East Lancashire Railway (ELR) – January 2015
The Dean Forest Railway’s 31466 was put to good use during early January 2015 at the East Lancs Railway with it having working train heat.
The ELR Diesels Loco Roster is a good way to keep an eye on what will be working.
31466 was rostered the following during January 2015:
Saturday 3rd January – diesel turn vice DMU
A good day out with 31466 being given plenty during the day on load 6. It was a cold day and the heat provided very much appreciated and it was good to actually get close to 31466 after being so far from it when it worked the Santa Specials.
31466 worked the following:
0930 Bury – Heywood, 1000 Heywood – Rawtenstall, 1105 Rawtenstall – Heywood, 1215 Heywood – Rawtenstall, 1340 Rawtenstall – Heywood, 1505 Heywood – Rawtenstall, 1610 Rawtenstall – Bury
Saturday 10th January – Type 1-3 Theme Day
Unfortunately 31466 got the blunt end of the stick on this theme day and only worked in one direction, unlike 37109, which it shared the set with, which ran round and topped 31466 for two of the runs. No such luck for the 31 going in the opposite direction. As it was on the downhill end of the set the only thrash on offer all day was going over the “ski-ramp” at Bury, when heading towards Heywood; which almost all ended in tears on the first trip when ‘466 almost slipped to a stand on the wet rails.
31466 worked the following:
0930 Bury – Heywood, 1105 Rawtenstall – Heywood (tandem 37109), 1340 Rawtenstall – Heywood, 1610 Rawtenstall – Bury (tandem 37109)
Sunday 11th January – diesel turn vice the unavailable 37418
A far better day than the previous one, with ‘466 working the whole service by itself.
31466 worked the following:
0930 Bury – Heywood, 1000 Heywood – Rawtenstall, 1105 Rawtenstall – Heywood, 1215 Heywood – Rawtenstall, 1340 Rawtenstall – Heywood, 1505 Heywood – Rawtenstall, 1610 Rawtenstall – Bury
Saturday 24th January – diesel turn; last minute stand-in for 33109, which had faulty ETH
Only advertised the Monday before, 31466 was yet again deputising for other traction at the ELR, this time for 33109 which was having ETH related problems when actually in motion. It had been suffering on the Type 1-3 theme day two weeks previous and obviously hadn’t had it’s fault rectified. It was another cold day, quite possibly the coldest since Christmas, and the ETH struggled to warm the train initially but by the afternoon everything was toasty and with ‘466 in as good a form as it always seemed to be a cracking day was had by all attending; which seemed to be a recurring set of people……
31466 worked the following:
0930 Bury – Heywood, 1000 Heywood – Rawtenstall, 1105 Rawtenstall – Heywood, 1215 Heywood – Rawtenstall, 1340 Rawtenstall – Heywood, 1505 Heywood – Rawtenstall, 1610 Rawtenstall – Bury
Saturday 31st January – rostered diesel turn
This was actually the only day 31466 had originally been rostered to work the diesel turn at the East Lancs during January; other than working at the Type 1-3 theme day on January 10th. So, having finished the month off nicely 31466 had done a very respectable 328 miles in January alone, not quite as much as it had done during December 2014 on the Santa Specials but still a good amount of work nonetheless; the ETH proving very valuable indeed during the Winter months.
Despite recent snow in the area, of which there was a decent covering at Rawtenstall, it was the sunniest day of the 5 that 31466 had worked during January and by far the best for any form of decent photographs. 31466 performed well but did have a small issue on the second trip towards Heywood where its load regulator got stuck and it only just made it over the ski-ramp without coming to a stand as a result. According to the crew this fault occurs every now and again but only when driving from No.2 end. It had occurred earlier in the month but as with on this occasion, simply shutting off and allowing the load regulator to roll back cured the problem.
As February dawned, for a second month in a row, 31466 was only rostered to work one day, on 14th February; would February turn out to be as good a month as January had been? Only time would tell of course…..
31466 worked the following:
0930 Bury – Heywood, 1000 Heywood – Rawtenstall, 1105 Rawtenstall – Heywood, 1215 Heywood – Rawtenstall, 1340 Rawtenstall – Heywood, 1505 Heywood – Rawtenstall, 1610 Rawtenstall – Bury
