From Inverness to Penzance, Holyhead to Norwich, Dover to Swansea…the face of Britain’s railways are changing at
a rapid rate.
Locos and units which we once all took for
granted have now come to end of their days and are heading for the scrapyard.
Trains which at one time you wouldn’t even
look at or photograph because they were so frequent and common have now run
their last journeys.
There is no doubt the years 2003 and 2004
will go down in railway history as periods of great change.
The third title in this Train Crazy series
takes a look at what happened during these two years.
Class 86 – Footage from the final months of
operation including the amazing evening when 86233 (in blue livery) worked the 18.30
Euston – Glasgow followed five minutes later by
86229 on the 18.35 Euston – Preston! (And the
86s were supposed to be in ‘decline’ and working West
Midlands trains!).
Plus, the 86 stronghold in Anglia.
Class 87 – West Coast action including
celebrities 87001 and 87002 and some stunning night action.
Class 90 – They may still be around but not
on WCML trains. 90 passenger train action including EWS examples.
HSTs – Final months of operations on Cross
Country and to Blackpool and North Wales.
Mail by Rail - Class 325s are now in store
and the sight of 67s and 90s on van trains and TPOs is now history. Stunning
night footage from Crewe.
EMUs – Slam door EMUs are disappearing at
an incredible rate. Footage of the last 12-car 411 unit plus 421s and 423s now
in their final months. Plus a Class 312 on the Harwich branch.
DMUs – The farewell Class 101 tour is
featured as another class say goodbye.
DEMUs – The famous ‘Thumpers’ have now
finished on their regular duties. A typical day on the Oxted – Uckfield branch
is filmed from Hever station with six different units.
Graveyard Scrap Yard – A visit to two scrap
yards with DMUs and EMUs awaiting the torch. See the ‘303 pile’ and the ‘411
pile’ plus a mark 2 coach is cut.
All brand new footage, never used before,
filmed 2002 - 2004. On screen captions with dates and locations and a little
bit of atmospheric music.