1967 class 24, class 25, class 45 information history
1967

Page updated July 2019

The New Year began with the continued removal of withdrawn steam locomotives from various locations. Dispatched from Colwick depot to Draper's at Hull during January were D7658 hauling 48137/196/432 (6th), D7531 with 48127 (7th), D7536 with 44811, 48144/635 (13th) and D7515 with 48361 (20th). February featured D5227 with 48083/143/662 (27th) and 48388/672 (28th). March produced D7561 with 48370/651 (17th).

Reallocations for the Peaks during 1967 affected about sixty locomotives, mostly with the shuffling of them between LMR & ER depots and with the greater part of the transfers occurring from September onwards.

The bitter fight against the closure of the Waverley route continued. Interestingly the GSW Carlisle - Dumfries - Glasgow route, which was generally overshadowed by the Caledonian through Beattock and Carstairs, was financially supported despite the close proximity of the improving A74 & A76 trunk roads, whilst the Waverley route struggled financially and was paralleled by a mediocre road network in the Cheviot/Borders area. Failures on the Waverley route were unfortunately well reported. On February 4th D35 couldn't make it out of Kingmoor to cover the 16.47 to Edinburgh. Brittania 70047 deputised and successfully completed a round trip, coming back on the 21.56 to St Pancras as far as Carlisle. Three days later D15 working the 21.15 St Pancras - Edinburgh expired finally at Hawick, the pilot D8615 assisted into Edinburgh. By the afternoon of the 8th D15 had been revived to work the 14.55 to Carlisle and 19.44 return, but this caused it to miss it's use on the 21.56 to St Pancras. On February 11th D5066 whilst working 07.06 Edinburgh - Carlisle became a failure at Riccarton, rescue came in the shape of D8607, the Hawick pilot. Kingmoor successfully rectified the problem permitting continuation of its diagram, a round trip over the Waverley route, before again failing at Carlisle. A Kingmoor Class 5, 44677 substituted for the diesel's workings the next day, with Kingmoor choosing to drag the diesel back to Haymarket behind 44902. This left them short of a machine for the same diagram of 14th, allowing Kingmoor Brittania 70024 to fill in the turn.

The final six Class 25s D7672 - D7677 commenced delivery from Derby during February being allocated to Toton. And from Crewe Works on February 2nd came 70013 'Oliver Cromwell' the last steam locomotive to receive an overhaul at any BR workshop. The occasion was marked by a ceremony attended by the Work's staff and the Mayor of Crewe. By the end of March 70013 was noted at Carlisle with minor damage to the tender.

Super power for February 11th's 14.56 Weston-Super-Mare - Taunton was provided by D67 in place of the normal Hymek, at this time Peaks were not too common this far west. They were sometimes seen at Exeter on the 07.00 freight from Severn Tunnel Junction. Another unusual duty was the use of D155 for crew training at Bristol, it would cover the late afternoon Bristol East - Yeovil Jct freight. It would also cover for D0280 'Falcon' on the 17.15 Bristol - Paddington and 22.20 return when D0280 was failed or the crew provided were not trained on it. D155 had been exchanged with D1931/32, the exchange ended on July 1st. A locomotive failure on February 23rd's down 'Morning Talisman' found blue liveried D169 substituting, noted through Drem over an hour late.

With regard to the painting of green liveried locomotives with full yellow fronts the Chief Engineer (T&RS) would ask the General Manager Workshops on February 22nd 1967 to paint green locos with full yellow fronts when their paintwork only needed touching up and they were not being repainted blue. The painting of blue liveried locomotives with full yellow cabfronts had been previously approved at a meeting in June 1966.

