Popular Post Alcanman Posted January 6, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted January 6, 2019 I recently discovered that I have quite a collection of Class 25 photos from the 1980s and was surprised to find that here on RMWeb there isn't a dedicated thread for this, once numerous class of BR diesel locos. I've always had a fondness for 25s and they seem to be popular with modellers. Indeed, Bachmann have announced a re-tooled 25/1 and Heljan have announced a new 00 25/3. I would like to invite all to join in with their own photos including preserved examples. I'll start off the thread with a few 25s pics taken at Chester in 1984. 25191 25058 Unidentified 25/3 Mal 34 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post robertcwp Posted January 6, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted January 6, 2019 Good idea. A few from my collection: 5167 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr D5195_LincolnStMarks by Robert Carroll, on Flickr D7645_KenO_7-7-67 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr D7671_Kingmoor_9-9-67_m by Robert Carroll, on Flickr 25301_Exeter_28-4-76 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr 23 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Phil Bullock Posted January 6, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 6, 2019 How about a northbound LE at Abbotswood? Phil 15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jbqfc Posted January 6, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 6, 2019 25039 by john brace, on Flickr 25072 by john brace, on Flickr 25083 by john brace, on Flickr 25095 by john brace, on Flickr 25173 by john brace, on Flickr 14 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Phil Bullock Posted January 6, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 6, 2019 Havent had a Scottish one yet so heres 25078 on shed at Ayr Phil 16 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold rodent279 Posted January 7, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 7, 2019 (edited) Good idea. A few from my collection: 5167 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr D5195_LincolnStMarks by Robert Carroll, on Flickr D7645_KenO_7-7-67 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr D7671_Kingmoor_9-9-67_m by Robert Carroll, on Flickr 25301_Exeter_28-4-76 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr And here is 7671 34 years later at Butterley! Edited January 13, 2019 by rodent279 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jbqfc Posted January 7, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 7, 2019 a few more from me 25173 by john brace, on Flickr 25191 by john brace, on Flickr 25206 by john brace, on Flickr 25912 by john brace, on Flickr 97251 by john brace, on Flickr 97252 by john brace, on Flickr 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold russ p Posted January 7, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 7, 2019 Why are people obsessed with putting headlights on locos that never had them? Its not that you can actually see much with them and preserved railways don't need advance warnings to lineside staff. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Davidjsmith Posted January 7, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 7, 2019 attachment=1098212:DA6F2781-1D73-40E9-9C84-EF8B6CA5DCDF.jpeg] My Nuneaton Depot days at Bescot Yard 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcanman Posted January 7, 2019 Author Share Posted January 7, 2019 (edited) Toton 6th November 1982. 25/2 25245. Note the small black circle located centrally low down on the cab front. This was a fitting for a radio telephone cable wire to enable the driver and guard to communicate when the loco was used to haul Royal trains, 25245 was a regular on these duties. 25/3 25284 Edited January 7, 2019 by Alcanman 15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Davidjsmith Posted January 7, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 7, 2019 25199 Rugeley Power Station oil train from Immingham they mixed the oll with coal slack in winter.The panels inside the cab were those like hearing test booths lots of tiny holes ! 17 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Phil Bullock Posted January 7, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 7, 2019 (edited) Shunting at Hartlebury. The brick works chimney is a prominent local landmark. 25271 perhaps? Phil Edited January 7, 2019 by Phil Bullock 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold rodent279 Posted January 7, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 7, 2019 (edited) A class 25, believed to be 262, stands in Leighton Buzzard station, on an overhead wiring train. Unfortunately I don't know the exact date, but it is sometime around summer 1979. The photo was taken from the fence that bordered the car park, roughly where the shed stood. The train stands in platfrom 4, on the Up Slow, underneath the lattice work iron bridge which acts as a footpath connecting Linslade. Parts of this bridge date back to the 1880's at least, and possibly earlier. The decks were raised in the 1960's to provide clearance for the OHL, then being put up. Some of the bridge decks came from Sears Crossing, a couple of miles south, and very close to where Mr Biggs and his thugs did their job in 1963. The columns supporting it were cast by ISCA Foundry, Newport, who were responsible for many large railway castings such as water cranes, and are probably the only surviving original parts of the bridge, and date from when the railway was widened to 4 tracks in the 1880's, if not earlier. The bridge is currently (2019) closed due to corroded ironwork, and is believed to be not long for this world. Just look at those cars! Most are classics now, but I doubt if more than a handful have survived. UPDATE The bridge was condemned, and came down in May 2019. A little piece of local history, and a bit of a landmark, but it was in such poor condition that it had to go. 2nd January 1979, 25 178 is seen stabled on Bletchley TMD. There had been a very cold snap, with a fair amount of snow, and there had been problems with class 310 EMUs icing up. Dad went to Bletchley to have a look at some units stabled there, and took me with him. A pair of 25's hustle the Forders Sidings-Kings Cross fletliner, the "brickies", through Leighton Buzzard. With around 1200 tons of bricks in tow, the 25's will be working hard all the way from gaining the main line at Bletchley, to Tring summit. They would pass LB at around 7.20pm, doing between 50 & 60mph, and making a good racket. On occasion, there would be sparks & flames coming from the exhausts. The empty space in the foreground are the old Dunstable branch platforms. Edited December 27, 2022 by rodent279 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Davexoc Posted January 7, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 7, 2019 Keeping with the Leighton Buzzard theme, a couple more Dave 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold rodent279 Posted January 7, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 7, 2019 Keeping with the Leighton Buzzard theme, a couple more 25xxx.JPG 25312.JPG Dave First one looks like 076, on the Tring cements. