90043 passes Slindon with the 4M81 Felixtowe - Trafford Park on 9th June 2006. This was once a great photographic location now spoiled by Network Rails fencing policy.
90043 heads south with a liner Greenholme on 1st June 2006.
87's had one last reprieve with Virgin in 2006 with the Pendolino fleet undergoing modification one diagram which had ominously remained timed at 110MPH went over to Class 87 haulage. With the real possibility that a large proportion of the 87 fleet will soon be off to pastures new I took a trip to Birmingham International on 13th December 2006 to catch 87002 on the 1G21 16:51 Euston - Birmingham New Street. The service is seen here at 18:22 some ten minutes or so later than booked due to some problems further down the line.
92031 'The Institute of Logistics and Transport ' passes Cathiron on the Trent Valley section of the West Coast Mainline with the 4A07 Trafford Park - Wembley intermodal on 16th July 2005.
Later on during the same day 87026 'Sir Richard Arkwright' departs Crewe with another Northbound service 2nd May 2004. I'm not sure that the locomotive would have attracted so much attention just a few years earlier.
(35mm Scan)
The second celebrity repaint.. 87019 'ACORP The Association of Rail Partnerships' passes the Oxford canal at Ansty again on 14th May 2005 with a Euston bound service. The shot was hurried as I was in the midst of moving further down the tow path as the train approached. Unfortunately as a result I missed the end of the train in the trees. Never the less I found the image rather pleasing and it is one of only two shots I have of 87019 carrying this livery, both taken at this location.
Crewe was probably my most visited location on the WCML, being from the North West but living in Worcestershire detours from the M6 to have lunch at Crewe station where a regular occurrence during my frequent journeys back to Rochdale in the 80's & 90's.
Shortly after rekindling my interest in the UK rail scene the visits to Crewe once again commenced but instead of my father for company I'd usually drag along my long suffering partner & kids! Unfortunately the action available in 2004 wasn't quite the same as my last visits in the mid nineties and the Penolino revolution was starting to take hold with only a few class 90's left on class one passenger turns and the once ignored class 87's where by now worth a photograph.
On one such visit on 2nd May 2004 I was fortunate enough to capture celebrity
BR Blue 87001 'Stephenson' which is pictured here heading a northbound service.
(35mm Scan)
91119 pauses at York with a Glasgow bound service. 5/02/05
73202 passes Salfords with what was officially the last loco hauled Gatwick Express. The 1U56 Gatwick - Victoria. Class mate 73 208 was at the rear. The poor weather was a let down given the event but that didn't deter the large crowd gathered on the footbridge to capture the demise of one of the few remaining booked loco hauled passenger services. 28th July 2005.
Class 90 No. 90020 passes South through Cathiron with the 1A41 Holyhead - London Euston
service. The service was running 15 minutes late at
this stage allowing the cloud to pass and a few rays of sunlight appear. 03/07/05
Freightliner Class 86's No. 86638 & 86605 pass Cathiron with the 4L75 Trafford Park - Felixstowe intermodal. The weather was just starting to take a turn for the worst when this working appeared on 31st August 2005.
I had gone to Cathiron on this day with the specific intention of photographing some Class 92's in original two tone grey livery before EWS apply their repulsive large yellow transfers to the the entire fleet. Cathiron is one of the few places on the Trent Valley section of the WCML that allows for photography in both directions and is a favourite spot of mine, the location is soon to be destroyed when the line is quadrupled in 2006.
On the occasion I bagged two 92's within the space of an hour. This shot was the better of the two in terms of lighting although the poor loading was a disappointment, the service was the 4O51 Trafford Park - Grain EWS intermodal, hauled by 92012. 31st August 2005.
Another reprieve for the class 87's on the WCML came about when GBRF gained a rolling contract with the Royal Mail. The service made use of the fairly new but redundant RM owned class 325's but again as a result of being out of service for a long period the units needed works attention with motor vehicles being taken out of service for overhaul. As a result GBRF took a number of 87's on lease from Porterbrook to drag the units minus their motor coaches. In this image 87026 is pictured again nearly two years to the day after earlier shot (further up the page) taken at Crewe, now minus its nameplates and looking in need of some cosmetic attention it is pictured passing Cathiron on 28th April 2006 with the 1S96 Willesden Railnet - Shieldmuir mail. This was to have been the Class 87's last few weeks of regular operation on these services as the motor vehicles where added to the 325 sets.
90047 hauls the a well loaded 4M81 Felixtowe - Crewe liner through Cathiron on 28th April 2006.
GNER liveried 90024 is pictured here at York shortly after arriving at journeys end with Hertfordhsire Railtours' 'The City of York' tour from London on 5th February 2005. The weather conditions were so bad that a tripod was required to obtain a reasonable result.
With the class now more of a sporadic performer on the GBRF mail contract 87022 heads the Shieldmuir - Warrington mail turn through Greenholme on 1st June 2006 with 87028 at the rear. The leading loco had seen use with DRS and by this time carried a hybrid GBRF livery with the addition of Willesden's by now trademark gold buffers.
92015 heads 4S62 Deventry - Mossend intermodal through Greenholme on 1st June 2006.
Having just had a crew change 92031 awaits a green light at Carlisle on 31st May 2006 with the 6M67 Mossend - Wembley 'Enterprise' working.
92016 passes through Heamies Farm with the 4M41 Mossend - Daventry Intermodal on 9th June 2006. I was walking further down the line when this working appeared hence the tight framing.
2005 saw the complete run down of the 'Electric Scots' by Virgin West Coast and by early summer only two diagrams regularly produced class 87 traction. Generally the two last locomotives to receive F exams with VWC where in charge in the form of celebrity repaints 87012 'The Olympian' in Network South East and 87019 in lined black. This photo was taken on 14th May 2005 with 87012 tailing a northbound service. In hindsight I wish i'd have made more an effort to capture these loco's in their last months with VWC - as they say 'when their gone their gone' and with the photographed loco and the one below expected to be the first two to leave the UK for Eastern Europe then they certainty will be gone.
92041 'Vaughan Williams' heads through Tame Bridge Parkway having just started the 6A42 Bescot - Wembley 'Enterprise' on 18th July 2007. The loco was moving at walking pace, having just joined the mainline. The consist, most of which is out of sight in Bescot sidings included Cargo Wagons, Hooded Steel Carriers, Steel Flats, STVA car Carriers and two grey Mark II test coaches and was possibly one of the longest trains I've seen in the UK.