The recently improved LM electric service suffered a major disruption on February 28th following a collision at the south end of Stechford station, at the junction of the Aston loop line. The 13.15 Manchester - Coventry powered by green liveried AM4 026 traveling at about 70mph ran into the side of D5002 running light as part of a run-round manouevre, coming off the down line of the Aston loop. The almost stationary locomotive and the AM4 met on the diamond crossing, the locomotive sustained only minor damage, the high speed of the passenger train derailed all the coaches, the leading two coaches were thrown onto their sides demolishing two gantries and a signal. They were seriously damaged and contained most of the passengers, the emu driver, W D Burt of Stoke on Trent was killed in the wreck along with eight other passengers. Four other Stoke drivers learning the road were seriously injured. All lines were blocked with much damage to the overhead equipment. It took the permanent way department three days of hard work to clear the wreckage and make the lines reusable. The leading coach of the AM4 unit, M75670 was cut up on site whilst 70493, 61638 & 75690 were removed to Wolverton where the badly damaged 70493 languished, not being broken up until 1976. Stechford had seen a similar collision on March 4th 1962 when 46150 on a Holyhead - Broad Street meat train had a sidelong collision with the 16.35 Birmingham - Coventry dmu at Stechford No 2 box, the line being closed for eighteen hours.

The transfer to the Stoke Division (D05) of eleven Class 24's in March and thirteen more in April allowed driver training to commence from Croes Newydd shed on the Type 2's and EE Type 4's. The local freights to Brymbo & Dee Marsh were still in the hands of the 75xxx 4-6-0's. In the light of the success of similar Type 2's working the Consett iron ore trains it is surprising that they were not used immediately on the Shotton services. A Brush Type 4 had been successfully tested on a thousand ton Bidston Dock - Shotton iron ore train on February 15th. Further sporadic runs with the Type 4's revealed troubles with loose tyres, another six months would pass before Birkenhead's 9F's were finally replaced on these workings. Buxton depot received D5091, 5135/37 for crew training and banking duties at Peak Forest at the end of February. These machines would work alongside the small pool of Sulzer 2's working the Northwich - Tunstead ICI block trains. This demanding working had been dieselised since August 1964 and now after almost three years of possibly the most arduous of any work given to the BR Sulzer 2's, it was not surprising that failures were all too common. This created an operating headache if steam were substituted because the official eighteen wagon limit for the Type 2s could only be handled by 9Fs, other substitutions required doubleheading. Typical of this was the failure of D7586 on April 26th, rescue coming from 8F 48723 & Cl 5 45417.

The timetable alterations of March 6th brought major service changes in a number of areas. Most dramatic was the end of through services between Paddington & Birkenhead, a casualty amongst other things of the LMR electrification. On March 3rd the evening York – Aberystwyth mail started its journey behind D5096, at Shrewsbury 75033 took over for the run to the coast, thus positioning this locomotive to work the last 'Up' Cambrian Coast Express. The final 'Down' working was in charge of another Shrewsbury Class 4, 75021. Both had been active in this last week of steam on the Cambrian. Shrewsbury shed closed to steam on March 5th, from that time on the Class 24's (and EE Type 4's to a lesser extent) from Crewe would generally handle the locomotive hauled Cambrian workings, with dmu's covering all the others.

Livery detail changes were noted on recently outshopped D142. The blue liveried locomotive was adorned with emblems on the cabsides and numbers behind the cab. The earlier painting style placed the numbers on the cab, with no emblems.

The Easter weekend provided much additional work for steam in the north-west. Huddersfield witnessed a multitude of steam extras including a none too healthy 73035 on a Manchester - Leeds relief. On the return working substitution came in the shape of D5135, putting up a creditable performance across the Pennines with ten coaches. Sister machine D5134 visited Huddersfield on Easter Tuesday hauling an afternoon relief from Darlington. At this time however the eyes of the country (and possibly much of the world) were focused on the unfolding tragedy being played out just off Lands End. On March 18th the Torrey Canyon carrying 120,000 tons of crude oil had become stuck fast on Seven Stones Reef. The world witnessed its disintegration and the ravages of pollution never seen before on such a scale. It would be April 21st before the wreck finally slid beneath the waves after an onslaught of bombing by Royal Navy Buccaneers from Scotland and Hunters from Chivenor.

