Information on Loughborough

Diesel rules the rails in Loughborough

Posted on 08/09/2008
P. Klein

diesel train on the GCR line

The Great Central Diesel Gala this weekend promises to delight fans of heritage diesel machines. Up to six handsome machines from yesteryear are being lined up to work hundreds of miles over the three days.

Steam was banished by British Railways in August 1968 when the diesels took over full time. In fact theyd been around for years before that and many of the locomotives which will be working at the GCR this coming weekend are now well over forty five years old.

"Keeping our heritage diesels on the rail is just a big a job as keeping our steam fleet in order," explained the GCRs marketing assistant Lynn Hill, "Theyre big pieces of engineering which date from the early sixties. The selection we have running this weekend takes in all shapes and sizes, designed for different work on different lines."

One of the diesels running this weekend, the class 31 has been repainted specially for the event. While passengers might have been used to seeing all over blue on diesels, a number of experimental colours were tried out first to see which worked best. The class 31 is in Golden Ochre, which some unkindly describe as brown.

"To be honest, weve got a bit of a livery fashion parade this weekend," joked Lynn, "with diesels, in green, brown and blue."

Locomotives currently expected to feature include a Class 25 D5185, Class 31 D830, Class 33 D6535, a Class 37, Peak D123 and Class 47 D1705. A two car Met Camm DMU will also feature. There will also be a Saturday night real ale and food train, departing from Loughborough Central around 7pm.