Class 40 40012 'Aureol' whistles away happily at Manchester Piccadilly with 1E67 08.15 Man Picc - Skegness (SO)
<b>Class 40 Indian Summer - the legendary Manchester-Skegness</b>
On 25th Aug 1984, instead of chasing 40s across the north-west, I chose to take the only scheduled service that was still booked a Class 40, the Man Picc-Skegness (SO) and return. I was rewarded with this mighty beast at the front - one of the old LMR namers 'Aureol' :)
40012 was one of a relatively small number of 'Whistlers' that were based at Carlisle Kingmoor (KD) in the 1980s.

<u><b>'A day in the life' - log book update:</b></u> 
<u>Saturday 25th August 1984</u> - 40012 on 1E67 08.15 Man Picc - Skegness

<b>MAN PICC</b>
Ashburys
Reddish North
Romiley
New Mills Central
EDALE
Dore
SHEFFIELD
Darnall
Worksop
RETFORD (Low Level)
Gainsborough Lea Road
Saxilby
LINCOLN CENTRAL
Metheringham
Ruskington
SLEAFORD
Heckington
Swineshead
Hubbert's bridge
BOSTON
Thorpe Culvert
Wainfleet
Havenhouse
<b>SKEGNESS</b>

and in reverse for
1M54 13.24 Skegness - Man Picc

<b>304 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 26 by the time I had 40012 to Skeg. 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end of the summer timetable, just 25 remained in service, and only 17 of the class survived into 1985, all but 3 being withdrawn over the weekend of 21st/22nd Jan 1985.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 :)

<b>Locomotive History</b>
<b>D212 / 40012 'Aureol'</b>
D212 was built by the English Electric Company at their Vulcan Foundry Works, Newton-Le-Willows, Lancashire and entered service in May 1959, allocated to Willesden MPD. From the 1st June 1959, D212 transferred to Crewe North, firstly on loan and then permanently before transfer to Carlisle Upperby in Sep 1959 and Camden in December 1960. D212 was named 'Aureol' by Mr.M.Glaister, Director of the Elder Dempster shipping line at Liverpool Riverside Station on the 20th Sep 1960. D212 remained at Camden for the next five years before a gradual move back to the North West via Bescot (Dec 1965) and Crewe (Apr 1966) finally transferring to Longsight in Aug 1967. It remained at Longsight for almost eleven years apart from brief stays at Springs Branch (Jun 1972 - May 1973) and Kingmoor (May 1973 – Aug 1973). 
D212 became 40012 in the 1973 TOPS renumbering scheme. Its final transfer was in Dec 1978 when 40012 transfered to Carlisle Kingmoor where it remained until being withdrawn from active service in Feb 1985, due to derailment damage. Following withdrawal it was dragged to Crewe Gresty Lane sidings awaiting disposal. However, due to the Crewe Station remodeling scheme, 40012 was reinstated to traffic on 20th May 1985 at Crewe TMD, given the departmental running number of 97407 and restricted to a maximum speed of 35 mph for use on engineering trains only. Withdrawal for the second time around finally took place at Crewe TMD on the 4th Apr 1986, due to cracked bogie frames, and it was moved to Crewe Basford Hall yard to again await disposal. On the 1st Sep 1986, 97407 along with sister loco 97408 (ex-40118) moved from Crewe to Carlisle to provide spares to keep the flagship of the class (D200) running in order for it to fill its railtour commitments. 97407 remained at Carlisle until 7th Sep 1988 when it travelled via Workington, Crewe and Nuneaton to Vic Berry's Yard at Leicester for asbestos removal to be carried out, before moving on to its new home at the Midland Railway Centre. This magnificently detailed history courtesy again of <a href="/photos/pics-by-john/" rel="noreferrer nofollow">John Woolley Photos</a>

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 and standard lens. <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>
40012 212 d212 manchester manchesterpiccadilly station class40 1e67 skegness platform bashers railenthusiasts