Don't believe anybody when they tell you interest in railways is declining and the hobby is heading south. Yesterday we held our annual depot open day which this year reverted back to our Crewe Gresty bridge and was once again held with all proceeds going in aid of charity. We spent four hours the afternoon before shunting the shed to line up the locos and the following morning the bulk of the trade stands arrived to set up. Once we had the staff briefings I went to look at the queue of people waiting to come in. We'd had a massive queue two years before but none of us expected the sight before us. From the gate down the drive railfans had started waiting about eight in the morning (We opened at ten) stretching way past the bridge, the Mornflake Oats factory and all the way to Crewe Alexandria's football ground the queue disappeared over the horizon. Entry was a £5 donation to charity Every nook and cranny of the depot seemed to fill up really quickly as people poured in More soon Kev
The maintenance shed was packed with people queuing to go into the cabs of the locos on display So what were the big attractions? Class 37 '37 424' has just had a massive restoration job done on it including a full re-skin of the bodywork and was brought across for the open day for a surprise naming ceremony. We kept it under wraps as it was visible from outside the fence so as not to spoil the surprise. As the new class 88 A.C/Diesel hybrid was ready we brough a couple of our ever popular Class 20s over from Barrow Hill to fill the gap. We had a close shave as it looked at one stage as if we were going to have to send the two 'Northern Belle' Class 57s out on a job but in the end they weren't needed more soon
The privately owned Class 40 D213 'Andania' was absolutely immaculate and was started up every now and then for the fans to hear the infamous whistling of the turbos (The reason for their nickname 'Whistlers') The Deltic Preservation Society supplied D9009 'Alycidon. These 3,300 HP behemoths are still hugely popular in the U.K A pair of Class 37s need a wash
So the big reveal! 37 424 was actually unveiled as 37 588 'Avro Vulcan XH588' named after the iconic delta wing nuclear strike bomber that used to be in service with the RAF. This plane has been another example of a massive restoration and return to service by a dedicated team of volunteers and we were happy to present the spare nameplate to the Vulcan Trust who are the custodians of the plane The other naming ceremony was 47 712 which had its 'Lady Diana Spencer ' nameplates restored Direct rail Services new managing director Debbie Francis is seen with two members of the preservation group based at the Crewe heritage centre A former DRS Class 47 47 501 was sold recently and has now been repainted in full British Rail two tone green livery and given its original number D1944 This was a fantastic example of brush painting and was immaculate So all in all a really successful, if very tiring couple of days but I had one more bonus still to come. Returning from the show I had to change trains at Lancaster onto one of our Cumbrian coast Class 37/4 hauled passenger trains 37 401 has been a regular on the services over the last few weeks and was sat on Platform 5 waiting to depart to Barrow
So as I was chatting to the driver I became aware that there seemd to be a lot of photographers on Platform 3 Hence 46233 Duchess of Sutherland on the Up Cumbrian Mountain Express blasting south. Sadly the photographers on 3 had a Virgin Pendolino blocking the view! It happens to us all eventually Kev
Funny to see these Class 20, that are still looking good. Maybe a couple of those that once ran in France, close to my hometown, in the 90's.... Seen at Autun depot in the above pic. I guess not a long time before they went back to UK. (and as an aviation fanatic, all my congratulations to you my fellow Brits for maintaining an airworthy Vulcan...) Dom
So I shot so much stuff (223 photos and 1 hour 20 minutes of video) that I've had to split the VT into manageble chunks! Both for our company archives and for public entertainment here is part one. a behind the scenes look at the shunt to get everything lined up. be back soon Kev
