Trivia: Individual units/locos you have a like or dislike of... and why?

[61653 HTAFC]

Apologies for the perhaps esoteric nature of this thread, but here goes...

Inspired by a post in the Northern Unit Refurbishment thread, I wondered if anyone else has particular units they have a fondness or loathing for, and why.

I don't make a habit of noting which unit I've travelled on, but nevertheless there are certain ones that do seem to crop up regularly on my travels... 158757 is one, as it was the first 158 I rode back in 1993 or so as an 11-year-old. It is also a memorable number due to the aviation connection, which probably helped it stick. Back in those days I did underline the units I'd seen or ridden, so I remember 757 as the first one to get the black pen treatment. I'd like to think that there's room on these fora for such wibbletastic discussions after all...

As for dislikes, 144022 comes in for similar reasons: 144s were the first class I got the Full House of (in both red and black) back in the day, but 144022 was the last one for both... However, since then it seems to cross my path with alarming regularity! On another forum I used to frequent, 153311 achieved almost a cult status due to its ability to seemingly stalk some members!

So, does anyone else have certain units that seem to follow them around?

 

[DanNCL]

142068 and 142071 both seem to crop up regularly for me, along with 91110, 156420 (usually on the Durham Coast or Tyne Valley lines, despite the fact that this is an Allerton based unit!), unit 4052 on the Tyne & Wear Metro, and tram 277 in Edinburgh.

As for trains I like and trains I dislike, I'd have to go with 142068 and 91129 as trains I like (I have absolutely no idea why I like either of them!), along with 4001 and 4002 on the Tyne & Wear Metro (the prototype trains), and for units I dislike, the only one I'd be able to choose is 4052 on the Tyne & Wear Metro (turns up far too frequently, and the last few times it's turned up on my travels it's been in a not too great condition).

 

[fowler9]

Blimey I really wish I could answer that in more detail, back in the day I had a list of 31's, 47's, 86's, 87's and 90's that always seemed to drop on trains I was on. Even 50035 and 37430 used to do my head in for the same reason, and I adore 50's and 37's, what I wouldn't give for them still to be boring me by turning up again these days.

 

[keith1879]

This is historic ....but I always had a soft spot for "Meld" (D9003). It always seemed to turn up when I was near the ECML and it was a sad day when I heard it had gone. Pinza ran it a close second (as befits two racehorses).

 

[fowler9]

I love 50031, 50004, 37426 & 37427. Great memories of some incredible thrash. Also 56015. It dropped on a Cross Country service from Lime Street I picked up at Runcorn on a North West Day Ranger. This was pre internet and mobile phone days so there were no other bashers on it or waiting at Runcorn. When we got to Crewe it was obvious the gen had got around and a lot of people were waiting for it. Sadly for them it was taken off the front and was replaced by a Spoon. Had a brilliant journey from Runcorn to Crewe behind it with the front vestibule to myself.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Blimey I really wish I could answer that in more detail, back in the day I had a list of 31's, 47's, 86's, 87's and 90's that always seemed to drop on trains I was on. Even 50035 and 37430 used to do my head in for the same reason, and I adore 50's and 37's, what I wouldn't give for them still to be boring me by turning up again these days.

Always had a soft spot for the Welsh 37/4s after a childhood holiday in Borth. Our caravan pitch was right next to the railway so my older brother and I were excited to have 37s roaring past (my younger brother less so, as he was only 3 and less keen on the noise!). Also have a vague recollection of HSTs running past to Aberystwyth but not sure if that's an invented memory... 37430 became a favourite after running us back from Mach to Aber at the end of a day riding the rails (and not just the big ones!) up the coast... even the 150s were fairly novel then!

It was a sad day for me when Cwmbrân bit the dust.

 

[Peter0124]

I like 390134 as I rode it Carlisle-Glasgow twice in a row. 66303 was the first ever class 66 I've seen since I knew about them (I've probably seen one before as a child). And I like 318254 and 320305.

 

[Harbornite]

56104, twice it has failed when I've gone out to phot it coming through Birmingham.

