Shunting locos

• Four industrial diesels were used at various points during the Chasewater Diesel Gala on Saturday 20th October 2007, and they worked both freight and passenger services. This is the late-running 12:45 coal train from Chasetown, seen on the approach to Chasewater Heaths at 13:06. The loco is "Birch Coppice", or more specifically Thomas Hill 134C, a visitor from the Nene Valley Railway.
• This shot shows Hudswell-Clarke 0-6-0 D2511 and 08266 at Haworth shed on the morning of Saturday 18th June 2005. There's a brief history of D2511 at the Preserved Shunters website. Like all its class-mates it was withdrawn by British Rail in 1967, far too early to acquire a TOPS number, and has now been on the KWVR for the best part of 30 years. By comparison 08266, latterly a Shirebrook loco, lasted until 1985 I believe.
• In early 1981 Lincoln had an allocation of four vacuum-braked Class 03s, specifically 03026 03034 03149 and 03389. This picture was taken that same year and shows 03034 parked behind the station at Boston. To the best of my recall there were still two 03 duties at Boston at this time, one for the dock duty and one spare, and it was the spare engine that was parked at the station. Within two years it was all over for Lincoln's 03s, 03149 was withdrawn in November 1982 and the other three followed in February 1983. The only survivor was dual-braked 03162, briefly transferred in from Colchester before moving on to Birkenhead when the others were withdrawn.
• Once upon a time Barrow Hill had a small allocation of Class 03s, primarily for use at the nearby Staveley steel works. In the mid 1970s there were three such locos, namely 03129, 03189 and 03389. The latter was transferred to Stratford in about 1977, but the other two stayed at Barrow Hill into the 1980s. 03129 was withdrawn from traffic towards the end of 1981, but wasn't disposed of until 1983. Meantime 03189 moved on to Birkenhead and survived in traffic until 1986. It was one of the last, if not the very last, vacuum-only Class 03s, and is now preserved. Rides behind one of the 03s were a regular feature of Barrow Hill open days in the late 70s/early 80s, and this pic shows 03129 in action at one such event (1980 I think). Note the lack of fencing and hi-vis vests, plus the kids riding in the cab.
• 03189 is dwarfed by Cargowaggons while parked in Bescot Down Yard in the summer of 1986. These locos were only ever seen at Bescot while in transit between depots and/or works. I have a dim memory that this one may have been en-route to Norwich, it departed the following day in a Toton-bound freight hauled by a pair of 20s (the Cargowaggons weren't in that consist). Taped to the cabside, just to the right of the data panel, is the ticket showing the origin and destination of the loco.
• 03197 stands amongst the Cravens DMUs at Norwich Depot in this shot taken circa 1980.
• Ex-works 03382 was one of the exhibits at the Swindon Works Open Day which took on Saturday 19th May 1979. Thanks to Jeff B for supplying the exact date. 
• 03397 was the Yarmouth pilot on this day in the summer of 1980. The poster on the left is advertising the "new Allegro 3".
• This picture shows D3022 shunting carriages from Kidderminster station to the shed, and was taken at 16:21 on Wednesday 7th May 2008. This loco carried the TOPS number 08015, and was allocated to Shirebrook in the mid 1970s. It moved to Tinsley before being withdrawn in 1980. Built circa 1953 D3022 has now spent longer in preservation than it did in capital stock.
• Not a very good photo this, but I've included it for its novelty value. It shows the Polmadie Works pilot engine, PO1, and it was taken on Saturday 26th May 1979. Previously this had been Eastfield depot's 08173, withdrawn in late 1978. As this picture shows it appears to have been renumbered by having masking tape applied over its original number, with "PO1" simply painted above. Looking at various 1980s loco refs it seems that PO1 survived in this role until around 1984, by 1985 it was listed as awaiting disposal. Thanks to Jeff B for supplying the exact date. 
• 08223 is seen at Swindon Works on the occasion of the 1979 Open Day. It was a Tinsley loco at this time, and it was at Swindon because it had incurred collision damage after running away down the bank at Tinsley - not the only loco to do this. I no longer have my notes from 1979, but I think the Open Day was on Saturday 5th May. I'd seen 08223 at Bescot as recently as Wednesday 2nd May 1979 as it headed south. It didn't survive this incident, being withdrawn in June 1979 and cut-up at Swindon in 1980.
• In early June 2005 most of the withdrawn and stored locos on Bescot depot were moved into the yard. The bulk of them were moved to the Local Sidings, and in late June they'd all been shunted into one long line (which included 08920 at its southern end). However five Class 08s didn't go into the Local Sidings, but were moved to a siding near the Down Hump instead. The siding in question used to be the engine release road for the hump, but it was dead-ended as part of the recent trackwork in the yard. It's quite an odd spot to put these locos, and it's adjacent to the siding where shunters in transit were kept in the 1980s, bringing back memories for those of us who remember such things. The locos parked near the hump at this time were 08543, 08828, 08884, 08418 and 08577, with 543 at the northern end. This picture shows 08418 on the afternoon of Tuesday 28th June 2005 - its paintwork now starting to fade.
