1963
Laid down at Derby in January 1963 these two machines would be the the 3rd & 4th Derby built Class 25's to enter traffic. They were delivered in March 1963 to Toton (18A) into a railway system recovering from the infamous winter of 1962/63, any new locomotives were welcomed by the operating authorities. They would remain close to Toton/Derby for a brief while to ensure any problems uncovered by their 'running-in' could be quickly dealt with. After that their mission lay in assisting with the removal of steam workings northwards from St Pancras.
D5188 made its test run from Derby to Corby and back on March 18th 1963. Two days later D5189 would makes its test run, all under the 1T48 headcode.
After approxiamately five years service on the Midland lines they were transferred to depots in the north-west shortly after the end of steam had occurred. Interestingly these two locomotives would always remain allocated to LMR and would be amongst the earlier examples of the Class to be retired.
1964
Both locomotives moved to Derby (16C), D5189 in March and D5188 in May.
1965
D5189 visited Derby Works during March.
Derby relinquished both machines during 1965, D5188 & D5189 to the Leicester Division (M15) in June.
During September D5188 was transferred to the Midland Lines (ML), D5189 followed in November.
Photograph courtesy Alec Swain/Transport Treasures
Wet weather greets D5188, not long after out-shopping from Derby Works, as it handles one of the workings it was designed for, parcels traffic over the Midland mainline.
1966
Both locomotives were noted at Derby Works during 1966, D5189 in May & D5188 in September.
1967
D5188 arrived at Derby Works during February for repairs to accident damage.
1968
On March 18th D1653 caught fire on a northbound passenger working in the Chesterfield area - D5189 was taken off a passing freight to assist the Class 47 on to Sheffield.
In November transfers to the Preston Division (D10) included 5186 - 5192.
1969
The summer only passenger workings between Newcastle, Ayr & Stranraer continued to feature Type 2's. The 23.45FO Newcastle - Stranraer and the 13.50SO return working brought the 5188 & 5190 on July 4th/5th. This service had seen Class 40's in 1968, though these had not ventured beyond Ayr due to lack of driver knowledge on the Stranraer
line. Loads varied between nine & twelve coaches.
1970
During April 5188 was noted in Derby Works whilst 5189 visited Derby Works during November.
On October 2nd 5188 & 5299 were noted in charge of the Newton Abbot - Stirling Motorail service.
1971
5189 spent a couple of days (at least) early in January on the Larbert - Wallerscote soda ash workings, being noted in multiple with 5262 on January 8th.
1973
5188 - 5190 moved to Bescot during May.
June 26th found 5189 & 7621 handling the 12.49 Garston - Maidenhead freight throughout.
1974
25038 was in charge of December 10th's Tees - Leyburn freight.
1975
Derby Works was visited by 25038 during February. On March 30th a Coventry - Paignton excursion ran behind 25038 & 25188.
1976
25039 was noted in Derby Works during February.
April 17th found 25039 in charge of the 10.15 Birmingham – Norwich, normally a dmu working but during the Easter holiday period these services were loco hauled, and then generally by Class 31’s. On arrival at Norwich 25039 was declared a failure, not returning west until 20th on the 12.52 to Birmingham.
The Leamington/Coventry area started their holiday week on July 11th and featured amongst others 25038 & 25145 to Rhyl (21st) and 25073 & 25074 to Aberystwyth (23rd).
1977
A number of Easter excursions ran from Leamington, the only Type 2’s used were 25039 & 25042 to Aberystwyth on April 11th. On June 7th 25039 & 25268 worked a Wolverhampton - Brighton excursion as far as Birmingham New Street, here 86008 took over.
Its an overcast July 28th 1977 and a Works visit to Crewe provides the inevitable stop-off at Cockshute, as usual the regular diet of 08/25/40/47's was on display this day - 25038 stands front & center.
A special was run for the Royal Smithfield Show on December 6th from Aberystwyth to Euston, 25038 & 25043 hauled the train to and from Wolverhampton. On the return leg the train was failed at Machynlleth with a dmu taking the passengers forward.
