With the autumn Railhead Treatment Train season over, the five Type 1s have been stood down from traffic once more.
With the late onset of autumn, 2016’s Railhead Treatment Train programme was extended into
mid-December in some areas of the country. However, as the wagon sets began to be returned to York once again, this also brought the removal from service of the five remaining operational members of the Direct Rail Services Class 20/3 fleet.
December 19 saw the quintet returned to the XHSS pool, Nos. 20302, 20305 and 20312 being stabled in the former parcels siding alongside York station, while a failed No. 20303 was laid up at York Works. Meanwhile, No. 20308 was outside the Loram workshops in Derby, where it had been located since early November, again with various defects.
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All five were still awaiting rounding up and a return to Barrow Hill for storage on January 1, but they are expected to be back in use once again next autumn.
The heavily stripped remains of No. 37194 were removed by road from Derby on December 19, the loco riding on scrap bogies and with part of one bodyside already cut away, which had allowed the empty shell to be loaded with an assortment of scrap material.
Unloading at Booth’s Rotherham yard took place the next morning. The low-loader then returned to Derby to pick-up an equally stripped No. 37413, but this was taken to Barrow Hill to await future developments – although, such is its condition, scrapping would seem a near certainty.
Among the Class 57s, No. 57308 arrived at Eastleigh Works from Crewe on December 1 for repainting, while No. 57002 ended its 10-month stay at Loram for an overhaul five days later. The newly named Rail Express initially ran light to the EMD depot at Longport for further attention before ending the year back at Crewe Gresty Bridge.
Read more News in February’s issue of RE – out now!
