Hitching a ride with one of DRS’ railhead treatment trains

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IT’S 05.11 ON the morning of October 24th, 2008, and the lights have just come on at the triangular Shipley station in West Yorkshire, allowing this shot of the 3S25 04.30 TThO Skipton to Knaresborough leg of Direct Rail Services’ LNE2 railhead treatment train diagram. The power for the 20-hour RHTT circuit was Class 20/3 No. 20303 (ex-20127) and Class 37/6 No. 37602 (ex-37502/37082) and the train was running 18 minutes late.

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During the frenetic railhead treatment train season, DRS uses Network Rail’s Holgate Works for locomotive servicing. Class 20/3 No. 20304 is closest to the camera, undergoing an exam, while No. 20301 Max Joule 1958-1999 is seeing repairs to a damaged sanding bracket. Five of the venerable EE Type 1s are allocated to the two Yorkshire RHTT circuits, all Brush-reengineered machines. The picture was taken on October 24th, 2008.