• During the 1970s 08421 was an Eastfield loco, but by the early 1980s it had been transferred to Motherwell and was stored unserviceable. In 1982 it was sent to Swindon Works to be overhauled and fitted with air-brakes, after which it was re-allocated to Haymarket. In this picture it's seen at Bescot on the journey south. It had arrived in the early hours of Saturday 14th August, because in this view it's still formed in the middle of a freight train parked in the Down Reception Sdgs. As usual with works-bound shunting locos the connecting rods have been removed. The position of the BR logo on the toolbox indicates that this loco was last overhauled at Glasgow Works, as would be expected for a Scottish engine.
• 08124 and 08495 are stabled at Norwich in this shot dating from Spring 1980. I'd seen 08124 many times before as it was allocated to Bescot in the early 1970s, before migrating to Norwich via Doncaster. 08495 was once a Cambridge loco, and was stored there before being re-instated to service at Norwich. I suspect both of these locos were transferred to Norwich to replace vacuum-braked Class 03s.
• In 2005 the withdrawn 08s at Bescot vastly outnumbered the working examples. These days there are are usually just two serviceable shunters in attendance - one at the north end working the Down Yard, and the other at the south end shunting the Engineers Sidings (with occasional visits to the Virtual Quarry and Down Side yards). Locos are rarely swapped on these duties nowadays, as there simply aren't any spare ones available as a rule. If either fails then a mainline loco steps in until it's been repaired or a spare can be procured from another location. For instance in late September 2005 the regular north end pilot (08709) was out of traffic for just over a week, and the job was covered by 37s and 66s. This shot shows the south end pilot (08578) shunting in the Down Yard. It had just arrived from the up side with the rake of MHAs visible in the background, and was shunting onto another road to collect a different rake of engineers wagons.
• 08580 was the pilot engine at Bescot Engineers Yard on Saturday 22nd May 2004. This shot was taken at 08:41 during a pause in the shunt of a welded rail set. There are now only two 08 duties at Bescot, the third duty (the ballast pilot) now being handled by a main-line loco. The other 08 duty is the Down Yard pilot, which was 08939 on this day. Just visible above the shunting loco is 56058 stored in the Local Sidings, it was still there in February 2005.
• There are no fewer than twelve 08s in this line-up at Bescot. Shunting engines weren't normally stabled on the Holding Sidings, they were parked on the depot. However at Christmas they would sometimes be stabled with the main-line locos (and left running) for frost protection reasons. Closer inspection of the original scan reveals that the first three locos are 08588, 08613 and 08466.
• Warm evening sun illuminates 08700 as it shunts Bescot Down Storage Sidings in this early 1980s shot. During the early days of the Air-Braked Network and Speedlink air-braked freights were shunted here, whereas vacuum and unbraked trains continued to use the Down Reception Sidings and Down Yard. As the vacuum traffic fell off and the number of air-braked trains increased all traffic began to use the Down Yard, and the Storage Sidings pilot loco was no longer required.
• The Bescot Down Yard pilot stands on the Down Main line north of Bescot Jct while shunting wagons from the depot into the yard. This shot was taken at 11:56 on Saturday 17th December 2005. 08709 was named "Molly's Day" on Saturday 1st October 2005, after the charity event of the same name which took place at Walsall. The use of the Down Main as a headshunt is a long term practise at Bescot, when I was growing up in the 1970s rakes of wagons would be tripped between the Down and Up side yards by Class 08 shunters. Nowadays only the movement of repair wagons (as here), or the depot fuel tank shunt, generate a running line movement - and the latter can be done using the shunt neck if there are only a couple of four wheel tanks involved.
• This picture shows 08732 stabled at its home depot of Motherwell. I've no idea when it was taken, but I believe it was the early 1980s. 08732 is the erstwhile D3900, and at this point it would have been vacuum-braked only because it still carries its BR logo on the toobox indicating that it was last overhauled at Glasgow Works. In 1982 it went to Swindon where it was fitted with train air-brakes, becoming a dual-braked loco. It returned to Scotland after this overhaul, and in 1984 it was allocated to Dunfermline Townhill. After that depot closed it went to Thornton Junction, but by 1990 it had migrated back to Motherwell. Eventually converted to 09202 it currently languishes out of traffic at Doncaster Carr depot.
