EWS Class 37s…
Whilst it would appear that the running up of several stored Class 37s last week was more to do with stopping them freezing up there are now signs of activity indicating that several are being prepared for reinstatement. Recent developments include the admission of 37717 into the shed at Toton for attention whilst at Warrington the stored 37s were yesterday all taken through the servicing shed. 37109 at Hither Green has been pre assigned for movement to Temple Mills for attention.

Anglia 86s…
Or should that be Anglia 86, singular. 86235 is out and about today and was on the 09:30 Norwich to Liverpool St this morning. It is (at the time of writing) due to work to Norwich and back this afternoon before the finale with the 17:00 Liverpool St to Norwich.
86246 is indeed sidelined with transformer troubles at Norwich whilst three Class 90s, 90002 90005 and 90012, are showing as operating on three traction motors only.

87s…
The reason behind the recent flurry of Class 87s making their way north on WCML services are due to problems being encountered at Birmingham New St. whilst engineering work had been taking place. It also explains why so many WCML sets have been running wrong way round these past few days.
Now the bad news. Six Class 87s are due to come off lease imminently, these being 87012 87019 87023 87026 87031 and 87035. This is subject to change however, as one or two of the ‘to be retained’ locomotives are in need of attention. An IWCA Class 87 fleet survey…

87s, more northern outings…
87004 has been out from Euston to Liverpool and back before venturing north again with the 12:45 Euston to Lancaster service whilst 87023 has been to Stockport and back. It was due to do the 19:45 Euston to Carlisle service but a Pendolino was found for this working prior to departure. 87033 has been to Liverpool. Two other Class 87s to make it north today were 87001 and 87026, albeit not on scheduled passenger workings. Both have been on ECS / redundant stock workings to Polmadie being noted side by side on the approaches at Preston this afternoon.

87s…
Five of the Class have been in action ‘oop north’ today. 87033 took this morning’s 09:45 Euston to Carlisle service beyond the Cumbria Fells but was piloted south on the return working by 87023 which had been on standby at Carlisle for the last day or two. Two Euston to Liverpool services, diverted to Warrington due to engineering work in the Liverpool area, featured Class 87s with 87004 and 87035 making it through to Warrington this afternoon and 87019 working up to Stockport and back. At Willesden the three Class 87s recently stored in the SBXL pool, 87007 87008 and 87025, have all now been de-named and de-branded however 87008 has of late been seeing use in and around the depot confines at Willesden. Long stored 87005 is back outside at Willesden. It is believed that 87005 has been fitted with the transformer from recently scrapped 87016 to put it back in gauge to facilitate its transfer, at some point, by rail to Wembley for onward movement by road for disposal.

Freightliner’s new toys…
47811 and 47816, both recently added to the DFLH fleet, have moved up to Crewe ready to take up duties with Freightliner whilst 47805 (DFLH) has again been out on the Riviera operated North Wales Coast diagram today.

Wigan CRDC, access granted for a big clear out…?
Although unconfirmed it is understood that sometime in the new year the access restriction at the entrance of the CRDC will be temporarily lifted for a few weeks to allow road transport access to remove the derelict locomotives from the site. Practically everything located at the CRDC has been sold or has been offered, pending an access agreement with the local council, for sale.

Testing…
Further to yesterday’s mention of 86901 and 86902 being involved in some kind of testing on the WCML information has been received explaining their use in the testing of the new high voltage auto transformer system introduced recently at Weedon and Bilsworth. There has been a full line possession between Rugby South Junction and Hanslope from 22:00 on the 24th to 05:30 this morning to facilitate these tests. 86901 and 86902 should have returned to Rugby this morning.

Anglia 86s…
Although 86235 and 86246 both continue to see use on Anglia workings, both were out yesterday, the curtain is set to fall on the 31st with the 17:00 Liverpool St to Norwich service being rostered for a Class 86. To quote ONE Anglia from their web site they are retaining one Class 86 into next year for emergency cover ‘in the event of major disruption’ and this is expected to be 86235 which has recently received a B exam. There are still six of the Class allocated to the IANA pool but only the two mentioned above have seen any kind of mainline use since October. The other four, 86218 86232 86234 and 86260, remain sidelined at Norwich Crown Point.

86/9s…
It has been established that 86901 and 86902 (both QACL) have been located at Weedon Beck, just to the south of Rugby on the WCML, since removal from Rugby the 24th. 86901 was still coupled between 66531 and 66601 when viewed today. Evidently involved in some kind of testing both are consequently removed from the storage lists.

Reinstatements in the pipeline…?
There has been some speculation that EWS are going to reinstate a number of locomotives, about 30 being mentioned, to facilitate a short term infrastructure contract early next year. Whether the following is connected or whether its simply a case of stopping these engines freezing up remains to be seen but several recently stored Class 37s at various locations have been noted up and running in the past day or two.

