Your favourite loco(s) aka Your Machine.

[R Martin]

Mine was D8043, which, as an electrician at Willesden MPD, I partly rewired. Bags of overtime, helped to pay for my marriage.
As an aside the Type !'s were the best loco's "On shed". Seldom failed, simple maintenance no wonder they are still around.

 

[Harvester]

A4 60021 Wild Swan was a favourite. I first saw it at the end of 1961, and must have seen this Kings Cross engine over a dozen times at locations in the north east during the summer of 1962. My last recorded sighting was at Northallerton on Saturday 8/9/62, the day after the Offord derailment, when the timetable was in chaos. That day the A4 was on the down Anglo Scottish Car Carrier running two hours late, having been diverted via Cambridge due to the blockage at Offord.

 

[Mag_seven]

87025 gets another vote from me too. My favourite ‘sparkie’ and also named after my home county.

No you can't have that one - it's mine.

 

[Cowley]

No you can't have that one - it's mine.

You should edit the post to another number.

 

[Titch]

No you can't have that one - it's mine.

My avatar says otherwise, but at least we have good taste

 

[Neptune]

50006 Neptune - Loved the refurbished BR blue livery when I saw it at Exeter in 1982 (one of 6 in this form but the first one I saw like this)
55018 BALLYMOSS - due to it having tiny domino marker lights which I saw in my Dad’s Profile of the Deltics book
43085 City of Bradford - Saw its naming in 1983 (the 3rd power car to be named)

 

[32475]

1- LBSCR E4 32475 - I’ve got the smoke box number plate and wish I had a time machine to rescue it from the cutters torch at Ashford in 1961
2- E3165 / 86215 - see attached photo behind 70031 leaving Vulcan works for Crewe
3- 55015 ‘Tulyar’ (see attached photo I took at KX 30/4/81). I mean just look at that beautiful cab!
4- 73122 OK not so glamorous but I got a ride on the footplate at Brighton Station open day in 1975
5- 09005 Let’s hear it for the little fellas. Of all the 09s I saw this the most at Three Bridges, Brighton, Newhaven, Rochester and New X Gate.

 

[Mack91]

91110, simply because I can remember seeing it as a kid during GNER days. Really like the livery it currently carries as well.

Only had it for haulage once, a year ago this month from York to Doncaster; stayed in the very end of the end coach to hear it working!

 

[Bevan Price]

87004 many many miles behind it

I remember 87004 for failing north of Lockerbie, and the Beattock bankers (a pair of 20s) rescued us and took us to Carlisle (after running round the train in Lockerbie loop).

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I remember 87004 for failing north of Lockerbie, and the Beattock bankers (a pair of 20s) rescued us and took us to Carlisle (after running round the train in Lockerbie loop).

Very nice move indeed

 

[xotGD]

I should give a mention to 50035. The first Hoover I saw - from my living room window when it was working the Doncaster works test train to Newcastle. I could scarcely believe it!

I later had several runs in and out of Paddington behind 035, so it was a bit of a class favourite.

On the electric front, 81007. Had it New St - Glasgow on the overnight. Wintertime, with icy wires and it was flashing away through Cumbria and across the border.

 

[RichJF]

I don't think either of them carry the nameplates anymore, but I still look out for the numbers whenever they appear.

Class 73107 'Redhill' - I grew up in the town & first saw the loco at Redhill ironically when a kid.
Class 73213 ' University of Kent at Canterbury' - my old uni.

 

[CW2]

40069
55019
50018
86101

There's probably scope here for another thread (or a sub-thread of this one) regarding personally most hated locos, but I won't stray there just yet ...

Just to expand a bit on my earlier post:

40069 was a York loco when I lived in York and first became interested in bashing. For some reason it seemed slightly stronger than some other class members - perhaps it was more recently overhauled at the time. So it was a strong performer, and a local engine, which could be seen working all manner of passenger and freight.

55019 I adopted after a stunning run on the Up Aberdonian in 1977, when we departed Darlington somewhat late and arrived York on time, having done the 44 mile run in under 30 minutes start to stop, with maximum speeds around 112 mph.

50018 was the only 50 I ever had out of Falmouth on a service train - the Saturdays Only Falmouth - Paddington in 1979, the last year it ran. Subsequently I had some good Resolutions.

As for AC electrics, I liked 87s, but had a particular liking for the 86/1s, which were really 87s in the guise of an 86 (or "Wolf in Sheep's clothing" as they were sometimes known). The subsequent reincarnation of 86101 as a Caledonian Sleepers loco was most welcome.Shame it's finished now. I also had a soft spot for the class 82s, but they were rare and unpredictable, so I couldn't claim any particular favourite loco.

I never chose any particular class 37. There's no such thing as a bad class 37. Conversely there's no such thing as a good class 31. (This thread hasn't exactly been overwhelmed by people proclaiming their love for their favourite 31, has it?).

I heartily despised several specific class 47s. In particular, the specimens which were the first to go through Cost Effective Maintenance (i.e. a main depot overhaul instead of sending it to the works) were utter nightmares. In this Hall of Shame I place 47470, 47478, 47578, and 47595. These leaky spluttering specimens could be guaranteed to fail if they turned up on the train you had to take for a short connection onto something better, or would work perfectly when you wanted them to fail so you could stand a chance of a rescue loco for haulage.

 

[D5645]

31441 for me.

My favourite 31 and always a solid performer for me.

