68019 5Q42 Bolton Percy. 2nd September 2023.
And so the time has come. The TPE class 68s have at the time of writing just four days left in service. Well, three because the penultimate day is a strike day. Ditched by management, they were never fully introduced, for many reasons. Apathy, covid, industrial action, these have all taken their toll. So, from the 10th of December 2023 there will be less trains traversingthe Pennines, and these mk5 sets will be sat in private storage at the taxpayers cost. Because TPE is in the control of the Department for transport after acute failings by its franchisee, First Trans Pennine. Well, they may as well brush them under the carpet then.
But we love em!! Such presence. Great locos, with catching names. We can hear them from our house, 68 tinnitus my Partner Janes calls it. Did we take them for granted? We did, a bit. But with four days to go I will begin to upload my final farewell, began when this one was taken at the beginning of September.
Numerical order or Chronological?
Well, this photo is the first in both orders, 68019 Brutus, and this loco never returned here, last seen working nuclear flasks off Sellafield...
68019 Brutus runs a transpennine express nova 3 set with 68030 Black Douglas from Scarborough to Crewe South Yard as train 5Q42 on Saturday September the 2nd 2023, seen here just past Colton junction heading towards Doncaster, with the train running west via the Hope Valley. The set had been sat at Scarborough for some time having been failed with a defective headlight.
68019 5Q42 Bolton Percy. 2nd September 2023.
And so the time has come. The TPE class 68s have at the time of writing just four days left in service. Well, three because the penultimate day is a strike day. Ditched by management, they were never fully introduced, for many reasons. Apathy, covid, industrial action, these have all taken their toll. So, from the 10th of December 2023 there will be less trains traversingthe Pennines, and these mk5 sets will be sat in private storage at the taxpayers cost. Because TPE is in the control of the Department for transport after acute failings by its franchisee, First Trans Pennine. Well, they may as well brush them under the carpet then.
But we love em!! Such presence. Great locos, with catching names. We can hear them from our house, 68 tinnitus my Partner Janes calls it. Did we take them for granted? We did, a bit. But with four days to go I will begin to upload my final farewell, began when this one was taken at the beginning of September.
Numerical order or Chronological?
Well, this photo is the first in both orders, 68019 Brutus, and this loco never returned here, last seen working nuclear flasks off Sellafield...
68019 Brutus runs a transpennine express nova 3 set with 68030 Black Douglas from Scarborough to Crewe South Yard as train 5Q42 on Saturday September the 2nd 2023, seen here just past Colton junction heading towards Doncaster, with the train running west via the Hope Valley. The set had been sat at Scarborough for some time having been failed with a defective headlight.