Foreign contract locomotives…
At Eastleigh 56049 and 56065 (both WZGF) which are understood to be earmarked movement to Bristol Barton Hill have been attended to including load bank testing. 58016 (WZFF), undergoing repairs, is still in undercoat whilst 58037 (WNXX) has been yielding spares at the Hampshire depot. Meanwhile up at Toton Holland bound 58038 (WZFH) is back on a set of bogies but is still without a power unit.

Disposal…
The remains of 87016, stored from the IWCA pool as recently as July this year, have been disposed of at Caerwent, RIP.

86/9s, now official…
Although they have already been physically renumbered as such the official renumbering of 86210 to 86902 and 86253 to 86901 has now been put through.

New pools…
The AC Locomotive Group have had three pools created although no locomotives have yet been reallocated to these new pools which are…

EWS 37s, fleet (what’s left of it) survey...

37174 WKAD Temple Mills
37203 WKAD Crewe DMD
37401 WKBM Millerhill allocated 1Y11
37405 WKCK Cardiff Canton
37406 WKBM Fort William allocated 1B01
37408 WKCK Cardiff Canton
37411 WKCK Cardiff Canton
37416 WKBM 0H03 to Inverness
37417 WKBM Motherwell
37418 WKSN Inverness allocated snowplough duties
37421 WKSN Inverness allocated snowplough duties
37425 WKCK Lisvane
37427 WKBM Millerhill
37669 WKAD 0z57 to Bescot

EWS Class 37s, another fleet reduction…
Five have been stored but two are reinstated, a net loss of three leaving the fleet at only 14 strong. Stored, all to the WNTR pool from WKAD, are 37042 (Doncaster Carr), 37216 (Motherwell), 37308 (Bescot), 37402 (Toton) and 37670 (still in traffic). Reinstated are 37174 and 37669, both to WKAD from WNTR.

EWS Class 60s, as you were sort of…
Although the fleet strength remains unchanged with 92 still in traffic 60056 has been stored WNTR at Thornaby swapping places with 60066 which has been reinstated to WCAN from store and repairs at Toton.

EWS Class 67s, four binned…
Four have been stored, all WNTR. The casualties are 67001 (Toton), 67018 (Doncaster Carr) 67026 (Motherwell) and 67030 (Toton).

EWS Class 92s, more stored…
The Class 92 fleet has been reduced by five, 92015 92019 92024 92026 and 92041 having been stored WNTR. All bar 92024 sidelined at Crewe EMD are still in traffic.

Canton…
37412 37415 (both WNXX) 37419 and 37698 (both WNTA) were hauled west from Cardiff Canton to Margam yesterday by 66032. This leaves just a rather derelict 37509 at Canton.

57316…
Now formally added to the ATTB pool 57316 had a naming ceremony at Brush Loughborough to commemorate the final Class 57/3 rebuild for VT.

86902…
Although physically numbered as such 86210, the former identity of 86902, has been reallocated from SDXL to the QACL pool.

89001…
The ‘badger’ made its move by road from Doncaster Works to Barrow Hill this morning. It is to be looked after by the AC Locomotive Group whilst at Barrow Hill.

On the road…
57007 (DFTZ) sidelined with bogie defects is being moved by road today from Ipswich to Leeds Midland Rd for attention. It is anticipated that after depositing the 57 in Leeds this trailer will be heading to Doncaster to collect 89001 for movement to Barrow Hill.

ECML ice breaker…
Further timings for this working have been provided (see below). It transpires that this is not something completely new, as such, its just that when mail trains were running a Class 86 or a Class 90 would be sent out overnight from Low Fell to keep the wires ice free. Of course we now have no loco hauled mail trains so...

Disposal…
At Booth’s the cutting of 47157 which was stored from Freightliner’s DFLM pool in March 2001 has been completed, RIP.

EWS Class 37s…
No less than thirty six EWS Class 37s have been stored this afternoon. Stored in the WNTA pool are 37047 37057 37109 37114 37372 37410 37419 37503 37516 37517 37521 37668 37674 37675 37676 37682 37684 37685 37689 37692 37698 37706 37707 37709 37710 37712 37717 37798 37886 37890 37893 37895 and 37896, stored WNTR are 37174 and 37669 whilst 37422 has been stored WNTS. These losses leave the EWS Class 37 fleet at just seventeen strong. There have been some transfers between the operational pools as well leaving the fleet allocation thus…

Class 87s…
The three Class 87s, 87007 87008 and 87025, taken off lease at the end of last week have now been stored SBXL. All three are at Willesden.