 

[AJM580]

47580 - no surprise there
50011 - lived up to its name with 100 mph on GWML
55022 - lots of runs on the mainline after 1996
87033 - one of many to do 110+ on the WCML

 

[DiscoStu]

37025 ... large logo, split box 37, with ploughs and a Scottie dog ... ya can't beat it

 

[61653 HTAFC]

37430 "Cwmbran".
No longer with us unfortunately, but had it for haulage in summer 1989 (I think) from Dovey Junction to Aberystwyth. I was 7 at the time, and although already into trains the sight and sound of it ticking over at the buffers after we alighted really stuck with me. I currently own 430 in model form, but in Transrail grey rather than the large logo blue it wore at the time. A "correct" (for me) version is on my list of course!

47434 "Pride in Huddersfield"
Another one consigned to history, perhaps TPE can revive the name on a 68 (or failing that, an 802) ?
Anyway, the name says it all really. Unlike the above, my brother managed to create this locomotive in model form, including detail features unique to 434, though I forget what they were specifically as I'm typing.

In terms of things that still exist, 66738 "Huddersfield Town" is the obvious candidate but I don't really have a particular affinity to it other than the name. Maybe 68022 "Resolution" as on 1st January 2020 it was at the head of the last train ride I took with my dad before his passing.

 

[xotGD]

37025 ... large logo, split box 37, with ploughs and a Scottie dog ... ya can't beat it

I went down to Cardiff in the expectation of having it for haulage. It had worked from Rhymney that morning, but then promptly failed, so I was totally bowled.

Most annoyingly, I was due to go the previous day but delayed for a work meeting that was then cancelled. Oh well.

 

[FGW_DID]

47198, a Crewe Diesel based Class 47, nothing remarkable about it but it was cabbed on one of the regular visits to Chester Depot and one I still have the picture of:

IIRC that’s a 12 year old me in the doorway.

This now hangs on the wall of the man cave, I would love it to be an original flamecut but it’s something I picked up from eBay (choose your own Loco number type of thing) for a couple of quid:



I’ve also renumbered a Bachmann OO gauge Class47 to 47198:



Seen here with a Bachmann OO gauge Class 40 which I renumbered to 40181, another beast I remember was a regular around the Chester / Crewe area.

 

[52290]

Trainspotting in Leyland in the 1950's I was always excited when 46220 "Coronation" of Polmadie shed came through. It always seemed to be in clean condition although I never saw it in its streamlined form.

 

[D1537]

I heartily despised several specific class 47s. In particular, the specimens which were the first to go through Cost Effective Maintenance (i.e. a main depot overhaul instead of sending it to the works) were utter nightmares. In this Hall of Shame I place 47470, 47478, 47578, and 47595. These leaky spluttering specimens could be guaranteed to fail if they turned up on the train you had to take for a short connection onto something better, or would work perfectly when you wanted them to fail so you could stand a chance of a rescue loco for haulage.

Having had multiple hundreds of thousands of miles off 47s, I actually never had one of those four fail. Of course I did have a number of failures in my time, but only one loco failed more than once on me, and that one managed it three times. Step forward ... 47608.

1. 1984 - Just south of Doncaster on a northbound ECML overnight, stumbled into Donny where they helpfully provided a 31 to "assist" to York (I got off, which worked well because the Newcastle-KX was 47414, nice).
2. 1985 - I have no idea how a locomotive can run out of fuel 90 miles short of its destination but just north of Banbury on the 2nd last southbound Paddington train is where 608 did. Pushed into Banbury by 56069 on an MGR train where the train was caped and everyone put on the following southbound which by this time was not far behind us.
3. 1987 - At Southampton on a Poole-Manchester. 47490 from Eastleigh to rescue, not massively exciting but at least the right shape.

 

[gimmea50anyday]

50019 as it was the first 50 I bashed back in 1989 on a Exeter-Waterloo working.
50035 because I was christened on RO9 in 1975 while my dad served on her and the later RO7 bearing the same name.
50029/30 because I own a (albeit very small) part of them

73235 as a temporary replacement for 73205 (on test duties with 33115) stood out for me and I enjoyed a whole Sunday bashing 235 on GatEx diverts via Horsham following the purely crash

And 40425 being the first buffet car I worked solo back in my VXC days and 802210 because I passed my traction training on that unit

 

[Bigman]

20031 - absolute beast on the KWVR.
47407 - super run from Carlisle to St Pancras via Newcastle on a rail charter back in the 90's.
55018 - Ballymoss - saw if on the Kings Cross-Bradfords when I was a kid and I just loved the name

 

[Whistler40145]

37114 was a beast, extremely loud

 

[ac6000cw]

I spent many a summer day on Birmingham New Street waiting for the outline of a Western to appear at the far end of the tunnel (coming from Paddington). As the outline disappeared in to the dark you could soon get confirmation from the sound - they were not called Wizzos for nothing. Must have been 1974-1976.

Me too - it was disappointing if the lunchtime arrival from Paddington turned out to be a 47. If it was a Western then a ride to Solihull behind it often followed . I also used to see Westerns hauling china clay north through Stourbridge Junction, underneath a set of lower-quadrant semaphores...a Cornish scene transported to the Midlands. D1066 is the one that sticks in my mind.

Any pair of hard-working 24s/25s - almost needed ear-defenders for those

Another favourite is my username loco - a American GE AC6000CW in the guise of CSX #649, the only 6000hp diesel loco I've ever seen (and more to the point, heard - the engine noise was something else...).

Not my photo (courtesy of Curt Beal), but one of the best I could find - I love the twin 'lightning bolts' on the cab side, which CSX used to indicate it had AC traction drive. Only about 210 were ever built as full 6000hp units, and eight of them hauled a world record-breaking 99,734 tonne, 682 wagon, 7.3 km long iron ore train in Australia in 2001.