Rail Express – September 2019

28 RAIL EXPRESS September 2019

NOSTALGIA

A

BUSYscene –asever–at

Doncaster on June 17, 1978

finds‘Deltic’ No. 55007Pinza

leaving northbound with the 10.55

King’sCros s-Edinburgh asType 2

No. 31115 heads south withaload

of steel girders. Thiswasthe height

of BritishRail’s Corporate Blue era,

although thatwould begin to change

on theEast CoastMainLine later

that year as thefirstHSTstookover

on InterCity duties, spelling the start

of the endforthe ‘Deltics’.Various

Derb yand Met-Camm units arevisible

around th estation, while theWest

Yard (between the station and the

Worksint he background) isfilled

with hauled stock–asist he Carria ge

Worksonthe right. Note also the

twosignalboxesatt he end of the

platforms and behind in theyard,plus

thegroups of enthusiastsfilling the

platform ends.

Photo: DC Collection

Then & Now: Doncaster

M

orethan 40years later on

April14, 2019 and much

has changed. Doncaster

waselect rified in 1988 and the

Class 91+Mk.4 sets became the

mainstayofthe ECML,although

that is changing again nowas

newClass 800/801‘Azumas’ are

intr oduced. HereNo. 91127 calls at

the station with the 17.03 King’s

Cross-Leeds, withTransPennine

Express Class 185, Northern ‘170’

and CrossCountry ‘221’ DMUs also

visible –plusaClass 321EMU

and ‘170’ DMU in theWest Yard.

The station signalboxeswere

closed when DoncasterPower

Signal Boxopene din1979, and

the CarriageWorkssurvi vesunder

Wabtec ownership, currentlybusy

workingon anumber of Mk.3 coach

upgrades. Note also thefootbrid ge

(bottom left) to Platform 0, which

opened in 2016.

Photo:Paul Bickerdyke