The closure of the branch line between Hawthornden and Penicuik at the end of March meant another working lost for Millerhill depot, on March 20th D7606 had worked the morning goods, comprised of six wagons and a brake van. On March 24th the 20.05 Luton – Bathgate special car carrier, normally a Type 4 diagram found D7508 & 5233 working the trip throughout, returning south the next day on the 06.40 Millerhill - Carlisle freight. The regular working for this car carrier had recently disappeared in the new timetable. The previous day an eighteen coach 'Grand Tour' excursion ran from Edinburgh to Perth via Carlisle starting out with D368 & D1973. At Perth Cl 5 44997 & A4 60009 replaced the diesels for the run to Aberdeen. Here Type 2's D5070 & D5127 ran out over the GNS mainline to Keith, Craigellachie and the Speyside line to Aviemore. A stop was made here to add D5122 for the run south over the Highland mainline, the two steamers rejoining the train at Perth for the final leg to Edinburgh.

During the first week of April the nuclear power station at Sizewell, Suffolk was officially opened. Part of the construction included the installation of sidings about half a mile from the main facilities to allow for the loading of irradiated elements for delivery to Sellafield. When these shipments occurred the local Class 24’s were frequently used to handle the first part of the journey hauling a specially constructed 48 ton flask.

Class 24s did not get the chance to haul many named trains but on April 14th D5055 & D5365 were noted through Ayr with the Up 'Northern Irishman'. Two days later D7662 handled a troop special, taking a spin down the LSWR mainline, being noted southbound at Wimbledon. Thirteen days later Derby Works released the final Sulzer Type 2, D7677 into traffic. It had taken almost nine years to deliver the Class 24/25's, an average of about one machine outshopped every 6-7 days! Ironically after the delivery of D7677 the Class 24/25 fleet would remain intact for only seven months until the withdrawal of D5051 in November 1967.

The closure of Leeds Central at the beginning of May and the diversion of traffic into Leeds City was accomplished relatively smoothly, though much rearranging of traffic had occurred during the run up to the closure. For a while many of the expresses from St Pancras avoided Leeds and terminated at Bradford Forster Square. On the final evening the only Sulzer taking part in the proceedings was D23 on an engineering train at Holbeck High Level used for completing new connections.

On May 1st the new diesel depot at Bescot was brought into full use. Although no Class 24/25s were allocated specifically to Bescot, they could frequently found here, particularly those allocated to the Birmingham Division (D02).

From May 1st all remaining Scottish Region steam diagrams were withdrawn, including the Glasgow Central steam pilots and the Beattock bankers, both succumbed to replacement by Clayton Type 1's. Steam from south of the border would still make forays into Scotland for a short while longer. The following month electric workings began to Gourock & Wemyss Bay out of Central station whilst another landmark closure saw St Enoch handle its last train. A further Grand Tour (see March 25th for the first) ran on May 27th from Edinburgh behind D276 with nine coaches (327 tons), headed initially for Perth. Here a southwesterly course was taken in the direction of Stranraer. The Class 40 was exchanged at Ayr for D7612/14 which made the round trip to Stranraer, using D2434 to release the stock at Stranraer Harbor. D276 rejoined the train at Ayr to run via Mauchline and Dumfries to Carlisle, across the Pennines to Newcastle, returning to Edinburgh after a fast run over the coastal route.

Taking a Peak to the seaside was not always that easy as occurred on May 2nd when D45 was diagrammed for the Tuesday's only Senior Citizens' Newcastle - Eastbourne. It had been intended to use a pair of Type 2s south of Cricklewood, but the big Type 4 was produced, much to the chagrin of the Southern conductor-driver who refused it over its booked route because Peaks and EE Type 4s being banned between Herne Hill & Tulse Hill. The train was eventually diverted from Clapham Junction (Windsor line) to Kensington, here D45 ran round and worked back to Clapham Junction (Central), thence direct to Eastbourne, smart work in handling the route changes kept the delay to thirty minutes. The Peak and the empty coaching stock returned whence it came that evening. Peaks were no stranger to this area, with a Derby diagram utilising Peaks for the Stirling - Newhaven car-sleeper. Another car-sleeper to feature Peak haulage was the Edinburgh/Newcastle - Newton Abbott service, although diagrammed for Brush Type 4s the Peaks were frequent interlopers.

