Part 1 (January - April)

Happy New Year! With 1997 only a few hours old, 47854 'Women's Royal Voluntary Service' calls at Banbury with 1S76 0920 Brighton - Edinburgh (01/01/1997)

47810 'PORTERBROOK' waits to restart the SuO 1O09 0913 Manchester - Poole away from Oxford (12/01/1997)

A fortnight later, 47810 'PORTERBROOK' catches the winter sun as it powers away from Oxford with the SuO 1S52 0858 Paddington - Edinburgh (26/01/1997)

Deputising for the booked Virgin Cross Country '47/8', Railfreight Distribution's 47525 is pictured on arrival at Poole with the SuO 1O08 0845 from Wolverhampton (26/01/1997)

A couple of hours later 47525 is seen waiting to return north from Poole at the head of 1M89 1519 to Manchester Piccadilly (26/01/1997)

47741 'Resilient' is pictured on arrival at Cardiff Central with an additional 1Z62 0957 from London Paddington in connection with the Wales v England 'Five Nations' international rugby match at the adjacent Cardiff Arms Park (01/02/1997)

Later that evening 47741 is seen on arrival back into Paddington with the return 1Z65 1810 from Cardiff Central (01/02/1997)

A midweek trip out saw found 47525 once again on hire to Virgin Cross Country. The RfD machine waits to depart from Bristol Temple Meads with 1V46 0910 Liverpool - Plymouth (13/02/1997)

47777 'Restored' waits time at Leicester with Pathfinder Tours' 1Z30 0358 Bristol - Norwich charter whilst en route to London Kings Cross via Birmingham and Peterborough (22/02/1997)

47777 is pictured again later that morning on arrival at Kings Cross with 1Z30 (22/02/1997)

Pathfinder's 'Norfolk Napier' railtour was Deltic-hauled between Kings Cross - Norwich - Ferme Park, but a 'part-fare' deal enabled us '47' fans to sample our preferred traction either side of a beer-break in Central London. 47777 is seen here waiting to leave Kings Cross having been released by the train's departure for East Anglia (22/02/1997)

47822 waits time at Banbury with 1V94 0917 Manchester - Paddington (25/02/1997)

47844 'Derby & Derbyshire Chamber of Commerce & Industry' departs Crewe with 1S76 0920 Birighton - Edinburgh (25/02/1997)

47749 'Atlantic College' awaits departure from Inverness with 1Z25 1320 return charter to Preston via the ECML and Diggle. This was Day 2 of a weekend land-cruise which had overnighted in Aberdeen (02/03/1997)

Flooding on the Highland Main Line near Pitlochry saw the charter retrace the morning journey from Aberdeen to continue its journey south. 47749 is seen here at Elgin waiting to cross a westbound train (02/03/1997)

The calm before the storm as 47749 enjoys the winter sunshine at Elgin. We'd already had no heat since the previous morning because of a defect on the stock but little did we know what still lay ahead... (02/03/1997)

The skies darken as 47749 prepares to depart Elgin with the diverted 1Z25 1320 Inverness - Preston. Having eventually reached Edinburgh in the early evening we were further delayed by an hour whilst the loco was turned because of a faulty headlight, but no sooner had we re-started than '749 then sat down at Prestonpans with fuel starvation problems. 47634 eventually took the train forward, culminating in an 0430 arrival at Preston on the Monday morning (02/03/1997)

47789 'Lindisfarne' at York with 1Z46 1126 Newcastle - Kings Cross return charter. This was another weekend land-cruise but somewhat less ambitious than the previous week's affair (09/03/1997)

47829 departs Oxford with the SuO 1O09 0913 Manchester - Poole (16/03/1997)

47287 approaches Oxford with 4M19 0755 Didcot - MOD Kineton (20/03/1997)

47814 - the first of the Class to carry the new Virgin Cross Country colours - arrives at Banbury with 1S76 0920 Brighton - Edinburgh (20/03/1997)

One of only two '47s' to carry Porterbrook's house colours of purple and white, 47807 awaits departure from York with 1V65 1643 to Bristol Temple Meads (28/03/1997)

47807 is pictured again re-starting 1V65 away from Leeds just over half an hour later (28/03/1997)

47759 powers away from Durham with 1S28 1300 Kings Cross - Glasgow Central, which was booked for diesel haulage between York and Newcastle via Yarm and Stillington because of weekend enginerring work on the ECML (29/03/1997)