The Railway Magazine – July 2019

July 2019 •The Railway Magazine•101

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GREATWestern Railwaysaid

farewell to long-distance InterCity

125 operation on June 1 with an

epic railtour visiting many parts of

the GWR network.

The first and last production

HST power cars – Nos. 43002

Sir Kenneth Grangeand 43198 –

powered standard eight-car set

LA72 on an itinerary embracing

Bristol, Paddington, Oxford,

Hereford, Carmarthen and

Gloucester, before a non-stop

westbound run from Paddington

to Plymouth.

With horns blaring, the final

departure from London heralded

the end of almost 43 years of HST

operation on the GreatWestern

Main Line.

After the tour, No. 43002 retired

to its home depot at Plymouth

Laira, where its BR blue/yellow

vinyls were removed prior to an

No. 43002Sir Kenneth Grangeheads GWR’s‘The Flying Banana’

farewell tour during the first of two visits to London Paddington

early on June 1. Diagrammed work finished on May 18, but this

charity railtour marked the end of GWR’s InterCity 125s on

long-distance work.TOBY RADZISZEWSKI

JUNE 9 saw a Class 31 return to
main line action after a gap of
several months.
Nemesis Rail’s No. 31128
Charybdis, currently the only
BrushType 2 authorised for use
on Network Rail metals, powered
the Branch Line Society’s
‘SundayYicker’tour in top-and-
tail formation withWest Coast
Railways’No. 37668 and just four
WCRC Mk1 coaches.
The‘31’visited various freight
lines and rare routes in the
north-west of England during its
leisurely Sunday outing, including
the recently reactivated Haydock
freight branch to Ashton-in-
Makerfield.
Other highlights included
Dallam Royal Mail platform
inWarrington,Wigan Springs
Branch, Ince Moss curve and
freight lines around Garston and

Speke on Merseyside.

The charter raised money for

Rethink Mental Illness and was

timed as a follow-on event from

the previous day’s All Change

open day event in Crewe (see

Headline News).

And, in case you were

wondering, a‘Yicker’is said to be

a derogatory term for someone

from the Haydock area!

The BLS will be on tour again

on August 10, taking three

Class 37s from Crewe to

Portsmouth Harbour.

The‘Type 3 to the Sea’tour will

be formed of Mk1 coaching stock

powered by a trio ofWCRC‘37s’,

and will pick up at various points

around the Midlands and London

before heading to the Hampshire

port city.

During the break of around four

hours, passengers can choose

DB Cargo No. 67012, still carrying Chiltern Railways grey & silver,

passes Garstang with the return Llandudno to Glenrothes Thornton

leg of a Scottish Railway Preservation Society tour on June 15.

No. 67001 was attached to the rear of the train.JOHN HALES

GWR InterCity 125s bow out in style

BLStourbringsClass31

backtothemainline

from a number of attractive

options, including a hovercraft

charter to Lee-on-the-Solent’s

Hovercraft Museum.

After the main tour, Class 37

fans will also have the

opportunity to add on a short

repositioning trip from Crewe to

Carnforth on August 11 as the

locomotives and stock return to

their home base.

Details of both trains and all

other BLS events, railtours and

visits can be found at:

http://www.branchline.org

expected stint on hire to Hull

Trains. However, the power car

is eventually destined for the

National Railway Museum inYork.

GWR will continue to operate a

small fleet of short-formed‘Castle’

HSTs on Cardiff-Bristol-Penzance

regional services, but all inter-city

routes are now worked by

Hitachi Class 80x bi-mode trains.

The Branch Line

Society’s‘Sunday

Yicker’tour saw

Nemesis Rail

Class 31/1

No. 31128

Charybdisreturn

to main line

action withWest

Coast Railways’

No. 37668 and

just fourWCRC

Mk1 coaches.

During its

leisurely Sunday

outing on June 9,

the‘31’and its

entourage cross

the RiverWeaver

at Hunts Lock in

Northwich.

TERRY EYRES

GB RAILFREIGHT Class 47s Nos. 47727Edinburgh Castleand No. 47749City of

Truroclimb Belstead Bank on the outskirts of Ipswich with the 13.08 Ipswich

Yard-Burton Wetmore Sidings on June 9. The pair of Brush Type 4s, now

allocated to GBRf’s Rail Services division, had worked the previous day’s

staff charter from Ipswich to Scarborough.KEITH PARTLOW

StaffoutingforGBRf‘47s’