D5297, 5297, 25147
D5297, 5297, 25147


Photograph collection of webmaster
A fine portrait of 25147 at Springs Branch, probably in 1977 or early 1978.

The fifteen year six month career of D5297/25147 included allocations to many London Midland Region depots.

Built: BR Derby Locomotive Works.
Boiler room grilles sheeted over (1978).
Time between last Classified repair and withdrawal: 24 months.
Time between withdrawal and scrapping: 5 months.

Allocations

D5297 was new to Toton (16A) on September 18th 1964. Further transfers were:

September 1964 to Derby (16C).
October 1964 to Nottingham (16D).
January 1965 to Nottingham Division (D16).
September 1967 to London Midland (Midland) Lines.
June 1968 to Nottingham Division (D16).
July 1969 to Preston Division (D10).
May 1973 to Kingmoor.
September 1973 to Bescot.
December 1973 to Longsight.
January 1974 to Kingmoor.
March 1974 to Longsight
October 1976 to Crewe.
May 1977 to Springs Branch.
August 1977 to Bescot.
January 1980 to Kingmoor.
Withdrawn March 30th 1980.

Renumbered March 18th 1974.

25147 was the 28th Class 25 to be withdrawn, one of three retired during March 1980. 25147 had sustained minor scrape damage to the driver's side No.1 end cab and bodyside.

After withdrawal 25147 was stored at Toton until moved to Swindon Works on June 20th 1980 and had been scrapped by the second week of September 1980.

Works Visits

Works visits (records incomplete).

Noted Derby Works July 1966.
Noted Derby Works August 1973.
Noted Derby Works March 1978 (boiler room grills sheeted over, full repaint).
Noted Derby Works December 1979 (N6 repairs).

Highlights

1969
Condition September: two-tone green livery with full yellow ends, no blanking plates, hand/footholds plated over, considerable bodyside staining in radiator area, straight sided sandboxes, three-rung bogie mounted footsteps.

1970
5297 was north of the border on August 21st 1970 & September 23rd 1970 working the Stirling - Newton Abbot motorail service to Carlisle with 5187 (Aug 21st) and 5193 (Sept 23rd).

1971
On July 1st 5297 was noted at Crewe with a wiring train.

1972
Condition April: two-tone green livery with full yellow ends, no blanking plates, considerable bodyside staining in radiator area.

1973
On August 10th 1973 a relief Euston - Glasgow Central was worked north of Preston to Glasgow Central by 5297 & 5223, happy days!!

1974


Photograph collection of webmaster
5297 with an engineers train, believed to be during the spring of 1974. The location is not recorded but may be at Stenson Lock on the Stenson Junction - Trent Junction freight only line.

During March 1974 25147 was transferred to Longsight, allowing on June 22nd 1974 for its use on the 09.19 Manchester Piccadilly - Yarmouth as far as Lincoln Central with 25327 which was removed at Sheffield and the return 09.15 Yarmouth - Manchester Piccadilly alone from Lincoln Central. The same diagram was handled on September 7th 1974 with 25061. The same diagram was worked on July 5th 1975 with 25248.

On the evening of May 2nd 25147 was at Leeds to take up a parcels working.

Condition September: No.1 cab 2nd man's side suffered minor collision damage: corner valencing missing, new cabside window frame, creased corner cabsheeting, blue/yellow paint touched up from top to bottom of corner.

At about 5pm on September 10th 25147 was noted at Preston with a down freight.

On December 19th 25235 & 25147 were noted at Manchester Victoria with the 6J63. On December 20th 25147 was noted at Manchester Victoria.

1975
On January 20th 25147 was noted passing Windsor Bridge (Manchester).

On February 12th 25147 was noted at Manchester Victoria. On Sunday February 16th three pairs of Type 2s as light engines were noted pasing through Manchester Victoria: 25318 + 25147, 24021 + 24027 and 24020 + 24026, all presumed to/from permanent way duties.

At about 6pm on March 3rd 25147 was noted at Manchester Victoria with an up freight.

On May 15th 25147 was noted at Manchester Victoria.

On July 5th 25147 & 25248 worked the 09.19 Manchester Piccadilly - Yarmouth as far as Lincoln Central, returning with the 09.15 Yarmouth - Manchester Piccadilly.

On November 1st the diesel multiple unit working the 07.45 Manchester Piccadilly - Buxton required assistance forward from Whaley Bridge because of poor adhesion due to leaves on the line.

1976
With 25147 still at Longsight it again worked the 09.20 Manchester Piccadilly - Yarmouth to Lincoln Central, and the return 09.15 Yarmouth - Manchester Piccadilly on August 21st with 25150.

On the morning of August 28th 25147 & 25185 were noted light engines at Manchester Victoria.

1977
On the afternoon of June 21st 25147, 25205 & 25315 were stabled at Guide Bridge.

Condition August: blue/yellow livery, blanking plates fitted, hand/footholds plated over, three-rung bogie mounted footsteps, straight sided sandboxes at No.1 end, ridge sided sandboxes No.2 end.

By the summer of 1977 25147 was now at Bescot providing it with a differing mix of passenger workings. On August 18th 25147 worked the 16.00 Crewe - Cardiff.

1978
During March 25147 received a repair (classified?) at Derby Locomotive Works, this included the sheeting over of the boiler room grilles and a full repaint.

