Part 4 (September - December)

47245 waits time at Leeds with 1Z70 0939 York-Carlisle, the last of the 2014 programme of Sunday 'Waverley' charters. Once again the '47' worked the train to Hellifield and back because of the well-publicised 'steam ban' on Network Rail's LNE route, and it remains to be seen whether the Railway Touring Company will continue with the venture next year (07/09/2014)

47402 runs round its train at Rawtenstall after arriving with 2J83 1445 from Heywood during the East Lancashire Railway's Autumn Diesel Gala. News had broken in the days before the event that the loco was about to be retired for a top-end overhaul so I hastily incorporated a detour into my return from Scotland off the previous day's Compass land-cruise (28/09/2014)

It's been suggested that 47402 may return in 'BR blue' after its overhaul, so in what may be a last look at the loco working a train it its familiar two-tone green livery, 'Gateshead' waits to depart from Rawtenstall with 2J84 1616 to Heywood. I've clocked up nearly four thousand miles behind this machine since it returned from its last overhaul in 2005, which gives an indication of the amount of use it's seen in that time (28/09/2014)

47854 arrived back into Windsor & Eton Riverside with the empty stock from Southall for the 1Z41 1644 West Coast Railways charter to Bridlington. 'Diamond Jubilee' had earlier handled the outward leg, with the erstwhile 'Tamar' making its debut for its new owners on the return (04/10/2014)

47786 is pictured in the sidings at Crianlarich after 1Z79 had arrived from Oban. 'Roy Castle' had been removed from the rear of the outward leg of the tour here on the Saturday night whilst the '37s' took the train to Oban and back (06/10/2014)

The weather hasn't really improved as 47804 backs onto the front of 1Z79 at Crianlarich for the run down to Cowlairs and out to Stirling (06/10/2014)

With the line to Oban in the foreground, 47786 rumbles back into Crianlarich station from the Fort William direction before attaching to the rear of 1Z79 (06/10/2014)

Another view of 47786 whilst being attached to the rear of 1Z79 1020 Oban-Stirling prior to the train's departure from Crianlarich (06/10/2014)

What a difference a couple of hours can make: in bright sunshine 47804 is pictured on arrival at Stirling with 1Z79 1020 from Oban. Passengers enjoyed a short break here before the train continued back to Crewe via the ECML (06/10/2014)

47786 was entrusted with the last leg of the weekend's land-cruise, and the loco poses beneath the £6.5m 'Forthside Footbridge' before heading south from Stirling with 1Z80 1630 to Crewe (06/10/2014)

47815 'Great Western' pauses at Stafford with Pathfinder's 1Z47 0651 charter from Crewe to Kingscote on the Bluebell Railway in Sussex. The Riviera machine (which now sports the company's 'Oxford Blue' livery) is on a long-term hire deal to GBRf, which also provided the pair of EDs that worked the train forward from Willesden. I must admit this isn't the sort of train I'd normally opt for, but my last run off this particular loco was back in 2009 so I thought I'd make full use of the opportunity (09/10/2014)

A week after my previous visit to the town, I once again found myself arriving at Windsor & Eton Riverside behind 47854, this time on West Coast's 1Z55 0649 charter from Cleethorpes. Sadly it's partner on this occasion was of the 'GM' variety so I didn't wait around for the return leg (11/10/2014)

The following afternoon, 47376 pauses at Toddington with the 1524 from Laverton to Cheltenham Race Course during a running day at the Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Railway (12/10/2014)

47376 is pictured again at Cheltenham Race Course prior to departing with the 1715 back to Toddington. The Brush Type 4 Fund AGM had been held earlier that morning and there were a good number of familiar faces in attendance over the course of what was a very pleasant day (12/10/2014)

Enjoying a rare outing, the increasingly elusive 47773 is pictured at Didcot Parkway after working the first leg of Vintage Trains' 1Z54 0727 Tyseley Warwick Road to Bristol charter. The route from the Midlands had included some equally rare track for 47-hauled trains these days, namely the Jewellery Quarter and Cotswold lines (18/10/2014)

Amongst the emails I'd been reading through when I got home the previous night was the gen that 47715 would be enjoying a day out at the Wensleydale Railway following the completion of some repair work and so plans for a quiet day at home were quickly abandoned. 'Poseidon' is pictured on arrival back at Leeming Bar with the 1100 from Redmire (19/10/2014)

Later that afternoon 47715 is pictured again on arrival at Redmire with the 1200 from Leeming Bar. With the resident DMU still out of traffic, the '14' undergoing repairs following a serious failiure during the summer and HNRC's '20' having just departed on an industrial contract, this was to mark the start of an 'Indian Summer' for a loco we all thought we'd had our last runs off for a while at the end of 2013 (19/10/2014)

With little else in the way of '47' hauled activity on offer at the moment, the continuse use of 47715 at Wensleydale was becoming a real bonus. On the second day of the bonfire weekend during which it completed over two hundred miles of running, 'Poseidon' is pictured on arrival back at Leeming Bar with the 1100 from Redmire (02/11/2014)

A 'Northern Belle' liveried loco and a rake of DRS coaches conceals the fact that this is actually a Northern Rail train! 47790 'Galloway Princess' is pictured on arrival at Preston with the 5Z13 1436 ecs from Chorley after working and additional service from Manchester Victoria (22/11/2014)

At the south end of the set, 47818 waits to work the additional 2Z16 1512 Preston-Manchester Victoria. Northern had hired the set for five Saturdays during November and December to provide additional capacity on the route during the annual Manchester Christmas Markets (22/11/2014)

Roles were reversed a week later, and 47818 is pictured at Preston after working 5Z13 ecs move off the 1352 Manchester-Chorley (22/11/2014)

These trains had originally intended to be worked by 57/3s but with the RHTT season still in full swing DRS had very little in the way of available traction, hence the appearance of 47790 for the second week running. 'Galloway Princess' waits to depart from Preston with 2Z16 1512 to Manchester Victoria (29/11/2014)

The previous Sunday I'd made my way up to the office in York on a beautiful sunny morning to catch up on a backlog of work, completely oblivious to what was following an hour or so behind me. It's not often we're blessed with a second chance, but the following week the same same train ran with the same traction in near identical conditions: 47727 'Rebecca' + 47739 'Robin of Templecombe' pass Newthorpe near Micklefield with 6C50 0950 Horsforth to Doncaster Up Decoy engineering train (07/12/2014)

47245 is pictured on arrival at Bath Spa with 1Z36 0638 West Coast Railways charter from Skegness. The train had departed behind 47580 (which was by now on the rear) but had been forced to make an unscheduled reversal at Grantham because of a points failiure at Allington Junction (13/12/2014)