Crewe 26th April 2008

Finally, a day off coincided with good weather so the first day out
'training' of the year.

We chose Crewe- and was it a bad choice?-- Lets just say that between 2
o'clock and 6 we saw just five locomotives-- 3 of those were coupled together
and another was a steam train on a charter- I'll save what the other one is
until later to keep the suspense going.

I'm in the process of computerising my train data from my youth and have just
been reminiscing over the records of a visit to Crewe and Chester from
Northampton back on 13th February 1978- i was 13! On that day we saw 24's and
25's, 31's and 40's on freight, 47's on passenger- and freight and
representatives of most of the AC loco classes then about. Today we saw units.
All the freight went via the avoiding line.

Warrington next time i think ;)

The first loco we saw was 67013, resplendent in its new 'Wrexham and
Shropshire' livery. It bought 2 mkIII buffets off the Derby line, ran round and
took them back.

The last shot shows a 47 languishing in the yard alongside the 67-- the old
and the new?

As close to the 47 as my lens will allow.

Next locos on display were three freightliner 66's (66593, 584 & 540) which
came from the Shrewsbury line into platform 7, reversed off down the Derby line
only to return without 66584.

It has to be said that i do like the new 'London Midland' livery on the 350
desiro EMU's

I also have to say that i dont like Pendolinos. They may be fast and safe,
but they are claustrophobic and they stink of poo most of the time- really they
do- its not just you- the loos reek! BTW Richard Branson- If you want me to
remove above comments and replace with compliments, a years free travel for two
and a dog doesn't go amiss!

The final loco of the day was ex GWR 5029, Nunney Castle- still gleaming
after a hard days chugging.

Despite me starting this blogg with a good slagging for Crewe, finding the
old data for Crewe on a Monday in the 70's has already lead to us planning a
return trip--- but on a Monday-- maybe there will be freight.