25109 stands in the rain at Carlisle, November 25th 1986, with about four months of service left.
1964
The featured locomotives were laid down at Derby in January 1964, being delivered to traffic during March and April to Toton (16A) - part of the large fleet of Type 2's being allocated to Midland depots. These were not equipped with train heating equipment so would generally be used to replace steam locomotives on freight workings radiating from Toton. Of course during the summer months they would be occasionally used on excursions and the summer dated workings to such destinations as Yarmouth, Skegness and the North Wales resorts to name the most obvious locations for Toton based locomotives.
D5259, with D5257 made its test run to Corby on March 13th 1964, D5260 went on March 17th 1964 and D5258 & D5261 two days later. On April 8th D5262 made its way to Corby with the Works test train. Class 47's noted previously on this working were D1725/D1726 on March 20th and D1727 on April 2nd.
Two of the group were later transferred to Derby, D5260 in May and D5259 in August.
During June excursions from the Derby area to the North Wales resorts included workings hauled by D5030 & 5002 (14th), D5260 and D5279 (both 21st).
1965
The Wellingborough - Goldington CEGB coal trains still remained strongly in the hands of steam power, usually 8F or 9F’s although on August 12th D5261 handled one of the turns.
1967
D5262 was noted at Derby Works during October.
In October D5259 - 5265 were transferred to Wigan (8F), part of the considerable manouevring of the diesel fleet to bring about the end of steam working in the North West.
1968
During May Allerton (8J) became the new home for D5248 - D5265. D5261 was noted in Crewe Works during June.
1969
Although steam had been gone from British Railways for eight months a number of locomotives still remained dumped at North West area depots. These were slowly making their last trips to the scrappers - on March 10th 5238 removed 44713, 44950, 45073 & 45269 to Drapers, Hull, whilst sixteen days later 5262 followed with 44874, 45318, 45386 & 45444.
5260 visited Crewe Works during June.
August 2nd proved to be a very busy day at Carlisle due to the ending of the Paisley & Kilmarnock works holidays and the beginning of the Glasgow holiday.
The majority of the specials ran with Peaks, Brush 4's and EE Type 4's. However the lucky passengers on the relief Morecambe - Glasgow (1Z10) had the delights of 5259 & 5196.
1970
Visitors to Derby Works included 5259 during January & February and 5260 during April.
1971
Under repair at Derby Works were 5261 in February and 5262 during July.
A Liverpool - Ipswich football special was hauled by 5261 & 7656 on August 14th, it is not recorded how far the train was hauled by the Class 25's.
1972
5260 was noted at Derby Works during March, whilst here it was transferred to Toton (D16).
1973
5260 was transferred to Springs Branch during May.
1974
Derby Works received 5261 for repair during February & March - was this 5261's last major repair?.
The summer Saturday’s Manchester – Yarmouth again featured a locomotive change at Lincoln, an Eastern Region Class 31 replacing the LMR Class 25’s here, with them returning on the Yarmouth – Manchester, 25050 & 25054 on August 10th, 25049 & 25056 (17th) and 25111 & 25081 (24th). This latter date also found the 9.00am Llandudno – York in charge of 25278.
25111 was transferred to Tinsley during October.
1975
During July 25111 was moved from Tinsley to Eastfield, one of many reallocations to cover the mass withdrawals of the LMR & ScR Class 24's.
At the end of the summer timetable 25112 - 25115 were transferred to Kingmoor during October.
1976
Visitors to Derby Works included 25110 from June to September, 25112 from June to August and 25109 during October. These would be the last major repairs for 25110 & 25112.
25112 was transferred to Springs Branch during May.
 |
An overcast June 11th 1976 finds 25111 and brakevan at Motherwell depot. 25111 had been transferred to Eastfield during July 1975 and would leave the Scottish Region during October 1977 when it moved to Toton.
Photograph courtesy Tony Sayer. |
1977
An Open Day at Cardiff Canton on October 1st featured over fifty locomotives, including 25055, 25109 & 25243. The following month Cardiff
would lose its allocation of Class 25's to Crewe.