Shunter news…
08782 recently returned to use at Castleton has now been reinstated to the WRWM pool whilst 08951, which was replaced by 08782, has been stored WNTS at Allerton.

WZGF…
The WZGF Class 56 for France pool has been expanded to seventeen examples with the addition of 56096 56099 56105 and 56106. All are located at Immingham and all were formerly allocated to WNXX.

37423…
Not picked up earlier was the movement by road of 37423 from Bury to Carnforth. 37235 is expected to make its way to Carnforth in due course.

EWS Class 37s…
Further developments. The allocations for storage for 37674 37675 37709 and 37886 have been removed whilst 37216 is back to showing as allocated to undergo an A exam.

The fat lady’s not singing…
Not just yet anyway. Although the run to Scotland and back with 87021 on the 10th was supposed to have been the final working for 87s to the northern end of the WCML 87012 has been turned out for today’s 1S56 11:40 Euston to Glasgow and 1M19 17:40 return. This is a full speed Pendolino diagram.

Ghost train…
67029 and ensemble is due out again tonight, in the early hours, from Toton to Peterborough and Kings Cross then north to Doncaster.

EWS Class 37s again…
Further to the earlier update it transpires that the Motherwell trio, 37216 37372 and 37674, have now been assigned for store whilst 37410 is now showing as ‘NTBU’ (not to be used) as opposed to ‘SCRP’ (scrap) or ‘STOR’ (store).

EWS Class 37s…
Several further EWS Class 37s, 37047 37109 37410 37419 37675 37682 37689 37698 37710 and 37798, have been identified for storage whilst several have been allocated to undergo A or B exams. The full EWS fleet is listed below with details, where information is available, regarding their prospective future’s.

Ice breaker...
86607 (DFNC) has turned up at York for ECML OHL ice breaker duties. 86602 is, as far as is known, still receiving attention at Crewe EMD.

Here we go…
Seven WKSN Class 37s have been identified for store and more are expected to follow in the coming days. The seven so far allocated for store are 37668 37706 37707 37709 37886 37893 and 37895. On the passenger traction front 43067 (IECP) and 43159 (IMLP) have been taken off lease at Neville Hill whilst 87007 87008 and 87025 (all IWCA) have been stood down at Willesden.

Work in progress…
The demolition of 47157 at Booth’s Rotherham is at an advanced stage, only one cab and its frame remained when viewed this morning. Next in line for the chop is 47334 whilst the remains, frame and bogies only, of 86261 are still in evidence.

Ice breaker…
From the 13th Freightliner Heavy Haul are to provide a Class 86 for overhead line ice breaking runs between Newcastle and Hitchin. Based at York this is likely to be why 86602 has been reinstated. Times provided are…

Disposal…
The cutting of 86261 at Booth’s Rotherham is as good as complete, only its frame and bogies remaining this morning. Last year’s EWS open day exhibit, appearing at both the Crewe Works and the Wabtec do’s was stored from the WEOE pool in November 2002, RIP.

90050…
Further to yesterday’s notes regarding 90050 being transferred to the WNTR pool from DHLT information received suggests this is nothing more than an accounting exercise to balance the books against 90016 which was recently reinstated to Freightliner’s DFNC pool.

Class 87 West Coast Diagrams…
Further details for the Class 87 diagrams from the 13th have been provided. Many thanks RS...

90050…
Recently stored at Crewe EMD 90050 has been transferred from Freightliners DHLT pool to the EWS WNTR pool which indicates that a change of ownership has taken place. This might, if information received is anything to go by, be something to do with the reasons behind it catching fire.

Rio no more…
43157, the last HST power car allocated to the IMRL Rio pool has been transferred to the main IMLP pool rendering IMRL obsolete.

67029…
The EWS executive train has been out on test again tonight between Crewe and Preston, to the same timings as last night. It is understood that it is to run between Crewe and Rugby tomorrow night.

Toton…
Engine-less and bogie-less 58038 (WZFH) is inside on the jacks receiving what can be regarded as major attention whilst 56046 (WNXX) is back inside. Will 56046 be added to the French fleet eventually?

More on the road…
Not noted in the earlier report was the transfer by road this morning of 20177 from Yeovil to Tyseley.

Yorkshire sandites…
The Yorkshire area sandites had finished on the 4th, a week earlier than elsewhere, and 37042 37516 37517 and 37521 had been laid up at Doncaster Carr in stand by status, 37503 was on local area freight work today. However due to problems on the Harrogate line a RHTT working is being reinstated from tomorrow morning timed at 04:55 off Healey Mills Leeds, Knaresborough, York then out to Malton back to York and south to Doncaster. 37042 and 37516 have been allocated for tomorrow.