June 6th saw D5099 work a two coach inspection special of the West Riding, including a complete run over the internal loop line used to supply coal to Eggborough power station. The next day saw the end of regular steam hauled passenger service into Scotland with the 20.32 Carlisle - Perth succumbing to diesel power, Type 2's being the norm, recent examples being ScR based D5054 & 5128. The active ScR steam fleet was reduced to zero with the withdrawal of J36 0-6-0's 65288 & 65345. June also saw Derby Works clear out more of its withdrawn diesels with Cashmores at Great Bridge being the successful bidder. On 26th moved were D3123/24/26 and collision damaged D5383, the first BRCW Type 2 withdrawn.

A trip across the Forth Bridge beckoned for blue liveried D174 on June 25th, taking over for 4472 'Flying Scotsman' on the 'Scunthorpe Forum Flyer', working the train to Inverkeithing.

This summer the Leeds/Bradford - Poole, combining the two sections at Huddersfield had seen Peaks replace the Jubilees formerly covering the Leeds portion of this working, a Peak and three coaches representing no challenge for the timetable. On July 7th D33 put in a remarkable performance on the 09.20 Scarborough - Leeds City, normally a Class 5 working, the Peak excelled itself on the climb through Slaithwaite. The following week (15th) Holbeck's blue liveried D15 worked into Scarborough with the 12.20 from Edinburgh.

For the summer timetable Type 2s again were diagrammed for the seasonal weekend extras. A Toton Type 2 worked the Saturday's only 08.00 Leicester - Clacton throughout, July produced D5190, 5257, 5293 & 7655. July 15th's (SO) Walsall - Eastbourne via Brighton was noted through Clapham Jct behind D7661 with ten coaches in tow. On July 28th Clapham Jct witnessed the failure of D117 whilst working the Stirling - Newhaven car-sleeper. It stalled across the main lines, a station pilot dragged the train back into the station, the Peak being replaced by E6004, a delay of two hours having been created. The return working used an electric locomotive to Three Bridges where an LMR diesel was waiting to take over. From time to time the Peaks laying over at Newhaven would be used on local trip workings, with D60 so noted on August 18th working a trip to Norwood. During July Peaks remained solidly in command of the Ramsgate - Nottingham (SO) service. Another SR working was added to the Peaks adventures, they now being allocated to work the 23.16 (FO) Sheffield - Portsmouth Harbour returning with the 10.12 to Sheffield. Peak's could also reach the Hither Green area on the Earles cement trains from Beeston.

Double headed Gateshead Type 2s worked the Saturday's only Newcastle - Ayr - Stranraer passenger in both directions. So noted in June & July have been D5097/5112 (24th), 5149/5112 (1st), 7601/5149 (8th), 7611/5051 (15th) & D5101/5112 (22nd), ScR examples filled in, especially on the eastbound runs after failures had occurred. Also in the North East the electric multiple units working the North Tyneside suburban services were phased out and replaced by diesel multiple units. The Tyneside electric services had been in operation since 1904 with the current electric units in operation since 1937.

