Journey’s End
Is this the last time a Class 87 hauls a Class 1 service up the WCML from Scotland to Euston? Hopefully not, but with AC Locomotive Group's 87 002 "Royal Sovereign" hire to GB Railfreight for use on the sleeper ECS duties nearing an end and its wheels wearing thin, its last minute stand-in appearance on 1S26/1M11 could feasibly be its last main trunk workings.
A set of circumstances the previous night meant she was the only locomotive left available at Wembley to take the Caledonian Sleeper Lowlander (1S26) north - and hence returned with 1M11 the following night. These were the 1973-built locomotive's first main trunk runs in over a year and this was only its sixth Class 1 working (excluding Wembley draw-backs) in the last two years.
87002 is the last remaining mainline-registered Class 87 in the UK - the last example of a class that once formed the back-bone of West Coast Main Line passenger express services.
Journey’s End
Is this the last time a Class 87 hauls a Class 1 service up the WCML from Scotland to Euston? Hopefully not, but with AC Locomotive Group's 87 002 "Royal Sovereign" hire to GB Railfreight for use on the sleeper ECS duties nearing an end and its wheels wearing thin, its last minute stand-in appearance on 1S26/1M11 could feasibly be its last main trunk workings.
A set of circumstances the previous night meant she was the only locomotive left available at Wembley to take the Caledonian Sleeper Lowlander (1S26) north - and hence returned with 1M11 the following night. These were the 1973-built locomotive's first main trunk runs in over a year and this was only its sixth Class 1 working (excluding Wembley draw-backs) in the last two years.
87002 is the last remaining mainline-registered Class 87 in the UK - the last example of a class that once formed the back-bone of West Coast Main Line passenger express services.