The Severn Valley Railway held their Autumn Diesel Bash from 3rd October – 6th October 2024 when a collection of heritage diesel locomotives were in service operating a busy timetable. I was fortunate to attend on the Friday, when Class 58 No. 58023 worked its first passenger turns in over 25 years, indeed, this was the first time a Class 58 had worked a train in the UK since 2002.
Other highlights included a pair of Class 25 locomotives in No. 25262 visiting from the South Devon Railway and No. D7628 from the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, a Great Western Railway High Speed Train and locomotives from the SVR home fleet.
Thanks to Jamie for driving and for organising the locations – check out Jamie Smith Going Loco on You Tube.
October Video Review
01/10/2024 – GB Railfreight Class 57 No. 57310 arrives at Poole Storage Sidings working 5Q64 1603 Southampton Central to Bournemouth T&R.S.M.D having hauled refurbished South Western Railway Class 458/4 No. 458406 from Widnes Transport Tech before running around its train and heading to the depot. This video also features SWR Desiro workings and an MPV. I spoil you. Later the same day, the Class 57 returned to Poole hauling Class 458/5 No. 458503 on the first leg of its journey to Cheshire for conversion into a four car unit. The lights on the up platform at Poole station were out creating a darker than usual atmosphere.
02/10/2024 – The Network Rail New Measurement Train (NMT) visited the Heart of Wessex line operated by two class 43 High Speed Train (HST) power cars No.’s 43303 & 43301 reporting as 1Q22 0748 Derby R.T.C.(Network Rail) to Bristol Kingsland Road via Weymouth. The NMT has the full panoply of on board railway testing equipment, from lasers and cameras to overhead testing and gauging. Radios on board can be used to test equipment such as GSM-R, and non-contact monitoring systems can detect wear on overhead cables, along with their position in relation to the rails the train is travelling on. We saw the late running train at Maiden Newton, Winterborne Monkton and Dorchester West.
08/10/2024 – Three single-car Class 153 Diesel Multiple Units have been leased from Porterbrook by Network Rail’s infrastructure monitoring team since 2021 following their withdrawal by East Midlands Railway. Designated “Visual Inspection Units”, they are used for automated inspections of switches and crossings with the intention of removing “boots from the tracks”.
No. 153376 (VIU2) visited Bournemouth on 8th October 2024 whilst working 2Q30 1200 Eastleigh East Yard to Eastleigh East Yard. The Class 153’s are affectionately nicknamed Dogboxes and Yoshi took time out to examine the DMU in between rain showers.
12/10/2024 – North Dorset was visited by steam traction as SR Merchant Navy Pacific No.35028 ‘Clan Line’ passed through working the “Atlantic Coast Express” rail tour. We missed this one, but friend of this Blog @Smithy.377 filmed the return leg as it passed through Highbridge as 1Z29 1640 Exeter St. Davids to Waterloo via Bristol East Yard with Class 47 No. 47812 in tow.
21/10/2024 – Early Monday morning of 21st October 2024, I popped into Yeovil Pen Mill to watch the Great Western Railway Night Riviera sleeper trains passing through on divert from their usual path along the GW mainline. Class 57 locomotives are employed on these services. No. 57602 appeared first at 0154, two minutes behind schedule, working 1A50 2115 Penzance to London Paddington, while No. 57603 worked 1C50 2350 London Paddington to Penzance passing six minutes ahead of time at 0247.
21/10/2024 – To misquote Benjamin Franklin, “nothing is certain except death, taxes and Class 79/9’s on the monthly Plain Line Pattern Recognition (PLPR) train” which paid another visit to Dorset this evening, once again top and tailed by GBRf’s No. 73965 ‘Des O’Brien’ and No. 73962 ‘Dick Mabbutt’. I saw the train reporting as 1Q51 1115 Derby R.T.C. (Network Rail) to Eastleigh East Yard via Weymouth passing through Poole on the outward run and at Hamworthy on the return leg.
23/10/2024 – Another refurbished Class 458 EMU returned from Widnes Transport Tech on Wednesday 23rd October – the 25th out of the 28 units being converted by South Western Railway – as GBRf Class 57 No. 57306 hauling Class 458/4 No. 458402 reporting as 5Q64 1603 Southampton Central to Bournemouth T&R.S.M.D. Later in the evening the Class 57 returned with Class 458/5 No. 458519 working 5Z66 2008 Bournemouth T&R.S.M.D to Eastleigh East Yard. This video also includes views of Class 444 Desiro EMU’s on South Western Mainline passenger services.