On March 30th 25147 made a test run from Derby Works.

The snag sheet for March 30th recorded:

25147; March 30th 1978; 1C49
Load Speed Amps Volts Notes Other
1 27 900 - - -
2 35 900 - - -
3 41 925 - - -
4 50 925 - - -
5 61 - - - -
6 67 1,000 - - -

No.1 cab driver's side door difficult to shut
F/F filter flexible pipe leak
Paint to complete
No.2 AWS unserviceable
Nos.1, 3 & 5 Bicera valve leak
A side crankcase door securing screw leak
No.5 fuel pump blowing fuel
No.2 cab driver's side window loose
No.1 cab floor 2nd man's side loose near door
No.1 controller key
Divert sequence issue.

On April 21st 25147 was noted at Norwich.

On May 29th 25147 was stabled at Stourbridge Junction with several other Class 25s.

During the summer of 1978 a mixture of passenger workings took place. On June 10th 1978 25147 & 25143 worked the 04.15 Shrewsbury - Aberystwyth and the 10.07 Aberystwyth - Euston to Wolverhampton. On June 24th 1978 & July 8th 1978 the 10.40 Euston - Aberystwyth from Wolverhampton and the 16.10 Aberystwyth - Shrewsbury were worked, with 25151 (Jun 24th) and 25261 (Jul 8th).

On July 2nd 25147 was stabled at Wolverhampton.

The week of August 12th - 15th was quite busy for 25147 & 25132. On August 12th they worked the 08.00 Walsall - Yarmouth to Norwich, returning with the 14.15 Yarmouth - Derby from Norwich. The followed three Leicester - Skegness roundtrips on August 13th/14th/15th.

25147 was receiving attention at Bescot on September 20th.

On October 10th 25147 was noted at Bescot with a mixed freight.

1979
On March 2nd 25147 was noted at Wolverhampton.

On March 7th 25147 was noted passing through Oxford with four loaded coal wagons and a brake van.

25147 was noted inside Crewe Diesel depot on April 22nd.

On May 12th 25147 was noted passing through Chester with a short engineers train.


25147 at Crewe on May 13th 1979.

25147 was back on the Cambrian line on the weekend of July 28th/29th with 25040 working the 28th's 04.15 Shrewsbury - Aberystwyth and the 10.09 Aberystwyth - Euston to Wolverhampton (also reported as 25157 this day) and the 29th's 08.45 Birmingham New Street - Barmouth and 17.45 Barmouth - Euston to Wolverhampton. On the return 25040 failed at Machynlleth and was removed, 25147 went ahead alone with eleven coaches, more happy days!!

The next weekend saw 25147 & 25253 work the August 4th's 04.15 Shrewsbury - Aberystwyth and the 10.09 Aberystwyth - Euston to Wolverhampton. The F&W 'Cambrian Coast Express' railtour from Exeter - Pwllheli on August 26th was worked by 25147 & 25188 roundtrip from/to Birmingham New Street - Pwllheli, a total of 322 miles.

The final passenger workings for 25147 took place on September 1st with 25032 on the 10.10 Euston - Aberystwyth from Birmingham New Street and the 16.10 Aberystwyth - Shrewsbury. On the afternoon of September 28th 25147 was noted at Saltley.

During the early afternoon of November 5th 25147 was passing Washwood Heath with a freight.

1980
The continuing shortage of locomotives, partly caused by a backlog of repairs at the main workshops, led to Swindon Works receiving unclassified repairs for locomotive types it had not dealt with before. On March 9th collision damaged 31124 & 31154 were moved from Doncaster to Swindon. Likewise 25191 and 25236 were also received for repairs. During March approximately six hundred locomotives were awaiting attention of which only one third (about 160) were out of traffic for scheduled repair. For the Class 25s fifty eight were laid up, the Class 31s had thirty out of traffic, whilst for the Class 47s one out of every five machines was awaiting some sort of attention. Eight Class 25s had been out of traffic for at least three months (25035/42, 25113/147/177/191, 25234/252), obviously the aforementioned move of 25191 to Swindon was a start in repairing these bad ordered machines. To provide Swindon with a source of spares 25111/147/252 were withdrawn during March and consigned there (25111 was the first to arrive on May 6th), interestingly two of these machines were in the batch long overdue for repairs. By month end 25188, 25218/221 had also been received by Swindon for repairs. 25218 had received a crushed cab in a shunting incident at Stonebridge Park on March 19th. Having broken up a vast number of hydraulics and Class 24s and with just 08006 & 08087 present for cutting a new chapter was about to begin with the arrival of these three condemned Type 2s. Unfortunately the plan for Swindon’s newly found repair work was affected by the worsening economy causing a nationwide cutbacks in repairs, with the existing repair shops unwilling to hand off a diminishing workload, especially now as some of BR’s own depots were now carrying out more substantial repairs than previously.

25147 was noted at Toton on February 23rd.

25147 was withdrawn on March 30th.

25147 was noted at Toton depot on April 26th in scruffy condition, partly dismantled and labelled 'Tyseley to Derby Works 26/11/79'. Present next to 25147 was withdrawn 25252.

Not all known passenger workings are recorded on this page.

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flk 0721 (1)

Page added August 16th 2013.
Last updated July 22nd 2022.

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