Part 4 (September - December)

Disguised as 'D1572' (the last '47' to work over the route in 1966) 47117 is pictured at Lougborough Central during the Great Central Railway's Gala to mark the 30th Anniversary of the line's closure (01/09/1996)

47117 is pictured again at Rothley whilst working the 1045 from Loughborough Central to Leicester North (01/09/1996)

Later that afternoon 47117 runs round at Leicester North after working the 1555 from Loughborough Central. The loco had only recently arrived from the East Lancashire Railway and had been hurriedly repainted into an incorrect shade of two-tone green for the event (01/09/1996)

47536 waits to depart from Paddington with a westbound TPO. Such trains were shortly to be transferred to the new Princess Royal Distribution Centre at Willesden, and I'd made a conscious effort to try and capture some of the after a couple of beers with friends in London one evening (05/09/1996)

47814 stands on the blocks at Paddington after working 1V97 1710 ex-Manchester forward from Birmingham (05/09/1996)

47492 in Platform 10 at Paddington having been uncoupled from a rake of empty TPO vehicles (05/09/1996)

In one of the evening's better efforts, 47766 is pictured in Platform 11 at Paddington after arriving with another rake of empties (05/09/1996

47779 is then seen at the 'country' end of the train which had arrived behind '766 (05/09/1996)

47846 'THOR' heads the 1V29 2350 'Night Riviera' to Penzance at London Waterloo. The loco had been out-shopped in a ghostly white base livery after overhaul earlier in the summer whilst the new 'First Great Western' franchise finalised their house colours (05/09/1996)

Possibly the best shot of the evening is this view of 47815 at Waterloo after arriving with the 'Night Riviera' ECS from Old Oak Common. The Sleeper trains to and from Conrnwall had migrated from their traditional London home of Paddington to improve connections with international services to Europe that had recently started running from the adjacent Eurostar terminal (05/09/1996)

47790 'Saint David/Dewi Sant' takes a break at Llandrindod Wells with Statesman's 1Z52 0755 Leeds - Swansea charter via the Heart of Wales line (07/09/1996)

Later that afternoon 47790 is pictured again at Swansea with the 1Z52 1840 return leg to Leeds, which took the less direct but considerably faster route via Cardiff and the Marches (07/09/1996)

Another view of 47790 'Saint David/Dewi Sant' before departing Swansea with Statesman's 1840 return charter to Leeds (07/09/1996)

47854 'Women's Royal Voluntary Service' + 47004 'Old Oak Common Traction & Rolling Stock Depot' arrive at Birmingham New Street from Saltley to work forward on 1V96 0910 Edinburgh - Reading. Minutes later the fire alarams sounded and a full-scale evacuation of the station took place! Fortunately that included 1V96's crew and so one of the most outrageous ever bowl-outs was narrowly avoided (21/09/1996)

A quick shot of 47004 + 47854 at Didcot Parkway with the late-running 1V96 0910 Edinburgh - Reading before quickly running round to join 1M50 (the rear of which can be seen in the adjacent platform!) back north (21/09/1996)

47523 is pictured at Nuneaton after working the diverted 1A48 1319 Wolverhampton - Euston over the short non-electrified stretch from Birmingham (22/09/1996)

47971 'Robin Hood' is seen stabled at Reading whilst on test train duty (27/09/1996)

47767 'Saint Columba' is pictured on arrival at Carlisle with 1Z43 0630 Sparkle Express charter from Kings Cross which it had worked throughout via the ECML and S&C (28/09/1996)

Another view of 47767 at Carlisle with 1Z43. The return leg to Kings Cross later that afternoon took a slightly unorthodox route via the WCML to Nuneaton and then across to Peterborough (28/09/1996)

47725 'The railway Mission' draws into Canterbury West with the stock for Statesman's 1Z63 1655 return charter to Manchester Victoria (05/10/1996)

Several hours later in 47725 is pictured again on arrival at Manchester Victoria in the early hours of Sunday morning. This was my first visit to the re-built station with a '47' since much of the original site was covered by the MEN Areana (06/10/1996)

An opportunist shot from the passing '1O66' of 47376 'Freightliner 1995' at Scours Lane, Reading, with an intermodal train waiting a path to the south coast (19/10/1996)

Freightliner's 47370 approaches Crewe station with an intermodal train from Trafford Park (19/10/1996)

Porterbrook-liveried 47817 departs Crewe for Preston via Manchester with 1S76 0920 Brighton - Edinburgh (19/10/1996)