D5269, 5269, 25119
D5269, 5269, 25119


25119 at Buxton on March 11th 1979. Within a matter of days 25119 would be at Derby Works for its last Classified repair.

The twenty one year career of D5269/25119 was spent allocated to a variety of London Midland Region depots.

Built: BR Derby Locomotive Works.
Boiler room grilles sheeted over (1979).
Final exhaust roof panel: raised, square.
Last Class 25 allocated to Toton Depot.
Time between last Classified repair and withdrawal: 72 months.
Time between withdrawal and scrapping: 13 months.

Allocations

D5269 was new to Nottingham (16A) on May 6th 1964. Further transfers were:

May 1964 to Wellingborough (15B).
September 1964 to Nottingham (16A).
January 1965 to Nottingham Division (D16).
October 1965 to Leicester Division (D15).
August 1967 to Nottingham Division (D16).
March 1972 to Manchester Division (D09).
May 1973 to Longsight.
October 1975 to Kingmoor.
November 1980 to Toton.
November 1983 to Crewe.
Withdrawn June 14th 1985.

Renumbered February 9th 1974.

25119 was the 247th Class 25 withdrawn, one of seven retired during June 1985.

When withdrawn on June 14th 1985, 25119 was retired with 25195 & 25302, all were vacuum braked, leaving 25042, 25080 & 25524 as the only vacuum braked Class 25s in service.

After withdrawal 25119 was stored at Basford Hall Yard until moved to Doncaster Works on April 16th 1986 with 25044, 25226/245 as the 9Z34 Crewe – Warrington - Doncaster Works. 25119 was scrapped here by the middle of July 1986.


Photograph courtesy Ian Hammond.
The remains of one of the cabs from 25119 at Doncaster Works on July 13th 1986.

Works Visits

Works visits (records incomplete).

Noted Derby Works October 1975.
Noted Derby Works August 1978.
Noted Derby Works March 1979 - May 1979 (Intermediate repair).

Highlights

1965
On May 22nd D5269 & 8F No.48362 were noted at New Mills with the 8K14 Derby St Mary's - Glazebrook iron ore train.

1968
Noted August 1968 in two-tone green livery with freshly painted full yellow cab fronts and red bufferbeams.

On the afternoon of December 7th 5269 was northbound at Trent with a ballast train.

1969
D5269/25119 acquired a modest selection of recorded passenger workings. One of its earliest workings was on July 19th 1969 working the roundtrip Nottingham - Llandudno Town summer dated service with 7532.

1972
5269 was the Manchester Victoria banker (T43) on June 2nd.

5269 was the Manchester Victoria banker (T43) on May 1st, 4th, 5th & 10th.

At about 6pm on August 22nd 5269 was noted passing Miles Platting with an up freight (9T86).

1973
5269 was the Manchester Victoria banker (T43) on February 18th.

5269 was the Manchester Victoria banker (T43) on March 19th & 20th.

At about 6pm on April 17th 5269 was noted at Manchester Exchange waiting to work the 4P05 van train.

A lengthy trip took place on June 24th with 5269 & 5231 working a Burton on Trent - Yarmouth day excursion, assumed out and back, for at least 350 miles total.

At about 7.30am on July 20th 5269 was noted passing Earlestown on a down freight. 5269 was the Manchester Victoria banker (T42) on July 30th & 31st.

5269 was the Manchester Victoria banker (T42) on August 1st, 2nd & 6th. At about 6pm on August 7th & 8th 5269 was noted at Manchester Exchange waiting to work the 4P05 van train.

5269 was the Manchester Victoria banker (T42) on September 3rd & 4th. At about 6pm on September 6th 5269 was noted at Manchester Exchange with a down van train (4P05).

1974
Perhaps because of the continuing ASLEF dispute 5022 & 5269 were unusual visitors at Featherstone, noted heading east on January 10th with a coal train.

1975
On January 22nd 25119 was noted at Manchester Victoria with the 4A20. On January 23rd & 26th 25119 was noted at Manchester Victoria.

At about 6pm on February 24th 25119 was noted passing Manchester Victoria with an up freight.

On the morning of May 12th 24022, 25119 & 25262 were stabled at Guide Bridge.

On the morning of June 26th 25119 was noted at Manchester Victoria.

1976
25052, 25060 & 25119 were noted at Gloucester on March 26th.

1977
Between 1973 & 1981 only one passenger working has so far been noted, on March 30th 1977 a diesel multiple unit failure found 25119 assisting the 14.51 Carlisle - Newcastle.

On the afternoon of July 23rd 25119 was noted at Reddish depot on the wheel lathe.

On October 29th 25119 was stabled at Workington station.