On the road…
Three locomotives are on the move by road this afternoon.
47207 (DHLT) from Southampton Maritime to Booth’s Rotherham. Its departure from Southampton had been delayed and as this trailer is booked to collect 89001 from Doncaster Works after dropping 47207 off it will now be tomorrow at the earliest when 89001 is collected for transfer to Barrow Hill.
86240 (SAXL) is on the road heading south from Glasgow Works to MoD Shoeburyness. It was still north of Carlisle at 14:00.
86902 (SDXL) has left Barrow Hill and as suspected is destined for Rugby. It was traversing the M1 at 14:00.

Work in progress..
At Booth’s Rotherham 86261 is down to a frame and one and a half cabs. It is still on its bogies. 86425 is lined up behind it waiting its turn. A start on 47157 has been made with its roof sections being ripped off this morning.

86902…
At Barrow Hill 86210, now in full Network Rail yellow with logos, has been renumbered into the 86/9 sub series having had the number 86902 physically applied yesterday. 86253 which at one point was chalked up to become 86902 will therefore become 86901 when its renumbering takes place. 86902 is due to leave Barrow Hill by road shortly, possibly to Rugby.

West Coast 87s…
It has been established that VT West Coast are to retain five loco hauled diagrams beyond the timetable change (see below). This and stand by / emergency cover duties will see the retention in the IWCA fleet of at least 10 Class 87s into the new year.

DFHC…
It transpires that the recent reinstatement of 86602 to the DFHC pool wasn’t a cock up after all as the designation for this pool has been amended. It is now Freightliner Heavy Haul Various. Currently just three locomotives are allocated, the two 66/9s, 66951 and 66952, along with 86602. Several Class 66/5s are currently on hire to the pool though, 66522 66524 66526 66527 66530 66544 66547 66548 66549 66550 66551 66552 66553 66554 66555 66556 66559 66562 66564 66565 and 66566.

Ghost train out again…
The EWS executive train is out again on test but tonight it is heading north from Toton to do three return trips between Crewe and Preston via the WCML before heading home in the morning.

ATLO, the end of...
The ATLO pool is now obsolete as its final allocation 57311, at Brush for Dellner fitment, has been transferred to the ATTB pool.

Tugs…
Five Class 60s are in line for reinstatement, all with short but constantly changing ok dates. 60011 and 60018 at Toton, 60057 at Thornaby, 60066 at Toton and 60095 moved to Doncaster Carr yesterday from Thornaby.

Shunter notes…
08782 (WNTR) removed from Warrington the other day has turned up at Castleton displacing 08951 (WRWM) which has been taken away today by road for repairs (or store). Another shunter noted on the road this afternoon is 08689 (WSSC) latterly located at Hardendale which was noted heading for Scotland via the M6 at 14:30.

Badger alert…
89001 (IECB), now the only stored locomotive left in Doncaster Works, is due to be removed by road to Barrow Hill in the next few days, possibly Wednesday or Thursday.

Ghost train alert…
The EWS executive ensemble, 67029 etc, is due out on test between Toton and Leicester, out and back three times, tonight.

DRS clear out…
It is understood that HNRC have acquired a number of redundant locomotives, several being potentially suitable for preservation, from DRS. All the Class 20/9s, except of course 20902 which is already owned by HNRC, are included. It wasn’t completely one sided though but it’ll be best to let DRS make an announcement on that bit… :~)

Disposal…
The cutting of 47193 has been completed at Booth’s Rotherham, only its grounded frame and bogies were in evidence this morning. 47157, as yet untouched, appears to be next in line for the chop whilst 86261 is in the process of being scrapped in the adjacent yard having had its bodysides and all internals except its transformer removed. 47193 was stored from Freightliner’s DFLT pool in August 2000, RIP.

47205…
It has been indicated that 47205 has been secured for preservation so whether it will be going to Rotherham at all remains to be seen.

47811…
Although reported as being located at Landore when stored a couple of days ago it turns out that it wasn’t but it is now. 47811 was at St Philips Marsh but went west to Landore today with 43161 and 43195 behind 47197.

90016...
It has, since the earlier news entry, been established that 90016 is now reinstated to Freightliner’s DFLC pool. This therefore confirms the earlier reports that it was due to go on hire to Freightliner as cover for the fire damaged 90050. It has been taken off decision and is available for traffic at Crewe, welcome back.

Southampton 47s…
47205 47207 and 47334 (all DHLT) have been removed from the Redbridge head shunt at Southampton back to Maritime depot in readiness for recovery by road to Booth’s Rotherham.

57316…
The former 47290 can now be regarded as 57316 as its conversion at Brush is complete.

Canton clear out…
The four stored locomotives, 37704 47761 47772 and 56100, due for movement to Margam from Cardiff Canton today were booked to go west this evening at 19:10 behind 37425.

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