Favourite Loco/Unit (not another 'class' question!)

[Daimler]

There've been a fair few threads over recent weeks asking about favourite classes of loco/unit, or favourites from a 'type' of train, but this is a little different.

Do any of you have a fondness for any particular locomotive - that is to say, not '37s' on the whole, or whatever, but a specific locomotive/unit that you are attached to?

It's a bit of an odd question, I know - what got me thinking about it was 47727. This loco was parked up outside the Royal Mail distribution depot at Stonebridge Park for years - living on the WCML in Hertfordshire, I remember going past it every time I went into/came out of London. I began to feel a little sorry for it - seemingly abandoned (yet looking really rather smart in EWS livery) I felt sure it'd eventually get taken off for 'disposal' as they call it - I had become rather attached to seeing it on journeys into London!

Now, of course, it's owned by Colas Rail, and for some reason, I can't help but feel pleased when I see it on the main line/in pictures, all bright and shiny in its smart Colas livery - it's rather nice knowing that this once forgotten locomotive has a new lease of life. I guess it's kind of become my 'pet' loco*!

Does anyone else have a loco/unit they're similarly attached to (I suspect 90019 and 37401 may have something to say!), or am I just very odd?

*I'm only counting modern main-line locos here. I have various steam locos I'm fond of, especially at the Bluebell!

 

[royaloak]

Well mine is 50017 Royal Oak, surprise, surprise.
Glad it has been properly preserved now and its even in Plymouth.

 

[4SRKT]

Mine was 50006 for a while. This was because right at the end of a disastrous journey from Folkestone Harbour to York in about 1983, where I copped not so much as a single 09, there was Neptune sitting ex-works outside Donny, resplendent in newly acquired large-logo livery. After this, 50006 always remained my favourite hoover.

Later, in the dying days of the whistlers, the tenacious 40118 filled the role of favourite loco. Its frequent appearance in York, coupled with its refusal to die made this a very special machine.

 

[Oswyntail]

Two candidates spring to mind.
When I was much, much younger, I spent a lot of summertime in Grimsby, and took great delight in D2020 pottering about. I followed her career, and see she is now rusting quietly away on the Lavender Line (IIRC). A candidate for wen I win Euromillions
The other loco was, boringly, 58002. When the class first emerged, I lived far from its area of operation. On my occasional forays through the midlands, the only 58 I seemed to see was 58002. I must have seen her a dozen times before I saw another member of the class. It came that I would greet her as a longtime friend.

 

[4SRKT]

The other loco was, boringly, 58002. When the class first emerged, I lived far from its area of operation. On my occasional forays through the midlands, the only 58 I seemed to see was 58002. I must have seen her a dozen times before I saw another member of the class. It came that I would greet her as a longtime friend.

I had a similar experience with 31404, which was constantly in York. However, far from making it popular with local spotters, it was the most unpopular loco in the area!

 

[Daimler]

Two candidates spring to mind.
When I was much, much younger, I spent a lot of summertime in Grimsby, and took great delight in D2020 pottering about. I followed her career, and see she is now rusting quietly away on the Lavender Line (IIRC). A candidate for wen I win Euromillions

I do rather like the idea of that. When 'Rebecca' is eventually withdrawn, buying the loco and basing it at, say, the GCR would be nice...

Of course, I'd need to win the lottery too!

 

[FlyingScot]

My favourite is 90036.I first saw it when I was looking out the window of my auntie's flat in forest gate on the E.A.M.L.It was in one days and was pulling a rake of one liveried coaches and an ex-virgin D.V.T.Then after it went I started singing a song about it and,by coincidence,it came!And that is why I fell in love with a railfreight loco!

 

[generalvegitable]

I can't remember the exact number and I know it has been scrapped, but I have a fondness for the loco that used to do the Newport Pagnall branch (I know its a 2MT of some description)

 

[Drsatan]

I've always had a soft spot for the class 33s, partly because they're the only diesel loco designed and built for the Southern. They look better than the 31s/37s too. Such a shame there's only one registered for main-line use

 

[4SRKT]

I've always had a soft spot for the class 33s, partly because they're the only diesel loco designed and built for the Southern. They look better than the 31s/37s too. Such a shame there's only one registered for main-line use

I love 33s as well. They were my favourite for bashing in the mid-late-80s, as they were very rateable for those of us based in the North. Wouldn't say that any one loco stood out though, except perhaps 33113, which I saw in York on the Gatwick Express publicity tour in 1984. Absolutely nobody believed me at school the next day that I'd seen this, and it was only when it was mentioned in Rail Enthusiast or some other magazine a few weeks later that my reputation as a notliar was restored!

 

[SouthEastern-465]

Looks like theres 3 of us I love the Class 33 "Cromptons",and there the Southern Regions only native diesal (Exlcuding shunters Class 08 and Class 09s) But I have no particular favorites just love them all the same.

I also love the Class 415 EPB (Facelifted ones) and the whole Class 465 fleet aswell, although I developed a soft spot for the 465/1s.

 

[RobShipway]

Mine is the Class 73 loco's which when I travelled at times between Brighton and London I used to see doing the Gatwick Express services. These loco's where very useful in the fact that they could be powered by both Diesel engine and Electrical third rail power. To me these are the fore runners to what IEP might become.

My other favourite is the Class 89 for the same reason as the Class 73 details above. Useful and can be taken anywhere.

 

[Oswyntail]

Yes, but which is your favourite individual one? The OP explicitly stated this is not another "Class" question. Is there one special 465 with character?