Transfers in October included 25111 to Toton and 25112 to Crewe.
1978
After fourteen years on the LMR Eastfield became the new home of 25109 during February.
The last transfers for 25111 & 25112 took place in May when they were both transferred to Cricklewood.
 |
Cricklewood was the last home for 25111, it is seen there on August 19th 1978, not long after its transfer from Scotland. 25111 was another of the Class to have its boiler room grille sheeted over - but possibly on one side only. |
1979
On July 7th 25125 & 25110 worked a relief 12.50 Yarmouth - Derby forward from Norwich.
1980
1980 proved to be a bad year for this batch of locomotives, only 25109 would see out the year in service. 25111 was withdrawn in March followed by 25110 & 25112 in October.
The continuing shortage of locomotives, partly caused by a backlog of repairs at the main workshops, led to Swindon Works receiving unclassified repairs for locomotive types it had not dealt with before. On March 9th collision damaged 31124 & 31154 were moved from Doncaster to Swindon. Likewise 25191 and 25236 were also received for repairs. During March approximately six hundred locomotives systemwide were awaiting attention of which only one third (about 160) were out of traffic for scheduled repair. For the Class 25’s fifty eight were laid up, the Class 31’s had thirty out of traffic, whilst for the Class 47’s one out of every five machines was awaiting some sort of attention. Eight Class 25’s had been out of traffic for at least three months (25035/42, 25113/147/177/191, 25234/252), obviously the aforementioned move of 25191 to Swindon was a start in repairing these bad ordered machines. To provide Swindon with a source of spares 25111/147/252 were withdrawn during March and consigned there (25111 was the first to arrive on May 6th), interestingly two of these machines were in the batch long overdue for repairs. By month end 25188, 25218/221 had also been received by Swindon for repairs.
 |
A somewhat battered and work stained 25109 stands at
Polmadie, March 15th 1980. Within a matter of days the locomotive would be moved to Glasgow Works for a classified 'intermediate' repair. This would be its last classified repair but would be enough for it to run until the very end of Class 25 service. |
25109 received an intermediate repair at Glasgow from March - May, its last classified repair.
Doubled headed Type 2's featured on the (Fridays only) 17.25 Glasgow Central - Stranraer
and the next days 09.43 SO Blackpool - Stranraer, from Ayr. On July 11/12th 27012 & 25076 were noted, 25238 & 26032 on 18/19th, though 25238 was replaced by 25109
on the Ayr run, 25235 & 25079 on 25/26th, 25246 hauled the first leg on August 1st, 47353 did the second leg!
On August 23rd 25112 & 25114 were diagrammed for the 08.51 Leicester - Skegness, unfortunately they got no further than Nottingham before failing, 47201 took the train forward. The next day the 08.45 Birmingham New Street - Aberystwyth and 18.10 return to Euston (as far as Wolverhampton) were hauled by 25110 & 25089. By 26th the recalcitrant 25112 & 25114 were in charge of the relief 09.53 Nottingham - Skegness and 18.15 return, worked without any problems.
 |
25110 & 25105 move a heavy track panel train through Chester on a very damp August 29th 1980. The previous weekend 25110 had been busy working over the Cambrian lines. Both 25110 & 25105 have had their boiler room grille sheeted over.
Photograph courtesy P Webb. |
25111 was finally broken up at Swindon during October. By December 25110 had arrived for scrapping.
1981
After three years at Eastfield 25109 was moved east to Haymarket during February.
Withdrawn 25112 reached Swindon by March 20th accompanied by 25114.
On the evening of July 20th 25109 was busy with the 17.12 Perth - Arbroath followed by the 18.33 to Dundee.
 |
A clean looking 25109 passes through Princess Street Gardens on July 3rd 1981.
Photograph courtesy J Davenport. |
1982
25110 and 25112 spent a year derelict at Swindon, both would be finally broken up during March.
25109 continued to be a frequent performer on the Dundee/Edinburgh area services, on August 3rd it came to the assistance of 27010 somewhere near Inverkeithing on the 19.21 Dundee - Edinburgh.
Photograph courtesy Gary Thornton.
