Part 2 (May - July)

What a difference the sun makes! Three days after the last photo of the previous collection was taken, 47750 'Atlas' storms through East Ardsley with 1V39 0711 Leeds-Bristol (02/05/2002)

47736 'Cambridge T&RSD' arrives at Leeds with 1D41 1530 ex-London Kings Cross, which it had dragged from Retford (04/05/2002)

47746 'The Bobby' awaits departure from Leeds with GNER's 1A29 1840 to Kings Cross. London trains were being diesel-hauled between Leeds andRetford due to engineering work over the Bank Holiday weekend (04/05/2002)

47750's last stand... Three days before it was returned to EWS by Virgin as yet another batch of loco-hauled trains were handed over to 'Voyagers', 'Atlas' stands at Bristol Temple Meads with 1E33 1210 to Newcastle. Unfortunately someone forgot to close a door - which then struck a signal post as the train was departing, causing its subsequent cancellation (06/05/2002)

Fortunately 47847 was only an hour behind with one of the other remaining '47'-hauled XC turns. The recently-named 'Railway World Magazine' is seen here departing Cheltenham with 1M56 0846 Penzance-Manchester (06/05/2002)

47828 'Severn Valley Railway' is pictured on arrival at Newcastle with the SuO 1E26 0905 from Birmingham New Street (12/05/2002)

Another of Virgin's 'EWS' machines, 47741 'Resilient' heads 1V39 0711 Leeds-Bristol through the increasingly familiar landscape at East Ardsley (14/05/2002)

Welcome back! Having been out of traffic since 1996 for a lengthy overhaul, pioneer 47401 'North Eastern' celebrated its return to traffic with a guest appearance at the Nene Valley Railway's Diesel Weekend. The loco is seen at Wansford after working the 1530 from Peterborough (19/05/2002)

47812 'Pride of Eastleigh' awaits departure from Bristol Temple Meads with 1E33 1210 to Newcastle (20/05/2002)

The Chairman of the Brush Type 4 Fund applies the power as 47841 'Spirit of Chester' departs Plymouth with 1V50 0840 Glasgow-Penzance (20/05/2002)

Following closely behind over the Devon Banks had been FGW's 47846 'Thor', which is seen on arrival at Plymouth with 1C44 1433 ex-Paddington (20/05/2002)

The next morning, 47816 'Bristol Bath Road' calls at Plymouth with 1A45 0820 Penzance-Paddington (21/05/2002)

47816 departs Newbury with 1A45. Note the peculiar shade of yellow applies to the cab front (21/05/2002)

Later that afternoon, 47811 is pictured at Plymouth after working 1C44 1433 from London (21/05/2002)

I seem to be going round in circles here... 1A45 0820 Penzance-Paddington is captured again at Plymouth the following morning, this time in the hands of 47832 'Tamar' (22/05/2002)

47817 'The Institution of Mechanical Engineers' waits beneath stormy skies at Penzance with 1M56 0846 to Manchester Piccadilly (23/05/2002)

47817 pauses at Exeter with '1M56'. The preceding '1A45' had been delayed at Penzance with a stock-fault, so we'd joined the XC service pending confirmation it was on the move. In the background is 47712 with 1M40 1150 Plymouth-Liverpool, which was starting forward from Exeter becuase of the late-running inward working (23/05/2002)

After a run up to Paddington with 'Thor' on '1A45', a steady stroll to St Pancras brought one of the most unexpected but welcome sights of 2002: a daily '47'-hauled working on the Midland Main Line. 47709 'Dionysos' basks in the afternoon sunshine with 1F48 1730 to Sheffield (23/05/2002)

Another view of 47709 prior to departing from St Pancras with 1F48 (23/05/2002)

Due to an ongoing shortage of HSTs, MML had hired a rake of 'air-cons' and two 47s from Fragonset to cover a return trip to London. 47709 is pictured on arrival at Sheffield with 1F48 1730 ex-London St Pancras (23/05/2002)

It's deja-vu the next morning as 47846 once again calls at Plymouth with 1A45 0820 Penzance-Paddington (24/05/2002)

A last look at the once-mighty 'Thor' on arrival at Paddington with 1A45 0820 from Penzance. Just over a week later the loco had been taken out of traffic for conversion to a '57' (24/05/2002)

47703 'Hermes' awaits departure from London St Pancras with 1F48 1730 to Sheffield. The locos were on a 2-day cycle which consisted of 1B19 0932 Nottingham-St Pancras, top-and-tailed ecs movements to and from Cricklewood, and then 1F48 the next day (24/05/2002)

47703 is seen again on arrival at Sheffield with '1F48'. These trains remained loco-hauled until the Autumn of 2002 (when MML acquired some off-lease HSTs from Virgin) but this was unfortunately the only opportunity I had to sample them (24/05/2002)