the Caledonian Sleeper onto the Inverness section on 23rd May 2006.

Another station shot of the 'beds' this time with 37405 basking in the sunshine at Fort William on 30th May 2006.

37324 passes Hailes on the Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Railway with a Toddington - Cheltenham Racecourse working during the spring diesel gala on 1st April 2006.

37416 passes Lea Marston with the 6G42 Birch Coppice - Bescot Enterprise feeder. The service conveys car parts from the distribution centre at Birch Coppice. Class 37's were once a regular performer on this working until early 2005 when haulage went over to class 67's. However on 27th October 37416 was allocated to the working, the weather was perfect so a quick call to work explaining that I was tucked up in bed with some imaginary illness was made and a mad dash to Lea Marston followed.

 

 

The 10th December 2005 was the day that Arriva had advertised as being the last day of loco haulage on the Rhymney circuit and apart from a few night shots this was the full sun shot of the day - 37411 'Caerphilly Castle' with the 2F26 12:15 Rhymney - Cardiff at Pontlottyn.

DRS' 37608 is seen here again, this time at Retford on the East Coast Mainline hauling a Network Rail Stoneblower on 5th April 2006. The 37 had traveled light loco to Marshgate to collect the short consist and returned as 6ZO5 Marshgate - Broxbourne.

 

37602 & 20317 take a break on the 6M67 Bridgewater - Crewe flasks. The consist was stopped at Worcester Shrub Hill for a number of hours as the yard had a back log of three freights to dispatch. 29th June 2006.

DRS Class 37's No's. 37607 & 37259 haul the 6M67 Bridgewater - Crewe nuclear flask service through Abbotswood on the 16th September 2005. The train will leave the Birmingham Bristol line at Abbotswood junction and cross over onto the Driotwich line.

On 29th April 2006 Kingfisher Tours ran the 'Whitby Jet' railtour from Rugby to Whitby using 37419 and 37425. The shot carried extra significance as 37419 had been pre-assigned for storage the following Tuesday. After numerous 'full dull' shots of the outbound leg taken on the Esk Valley Line the return from Whitby is photographed here at Battersby in the afternoon sunshine.

37417 hauls the 6Z79 Northampton - Bescot scrap into Bescot, 66089 which had failed at Northampton was attached to the rear. I had originally gone to Cathiron for this working, however it ran nearly an hour earlier than planned which meant the sun hadn't quite come round enough so a dash to Bescot was made to grab this. 1st July 2006.

37698 pauses for a crew change at Hereford during May 2004. The train is the 6M75 ADJ - Warrington and was worked by 698 twice during this week. Class 37's were regular performers on this working during 2004 and as a result a crowd of photographers could usually be seen at Hereford station where the train would recess for anything up to 45 minutes.

(35mm Scan)

During early summer in 2006 DRS hired two of its class 66's out to Freigtliner who were experiencing a motive power shortage. As a result of this DRS' 4L46 Ditton - Purfleet intermodal working was taken over by class 37's. The service is pictured here at Heamies Farm, Staffordshire on 9th June 2006. The train was running late at this stage and 37608 & 37218 where hammering along the fast line at speed to make up time. Class 37 haulage continued for some weeks on this turn until DRS cancelled the service due to poor loadings, evident in this illustration with only two containers in the consist.

Another shot of the 'Whitby Jet' taken 15 minutes later as 37425 heads the tour out of Battersby with 37419 tailing.

37069 & 37607 top & tail 15:49 Derby - Bristol Barton Hill (4Z10) through Spetchley on 24th July 2007. The working was well down by this point passing at 18:40 some 50 minutes later than booked.