25109 provides a striking pose in this fine night-time shot at Dundee on April 8th 1982.
The final transfer for 25109 took place in October with it leaving the Scottish Region headed for Crewe. A gas pipe project in November brought pairs of Class 25's from Leith South to St Helens or Warrington,
the trains of twenty six bolsters required banking between Garswood & Shaw Street. Noted on November 3rd were 25176 & 25078 banked by 25109 whilst the next day produced 25059
& 25180 banked by 40090.
1983
On January 17th 25109 and three Mk 1's covered for a DMU on the 16.35 Derby - Crewe and 18.30 return, attempts to obtain a locomotive that could heat the train for the return trip proved unsuccesful. The next month on February 26th the 16.45 Leicester - Birmingham dmu failed at Nuneaton, substantial assistance was provided by 25109 & 25302 through to Birmingham. Further assistance was provided on March 18th to the 09.49 Norwich - Birmingham at Leicester when its locomotive, 31422 was reported low on fuel. 25109 worked through to Birmingham and came back with the 18.18 to Norwich, worked as far as Leicester where 31422 was waiting to take over.
Photograph courtesy Kevin Hughes/RCTS Archives.
25109 & 40172 with a heavy track panel train at Carnforth, April 23rd 1983.
August 27th's 13.00 Skegness - Derby required the assistance of 25109 forward from Nottingham, the diagrammed locomotive, 45142 was removed here!
Pre-Christmas travellers on December 21st's 23.00 Glasgow - Euston enjoyed the delights of 25109 & 25193 from Bletchley into Euston due to engineering work requiring the power to be turned off.
1984
25109 worked a small number of passenger trains during the year, the first occurred on May 11th when a Huddersfield - Leeds DMU failed at Deighton, 25109 assisting then to Leeds. Five weeks later on June 16th 25042 & 25109 worked the Carnforth - Barrow leg (& return) of an excursion from Windsor. When a Blackpool - Ipswich charter failed at Stafford on July 9th 25109 took it forward to Nuneaton, where 47010 took over. The longest haulage for the year occured on July 14th when 25109 & 25199 made a
round trip over the Cambrian, outwards from Wolverhampton, returning as far as Shrewsbury. It was back to the Lake District on August 27th when 25109 & 25205 worked from Carnforth to Ravenglass (& return) with a charter from St Pancras. A relief local working occurred on August 31st between Southport & Manchester Victoria. Finally on October 28th 25109 & 25226 worked three southbound engineering diversion drags between Wigan and Lostock Jct.
1985
 |
25109 runs through New Mills Central on May 3rd 1985 with a short trip working.
Photograph courtesy Stephen Houlker. |
25109's passenger workings in 1985 were even fewer than the previous year. When 47407 failed at Shrewsbury on March 3rd on a Euston working 25109 was on hand to take the service to Wolverhampton. Another failure, this time on June 14th at Birmingham New Street found 25109 on the 14.25 service to Norwich, although the Class 25 was replaced at March. The 15.45 Glasgow - Carlisle used 25109 on July 20th, whilst three days later a Carlisle - Newcastle DMU failure found 25109 pressed into service. A failure the next day was again covered by 25109, assisting a DMU forward from Haltwhistle to Carlisle.
Tyne Yard was host to two Class 25's on August 21st, 25109 took over the evening Parkeston - Mossend Speedlink whilst 25202 followed later that night with another
Mossend bound service. Yet another failure on October 25th put 25109 in charge of the long distance Harwich - Glasgow between Manchester Victoria & Preston. On November 19th 25109 & 25064 were noted at Hereford on a Ravenscraig - Llanwern steel coils working.
 |
Seen here at Motherwell on September 29th 1985 the picture clearly reveals the trademarks of a Glasgow repair, the number situated behind the cab door and utilising the larger numerals at this time unique to Glasgow.
Photograph courtesy Phillip Moore. |
1986
With the Class 25's having a very bleak future, they were popular choices for the enthusiast railtour market. May 5th saw F & W Railtours 'Valley Explorer' (1Z26) run from Crewe to Cardiff including a number of valley freight lines. The 450 mile round trip was handled successfully by 25109 & 25057. By this time such high passenger mileages were becoming increasingly rare for the Class 25's, and to complete the trip without a failure was quite an achievement.
