Part 3 (August - December)

47732 'Restormel' waits time at Stourbridge Junction with Cheshire Railtours' 1Z40 0704 Leamington-Minehead charter. Note the 'headboard' (03/08/2002)

47732 is pictured again at Minehead having run round the train and waiting to shunt the stock to the adjacent platform. The tour returned north as 1Z41 1645 to Leamington (03/08/2002)

If you're wondering why there aren't any photos of the 'last' VXC '47' to Newcastle back on the 20th July, it's because we already knew about this train. 47805 waits in the rain at Leeds with the SuO 1E27 1035 Birmingham-Newcastle (04/08/2002)

The Commonwealth Games, a bit of engineering work, and a subtle touch of clever planning resulted in the appearance of top-and-tail '47s' in place of the booked Voyager unit. 47805 'Pride of Toton' is seen here on arrival at Newcastle with 1E27 (04/08/2002)

47776 'Respected' relaxes in Platform 12 at Newcastle whilst on 'Thunderbird' duty for GNER (04/08/2002)

A timeless scene as 47810 'Porterbrook' arrives back into Newcastle from Heaton with the empty stock for the return 1M80 1604 to Birmingham New Street (04/08/2002)

We were certainly kept in suspense awaiting a train manager from Edinburgh: would he sign loco-hauled stock? Had the 'clever men' done their jobs properly? We needn't have worried... In the event this wasn't the last southbound loco-hauled VXC departure from Newcastle (that honour befell '1V66' the following Friday) but that was certainly the intention (04/08/2002)

I've never really been into high-profile send-offs, so fittingly on home soil this was to be my last run behind a '47' on a Cross Country turn. 47810 'Porterbrook' is seen here departing Sheffield with 1M80 1604 Newcastle-Birmingham (04/08/2002)

And now for something completely different... Freightliner's 47292 pauses at Garsdale with Green Express Railtours' 1Z60 0902 Llandudno Junction-Carlisle charter (10/08/2002)

With its green paint barely dry, 47292 is pictured on arrival at Carlisle with 1Z60. There was something a little bit surreal about the appearance of 'o' on an ordinary charter in the 21st Century (10/08/2002)

Also at Carlisle was EWS 47756 'Royal Mail Tyneside', stabled in the sidings behind platform 1 (10/08/2002)

"We've got a '47' on Saturday, Andrew - are you interested?" Out of the blue I'd received a phone call at work earlier that week from my old friend Nick Harvey. "From EWS?" I asked, aware of some recent history between them and the chaps at Carnforth, which had resulted in the use of Fragonset '31s' on most of his recent trains. "No, somebody called 'Freightliner' - is that good?" he replied. There followed a short pause whilst I considered the impending scenario... "Can I bring a few friends?" I asked. "About 40?"

It transpired that Fragonset had no spare peds (sorry, '31s') that weekend, and with the 'shoves' in various states of disrepair, West Coast had turned to Freightliner to solve the traction crisis. The immaculate 47292 awaits departure from Carlisle with the return 1Z61 1638 to Llandudno Junction (10/08/2002)

Some of the regulars give me a 'bellow' as 47805 'Pride of Toton' climbs past the site of Lofthouse Colliery at Outwoood with 1S41 1040 Plymouth-Edinburgh in place of the booked HST (11/08/2002)

We'd had the official (20/07) and unofficial (04/08) 'last trains', then the 'vice' the previous Friday, but this really was the last '47'-hauled Virgin XC service to the 'North East'. 47854 is pictured on the back of 1S41 as the train heads towards East Ardsley (11/08/2002)

20 minutes later 47805 is seen storming through Garforth with '1S41'. Racing trains isn't fun (even with the stop at Leeds) and my plus was 'seconds' rather than 'minutes' so apologies for the slight lack of composure about these images... (11/08/2002)

...but I was capturing a moment of history. 47854 brings up the rear again as '805 heads north into the sunset. The pair returned from Edinburgh via the WCML the next day on '1O12' (11/08/2002)

47781 'Isle of Iona' is pictured on arrival at Carlisle with Cheshire Railtours' 1Z40 0600 charter from West Ruislip, which had provided a rare opportunity for a '47'-hauled run through the Chilterns (24/08/2002)

Later that afternoon, 47781 is seen waiting to depart from Carlisle with 1Z41 1531 return to West Ruislip via the 'S&C' (24/08/2002)

With the curtain having come down on 'XC' the previous weekend, the 'FNW' Holyhead-Birmingham turns became my nearest opportunity for some '47'-haulage. 47784 'Condover Hall' calls at Chester with 1G95 0630 ex-Holyhead, today truncated at Crewe due to Bank Holiday weekend engineering work (26/08/2002)

An immaculate 47799 'Prince Henry' departs Crewe with an as yet unidentified Northern Belle charter (26/08/2002)

A week later it was the turn of the ordinary folk like myself to sample one of the 'royal' locos as 47799 waits at Holyhead with 1G11 1402 to Birmingham New Street (05/09/2002)

Later that evening 'Prince William' departs Crewe in the early evening gloom with the return 1D82 1744 Birmingham New Street-Holyhead (05/09/2002)

47818 'Strathclyde' is pictured on standby duty for Virgin at Crewe the next morning. I'd had a bit of time on my hands after '799 was failed at Chester on the incoming '1G95' from Holyhead (06/09/2002)