 

[CallySleeperKid]

The other loco was, boringly, 58002. When the class first emerged, I lived far from its area of operation. On my occasional forays through the midlands, the only 58 I seemed to see was 58002. I must have seen her a dozen times before I saw another member of the class. It came that I would greet her as a longtime friend.

Strangely enough that is the only class 58 I have never seen, Being from Nottingham I saw class 58's on a daily basis, but 001 and 002 I never saw, Mainly because they were based at Bescot. I finally saw 001 a couple of years back at Barrow Hill and a few more times until its move away but 002 has always managed to avoid me.

As for my favourite(s), 89001 and 58001 off the top of my head.

 

[RobShipway]

Class 73 - 73101 Royal Alex (E6007) & 89101.

 

[4SRKT]

As the thread header says 'loco/unit', I'll mention that my favourite unit was the last remaining 70 class DEMU on Northern Ireland Railways no. 75 'River Maine', of which I have a single treasured photo I took at Downshire halt on a service train in its final year of 1985. These really were special sets, powered of course by the classic EE 4SRKT engine, but used on all sorts of workings, including power cars in pairs as a sort of locomotive to power through Dublin-Derry freight trains over NIR metals!

In the now finally departed spirit of recycling that was once typical of NIR and the UTA before it, the engines, generators and traction motors from the 70 class sets live on in the BR Mk III bodied 450 class sets (see my avatar).

I do really love thumpers!

 

[moonrakerz]

This one, without a doubt.

A regular visitor to my local station, always immaculate, in much better condition than it ever was in BR days !

Taken last Wednesday - note the poppy.

 

[Concrete Bob]

37425. Proper loco! Needs a proper name (or two!) again though...

 

[90019]

Have a guess

 

[Crossforth]

I think mine is between 91109 which I first saw at Northallerton in 2005 in GNER livery and 47714 which I saw in Great Yarmouth in Anglia livery but operating for ONE Anglia.

I haven't seen either of them since.
I know that 47714 is preserved somewhere in a very faded Anglia livery (it wasn't at the time of my photo) and 91109 is somewhere on the ECML and considering the amount of time I'm in Leeds and I haven't seen it, it is quite annoying.

 

[yorksrob]

My favourite unit (I don't really have a favourite loco) was always proto-type EPB 5001. By the time I came to do my first ever railtour on this unit (The SEG's Green Goddess in 1991) it had been tidied up inside and repainted into Southern green livery and looked absolutely splendid amongst the sea of red, white and blue on the Southern at the time. I had a couple of other good tours on this unit including the "End of an Era" tour marking the end of EPB operations and generally followed its movements in the railway press with interest. Even in my late teens and early twenties when I put my interest in railways on the back burner, I always assumed that it was safely preserved somewhere.
Sadly, this unit can also be said to have kickstarted the resurgence of my interest in railways, as when I was flicking through a railway magazine on the offchance in the early noughties, I learnt that it had infact gone to the cutters torch and the shock led me to keep a close eye on railway affairs ever since.

 

[pinkpanther]

31101. It was a Thornaby machine in the early 80s when I was a teenager, and a regular on the Eastgate cement trains which used to make our house shake several times a day.

I later found out that it was one of the pilot scheme 31/0s ( D5518 ) and had been rebuilt as a 31/1 as a result of crash damage in the late 60s. Had that crash not happened, it would have been withdrawn early with the rest of the 31/0s, and almost certainly not have been preserved (on the Battlefield line - she's named "Brush Veteran" now).

I'm rather looking forward to seeing that particular 31 again sometime soon. It's been an awfully long time!

37197 is a close second, also because of it's association with the Weardale line. That one's currently in storage at Brush, I believe.

 

[33056]

Favourite loco?

Ummmm...........

 

[Daimler]

This one, without a doubt.

A regular visitor to my local station, always immaculate, in much better condition than it ever was in BR days !

Taken last Wednesday - note the poppy.

Ah, well if we're going to do steam, then...

Actually, choosing between the various Bulleid pacifics I adore is just too hard!

Blackmoor Vale and Wadebridge are right up there though...

 

[45039]

My fav is 45121 i know it sounds daft when my u/name is 45039 but only saw this specific one 3 times before she was withdrawn, but got 300+ miles off her in one go!!!.
One loco i had a soft spot for was 47439 she followed me everywhere edinburgh, london and on my all line rover in 84 on the PZ-PADD sleeper which i had from PZ to PADD

 

[Pumbaa]

Umm... 350113. My most trusted companion, and is always the unit to turn up on a heavily delayed day, and then make up time miraculously. If I have a choice, I'll always make a beeline for her!

Also kettle 75029 The Green Knight, based at NYMR. Looks like a proper workhorse without all the pretentiousness of Bulleids, A4s etc.

 

[SouthEastern-465]

Yes, but which is your favourite individual one? The OP explicitly stated this is not another "Class" question. Is there one special 465 with character?

I dont have a particular favorite I love them all the same and would feel bad if I left the rest out!

 

[CROMPTON 33]

well first it's 33008 Eastleigh. then a close second 37408 loch Rannoch travelling from yeovil pen mill to cardiff that sound going through severn tunnel.

 

[87031]

Obvious one really 87031. Was my first into Glasgow Central in 1987 and was one of the few still in Blue at the time along with 022, 035, 033, 101. Cleared the loco for 5k in 2 years but stopped bashing in 1990 due to other commitments....liked 023 a lot as well due to some very fast runs including 121mph between Crewe & Stafford was gettin thrown around severlely Liverpool driver goin mad on 1A11!. Diesel wise always liked 31s and 33s up the coast on Cardiff-Llandudno in the 80s as well

 

[4SRKT]

That's four of us now singing the praises of those little beauties, class 33s!