The summer of 1967 saw the operating authorities begin to position the almost complete diesel fleet for the final eradication of steam, now principally found in the North West. The completion of the electrification out of Euston had already migrated the Class 24's to the Birmingham Division (D02), from there many continued to the Stoke Division (D05), principally based at Crewe, whilst others went to Longsight (9A). The considerably reduced duties in the Willesden area were now in the hands of a dozen airbraked Class 25's (D7660 - 7671). The recently arrived Crewe allocated Type 2's began to replace steam in the Cheshire, Wirral Peninsula & North Wales regions. By August steam at Croes Newydd shed in the shape of 75060, 76037/39/40/88 were stored, likewise a similar situation at Shrewsbury shed. By August Crewe had gained the remaining Class 24's from Ipswich (D5036 - 5049) and EE Type 4's D200 - 209 from Stratford, both moves made possible by the greater availability of the Class 31s and 47s. These additional machines allowed training of the Springs Branch crews on EE Type 4s and Sulzer 2s. D5273 (8B) broke new ground in the first week of August working local diagrams in the St Helens area. Carnforth received D7638 for crew training, to be used by instructors from various Lancashire sheds. July saw the transfer of D7671 - 7677 from Willesden to Carlisle. D7677 was noted at Carlisle on the night of July 22nd replacing 45212 on an overnight Morecambe - Stranraer relief, whilst passengers on the 09.20 St Pancras - Glasgow had D5203 for the run north of Carlisle. The 27th saw D7673 & 7677 replace 45137 & 44983 on the 08.20 Birmingham - Perth. D7677 appeared again on August 12th in charge of 11.25 Newcastle - Llandudno, D123 had covered this working on August 5th. The Liverpool/Manchester services still brought steam into the border capital changing here to diesels for the continued run north. Typical of this was on August 12th with D7674 taking over the 06.40 Birmingham - Glasgow at Carlisle, only to fail at Kirkconnel and be rescued by D5055! Exceptions of course still occurred with Class 5s & Brittanias travelling north of the border. Also transferred to Kingmoor, in August, were D8500 - 03 from Polmadie!! However their arrival did not immediately affect the steam allocation since the Kingmoor drivers required training on them and their fleet of twenty Metro Vick CoBo's had not had their serious mechanical ailments fixed, continuing to prove as unreliable as the NBL products further north.

On July 31st a sidelong collision south of Thirsk proved to be the end for DP2. Whilst working a Kings Cross - Edinburgh passenger service near Coldbeck some cement tankers on a down freight derailed, fouling the fast line, the freight train guard was able to attract the attention of DP2's driver leading to full brake application, but not in time to prevent DP2 and seven coaches from hitting the cement tankers and derailing. The crew in DP2 escaped serious injury but regrettably seven passengers were killed and forty five injured.

Another collision bedeviled the West Coast mainline, this time at Rugeley on August 5th. Here the 07.35 Stafford - Rugby, waiting at the platform was run into from the rear by a runaway Trentham - Lea Hall coal train. The impact lifted the rear coach into the air, the cab of the coal train locomotive, D5090, was badly crushed, requiring the assistance of the fire department to free the driver. The wrecked diesel was removed to Derby Works for evaluation.

On the afternoon of August 12th D7610 delivered the final emu (ScR 110) for the Glasgow suburban system, being noted northbound over G&SW route. A stranger on the Edinburgh - Prestwick oil train was D173 on August 23rd (normally a pair of Claytons would suffice), a runround was needed at Falkland Jct to access the Glenburn colliery branch, site of the Prestwick Airport fuel depot.

D5160 working the 7B61 14.10 Tees Yard - Dringhouses on August 17th was piloted by K1 62005, the steam locomotive going forward to Leeds for examination at Hunslet's Works. Also moved there on September 29th was Jubilee 45596 'Bahamas' for a major overhaul. D5242 provided the power from Stockport Edgeley shed via Diggle, Huddersfield, Mirfield, Healey Mills & Normanton. The Jubilee had lain at Stockport since retirement in June 1966 after suffering a hot axlebox, purchase for preservation taking place during August 1967.

