25173 rolls into Annan on July 17th 1985 in charge of the 17.40 Carlisle - Glasgow Central service. On the opposite track the 'Fairlie' nuclear flask train passes, running from Hunterston to Sellafield for processing of spent material, the train this day in the hands of a Class 20.
1965
The frames for D7523 were laid at Derby during the autumn of 1964 with delivery taking place in January to the Nottingham Division, one of a continuous batch of forty seven so allocated.

1967
A visit to Derby Works occurred in August.

1968
A 'paper' move was made during May to the Midland Lines, at which time a brief visit was made to Derby Works.

1970
With the summer season in full swing the seasonal extras were again running with June 20th's Nottingham - Llandudno in charge of 7523 & 7528.

1972
A move to Willesden (D01) took place in August, along with 7522 & 7524. The threesome was broken when 7523 moved north to the Manchester Division (D09) in September.

1973
7523 returned to Willesden during May. Ascot Week saw a number of specials arriving in the hands of Class 47's, however two from Manchester Piccadilly received Class 25's between Willesden and Ascot, 7523 & 7530 on June 20th and 7645 & 7662 on June 21st.

1974
From June to August 25173 was at Derby Works.

1975
A move across town to Cricklewood occurred in June.

1976
At the end of the summer timetable 25173 moved to Toton in October, although September & October had been spent at Derby Works.

1977
25173 was back at Derby again, briefly in January.

It looks like a fine summers day as 25173 approaches Great Rocks Junction with another set of twelve empty wagons from Northwich, May 30th 1977. Photograph courtesy Dave Homer

1978
In May 25173 returned south to Cricklewood, though it first underwent a classified repair at Derby which included the fitting of dual brake equipment, being released back to traffic late in June.

1980
There was a multitude of Class 25's in the area of Bushey & Oxhey station from February 17th onwards following the dramatic derailment there of the 16th's 20.25 Euston - Manchester due to a track defect. The locomotive 87007 was the only part of the train to remain on the tracks, four of the MkIII coaches ended up on their sides, with one (M12162) bringing down the overhead gantries, which blocked the slow lines. Most fortunately there were only minor injuries. Three breakdown cranes attended; from Bescot, Finsbury Park - brought in by 25279 & 25256, and Old Oak Common - arrived behind 25152 & 25189. The slow lines were reopened late on the 17th, the dc lines late on the 19th, the fast lines by the 25th. Spoil trains used 25222 & 25243 and 25130 & 25173, this first pair returned with track panels on 21st, followed by 25256 on the re-wiring train.

1981
When 40033 failed at Stalybridge on May 30th's 09.08 Scarborough - Llandudno it was left to 25173 to take the train forward. However on reaching Warrington the Class 25 succumbed, requiring 40140 to complete the journey!

1982

25173 with a short train of coal hoppers is seen in the Aylesbury area on March 10th 1982. Photograph courtesy Mark Cook.

1984
The final transfer for 25173 came in January, the new home being Crewe. Preston continued to see Class 25's on passenger duty, 25173 worked the 17.03 Euston - Blackpool forward from Preston on May 18th, this was normally a Class 47 turn. The only record of 25173 on a Cambrian passenger turn in 1984 occurred on June 23rd, working with 25237 on the 1J20 07.35 Euston - Aberystwyth (from Wolverhampton) returning with the 2J84 Aberystwyth - Shrewsbury.

25173 for reasons unknown took over the 11.45 Cardiff - Crewe on August 27th (deputising for the regular Class 33) and continued with the diagram until lunchtime on 30th. On each day one round trip was made, except for August 29th when two trips were run giving a total of 556 passenger miles, the highest daily total for any Class 25 in 1984, although it was jointly shared with 25211 which ran the same number of miles on August 24th. On September 20th 25173 worked the late evening Preston - Barrow service, returning the next morning on the 07.33 Barrow - Preston, assisted by 25206 from Dalton Jct. A round trip on the afternoon Derby - Crewe circuit occurred on October 16th, using hauled stock to cover for a non-existant DMU. Another DMU casualty on October 29th found 25173 assisting the late evening Worcester - Birmingham DMU from Stourbridge.

1985
A late running long distance WCML service on the evening of February 22nd allowed 25173 to work a short Preston - Wigan relief. On April 17th 25173 & 25231 were in charge of a Cardiff - Gloucester parcels working. Another DMU failure brought out 25173 to cover a late evening Manchester Victoria - Blackpool working on May 2nd. And as depicted in the photographs on this page 25173 worked a Glasgow - Carlisle on July 17th. The afternoon of May 29th witnessed 25173 & 25201 on the ECML at Thirsk with a train of coal empties.

	On the same date as the opening view, July 17th 1985, 25173 has completed its journey from Carlisle to Glasgow Central. Photograph courtesy Richard Howat.
	25173 and a lengthy train of ballast heads east through Bangor station on September 5th 1985. Photographer unknown.

