Damp start at Preston as 40009 the last vacuum braked Class 40 departs with 1M17 to Blackpool North
<b>Class 40 Indian Summer - the day after the night before</b>
Seen in the great 'Indian Summer' (typical weather :) of 1984, a view of 40009 at Preston which was working 1M17 the 01.30 Stranraer Harbour-Blackpool North - captured after one of my many overnights on Preston station :)) This was the first worthwhile move of the day, but unfortunately had to be flagged as we were waiting for 40118 running in the other direction! The sharp-eyed amongst you will spot a certain <a href="/photos/107203574@N07/" rel="noreferrer nofollow">superb50002</a> taking his superior shot (see comments section below :)

<u><b>'A day in the life' - log book update:</b></u> 
<u>Saturday 28th July 1984</u> - after photographing 40009 on 01.30 Stranraer Harbour-Blackpool North, we had two runs with 40118 starting with 2J66 06.55 Blackpool - Man Vic.
<b>PRESTON</b>
Leyland
Chorley
BOLTON
<i>Agecroft Jnct.
Windsor Bridge Jnct.</i>
Salford
<b>MAN VIC</b>

<b>31 miles</b>

40118 on 1E19 08.40 Man Vic. - Scarborough
<b>MAN VIC</b>
Miles Platting
Park
STALYBRIDGE
Greenfield
Marsden
HUDDERSFIELD
Mirfield
DEWSBURY
Morley
<i>Holbeck East Jnct.
Whitehall Jnct.</i>
<b>LEEDS</b>

<b>44 miles</b>

40152 on 1E71 12.15 Blackpool - Newcastle [Load 10x Mark 1s].
<b>YORK</b>
Thirsk
Northallerton
<b>DARLINGTON</b>

<b>44 miles</b>

Between 1982 and 1984 I spent many happy hours with my friends chasing around the North of England after the remaining Class 40s. At the beginning of 1984, there were still 50 members of the fleet in service, but this had already reduced down to 31 by the time I photographed 40009 towards the end of July. By the end of the summer timetable, just 25 remained in service, and only 17 of the class survived into 1985, all but 3 being withdrawn over the weekend of 21st/22nd Jan 1985.

D200/40122, 40118 and 40012 were kept on just for rail tours, although D200 had a second Indian summer :)

Nearly all of the last Class 40s in service that year acquired some or other distinguishing marks, from hand-painted nameplates to original numbers. 40009 was of course unique in another way, as she was the last vacuum only braked member of the class.

My interest in the railways waned permanently with the demise of the Class 50s, initially from the Paddington-Oxford route in 1990, and finally when they retired from the Waterloo-Exeter services in 1992.

As well as enjoying the thrash, I managed to record many of the trips and railway scenes encountered on film for posterity. Those days are now long gone, but happily the photos remain for me to reminisce over and share. ;)

Taken with a Zenith TTL SLR camera. <b>Scanned from the original negative with no 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>

<i>'Indian Summer' - a period of happiness or success occurring late in life...English Electric Type 4 1958-1984</i>
40009 209 d209 preston station class40 diesel locomotive sc35477 coach markone 1m17