The twenty year four month career of D7539/25189 included allocations to a multitude of London Midland Region depots.
Built: BR Derby Locomotive Works.
Dual brake equipment fitted (March 1979).
Final exhaust roof panel: raised, square.
At withdrawal '7540' was showing through the paint on the No.2 cab.
Time between last Classified repair and withdrawal: 76 months.
Time between withdrawal and scrapping: 10 months.
Allocations
D7539 was new to Toton on March 27th 1965. Further transfers were:
May 1968 to Longsight (9A).
June 1968 to Manchester Division (D09).
October 1969 to London Division (D01).
January 1971 to Birmingham Division (D02).
July 1971 to Manchester Division (D09).
October 1971 to Liverpool Division (D08).
April 1972 to Birmingham Division (D02).
October 1972 to Manchester Division (D09).
December 1972 to Nottingham Division (D16).
May 1973 to Toton.
November 1973 to Bescot.
March 1974 to Willesden.
August 1974 to Longsight.
February 1976 to Cricklewood.
October 1976 to Toton.
April 1977 to Cricklewood.
January 1984 to Crewe.
Withdrawn July 12th 1985.
Renumbered February 23rd 1974.
25189 was the 253rd Class 25 withdrawn, one of two retired during July 1985.
After withdrawal 25189 was stored at Crewe Gresty Lane from October 1985 until January 1986 when it was moved (see details below) to Doncaster Works, and broken up there by the end of May 1986 although the cabs lingered until at least July 1986.
25060, 25189, 37004, 37203 moved as the 9Z34 10.30am Crewe Depot Doncaster Works, January 21st 1986 by 31134.
Works Visits
Works visits (records incomplete).
Noted Derby Works December 1966.
Noted Derby Works April - June 1973.
Noted Derby Works August 1978.
Noted Derby Works January - March 1979 (General repair and dual brake equipment fitted).
Highlights
1966
On the early afternoon of August 6th there were 54 locomotives on shed at Toton including (Classes 20/45/46/47 excluded):
12038, 12052
D3117, D3119
D5236, D5280, D7502, D7508, D7521, D7530, D7539, D7548, D7553, D7562, D7659
D5415
D4, D5, D6
78021 & 48272.
Noted at Nottingham shed on Sunday September 18th were D5208, D5261, D5262, D5282, D7534, D7539, D7540, D7548, D7574, D7593 & D7657.
1967
Stabled at Derby on the morning of April 18th were D5258, D7524, D7539 & D7550.
On May 27th D7539 was southbound at Derby with a freight train.
Condition May: two-tone green, small yellow ends, original engine exhaust location.
On the afternoon of June 1st D7539 was shunting at Derby.
On the afternoon of June 6th D7539 was northbound at Derby with a freight.
1968
On the morning of July 9th D7539 was noted passing Longsight with a down freight.
On July 25th D7539 was at Crewe with the 1P39 15.27 Euston - Heysham parcels.
On August 31st 7539 & 7677 worked the 09.35 Sheffield - Llandudno Town and 14.28 return.
1969
On August 16th 7539 & 7538 worked the 1E34 09.27 Manchester Piccadilly - Yarmouth to Sheffield returning from there with the 1M74 11.15 Yarmouth - Manchester Piccadilly.
The 19.05 St. Pancras - Sheffield required assistance on December 15th 1969 from 7539 between Napsbury and Sheffield after Class 47 No.1533 failed.
1971
7539 was the Manchester Victoria banker on August 2nd & 3rd.
7539 was the Manchester Victoria banker (T43) on September 8th.
1972
Condition July: two-tone green, full yellow ends.
On July 15th 7539 & 7671 worked the 1E91 07.35 Walsall - Yarmouth to Norwich, returning from there presumably with the 1M37 14.20 Yarmouth - Derby.
On August 28th was noted at Crewe, possibly with a service from Walsall.
On the evening of December 5th 7539 was noted light engine at York.
1973
On June 5th 7539 made a test run from Derby Works.