1978
The Crewe - Cardiff services suffered from indifferent reliability during the January, the 14th found 25038 failed on the 17.00 Cardiff - Crewe, with 37294 coming to the rescue.
On March 4th 25038 was in charge of the 10.15am Birmingham - Norwich, whilst 25039 hauled March 12th's 17.20 Birmingham - Norwich.
A football special on December 16th took 25039 & 25040 from Liverpool to Bristol Parson Street.
1979
The 06.32 & 08.03 Peterborough – Kings Cross and 17.18 return continued to receive Class 25 haulage with the 06.32 noted behind 25039 (19th), 25269 (20th), 25319 (21st) also working the 17.18, 25107 (July 10th), 25125 (July 11th) & 26267 (August 1st).
The start of the local holiday weeks on July 14th at Birmingham did not see many 'extras' due to the ongoing oil shortages. 25038 & 25153 worked the 08.28 to Yarmouth and 25264 & 25267 passed through on a Leicester - Paignton relief, later noted still in charge at Exeter.
When 86257 failed at Coventry with the 11.00 ex-Euston on November 3rd 25039 & 25200 were on hand to take the train forward to ??
As the year closed 25039 was transferred to Longsight.
1980
25038 yet again returned to Derby Works, this time for more collision damage repairs during February. On March 29th a Paddington - Manchester special set out with 31188 & 31250, changing to 25038 & 25073
at Birmingham, taking the Derby line for a jaunt in the Sheffield area prior to heading west to Manchester, Warrington and down the WCML to Birmingham.
The two featured locomotives don't figure greatly on the more exotic passenger workings, perhaps one of their more interesting ones was on July 11th when 25038 & 25093 worked the 1V37 19.31 York - Penzance as far as Bristol.
On October 10th 25043 expired at Abergavenny on the 07.50 Cardiff – Crewe, rescue coming in the shape of 40079. All must have been repaired quickly for it was noted the next day with 25039 in charge of the 20.51 Barrow in Furness – Euston, as far as Preston.
Photograph courtesy Steve Jones
September 25th 1980 finds 25038 on a ballast working at Streetly, on the old Midland line between Sutton Coldfield and Walsall. Not too much has changed on the locomotive. The boiler room ventilation grille
is now a solid panel, the inter-gangway doors on the cab front have long since been sheeted over and the locomotive now carries the infamous corporate BR blue livery with full yellow ends.
Photograph courtesy Paul Bettany
On October 5th 25038 & 25073 were in charge of a Marylebone - Barrow Hill - Doncaster enthusiast charter. Since it was a Sunday, the engineers had possesion of the line north of Derby. The above view captures the two locomotives running round the train at Derby before heading east to Trent and the Erewash Valley route.
25038 paid a visit to the ECML on October 30th whilst working the 1B25 07.00 Peterborough - Kings Cross.
During October 25038 moved to Kingmoor, despite this move 25038 put in some mileage on passenger workings thst were many miles away from Carlisle. On November 19th it worked a late evening Crewe - Cardiff service, by 28th it was on the 13.15 Birmingham New Street - Norwich, coming back the next day with the 15.18 ex Norwich.
1981 - 1982
Engineering work in the Euston area on February 22nd found 25039 assisting the 00.25 ex Manchester from Stonebridge Park to Euston.
On March 19th 25038 worked the 16.02 Crewe - Cardiff, coming back the next day with the 05.35 ex Cardiff, unfortunately 25038 expired at Shrewsbury. Four days later 25039 took out the 18.35 Birmingham - Norwich but had to be replaced at Leicester due to a boiler failure - this was the last passenger working for 25039 whilst the last recorded passenger working for 25038 occurred on April 7th when it worked the 08.15 Birmingham New Street - Plymouth with 25033 as far as Gloucester.
25038 & 25039 were both withdrawn on May 31st, 25038 from Kingmoor and 25039 from Longsight. After standing at Crewe 25038 was moved with 25299 to Derby Works on February 18th 1982 for parts removal and eventual scrapping during September 1982. 25039 had been dumped at Saltley and would reach Swindon Works by August 1981, by December 1981 it would be no more.
