The English Electric Class 374 Diesel Locomotives by Fred Kerr

Author:Fred Kerr
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: TRANSPORTATION / Railroads / Pictorial
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2022-08-30T00:00:00+00:00

(Image 108): 37426 bears EWSR livery and branding as it speeds through Abergele and Pensarn on 3 May 1999 while working a Stockport–Holyhead service.

(Image 109): 37422 Robert F Fairlie bears Regional Railways livery and branding as it climbs Conway Causeway on 3 May 1999 while working a Birmingham New St–Holyhead service.

3.3: RHYMNEY VALLEY

Among the franchised services when BR was privatised from 1 April 1994, that for the Welsh Valley routes emanating from Cardiff was awarded to the Cardiff Railway Company whose managing director was Tom Clift. He quickly appreciated the value of locomotive-hauled trains for weekday peak hour services and identified the Cardiff–Rhymney service as the best line on which to operate them.

The service initially used privately-owned locomotives with main line certification but Tom Clift soon turned to Class 37/4 locomotives hired from EWSR; a contract that continued through a number of franchise changes. When I made my first visit in 2004, the services were operated by Arriva Trains Wales for which a pool of three dedicated locomotives was allocated to Margam but kept at Rhymney to work both peak hour weekday services and all services between Rhymney and Cardiff on a Saturday.

I made five visits to the Rhymney Valley, including the final weekend in December 2005 when a ‘Farewell’ timetable was operated that included, in addition to the three dedicated Class 37/4 locomotives, examples of locomotive classes that had operated services since its original inception. The final trains ran to Cardiff on Monday 5 December 2005 when the three Class 37/4 locomotives worked their morning peak hour services and were replaced by multiple unit trainsets for the evening peak hour return services to Rhymney.

My first visit to the Rhymney Valley was on Saturday 28 February 2004 when I stopped off after completing a photography commission in the area. Being a Saturday, all line services between Cardiff and Rhymney were powered by Class 37/4 with three locomotives in use: 37402 Bont Y Bermo bearing de-branded Railfreight two-tone Grey livery, 37406 The Saltire Society, and 37425 both bearing EWSR livery and branding.

(Image 110): 37406 The Saltire Society eases out of Pontlottyn while working a Rhymney–Cardiff service.

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