The snag sheet for June 5th recorded:
| 7539; June 5th 1973; time ?? | |||||
| Load | Speed | Amps | Volts | Notes | Other |
| 1 | 29 | 960 | - | - | - | 2 | 34 | 950 | - | - | - | 3 | 41 | 960 | - | - | - | 4 | 49 | 960 | - | - | OVR in out on 4th | 5 | 62 | 1,000 | - | - | - | 6 | 69 | 990 | - | - | - |
| Load | Speed | Amps | Volts | Notes | Other |
| 1 | 27 | 900 | - | - | - | 2 | 35 | 900 | - | - | - | 3 | 42 | 940 | - | - | - | 4 | 49 | 960 | - | - | - | 5 | 61 | 990 | - | - | - | 6 | 64 | 1,000 | - | - | - |
No.1 speedometer
Engine governor top
No.1 rocker cover seal leaking bad
Oil pipe flange to overflow valve needs attention
On the morning of June 13th 7539 was stabled at York.
On July 7th the 07.35 Nottingham - Llandudno Town and the 13.55 Llandudno Town - Nottingham was worked by 7539 at least from/to Derby.
On July 23rd 7539 and a freight train (8E09) were northbound at Saltley.
The Nottingham - Llandudno on August 25th was worked by 7619 & 7539, the return working utilised on 7539, with 7619 being failed before departure.
1974
At about 9am on September 9th 25189 was noted at Miles Platting on a down freight.
1975
25189 was noted at Manchester Victoria on February 16th.
On May 31st 25189 was southbound at Lickey incline with a train of Presflos (6Z26).
On June 19th 25189 worked the 05.07 Leeds City - Manchester Victoria vans (4M03).
At about 7am on July 14th 25189 was noted passing Manchester Victoria on a down freight.
On August 22nd 25189 worked the 05.07 Leeds City - Manchester Victoria vans. The 09.20 Manchester Piccadilly - Yarmouth on August 23rd was worked to Lincoln Central by 25189 & 25141, returning from there with the 09.30 Yarmouth - Manchester Piccadilly.
On the morning of September 4th 25189 was eastbound at Guide Bridge with a trip freight.
1976
On the morning of January 31st 25189 & 25325 were stabled at Saltley.
The Heaton - Red Bank empty vans were worked by 25189 on December 10th.
1977
At about 2.30pm on January 12th 25189 was noted at Exeter stabling point. This was a day of extreme cold which may have been responsible for many of the day's late running services through Exeter.
On May 17th 25189 was noted at Rugby.
1978
On Monday April 10th 25189 worked the 09.55 Willesden to Norwood, returning with the 12.10 Norwood to Willesden.
25189 was stabled at Cricklewood on June 27th.
1979
On the morning of March 21st 25189 was noted at St Pancras.
On the morning of March 31st 25189 & 25210 were noted at Bedford.
On the morning of April 13th Midland main line observations included:
25145 & 25189 Cambridge Street
25089/25208/25302/25307 Cricklewood
25310/25311 Bedford shed
25214/25309 Leicester shed
25267 Loughborough yard
Observations on the Midland main line on the afternoon of April 25th included:
Cambridge Street (14.55) 25237
Cricklewood (15.00) 25310
St Albans (15.10) 25205 permanent way train and 25210 with another permanent way train
Luton (15.20) 25311 light engine, 25189 northbound goods and 25183 stabled at Luton 1520
Bedford shed (15.40) 25245 stabled
Wellingborough (15.55) 25177 stabled
Kettering (16.00) 25118 northbound goods
Leicester (16.25) 25134 southbound steel.
The daily Northampton - Three Spires freight was hauled by 25189 & 25257 on June 7th & 8th.
On the morning of June 25th 25071, 25088, 25177 & 25189 were noted at Bedford.
On July 28th 25182 & 25189 were noted near Copenhagen tunnels with a loaded brick train.
Engineering work on July 29th saw the 11.40 Euston - Wolverhampton dragged between Bletchley & Northampton by 25189 & 25182.
On August 5th the 11.33 Rugby - Euston with 310085 was assisted by 25189 between Northampton & Bletchley.
On the morning of August 18th noted at Bletchley were 25051, 25095, 25178, 25189 & 25316.
On the early afternoon of September 17th 25189 was noted at Boxmoor (WCML) on a down freight.