24/10/2024 – A late evening trip to Yeovil Junction to see Class 37 No. 37425 working 3Q07 2031 Exeter Riverside N.Y. to Exeter Riverside N.Y. via Salisbury Ultrasonic Testing Unit (UTU) train. UTU’s usually have a locomotive at one end, and a Driving Brake Standard Open (DBSO) at the other. When leading, the DBSO controls the locomotive at the other end, as was the case on this occasion as the train headed through Yeovil Junction on its way to Yeovil Pen Mill, where it reversed and returned to Junction where it stabled adjacent to the Heritage Platform. No. 37425 is owned Harry Needle Railroad Company and is on-hire to Colas Railfreight. UTU trains have ground-penetrating radar systems to detect voids and deformations up to two metres into the ballast and earth using rail profile scanners to help identify problems or degradation in track profile, comparing it to a template of an ideal track.
30/10/2024 – The New Measurement Train (NMT) top and tailed by Colas Rail High Speed Train (HST) Class 43 Power Cars No.’s 43274 & 43272 made a visit to the Heart of Wessex line reporting as 1Q22 0744 Derby R.T.C.(Network Rail) to Bristol Kingsland Road. We were at Dorchester West to see the set pass through running 27 minutes behind schedule. Because of the late running, the train was reversed at Dorchester Junction instead of Weymouth.
From The Archive
In celebration of Class 58 No. 58023 ‘Leicester Depot’ returning to life, I’ve had a dig about in The Railway Dog video bin and pulled out the following clips for your delectation:
The Worksop Open Day committee ran a series of railtours using double-headed class 58’s to various parts of the UK. In 1998 the “Worksop Wessex Wanderer” ran on 27th June to Weymouth via Birmingham, Dorridge and Leamington Spa with EWS liveried Class 58 No.’s 58047 and 58039. The leading locomotive, No. 58047 was removed at Dorchester South due to a weak bridge between there and Weymouth. The tour departed on the return working from Weymouth top and tailed.
Class 58’s were regular visitors to Dorset in the late 1990’s when the hauled LPG tanks from Furzebrook to Hallen Marsh near Avonmouth. I didn’t see many of these workings, something I am could get quite cross with myself over. However, I redeemed myself at least once as the video below will attest to.
The Class 58 diesel locomotive has a Co-Co wheel arrangement and was designed to haul heavy freight trains. Their design represented a major departure from British conventions of construction; amongst the innovations was the adoption of the American practice of modularisation. For example, the cab is a complete unit, having been designed to be fitted out with all systems as a complete module. The narrow body with cabs at either end earned them the nickname “Bone” amongst rail enthusiasts.
The first locomotive of the class was handed over to British Rail at Doncaster Works in December 1982, with deliveries of further locomotives continuing until 1987. On delivery, the Class 58 locomotives were painted in Railfreight grey with a red solebar. This livery was soon replaced by the Trainload Coal livery, with the final example No. 58050 being the first to receive the new colours. This livery remained standard until the lead-up to privatisation when the class came under the ownership of Mainline Freight. Some locomotives received the full Mainline Blue livery, while others retained the triple grey livery with Mainline branding.
“The Vital Statistician” railtour. I have no record of the location – 11/02/1984
“The Vital Statistician” railtour. I have no record of the location Class 58 No. 5800611/02/1984
With the privatisation of British Rail in the mid-1990’s, the Class 58’s were transferred to English, Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS). The locomotives then adopted the EWS livery, with two variations seen across the fleet. However, their time under EWS was short-lived, as they were soon displaced from their primary Merry-Go-Round (MGR) duties. By the late 1990’s, withdrawals began in earnest, with many remaining locomotives allocated to Eastleigh for departmental and Ministry of Defence (MoD) traffic.
Despite expectations of a lengthy service life, by 2002 EWS decided to withdraw all remaining examples of the type after only 19 years in service. Subsequently, 32 were hired abroad – four to the Netherlands, eight to Spain and twenty to France. The majority of these exported locomotives had been cut up by mid 2023 in Montrose-del-Cid in Spain or Alizay in France. There are a small number which are believed to survive in Europe, including No.50050 at Albacete in Spain which has allegedly been earmarked for survival as part of the National Collection.
As well as No. 58023, No.’s 58012, 58016 and 58048 are in various stages of restoration. The frames of No. 58022 are destined for the replica build recreating Ivatt LMS 10000, which along with its twin No. 10001 were the first mainline diesel locomotives in the UK.
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