Part 1 (January - June)

Freightliner's 47150 calls at Ramsbottom with the 0910 Bury-Rawtenstall during the East Lancashire Railway's 'Sulzer Day'. 47853 is on the rear of the train providing some much-needed warmth (19/01/2003)

A few hours later, 47150 is seen at Bury Bolton Street with the 1230 departure for Rawtenstall (19/01/2003)

47853 'Rail Express' pauses at Ramsbottom with the return 1315 Rawtenstall-Bury. The former Virgin Trains XP64-liveried machine was now owned by Riviera Trains and based at Crewe (19/01/2003)

Before things went horribly wrong, 47756 'Royal Mail Tyneside' waits for a path west from Exeter with Past Time Rail's 1Z71 0530 Crewe-Par charter. The former 'RES' machine was later failed at St Blazey with a TPWS fault, and 67004 worked the return leg (

47760 'Ribblehead Viaduct' backs onto the empty stock of 1Z71 0613 charter from Preston at London Kings Cross. The train (organised in connection with anti-war protests taking place in the Capital that day) had been top-and-tailed by 47839 and 47853, but

47810 'Porterbrook' is pictured on arrival at Carlisle with the SuO 1S63 Euston-Glasgow, which it had worked forward from Preston via the S&C (16/02/2003)

47810 takes a breather at Carlisle before working back to Preston on 1M34 1614 Glasgow-Euston. A number of Virgin services were booked over the S&C on weekends between January and March due to timetabled engineering work (16/02/2003)

Nearing the end of its six-month stay as the resident 'shunter', 47197 is pictured at Freightliner's Leeds (Stourton) Terminal. The loco returned to normal traffic shortly afterwards with the company's Heavy Haul division (16/03/2003)

47812 'Pride of Eastleigh' is pictured on arrival at Carlisle with 1S63 1005 ex-Euston after working forward from Preston via the S&C. Further weekend work in Scotland meant the train terminated here rather than Glasgow on this occasion (16/03/2003)

On the first day of First North Western's amended North Wales Coast service (which featured no less than three 47-hauled diagrams), 47773 is pictured on arrival at Holyhead with 1D57 0521 from Birmingham New Street (31/03/2003)

Later that afternoon, 'The Queen Mother' is pictured again departing Colwyn Bay with 1D71 1221 Birmingham-Holyhead (31/03/2003)

47773 is seen again at the end of the week on arrival at Holyhead with 1D71 1221 from Birmingham (04/04/2003)

And again at Crewe after working 1K73 1549 ex-Holyhead (04/04/2003)

Fragonset's 47709 'Dionysos' waits time at Langley Mill with Green Express Railtours' 1Z48 0648 Spondon-Carlisle charter (05/04/2003)

47709 is seen again on arrival at Carlisle after the run over the S&C (05/04/2003)

Another look at 47709 at Carlisle after working 1Z48 from Spondon. The train returned via the Tyne Valley and ECML later that afternoon (05/04/2003)

Following the departure of 47197 and a (very) brief visit by 47292, it was the turn of 47279 to take on the role of the resident shunter at Leeds FLT. The loco is pictured here at Stourton having been spied from the passing charter the previous day (06/04/2003)

In place of the booked HST, 47812 'Pride of Eastleigh' waits to depart Holyhead with 1A77 1341 to London Euston (07/04/2003)

47812 is seen again at Crewe, where it was detached from '1A77' for the electric loco to work forward to London. Hard to believe I'd just done a Virgin '47/8' in preference to an EWS '47/7' down the 'Coast', but it was a sign of the times that this was no

47756 'Royal Mail Tyneside' departs Llandudno Junction with 1G11 1400 Holyhead-Birmingham New Street (11/04/2003)

An immaculate 47757 'Capability Brown' calls at Chester with 1G95 0648 Holyhead-Birmingham. The loco had recently received life-extending 'reliability modifications' and a repaint into 'EWS' livery (12/04/2003)

On the second of its two round trips, 47757 is seen again at Crewe later that evening with the return 1D82 1721 Birmingham-Holyhead (12/04/2003)

47757 'Capability Brown' is pictured on arrival at Holyhead with 1D57 0521 from Birmingham. This was the return of the 0140 Holyhead-Birmingham - a turn which was regrettably only loco-hauled for seven weeks (14/04/2003)

47757 is seen again departing Llandudno Junction with 1D71 1221 Birmingham-Holyhead (14/04/2003)