25265 1 2
1986 was the last full year of operation for the class 25s and by mid-summer, having not managed a single ride behind one on a service train all year, I resigned myself to the probability that going forward it would be railtour miles or no miles. Then, whilst most aficionados of the class were otherwise engaged at the other end of the country on the "Coastway Crusader" railtour of 27th July, the gen came through that 25109 had audaciously made the round trip from Liverpool to Hull and back substituting for a class 31 on one of the South Trans-Pennine workings via the Hope Valley.
Naturally I was gutted at missing such a rare working through my home town of Sheffield, but there was word of an ongoing locomotive shortage and the possibility of a repeat performance. Sure enough, the following day 25230 set out on the 08.45 Liverpool - Sheffield, only to fail before reaching Manchester - an event of which I was blissfully unaware until many years later...
On 29th July, I was languishing at home, assuming it was all over, when the phone rang... "it's for you" at that time could only mean one thing - a gen call! Sure enough, the voice of a fellow basher in a phone box, excitedly relaying that 25265 had already done a Liverpool - Sheffield return, and was diagrammed to come back out of Lime Street on the 14.45 - Hull. I quickly worked out that I could intercept it at Warrington, and was on my way out of the house in minutes... but would 25265 indeed return or would a replacement loco be found? No way to know in those pre-mobile phone days of course, so you can imagine my relief at the unmistakeable sound of the rat's two-tone horn before the train came into sight around the curve...
25265 1 2
1986 was the last full year of operation for the class 25s and by mid-summer, having not managed a single ride behind one on a service train all year, I resigned myself to the probability that going forward it would be railtour miles or no miles. Then, whilst most aficionados of the class were otherwise engaged at the other end of the country on the "Coastway Crusader" railtour of 27th July, the gen came through that 25109 had audaciously made the round trip from Liverpool to Hull and back substituting for a class 31 on one of the South Trans-Pennine workings via the Hope Valley.
Naturally I was gutted at missing such a rare working through my home town of Sheffield, but there was word of an ongoing locomotive shortage and the possibility of a repeat performance. Sure enough, the following day 25230 set out on the 08.45 Liverpool - Sheffield, only to fail before reaching Manchester - an event of which I was blissfully unaware until many years later...
On 29th July, I was languishing at home, assuming it was all over, when the phone rang... "it's for you" at that time could only mean one thing - a gen call! Sure enough, the voice of a fellow basher in a phone box, excitedly relaying that 25265 had already done a Liverpool - Sheffield return, and was diagrammed to come back out of Lime Street on the 14.45 - Hull. I quickly worked out that I could intercept it at Warrington, and was on my way out of the house in minutes... but would 25265 indeed return or would a replacement loco be found? No way to know in those pre-mobile phone days of course, so you can imagine my relief at the unmistakeable sound of the rat's two-tone horn before the train came into sight around the curve...