• Saltley depot's 08742 waits for the road at Duddeston having just dropped on to the back of an ECS train from New St. It will draw the train back and propel them into the carriage shed, which is the brick building to the right. This shot was taken in 1980 and anyone who caught northbound Cross City or Walsall trains at Duddeston in the 1970s and 1980s will be familiar with the game of "guess the platform" which played itself out when an ECS was sat here. There was no warning if a local was routed via the Curzon St line, and the ECS would block your view of the approaching train. Solution: wait on the steps to get a better view.
• 08774 (Thornaby), 08114 (Doncaster) and 08396 (Kingmoor) stand in Bescot Down Storage Sidings in Spring 1980. All three had recently been released from Swindon Works and arrived at Bescot as a special freight, the brake-van of which is still attached. As per normal practise they'd be split up at Bescot and continue their journey home in the consist of scheduled freight trains. Hundreds of shunting locos made similar trips to and from Derby and Swindon Works during the 1970s and 1980s.
• 08828 is one of the withdrawn shunting engines parked in Bescot Yard. It's seen here on the afternoon of Saturday 1st October 2005, with the RAC Control Centre in the background. On this occasion I had to wait for nearly an hour before the sun would properly emerge, but I was rewarded with a lovely dark-sky backdrop for my trouble. 08828 was withdrawn from traffic in early 2004, and had barely turned a wheel in service after overhaul when mechanical problems led to its demise. This is why it looks in reasonable condition externally, despite having been sat in the open for well over a year. The original line of five 08s (08543, 08828, 08884, 08418 and 08577) dumped in this spot in late June 2005 became a line of eight when 08528, 08939 and 08742 were added to it a few weeks later. Since then 08939 has been recovered for further use, the other seven still being present in early October 2005. Later in October four withdrawn 08s arrived at Bescot from Canton, and of these 08792 and 08955 were dumped on the same siding.
• 08844 was the Bescot up-side pilot on Wednesday 6th February 2008. At 12:05 it was in the virtual quarry while a short rake of HQA ballast hoppers was being loaded.
• Here's the next shunter along, 08884 in its faded blue paintwork. This was taken on the same day as the previous picture - at which time it was the only shunter at Bescot still in BR blue livery. Stand square on to this loco and you can see right through the engine compartment. Apart from those mentioned above 08905 and 08920 were still in the Down Local Sidings in early October 2005, parked amongst the withdrawn 37s. In addition 08580 was still dumped on Bescot depot, although 08542 which had been there for several years had recently gone - having departed by road for Kingsbury scrapyard in late September.
• 08928 is loaded onto a road trailer at the rear of Bescot depot. This shot was taken around 13:00 on Saturday 27th February 1993. The routine movement of shunting engines by road had only just started at this time, and this procedure was still a bit of a novelty. The loading process went like this. The tractor unit of the lorry positioned the trailer near the track on which the locos were standing, at this point the lorry was facing to the left. The trailer was then lowered to the ground, and the tractor unit ran round to the back of the trailer (it's just visible to the right of the man in the orange coat). A pair of temporary rails which came with the lorry were used to connect the track on which the locos stand to the rails on the trailer. The Class 47 then propelled the 08 onto these temporary rails, and a winch line was connected from the back of the trailer to the coupling hook of the 08. If you look closely at the large image you can see this line, which is slack. The 08 was then winched onto the trailer, power for this process being supplied by the tractor unit. The loco was secured to the trailer with chains, and the tractor unit came back around to the front of the trailer, lifted it up and coupled to it. 08928 was in the process of being transferred to Norwich, and the lorry departed from Bescot around 14:45.
• 08955 left Bescot at 16:20 on Wednesday 18th March 2009, when it started its final journey to Booths scrapyard in Rotherham. The route for these sort of movements takes the loco on a short tour of suburban Wednesbury, starting in Pemberton Crescent and then via Coronation Road, Crankhall Lane, Woden Road East, and finally Wood Green Road where access to the motorway is available. This was something of a grab shot, taken at the north end of Coronation Road.
• 09013 trundles off the Uskmouth branch and into East Usk Yard with empties from (I presume) the steelworks at BSC Orb. I can't find the date for this shot, Fuji failed to put one on the slide mount, so I guess it must be from the period covered by my lost notebook, which was summer 1989. All I can remember of this day is that a very long time elapsed between the branch semaphore dropping off and the train appearing.
• "Gillian" (HAB 6769) was a Hunslet-Barclay 0-6-0DH used at Ebbw Vale tinplate works, and is seen here on Friday 29th March 1996. It shared duties with two similar locos called "Laura" and "Tracey". On one of my visits to Ebbw Vale the driver of one of these shunters invited me along for a quick ride down from the reversing siding in which Gillian stands into the works itself, and back. He even let me drive the loco, which was very kind of him. Sadly the works closed in 2002.