45149 Class 45 'Peak' at the head of the 'The North Midlander' railtour  at St. Pancras station
<b>Sun. 5th June 1983 1Zxx - 'The North Midlander' railtour</b>
Another great railtour - this one managed to include scheduled stops at Doncaster Works and Toton TMD open days :)

Class 45 45149, the highest numbered of the class, seen here at the head of the 'The North Midlander' railtour. Note the iconic gasometers, now dismantled as part of the rebuilding of St Pancras into the Eurostar terminal.

<b>Locos Used</b>: 45149, 45125
<b>Locos &amp; Route</b>
45149 London St Pancras - (via MML) - Kettering - Corby - Manton Jn - Oakham - Syston East Jn - Syston North Jn - (via MML) - Trent - Toton Centre - Trowell Jn - Pye Bridge Jn - Clay Cross South Jn - Chesterfield - Dronfield - Sheffield - Doncaster [for works visit]
45149 Doncaster -Sheffield - Dronfield - Chesterfield - Clay Cross South Jn - Ambergate Jn - Derby - Spondon - Sheet Stores Jn - Trent - Stapleford &amp; Sandiacre
45149 Stapleford &amp; Sandiacre - Toton Depot [for depot visit]
45125 Toton Depot - Stapleford &amp; Sandiacre
45125 Stapleford &amp; Sandiacre - Trent - (via MML) - London St Pancras Info.courtesy: <a href="https://www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/80s/830605lc.htm" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/80s/830605lc.htm</a>

<b>Locomotive History</b>
Built at Crewe Works as D135 it entered traffic in December 1961 allocated to Derby MPD. It was transferred to Cricklewood in June 1964 and Toton from May 1966. In 1973 the Midland Main Line services started to go from steam heat to electric heat coaching stock and D135 was one of fifty class 45 locomotives selected to have its steam heating boiler replaced with electric train heating equipment (a Brush BL100-30 ETH auxiliary alternator). It was the penultimate loco dealt with and was renumbered 45149 on release into traffic in February 1975. It was withdrawn in September 1987 with a traction motor defect, a year before the end of class 45 operation on British Rail. It was parked at Cricklewood for a long period before being towed to Leicester and offered for sale. There was competition for its purchase but Pete Waterman was successful in becoming its new owner in 1993. It was moved to Heysham for safe storage and then to Crewe Heritage Centre in 1994 minus its power unit. No restoration work was carried out. The locomotive was eventually offered for sale again late in the autumn of 1996 and was purchased by the Cotswold Mainline Diesel Group. A programme of restoration is now taking place at the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway. (Detailed info courtesy of: <a href="/photos/pics-by-john/" rel="noreferrer nofollow">John Woolley Photos</a>)

<b>Photos that were nearly lost to oblivion!</b>
The original slide was rescued from a box of 'duds' that I could never quite bring myself to throw away - now I am glad that I kept them ;)

Taken with a Zenith TTL SLR camera and standard lens. <b>Scanned from the original slide with minimal digital restoration</b>

You can see a random selection of my railway photos here on Flickriver: <a href="http://www.flickriver.com/photos/themightyhood/random/" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.flickriver.com/photos/themightyhood/random/</a>
45149 peak class45 stpancras station london diesel d135 135