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold rodent279 Posted January 7, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 7, 2019 (edited) Here's 25191 again, this time at Grosmont on 23/04/1988, during the NYMR diesel gala weekend, wearing a nice scruffy shade of genuine BR blue. The loco had been on the NYMR for a few months, and remained almost continually in traffic until stopped in 2000. It was stored in the headshunt at the end of Grosmont MPD, and barely turned a wheel until moving to the SDR at Buckfastleigh in about 2015. It is currently being restored, and hopefully isn't far off returning to service. I wonder what the two chaps at left are saying? Edited January 7, 2019 by rodent279 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdseyecircus Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 25266 & 278 at Carlisle. 3 May 86. Paul 14 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 Cracking idea for a thread! Got a few Rat pics I've gathered over the years, some mine, some from other snappers... Photographer unknown with this one, but a nice angle... Photo by Alan Bayliss, Wednesbury Town in March '74... One of my grainy Kodak instamatic efforts, 25 136 takes rest at Nuneaton in December '82... Photographer unknown, 25 258 at Banbury in February '83... Photographer unknown, 25 005 at Carstairs in '78... Photographer unknown, 25 069 at Stafford during the 'Winter of discontent', 22nd January 1979... 17 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted January 8, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 8, 2019 I can’t see much evidence in these photos of the beige fibreglass semi-translucent roofs that seem to be omnipresent on models nowadays, and from memory they were blue (at least during the last 10 years of 25s being around, which is what I can remember). Just to double-check, does anyone have any good shots from above, especially when nearly ex-works. Were the roofs painted? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 The 'Yorkie Pudding' railtour at Derby on 4th April 1983, an epic day out with several changes of traction... A Grahame Wareham shot of D7534 at Euston in 1970... Photos c/o Craig Donald : two pre-Tops blue Rats at Northampton on a foggy day in 1973... A pair of Rats heading down to Northampton Bridge Street in 1973... A pair of Rats on a diverted working near Boughton Crossing on the Northampton - Market Harborough line c.1974... 19 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post eastwestdivide Posted January 8, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted January 8, 2019 Haven't found all that many for some reason (indexing problem I suspect), but here are some interesting ones I hope, all from about 1983-85: A late headcode survivor on Leicester depot: Rescuing a Peak at Leicester: Trundling through Trowell Junction: Running round an Aberystwyth train I think, at Shrewsbury: Parked up at Banbury: Binliner through Manchester: Light engine through March, a few miles from their LM stronghold: Seems like they mostly come out to play only when the weather's dull! 20 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Rugd1022 Posted January 8, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted January 8, 2019 (edited) Hands up anyone who loved them in their day but somehow still took them for granted! More from the archives, snappers unknown... The very first loco I ever drove as a wet behind the ears Secondman, 25 051... 25 036 in 'economy green' at Longsight, c.1974 I suspect... 5226 on the now lifted Bescot Up Reception Sidings in the early '70s... D5228 in 'economy green' at Crewe Diesel c.1970... Taking an early evening rest in the south end bays at Rugby in May '83... Time for a quick pose at Marton Junction on the Rugby - Southam Cement Works (aka Long Itchington) tripper, 1982... 25 057 in the south end bays at Rugby... Edited January 8, 2019 by Rugd1022 26 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcanman Posted January 8, 2019 Author Share Posted January 8, 2019 (edited) Thanks to everyone for the enthusiastic response to this thread. Some great photos and comments. It's good to see that the 25s are still popular with modellers and enthusiasts. Looking at all the photos made me think that I couldn't imagine a 25 painted in any of the later liveries that other BR locos received. For such a numerous class, 25s were not a common sight in the North East in the 1980s, however, a trip to Carlisle would usually produce a sighting or two. 25059 25202 Edited January 8, 2019 by Alcanman 16 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium iands Posted January 8, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 8, 2019 Hands up anyone who loved them in their day but somehow still took them for granted! More from the archives, snappers unknown... The very first loco I ever drove as a wet behind the ears Secondman, 25 051... 25 051 Thornaby 16th January 1982.jpg 25 036 in 'economy green' at Longsight, c.1974 I suspect... 25 036 Longsight GFYE.jpg 5226 on the now lifted Bescot Up Reception Sidings in the early '70s... D5226 Bescot Up Receptions.jpg D5228 in 'economy green' at Crewe Diesel c.1970... D5228 Crewe Diesel.jpg Taking an early evening rest in the south end bays at Rugby in May '83... RY Rats 323 & 308 290583.jpg Time for a quick pose at Marton Junction on the Rugby - Southam Cement Works (aka Long Itchington) tripper, 1982... RY Southam Branch Marton Junction 25.jpg 25 057 in the south end bays at Rugby... RY 25 057 Rugby Midland South End.jpg Re 25051 and your first drive, I assume you weren't responsible for providing the modification to the cab side? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Phil Bullock Posted January 8, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 8, 2019 There were always plenty at Warrington - 25323 and a another - salt traffic off Winsford perhaps? I know the exposure aint great but I love the background to this shot Phil 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now