August took 25173 on a couple of seaside visits, on August 7th a round trip Manchester Victoria - Bangor working took place, the eastward working did in fact run through to Newcastle, passengers forward from Manchester had to suffer the abomination of 31165. And on August 21st 25173 covered a Long Eaton - Skegness relief, the return working going as far as Nottingham. Two WCML drags occurred in September, between Norton Bridge - Stafford on 8th & Crewe - Stafford on 17th. Another short hop took place on October 24th between Blackpool & Preston on a Euston bound service.

It has been two years since Toton lost it's allocation of Class 25's, but they would continue to visit until the March 1987. Seen here on November 30th 1985 25173 sits out a typical damp/misty November day.
Photograph courtesy Tony Sayer
1986
Present at Immingham on March 4th working steel empties was 25173, two days later the locomotive handled a Bescot - Banbury freight.

It's the last summer in service on BR for 25173 as the locomotive keeps company with a pair of Class 20's at Stoke on Trent on August 23rd 1986. As with others of the Class the locomotive number has been stencilled on the cab front. Photograph courtesy Paul Bettany.

Possibly 25173's last passenger working was the 21.40 Preston - Wigan NW relief service on November 3rd.

For 25173 much of the Christmas week was spent in the Toton area, being noted there on 24th & 29th and January 2nd.

1987
After starting the New Year at Toton 25173 soon returned to Lancashire, being at Newton Heath depot at midday on January 8th. It was allocated the 3J05 to Manchester Victoria followed by the 01.00 1D00 Manchester Victoria to Bangor. This sequence of events was repeated on January 11th. Red Bank sidings was reached on the evening of 13th allocated to the 3J08 to Manchester Victoria, then the 1S03 22.47 Manchester Victoria - Glasgow/Edinburgh as far as Preston.

On the afternoon of 14th a journey to Northampton was completed, followed by a local job to Rugby. By the afternoon of January 24th 25173 had arrived at Bletchley, then allocated to the following morning's 2L45 to Watford Jct, taking up job BC07 to Willesden. 25173 remained in the Willesden area until at least February 1st, handling numerous local jobs.

At teatime on February 10th 25173 & 25278 were at Carlisle allocated to the 7S52 to Fairlie High and the return 7M22 to Carlisle. The next day it was across the Pennines to Tyne Yard on the 6E86, returning with the 6M26 to Carlisle Upperby. The evening of 12th found 25173 still paired with 25278 to work the next day's 3S07 02.50 Carlisle - Ayr and 5S07 to Falkland Yard. February 13th was spent around Ayr, in the early morning of 18th 25173 was en-route from Carlisle with the 3S07 & 5S07 again, returning to Carlisle that same evening. Three days were spent at Motherwell (21st - 23rd) on local trips. A move north to Polmadie on 24th found 25173 & 25278 allocated on the 1M65 22.37 Glasgow Central - Nottingham to Carlisle. At breakfast on the last day of February 25173 was noted at Dalrymple.

From March 3rd to 9th 25173 seems to have worked many miles between Carlisle and Ayr on the 3S07 & 5S07 and return workings. On 8th a side trip, the 9Z61 to Barassie was made. By lunchtime on March 16th it was back to Manchester Victoria to handle the 6Z45 to Basford Hall, then light engine to Newton Heath. Here it worked the 0J18 to Stalybridge and 3J18 to Manchester Victoria. On 17th a morning trip was made to Ince Moss, getting back to Manchester Victoria at 12.35 Also handled was the 4P05 Mayfield to Preston. March 18th saw it on the 0K37 to Guide Bridge followed by the 6K37 to Nuneaton Hartshill, returning with the 7H55 to Guide Bridge. By midday on 19th it was at Crewe depot, withdrawn.

By March 22nd it was at Gresty Lane, remaining here until July 29th when it was joined to 25201 & 25288 on the 9L37 10.50 Basford Hall - Leicester Humberstone Road. The next day it was tripped as the 9T16 08.00 Humberstone Road - Vic Berry's, with 27045 added to the three class 25's.

However 25173 reached preservation, making a trip to Crewe Works for repair. It left Vic Berry's yard approx September 13th for Humberstone Road, reaching Crewe Works sidings on October 2nd 1987. After some sort of repair here it moved on June 15th 1988 as the 9R78 10.00 Crewe Works - Humberstone Road, being tripped into Berry's yard the next day. By January 28th 1989 25173 was back at Leicester depot for a long spell. It moved on May 12th 1989 as 9R66 16.10 Leciecter - Basford Hall, and taken from there to Crewe Works on June 1st 1989.

With thanks to Alan Baylis for the 1984/85 passenger movements & to Neil Cannon for the comprehensive 1987 TOPS movements.

	Its July 11th 1987 and the majority of the Class 25's are stored in the Crewe area. Here 25173 heads a line of the withdrawn Type 2's at Gresty Lane. Photograph courtesy Mark Jones.
	A stranger in a foreign land - 25173 at Crewe Works for repair following its purchase for preservation - seen here probably in the last quarter of 1987. Photograph courtesy Ian Mawson.

Page added February 7th 2002
Page updated November 17th 2007

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