1978
On the evening of January 7th 25112 & 25119 were stabled at Bristol Bath Road.

On the morning of October 14th 25119 was noted at New Mills Junction with hoppers.

1979
On May 19th ex-works 25119 with 45136 was noted on an empty Nottingham - London newspaper vans working, the Class 25 working to Leicester, this working being reported as used for testing ex-works locomotives. On the evening of May 23rd 25119 was noted at Golbourne Junction with a down van train.

At midday on July 18th 25073 & 25119 were noted southbound at Ely with a stone train.

On September 6th 25119 was noted at Oxford with a freight train.

1980
On June 5th 25119 was noted shunting sleeper coaches at Barrow in Furness.

On the morning of July 4th 25119 was north of York with a trip freight.

On the morning of November 28th 25119 was stabled at York.

1981
On January 24th 25119 was noted with a van train at Nottingham station.

On the evening of March 2nd & 3rd 25119 was stabled at York.

At about 11.30am on March 5th 25107 & 25119 were southbound at Settle Junction with a mixed freight for the Leeds area.

On the morning of April 14th 25119 was the Manchester Victoria banker.

On the morning of June 2nd 25119 was noted at Chester on a permanent way train. On June 5th 25119 was noted running southbound light engine near Griseburn (S&C).

On July 3rd 25119 was noted southbound at Derby with a freight. 1981 brought a couple of weekends of activity. On July 11th 25119 & 25164 worked the 10.10 Euston - Aberystwyth forward from Birmingham New Street, returning with the 18.00 Aberystwyth - Wolverhampton. On this trip 25164 failed and was removed from the train along with several coaches. The next weekend (July 18th) 25118 & 25130 worked the 07.40 Euston - Aberystwyth forward from Wolverhampton, returning with the 16.05 to Wolverhampton. The final passenger working for 25119 during 1981 was perhaps its longest day out, on August 9th with 25144 it worked a Marylebone - Llandudno Town roundtrip day excursion, a total of 466 miles.


Photograph courtesy J Davenport.
A fine view of 25119 as it heads eastwards with a track train at Ordsall Lane on October 4th 1981. Just out of sight to the left was the location of Manchester Exchange station.

On a snowy December 18th 25119 was noted running light through Sheffield Midland.

1982
On January 7th 25119 was stabled at Saltley.

25119 was stabled at Cockshute on February 14th.

1982 brought an odd mix of workings. On March 23rd 25119 worked the 15.42 Manchester Victoria - Bangor as far as Chester where 47535 took over. On the afternoon of March 24th 25119 was noted shunting ballast wagons at Chester.

July 3rd saw the 22.22 Preston - Barrow worked by 25119 as was the 11.15 Barrow - Liverpool on July 19th. On July 31st 25119 was noted shunting engineers wagons at Acton Main line.

On September 5th 25119 worked the 02.35 Euston - Bletchley. On the evening of September 28th 25119 was stabled at Manchester Victoria.


Photograph courtesy Tony Sayer.
The last Class 25 to remain on allocation at Toton was 25119, seen here on November 13th 1982. Within a matter of days 25119 would move to Crewe.

On a snowy December 14th 25119 & 25262 were noted light engines at Crewe station.

1983
On May 28th 25119 was noted eastbound through Manchester Victoria with a lengthy train of vans headed for Red Bank sidings.

25119 was back on the WCML on June 9th working the 10.25 Bletchley - Euston, deputising for an electric multiple unit using hauled coaching stock.

On July 29th 25119 worked the Tasker Street, Walsall - Bayston Hill Quarry ballast empties. On July 30th 25119 & 25202 worked the 07.35 Euston - Aberystwyth forward from Wolverhampton, returning with the 14.00 to Shrewsbury, unfortunately 25119 failed at Machynlleth and was replaced by 25249.

25119 was noted dragging brand new 58001 through Derby, no date but maybe very late in 1983 or early 1984.

On August 19th 25119 was noted at Church Stretton with a Bristol bound parcels train.

On September 3rd 25119 & 25234 worked the 07.35 Euston - Aberystwyth forward from Sutton Bridge Junction, returning with the 14.00 Aberystwyth - Rugby to Wolverhampton, the train having been extended because of delays. On September 7th 25119 worked the 7F27 Blodwell Junction Quarry - St Helens Civil Engineers Service of ten Sealions loaded with new ballast. On September 15th 25119 was noted eastbound at Manchester Victoria with a parcels train.

With the transfer of 25119 from Toton to Crewe in November the long association of this depot and the Class 25’s came to an end. It had been twenty years earlier in April 1963 that D5183 (25033) brought the first of the Class 25s to Toton.