D5214 & D5241 paid a Bank Holiday visit to Southend on an excursion from Bedford. The annual Open Day at Derby Works on August 26th found D7643 and 70013 'Oliver Cromwell' on display in front of the Works offices. A busy weekend was encountered by D62 commencing August 23rd whn it arrived at Newton Abbott with the car carrier from Edinburgh, it returned on the same working on 25th, then making a round trip to Sutton Coldfield before taking out the 26th's 08.20 Paignton- Newcastle! Over the same route D139 was involved in a fatal accident on August 19th working the 10.25 Bristol - Newcastle. The Peak hit a car on a crossing at Swindon village (Cheltenham), pushing the car forward for half a mile, killing the occupant.

The final summer working of the Saturday's only Stranraer – Newcastle passenger occurred on September 2nd with Gateshead's D5150 & 5147 in charge. Three days later September 5th's 10.25 Edinburgh – Birmingham reached its destination behind D7674, having replaced D1954 at Carlisle, the latter machine having suffered a fuel leak. Twenty minutes was lost in exchanging locomotives, with only a further ten minutes lost on the journey as far as Crewe. D7674 was a relative newcomer to the Carlisle area having been recently transferred in with D7671 – 7677 as a positioning move to allow the Carlisle sheds to be 'steam free' by the end of the year.

A Morpeth - Caterham troop special on September 1st arrived behind a Peak, locomotives of any sort on the Caterham branch were rare. Less spectacular was the failure of D64 on the same day at Newhaven, waiting to take out the 19.19 to Stirling, E6042 substituted to Clapham Junction, where D192 took over.

Steam in the north east came to an end on September 9th with the closure of North Blythe, Sunderland, Tyne Dock & West Hartlepool sheds. The final workings had of course been coal related: Ryhope - Silksworth colliery, Monkwearmouth - Hilton colliery, Ryhope - South Hetton and Seaham to various local power stations. Gone now were the once familiar Q6s & J27s, replaced by Claytons, Sulzer 2's and the EE Type 3s. During the middle of September D212 & D5242 were used for driver training between Stockport & Buxton.

Inverurie Workshops was noted adding twin sealed beam headlights to the Highland/Far North machines, D5127 being so noted in September. A tour of the Scottish Region depots over the weekend of September 9th - 11th produced the following Peaks: Haymarket D26 & D168, Motherwell D65 & Polmadie D63. Outshopping of the Peaks in blue livery had originally seen them with red buffer beams, this was soon changed to black.

Toton's boiler equipped D7568 - D7573 were sent to Holbeck in exchange for D7627 - D7632, these being used to replace steam on Leeds - Bradford workings. By October 1st the Eastern Region fleet of steam was reduced to twenty one locomotives, based at Royston, Low Moor and Holbeck, however transfers of Class 20s from Scotland and Class 37s from Wales would soon make these steam allocations extinct. An Open Day at Leeds Holbeck on September 30th, no doubt celebrating the twilight of steam in the area, especially the few remaining Jubilees, found the following Sulzer Type 2s on 'display': D5096, 5100/73/79, 5254/90, 7526/48/68-70/95 & 7625. The Scottish Region swapped D7598 - 7601/11/12 for D7576 - 79/81/83/84, the latter being boiler equipped, allowing them to replace the ailing NBL types on the Glasgow - Dundee run and also being noted around Ayr & Stranraer. By October Class 25 had infiltrated well into the existing LM steam stronghold, aided by the arrival in October of D7609/10/33-37 from the Eastern Region and more of the earlier Class 25s from Toton.

During October the British Railways Board and the National Union of Railwaymen came to an agreement to allow for the phasing out of brakevans on fully fitted freights. At the same time the pay of guards was increased with a bonus of three shillings and seven pence a day.

The St Andrews branch was visited by an excursion on October 8th, unusual because it was a Sunday and that a locomotive was at each end of the train. The trip was run from Glasgow for the Alcan Golf Tournament using D5369, with D5122 added on the rear for the run over the branch from Leuchers. Close by the Broughty Ferry - Kingsmuir branch finally closed, a dmu from Dundee ran a farewell trip on October 7th, the last freight had run the previous day behind D5063.

