I took a trip on one of
the final First North Western service trains on the Holyhead-Birmingham
service. Today "Restormel" was in charge and,
whilst not the most interesting of journeys, it had to be done
for the last time
The journey
into and out of Crewe station is depressing because of all the
redundant locomotives lined up waiting to be scrapped. here are
some of them.
The train I used was
the 06.45 Holyhead-Birmingham, today hauled by coastal regular
47732 "Restormel" The journey out to Birmingham
was uneventful with the locomotives at Bescot yard being the
main point of interest.
The stop at Birmingham
New Street is fairly short, just enough time to get out and take
a few shots of the locomotive. There is no need for reversal
at Birmingham because the train runs in a loop, entering the
station from one end and leaving at the other. It keeps it simple.
The run out passes
under parts of the City.
Back to Crewe and
the run in is interesting, here can be seen the rows of stored
and in-traffic locomotives, mainly belonging to Freightliner.
Crewe has a virtual
quarry!
On the other side
of the track is the stock stored by the London North Western
Railway Company, here is class 47 number 47287.
47212 with graffiti
coach.
The train was
held outside the station as a London bound Virgin train passed
South. I took this shot rather hurriedly, and straight into the
sun, because the train had two DVT's in its formation. The locomotive
is 87027 "Wolf of Baddenoch".
History!
LNWR are constructing
a new maintenance depot which is nearing completion.
Also stored
is 37383
The saddest
sight of all, in my opinion, is 37420 "The Scottish Hosteller"
which has been dumped on the scrap line at Crewe. A positive
star performer on the North Wales Coast line, this was the first
37 I travelled behind on the coast. Does anyone out there have
vast amounts of money they don't want because I can find a good
home for it! Donations to........
020 with similarly
unfortunate class mates.
We finally made
it into Crewe where I had to get off. The train continued on
to Holyhead.
Although the trains
will no longer run through to Birmingham with the introduction
of the Winter timetable, at least the Crewe-Holyhead service
is maintained. This includes some trains continuing to be loco
hauled so more Holyhead runs to come......