A grim duty for 25109 on July 21st was to haul withdrawn 47405/14/16 from Healey Mills (?) to Crewe Works, returning the next day with ex-MOD machine 40046 bound for Doncaster Works! On 27th 25109 worked the 12.52 Liverpool - Hull and the 19.23 return.
A little off the beaten track on October 24th was 25109 working the local Whitemoor - Bury St Edmunds freight, whilst on November 15th and still on the ER 25109 was noted running light at Brigg attached to three other locomotives.
 |
Almost at the very end of a career
spanning nearly twenty four years, 25109 is captured on a rainy November 25th 1986 at Carlisle. However since the previous view at Motherwell the locomotive has gained the three part miniature snowploughs.
Photograph courtesy Paul Fuller. |
 |
Also from the files of Paul Fuller comes a document from the BR TOPS system revealing the power situation at Carlisle on November 25 1986, the date of the two B&W views on this page. Of all the Class 25's listed only 25109 is operational, apparently with the Esso job to Petteril Bridge (?). The other Class 25's are in a withdrawn state, though the TOPS document does provide an insight into the withdrawal time of these machines and the current status of their examinations. For the
active diesel locomotives, including 25109, it provides an indication of the fuel position. |
25109 spent Christmas 1986 at Bescot.
1987
The morning of January 1st found 25109 at Longsight diagrammed for the 1M25 to Derby, continuing with the 1M38 to Crewe. The evening of the 9th found 25109 at Crewe, the next day heading out over the Cambrian line, with 25191 to Machynlleth for several days ballast duties. Severe flooding on December 30th had caused much damage around Dovey Jct, especially east of Cemmaes Road. Strong winter storms hit the country from January 12th onwards, quite possibly the two Class 25's on the Cambrian may have seen service in snow clearance, 25109 still carried miniature snowploughs.
On the early morning of 16th 25109 was at Manchester Victoria handling several local jobs. Longsight was visited late on the evening of 23rd, whilst a trip to Leeds was made on 25th in charge of the 1E28. Two days later local jobs were handled in the Newton Heath/Warrington area, eventually running light in the afternoon to Stanlow & Thornton to pick up the 6J28 oil tanks to Aberystwyth. By the 29th 25109 was back in the Chester area at least until February 1st.
Just after midnight on February 9th 25109 was at Crewe and appears to have made a round trip light engine move to Willesden on 12th. Remaining in the Crewe area until 15th another run was made over the Cambrian to Machynlleth, arriving just before lunch on 16th (on the 7L39?). The following two days were spent in the Shrewsbury area.
February 21st & 22nd were spent around Crewe, trips including the 21st's 3K02 05.00 Crewe - Liverpool Lime Street, noted back at Crewe at mid-day on 23rd, then light engine to Chester on the evening of 24th.
The afternoon on 27th saw yet another visit to Machynlleth, also being noted there on March 1st, by 5th 25109 was at Crewe Depot, believed attached to 25059, though 25109 was scheduled for an 'A' exam this day. This was successfully completed by the 6th, with the locomotive yet again off to Machynlleth. Upon arrival here 25109 was diagrammed for the Pwllheli local. Assuming 25109 worked this duty, this was almost certainly the last Class 25 to work over the line to Pwhelli.
By mid-day on March 11th 25109 was back at Crewe for the final time, the locomotive was quickly taken out of service and placed off the roster. On March 16th the short move was made to Basford Hall, remaining here until July 14th when 25035/57, 25109 & 25265 were towed from Crewe to Vic Berry's, Leicester. Ironically
only 25109 would be cut up out of this batch, the three others escaping eventually to preservation.
(With thanks to Neil Cannon for making available the TOPS reports for 1987 & Alan Baylis for the passenger workings in 1984/85).
Page added March 2nd 2001
Page updated November 22nd 2007
Return to Picture menu
Return to Home Page
