Mystery location 😎 enjoying a pair of Class 25s (Rats) somewhere 'Up North' on 1Z15 'The Northwest Rambler No. 3' railtour in 1984 - the Leek Brook branch
<b>Travelling the railway in the British Rail era</b>
Between 1983 and 1991 I spent many happy hours with my friends riding the rails around the UK. Fortunately, I managed to record many of the railway locos and scenes encountered on film for posterity. Those days are now long gone, but happily the photos remain for me to reminisce over and share ;)

<b>View from the train - mystery location :)</b>
Seen from the window of a classic Mark One coach, a pair of Class 25 'Rats' travelling somewhere in the UK landscape on a railtour back in the 80s - the plastic slide mount tells me nothing about the actual date, but I believe these came in around 1984/85 - the only clues to location are the single track on relayed ballast and the semaphore signal! <b>Big challenge for all of you bashers out there - location - railtour?</b>

<b>Update - direct from the log books :)</b>
It's....9th March 1985 1Z42 F &amp; W Railtours 'The Lancashire Linx' <b>NO IT'S NOT!!!</b> - finally, thanks to the sleuthing skills of <a href="/photos/39115940@N03/" rel="noreferrer nofollow">Kenneth Leiper</a> we really have cracked it...

The Northwest Rambler No. 3! 10th March 1984

Locos Used<b> 25059 +25218</b>, 31187, 31273, 40082, 40155, 45104, 85039 &amp; 86254

<b>The Rats did:
25059 + 25218 Stoke-on-Trent - Stoke Jn - Leek Brook Jn
25059 + 25218 Leek Brook Jn - Stoke Jn - Stoke-on-Trent</b>

<b>I well remember that tour as the MASSIVE 40082 expired gracefully in a cloud of smoke :)</b> luckily to be replaced by 40155 :)

See: <a href="https://www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/80s/840310da.htm" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/80s/840310da.htm</a> for more details!

<b>Locomotive History - D5209</b> was new to Toton (16A) on June 22nd 1963. Further transfers were:
July 1963 to Cricklewood (14A).
September 1963 to Cricklewood West (14B).
January 1965 to the London Midland, Midland Lines (LMML). 
January 1968 to Longsight (9A).
March 1968 to Carlisle Kingmoor (12A).
June 1968 to Preston Division (D10).
November 1968 to Liverpool Division (D08).
November 1970 to Manchester Division (D09). 
January 1972 to Newport (Ebbw Junction) (86B). 
July 1972 to Bristol (82A). 

<b>Renumbered to 25059 - February 7th 1974.</b>

May 1974 to Cardiff.
October 1974 to Bristol. 
May 1976 to Haymarket. 
May 1978 to Eastfield. 
January 1980 to Haymarket.
September 1982 to Springs Branch.
October 1982 to Crewe.
March 20th 1987 withdrawn.

25059 was the 325th Class 25 to be withdrawn.

March 20th 1987
325: 25059

and only two more Rats were left - both succumbing on March 23rd 1987
326 - 327: 25904 &amp; 25912

25059 was stored at Crewe Basford Hall from March 25th or 27th 1987 until July 3rd 1987 when it moved to Leicester Humberstone Road. It moved into Vic Berry's Yard on July 6th 1987 and was sold two months later into preservation. It left for the Keighley &amp; Worth Valley Railway on October 9th 1987.
More information on the loco here: <a href="https://www.derbysulzers.com/25059.html" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.derbysulzers.com/25059.html</a>

<b>Locomotive History - D7568</b> was new to Toton (16A) on September 28th 1963. Further transfers were:

February 1964 to Nottingham (16D). 
October 1964 to Derby (16C). 
December 1964 to Cricklewood West (14B). 
January 1965 to London Midland (Midland) Lines (LMML). 
August 1967 to Holbeck (55A) on loan, made permanent September 1967. 
August 1972 to Nottingham Division (D16). 
May 1973 to Toton. 

<b>Renumbered to 25218 - March 7th 1974.</b>

November 1977 to Cricklewood. 
August 1980 to Kingmoor. 
Withdrawn January 28th 1985.

25218 was the 233rd Class 25 to be withdrawn, one of five retired during January 1985.

25218 was stored at Bescot prior to movement to Swindon Works on March 27th 1985 and broken up there by the end of May 1985. More information on the loco here: <a href="https://www.derbysulzers.com/25218.html" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.derbysulzers.com/25218.html</a>

<b>The British Rail Class 25</b>, also known as the Sulzer Type 2, was a class of 327 diesel locomotives built between 1961 and 1967 for British Rail. They were numbered in two series, D5151–D5299 and D7500–D7677. In 1974, they were renumbered in the series 25001-25327. 

The first 25 locos became known as Class 25/0 and were built at BR Darlington Works. The Class 25/1 locomotives were built at Darlington and BR Derby Works. The Class 25/2 locomotives were built at Derby with some built at Darlington. The final batch of locomotives were designated Class 25/3 and built by Derby Works and Beyer, Peacock and Company of Manchester.

The Class 25s were primarily designed for freight work, but a significant number were fitted with boilers for heating passenger trains. Throughout the 1970s they could be found at work across the whole of the British Rail network although the Eastern and Southern Regions never had a long-term allocation. 

Though regular performers into the early 1980s on Crewe-Cardiff passenger trains, they are best known in that respect for their use on the summer Saturday trains to Aberystwyth, a task they relinquished in 1984. They were also often seen in action when the WCML wires were down, dragging trains, and rescuing failed locomotives, mainly on the LMR. The final Class 25 locomotive was withdrawn from operational service in March 1987. More info here: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_25" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_25</a>

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

Taken with a Soviet made Zenith TTL camera and standard lens.

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>
class25 diesel locomotive landscape railtour viewfromthetrain 25059 25218 leekbrook leekbrookjunction thenorthwestrambler d5209 5209 d7568 7568