Paired Type 2s were still frequently allocated to Midland passenger services, D5283 & 5198 worked October 17th's 12.30pm Manchester – St Pancras and D5205 & 7575 arrived in London the next day with an early morning service from Leeds. After ten years of service the Hendon – Glasgow 'Condor' ceased, traffic now being handled by the new 'Freightliner' services over the WCML. Another paired working, of a wildly different nature was D5248 & 9F 92128 on the midday Heysham – Neville Hill oil tanks on October 20th. D164 impacted the buffer stops quite severely at St Pancras on October 15th, no damaged was sustained by the stock however.

On Saturday October 28th 'The Border Limited' railtour featured much steam haulage in the north-west, however participants enjoyed the delights of D145 for the Nottingham - Derby - Crewe and return portions of the tour.

By the beginning of November another thirty Class 25s had been transferred to the north west, along with a number of shunters and Classes 40 & 47, during October alone over eighty steam locomotives were withdrawn from the LMR, all from sheds located between the Mersey and the Solway. Included in the newly arriving Type 2s were D5151 – D5155, loaned to Carlisle from Thornaby, whilst D5248 – D5251 would soon follow from Leeds. Closed to steam early in November were the sheds at Stoke, Crewe South and Birkenhead, with Warrington and Springs Branch closed by month end. Northwich still held onto a number of steam diagrams but increasingly everywhere the Classes 25 & 40 were to be found taking over the steam turns. It was anticipated that by the summer of 1968 all remaining steam depots in the north-west would be closed, as follows:
January 1968: Kingmoor, Workington, Tebay
March 1968: Northwich, Trafford Park, Buxton
May 1968: Edge Hill, Speke Junction, Stockport Edgeley, Heaton Mersey
August 1968: Newton Heath, Patricroft, Bolton, Carnforth, Lostock Hall, Rose Grove.

November brought bad news for the BR Sulzer Type 2 fleet with the withdrawal of the first of the class, Eastfield based D5051. It had been working coal empties to Waterside when fire broke out. It was eventually removed to Inverurie for spares recovery with the remains being broken up by August 1968. This would be the only member of the class broken up here. Inverurie was still the principal workshops on the ScR for the repair of the Class 24s, it also handled the infamous NBL's and the EE Type 1s. November 9th also brought to a close the company known as AEI, which on this date merged with GEC after a bid of GBP120 million earlier in 1967 was approved by shareholders.

On an unidentified date late in the year D6847 & D40 were noted on the Cornishman in the Exeter area, both unusual machines in the area, and especially on this particular working.

During the December Christmas week D5116 was noted operating out of Ayr, perhaps assisting with the increased coal movements from local collieries, especially in the light of the loss of D5051 and the arrival of a number of winter storms. Haymarket's Sulzer Type 2's continued to handle the majority of passenger workings over the Waverley Route, however on December 9th D5205 worked the 13.00 Carlisle – Edinburgh and the 17.54 return. On the 21st D5066 failed prior to working the 13.00 to Edinburgh but was able, after attention to take out the 17.25 parcels to Perth. Holbeck's Peaks continued to be a major feature of the Waverley route passenger services, not only on the long distance services to/from St Pancras but also many of the locals to Carlisle.

The 'Thames Clyde' on December 23rd encountered trouble south of Nottingham, D154 only got as far as Trent before suffering a broken air pipe, D138 ran out from Nottingham to take over the train, now an hour late. More delays at Leicester involved the couplings, however both Peaks remained on the train covering the ninety nine miles to St Pancras in eighty seven minutes with the thirteen coach train. Christmas for D116 was spent at Blackpool, having brought in a special from Leicester on 24th.

As the year closed inroads were made into the less successful members of the Modernisation Plan diesels. The LMR retired six of the Metro Vick Co-Bo's whilst the WR withdrew a number of its hydraulics, principally from the early builds of the Warships, one NBL Type 2 and surprisingly two of the Type 1 95xx series machines. And as expected on the ScR twenty two NBL Type 2s officially fell by the wayside.

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