 

[Harbornite]

Always had a soft spot for the Welsh 37/4s after a childhood holiday in Borth. Our caravan pitch was right next to the railway so my older brother and I were excited to have 37s roaring past (my younger brother less so, as he was only 3 and less keen on the noise!). Also have a vague recollection of HSTs running past to Aberystwyth but not sure if that's an invented memory...

HSTs weren't a common sight on the Cambrian network but one did show up on this

https://www.flickr.com/photos/69692273@N03/24759648225

 

[61653 HTAFC]

HSTs weren't a common sight on the Cambrian network but one did show up on this

https://www.flickr.com/photos/69692273@N03/24759648225

Cheers. Definitely didn't see any on the Pwllheli arm, just Aber. The Northern bit was all units, though a mixture of 150/0, 150/1, and heritage units.

 

[507021]

My all time favourite unit is 507021 (if that wasn't obvious enough already, lol), it was the first unit I remember going on and in my view, it's one of the very best units in the fleet.

Other units I like are 156464, 156489, 158859, 319363, 507019, 507020 and 508122. Locomotive wise I don't really have a favourite because the mileage I've done behind them is very low, although I was always very fond of the Isle of Man Railway's locomotives No. 11 and No. 13.

I have a general dislike of Northern's Class 150/2s which I think are beyond awful units, however I may change my mind once I've been on one which has been fully refurbished. In contrast, I like the GWR's refurbished Class 150/2s, which I think are a huge improvement on Northern's examples.

 

[lordbusiness]

Although it will probably be seen as heresey now, 40078 used to crop up with monotonous regularity when spotting on the ECML at Huntingdon in the late 70's. I think it was allocated to York at the time. There was a FP 31- 31173 I think, that also made very (too) regular appearances. Trips to March, Cambridge and Ely invariably always produced 37102 for some reason.
On a slightly different note, during my foray into plane spotting the first C141B Starlifter I ever saw was 65-0278 which again cropped up frequently. Fast forward a few years and the first time I bought a house the telephone number I was allocated by BT was 50278. Forward again about 15 years and was on detachment with the RAF (had given up spotting by this time) at Davis Monthan AFB (the boneyard). Whilst driving past a civvy scrapyard outside the base one day there was a lone C141 nose sitting on a pile of scrap just inside the fence.....65-0278!
Like saying goodbye to an old friend!

 

[whhistle]

43184, now 384 I believe.

Don't know where it is now (XC to EMT to XC again?), but I have the Swallow from it when it was in that livery.

 

[Cowley]

As for favourites I’ve got various ones from different classes that I’ve had a soft spot for. Luckily for me 33002, 37142 and 50042 all ended up preserved in the South West and that was a pure fluke.
Favourite 47 preserved is probably 47580 as my favourite (47521) was scrapped years ago.
I don’t really dislike any locos now, and modern units are a bit like fridge freezers to me - some are smart, but not particularly interesting...
I remember people having an irrational hatred of various classes and deliberately missing a 50 for instance (if they were a Peak or 47 basher) and sitting on a cold station for hours just to avoid catching something they didn’t like.
I was on a train at the Severn Valley diesel gala a couple of years ago and noticed a chap sitting in the next bay that I vaguely remembered as a 47 basher from Devon back in the day.
He had his (I assume) girlfriend with him and this was the conversation:

Girlfriend (pointing out of the window at D1015): - That’s a nice train isn’t it.

47 guy: - No I hate it.

Girlfriend (looking bewildered): - But why? It’s nice, I really like the colour too.

47 guy (talking really quietly and clearly wishing his girlfriend would do so too as the whole coach had gone quiet by this point): - Because it’s bl**dy horrible and I don’t like it.

Girlfriend: - Oh. Erm. Oh.

47 guy should’ve explained his diesel preferences before he’d gone out in the field with the uninitiated I thought...

 

[RichJF]

377342. The Electrostar that was burned at Eastbourne & subsequently became a 3 coach unit. It's numbered differently & is out sequence to the rest!

 

[xotGD]

The high-numbered Gateshead 37s: 212/216/242/250. 216 in particular as it was my first 37 for haulage.