The LVRC 'The Venerable Bede' railtour on October 6th was worked between Watford Junction & Newcastle by 25189 & 25236. The railtour got off to a poor start awaiting a guard at Stonebridge Park. The ECML was used from Wood Green to Northallerton then via Eaglescliffe & Stockton to Washington, Pelaw & Newcastle. From here the circular route was Wallsend - Percy Main - Earsdon - Newsham South - Bedlington North - Hepscott - Morpeth & Newcastle. By this time the charter was over ninety minutes late with the Class 25s now replaced by 31156 & 31209 for the run to Carlisle. Many participants took the option of returning south via an ECML HST.
At 5pm on November 4th noted at Gloucester shed were 20155, 25189, 31260, 47188 & 47244.
1980
A Stoke-on-Trent - Norwood Junction football special was worked throughout (?) on February 9th by 25189 & 25222, a total of 310 miles.
There was a multitude of Class 25s in the area of Bushey & Oxhey station from February 17th onwards following the dramatic derailment there of the 16th s 20.25 Euston - Manchester due to a track defect. The locomotive 87007 was the only portion of the train to remain on the tracks, four of the MkIII coaches ended up on their sides, with one (M12162) bringing down the overhead gantries, which blocked the slow lines. Most fortunately there were only minor injuries. Three breakdown cranes attended, from Bescot, Finsbury Park - brought in by 25279 & 25256, and Old Oak Common - arrived behind 25152 & 25189. The slow lines were reopened late on the 17th, the DC lines late on the 19th, the fast lines by the 25th. Spoil trains used 25222 & 25243 and 25130 & 25173, this first pair returned with track panels on 21st, followed by 25256 on the re-wiring train.
On the late morning of April 3rd (Maundy Thursday) 25189 was noted with an electrification train on the up slow working in section near Luton Hoo.
The continuing shortage of electric locomotives led to the novel use of pairs of Cricklewood's Class 25s on a portion of the heavy Kensington Olympia - Stirling Motorail service. 25180 & 25190 handled the down working on June 2nd 1980, 25189 & 25054 up on 3rd, the latter pair were also used the following night. They worked as far as Crewe, coming south with the 23.40 ex-Stirling. 25189, recently mentioned on the Motorail services, had by the 9th reached the Middlesborough area on local workings, before retiring for a couple of days to Gateshead for repairs. It would appear that 25189 left the North East on June 12th working the 6M79 16.55 Gateshead TCFD - Bescot Speedlink.
1981
25189 was noted at Euston on January 24th.
On February 5th 25189 worked the 6E33 Pitstone - Kings Cross cement tanks.
On March 14th 25189 was stabled at Toton.
25189 was noted shunting coaching stock at Euston on April 24th.
On the late afternoon of June 11th 25152 & 25189 were noted at Cricklewood.
On June 11th the 07.40 Bedford - St. Pancras was worked by 25189.
Noted at Cricklewood on the late afternoon of June 18th were 25139, 25154, 25189 & 33065.
On the afternoon of June 30th 25189 was noted at Luton.
On August 15th 25189 & 25178 were busy on the Kensington Olympia - Willesden motorails.
On September 8th an eastbound merry-go-round train was noted at Stalybridge with 25189 & 56022, presumably an empty working. 25189 was noted light engine at Derby on September 23rd.
On the evening of September 23rd 25051, 25129, 25189 & 25309 were stabled at Cricklewood.
On the morning of October 9th 25189 was stabled at York.
On November 22nd 25189 & 25196 were noted at Leighton Buzzard with an engineers train.
1982
On January 14th 25189 was stabled at Chester.
On May 31st, the day of the Pope's visit to the north-west 25189 worked the 08.10 Blackpool North - Manchester Victoria forward from Preston after 40052 failed having run out of fuel. 25189 continued on with the 11.45 Manchester Victoria - Blackpool North, the 14.10 Blackpool North - Manchester Victoria, the 17.15 Manchester Victoria - Blackpool North and the 19.40 Blackpool North - Manchester Victoria.
On June 2nd 25189 was noted passing Wigan Springs Branch hauling three ex-works Merseyrail coaches.
25189 & 25060 worked the early morning Toton - Acton freight on August 12th.
On August 26th 25189 was at Souldrop with empty ballast wagons.
On September 8th the ten coach 14.07? Derby - Plymouth was worked to Bristol Temple Meads by 25189 following the failure of an HST further north, having completed the journey the Class 25 then retired to Bath Road depot.