On November 29th 25119 was noted at Crewe with a lengthy train of parcels vans.


Photograph courtesy Melvin Thorley.
25119 heads west towards Cheadle Heath with a loaded Tunstead - Northwich ICI limestone train, date unknown. The footbridge in the background was known as "Monkey Bridge No.1". Of this location Mel writes: regarding "The Monkey" - the story goes back to a chap who opened the zoo at Belle Vue. He lived in a big house "The Monkey House" near Edgeley Junction. The roadbridge on Stockholm Road over the Chester line became known as "The Monkey Bridge" as did the one over the Crewe line, followed by the footbridge further down the Chester, then the adjacent one over the link line. Then the two two lattice girder bridges over the Midland copped for it. What happened was that every spotting place became a "Monkey Bridge". However, the two over the Chester / Link and the Midland did acquire the suffixes of '1' and '2'.

The original 'Crossbridges' spotting place was our answer to Tamworth. It was the only place where the St.Pancras and the Euston saw each other in 180 miles. A survey was done using the 1959 shed book and found that any one of 2,500 steam and diesel locomotives might appear.

However, by then, we had been booted off the site by house builders. We went down The Midland to "Monkey Bridge No.1" and used binoculars to check the numbers on the top line, the Crewe / Stoke. At its height, the bridge had 34 regular spotters, all with nicknames. The leader was The Ted, known as 'Quiff'. It was unbelievable the antics we got up to.....running alongside the empty hoppers to pinch a card from the clip. Adswood Sidings blocks were at right angles to the land between Crossbridges and Monkey One. Sometimes we would have a party in a brakevan if there was one on the end of a road.

1984
On the evening of April 27th 25119 was noted southbound over the Settle & Carlisle with a ten coach Glasgow - Leeds empty coaching stock working. On the evening of April 28th 25119 was noted at York in charge of the evening mails to Shrewsbury.

On May 12th 25119 was noted at Longsight depot.

1984 also brought an odd mixture of workings. On June 7th 25119 assisted the 15.10 Glasgow Central - Euston between Lancaster & Preston because of overhead line damage at Bay Horse.

On July 3rd 25119 worked the 3H01 Bolton - Manchester Mayfield parcels (at least ten vehicles). On July 24th 25119 worked the 09.20 Crewe - Lincoln Central as far as Derby due to a multiple unit failure.

On October 10th an excursion from Kirkham & Wesham utilised nine Mk1 coaches with 25119 and 47449 top'n tailing the working, which acted also as the 2P58 08.10 Blackpool South local service.

On October 11th 25119 worked the 17.20 Crewe - Derby due to a diesel multiple unit failure. Four days later (15th) 25119 worked the 15.48 Sheffield - Manchester Piccadilly. The last working for 1984 was a fill-in move to take stock to Blackpool South in the path of the 07.33 ex-Kirkham & Wesham in order to form a day excursion from Blackpool South hauled by 47447.

1985
As with many 'last' workings for the Class 25s, a failure was involved. In the case of 25119 it took place on January 28th assisting the 07.14 Manchester Piccadilly - Cardiff forward from Hereford after the Class 33 failed.

On a snowy February 14th 25119 was noted with a train load of coal hoppers at Shrewsbury on a driver training turn.

On February 25th 25119 was noted at Caldon Low quarry with wagons to be loaded with limestone. On February 27th 25119 was noted running light engine at Stoney Bridge, Timperley.

On March 22nd 25119 was noted at Crewe station with engineers wagons.

On April 7th 25119 was noted passing Madeley with a lengthy train of track panels, with 47066 on the rear. On April 11th 25119 was noted at St Devereue (Herefordshire) with a loaded continuously welded rail train and also at Severn Tunnel Junction.

On May 3rd 25119 worked the 17.25 Cardiff - Gloucester parcels. On May 22nd 25119 was noted at Warrington Bank Quay southbound with iron ore wagons.

25119 & 25190 were noted at Springs Branch depot on June 9th.

25119 was withdrawn on June 14th 1985.

Distinguishing Features
No.1 cab front: paint loss/rust in center of cabfront just above the valencing; September 1982 until withdrawn.
No.1 cab front: bracket missing (driver's side); September 1982 until withdrawn.
No.2 cab front: small amount of paint loss/rust on 2nd man's side around the electrification flash; (not present July 1983) February 1985 until withdrawn (electrification flash missing February 1985 but replaced by March 1985).

Noted with snowploughs: 12/81
Number panels saved from scrapping

25/2540
flk 0321

Notl all known passenger workings are recorded on this page.

Page added March 30th 2013.
Last updated April 27th 2023.

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