 

[Clansman]

170458; The largest first class seats of the fleet, which not a lot of people (if any) know about. Takes an eagle eye to notice the difference.

The ex-ScotRail liveried 90s are another shout, simply for the value of knowing many a holiday commenced with my younger self passing them on the Euston blocks upon alighting the Sleeper.

 

[Ianno87]

323232. Just has the best number (and I have a picture of it showing 'Barnstaple" on the destination display)

 

[mushroomchow]

It might be kind of cheating, but in my days at the GCR I've developed a particular love for our Jinty (47406). If there's a more reliable little tank engine out there, I don't wanna know about it, and it's one of the few locomotives that hasn't about blinded me with clinker during my years of riding. It can certainly haul well for an 0-6-0 too.

One loco that can get right lost is what was Pete Waterman's Prarie (4141). Always used to be on trains in my early days volunteering and without fail it always had steam to spare. I swear its safety valve specifically targeted me when I had my back turned. Every time it came by it'd go off at point blank range while I was sweeping / standing guard / manning the gate and I'd about hit my head on the station canopy in fright.

Great Western engines are all bark, no bite anyway. Give me a Stanier any day.

 

[superalbs]

(and I have a picture of it showing 'Barnstaple" on the destination display)

That is a picture I would like to see! :P

 

[IanM]

31409/410/417 - the Holbeck triplets which used to routinely spoil the pleasure of seeing a Deltic on the Yorkshire Pullman in Harrogate when I was a kid.

 

[GatwickDepress]

377342. The Electrostar that was burned at Eastbourne & subsequently became a 3 coach unit. It's numbered differently & is out sequence to the rest!

One of my favourites for the sheer irony of '442' catching alight. A coastway ciggie rather than a plastic piggie!

 

[cj_1985]

87028, as it was the first electric loco I travelled behind, and then when it started appearing on the 1M44/1S96/1A97 mail trains dragging 325s local to me, it cemented that fondness

66711 as I cabbed it on the mainline back in 2010
and 325002, again as I cabbed it between Shieldmuir RMT and Warrington RMT in 2009

dislike Flying scotsman, simply because there are, in my opinion, other locos more worthy of expenditure

 

[6Gman]

Favourites:

D1010 - the first Western I can remember seeing.

87002, because my late father drove it on the inaugural VIP electric-hauled train from Preston to Euston. And back.

From steam days, 47507 because I used to see it shunting at Llandudno Jn on my way to school.

Dislike 60103/4472 - simply because it's overhyped.

 

[6Gman]

I have a general dislike of Northern's Class 150/2s which I think are beyond awful units, however I may change my mind once I've been on one which has been fully refurbished. In contrast, I like the GWR's refurbished Class 150/2s, which I think are a huge improvement on Northern's examples.

Can't disagree with this.

 

[3141]

Oh the nostalgia! 3141 was a 1931 tube stock DM. By the late 1940s the interior paintwork in most of the standard stock was a kind of greeny/gray (at least that's how it looked to my colour-blind vision), but a few had a darker blue with matching blue upholstery, and 3141 was one of only two 1931 stock cars still in this colour, the other being trailer 7155. LTE continued repainting their interiors, and the interiors of other earlier standard stock cars which had retained the darker blue, in this style till some time in the mid-1950s, when they were repainted in grey (or whatever it was) like all the others. LT trolleybuses used to have the same dark blue interiors as well.

I have the number plate from above the end door of 1967 (Victoria Line) stock DM 3141. Standard stock didn't have metal number plates, just a transfer.

 

[Minilad]

My favourites as an enthusiast include 55015 50035 87022 43091
My favourites as an employee are 220007 and 43180. Basically the first of the class I drove in service.
I only really have one unit I work with that I don't particularly like and that is 170107 mainly as I was involved in a fatality whilst driving it

 

[61653 HTAFC]

323232. Just has the best number (and I have a picture of it showing 'Barnstaple" on the destination display)

Agreed on the number! Same goes for 150150, and 150142 and similar.

 

[D365]

Not a particular favourite or anything, but while we're on the topic of number patterns, 700007 is the first 700 I copped on Thameslink!

 

[LOL The Irony]

150 136. I want to burn it.