Part 1 (January - April)

Deputising for an IC '47/8', EWS 47727 'Duke of Edinburgh's Award' awaits departure from Stafford with 1M56 1044 Plymouth - Manchester Piccadilly (06/01/1996)

47736 'Cambridge Traction & Rolling Stock Depot' waits to depart from Oxford with an additional 1Z31 1520 to York. The loco had just run round after arriving with 1Z72 1145 from Manchester, both these trains being reliefs for the end of the Christmas and New Year holiday periods (07/01/1996)

Covering for a HST, 47584 'The Locomotive & Carriage Institution 1911' stands at the end of the line at Holyhead after working forward from Crewe on 1D86 0853 ex-Euston (13/01/1996)

In a remarkably similar scene the following afternoon, 47757 'Restitution' is pictured on arrival at Holyhead after working forward from Stafford on 1D86 0810 from London Euston. Unlike the previous day's visit though today was the first of six consecutive Sundays that this train was booked to be loco-hauled whilst the usual HST was redeployed elsewhere due to engineering work on the WCML (14/01/1996)

47826 departs Stafford with 1S54 0550 Bournemouth - Edinburgh (20/01/1996)

47854 'Women's Royal Voluntary Service' restarts from Banbury with 1V94 0917 Manchester Piccadilly - Reading. This was my first run behind Cross Country's latest '47/8', which had recently been converted from 47674 as a replacement for collision-damaged 47850 (20/01/1996)

47765 'Ressaldar' is uncoupled from its train at Holyhead after arriving from Stafford with the SuO 1D86 0810 from London Euston (21/01/1996)

47765 shunts the empty stock off 1D86 alongside the site of the old locomotive depot at Holyhead (21/01/1996)

With 47765 'Ressaldar' stands at the head of 1A65 1537 to London Euston as the stock is watered in the station yard at Holyhead (21/01/1996)

Another view of 47765 in the yard at Holyhead with the stock for 1A65. The train itself was worked by 37425 after the '47' was found to have a fault with its ETS (21/01/1996)

47701 + 47627 are pictured in a snow-covered Platform 12 at Crewe station after arriving with 1A29 0906 Holyhead - Euston. '627 had been failed after arrival with 1D88 the previous night and '701 had been sent out in the consist of the last train from Crewe to recover it (27/01/1996)

47849 makes an additional call at Crewe with 1S54 0550 Bournemouth - Edinburgh. This service normally ran via Stoke and Manchester but had been diverted because of the adverse weather (27/01/1996)

The following morning EWS' 47707 'Holyrood' waits to work forward from Stafford on the SuO 1D86 0810 Euston - Holyhead (28/01/1996)

There's a distinct lack of snow in North Wales as 'Holyrood' calls at Bangor a couple of hours later (28/01/1996)

47707 'Holyrood' runs round its train at Holyhead after arriving with 1D86 0810 from London Euston (28/01/1996)

47707 shunts the stock for the return 1A65 1537 to London Euston at Holyhead. The loco shut down at Colwyn Bay on the run back to Crewe and had to be rescued by 37421, but at least we got more '47' miles than the previous week (28/01/1996)

47843 powers away from Stoke-on-Trent with 1M05 0558 Paddington - Manchester Piccadilly (03/02/1996)

47854 'Women's Royal Voluntary Service' departs Crewe en route to Preston via Manchester Piccadilly with 1S76 0920 Brighton - Glasgow Central (03/02/1996)

47732 'Restormel' is coupled up to the front of the SuO 1D86 0810 Euston - Holyhead prior to working the train forward from Stafford (04/02/1996)

47732 catches the early afternoon sunshine on arrival at Holyhead with 1D86 (04/02/1996)

After failing to make it out-and-back along the North Wales Coast behind a '47' on the previous two Sundays, we had an 'Ace' up our sleeve this week with the gen that 47749 was working 1A27 1338 to Euston in place of the booked HST, giving us a choice of trains out of Holyhead. With 47756 in tow, 'Atlantic College' is pictured on arrival at Crewe, where the pair were detached (04/02/1996)

After the previous week's excitement the appearance of 47780 on '1D86' was something of an anti-claimax. the former '47836' is pictured on arrival at Holyhead (11/02/1996)

47780 runs round its train at Holyhead after arriving from Stafford with 1D86 0810 Euston - Holyhead (11/02/1996)

47780 is seen shunting the empty stock off 1D86 from Platform 3 across to the sidings at Holyhead. Note the Mk3 'BFO' coach adjacent to the 'DVT' (11/02/1996)