Blea Moor was a poor place for 47455 to fail whilst working a charter on October 30th. The train had stopped to detach pilot 31115 (from Hellifield), but was unable to restart, ninety minutes passed until 25189 & 25176 arrived taking the train on to Culgaith, where they were replaced by 37048 for the run to Carlisle.
1983
On February 18th 25189 was noted at Leicester with UKF bogie fertilizer vans, presumably headed for Ince, Cheshire.
25189 was stabled at Cockshute on April 12th. On April 21st 25189 worked the 8E15 10.10 Croft - Whitemoor ballast, the 14.25 Whitemoor - Peterborough West Yard and the 8P08 17.52 return to Whitemoor, then stabling at March depot.
On the afternoon of May 21st 25189 was the Euston parcels pilot.
On June 21st 25189 & 25076 worked the 4E78 19.44 Forders - Kings Cross Goods 'fletliner' bricktrain.
On July 26th 25189 was noted at Winwick Junction with a mixed freight.
25189 was noted westbound at Timperley with loaded ICI PHV hoppers on July 29th.
On August 10th 25185 & 25189 were noted northbound at Greenholme (WCML) with a salt special for Scotland. On August 14th 25189 was stabled at Inverness. 25189 was north of the border on August 16th working the 07.30 Glasgow Central - Carlisle. On August 20th 25189 was noted at Shrewsbury with a freight train.
25189 was stabled at Shrewsbury on September 24th.
On October 15th 25189 was southbound at Warrington Bank Quay with ICI sodium tanks.
25189 was stabled at Llandudno Junction on December 29th.
1984
On February 2nd due to a diesel multiple unit failure 25189 worked the 2E06 17.20 Morecambe - Leeds.
On February 3rd 25189 was at Phillips Park with a loaded continuously welded rail train from Castleton and was also noted this day eastbound at Manchester Victoria with diverted 86318 and parcels train.
On February 9th 25189 and three vans were noted at Blaneau Ffestiniog.
An oil stained 25189 was stabled at Hereford on February 18th.
On April 9th 25189 & 25315 were noted light engines crossing Frodsham viaduct.
25189 was stabled at March on April 14th. On April 26th 25189 was noted northbound at Springs Branch with a train of empty steel carriers.
25189 was the Manchester Victoria pilot on May 2nd. 25189 was stabled at Saltley on May 29th.
Cambrian metals were visited on June 2nd with 25189 & 25076 working the 07.35 Euston - Aberystwyth from Wolverhampton and the 14.00 Aberystwyth - Shrewsbury. On June 22nd the 6E85 Stanlow - Leeds saw 25189 & 25175 replaced at Warrington Bank Quay by 40060. On June 25th 25189 was northbound at Long Preston with empty ballast wagons.
On July 2nd 25189 & 25191 were noted at Northampton with a parcels train. On July 7th the 10.10 Euston - Shrewsbury was worked forward from Wolverhampton by 25189 & 25060. 25189 was stabled at Severn Tunnel Junction on July 11th and at Warrington Arpley on July 12th. 25189 & 25284 worked a loaded Tunstead - Northwich ICI hopper train on July 15th.
On July 18th 25060 & 25189 worked the Aberystwyth - Stanlow empty fuel tanks.
On August 11th 25189 and a short engineers train was noted at Leeds station eastbound.
1985
25189 was receiving attention at Cricklewood on January 10th.
The final two passenger workings for 25189 involved diesel multiple unit failures. On March 25th 25189 assisted the 06.10 Kidderminster - Birmingham New Street from Stourbridge Junction.
25189 was noted passing Water Orton light engine on April 9th.
On April 12th 25189 wa stabled at Crewe Diesel depot.
The 6M14 09:45 SX Severn Tunnel Junction - Bescot freight was banked by 25189 on the climb from Stourbridge Junction on May 24th.
On June 17th 25189 worked the 07.30 Shrewsbury - Chester, the booked diesel multiple unit had become a failure.
On July 3rd 25189 and a parcels train from the Chester line was southbound at Crewe on the freight avoiding lines. Later this day 25189 was noted at Coventry with two parcels coaches.
25189 was withdrawn on July 12th 1985.
Not all known passenger workings are recorded on this page.
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Page added August 27th 2013.
Last updated June 20th 2026.
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