"The electric loco would then come out of the bay, and couple onto this end of the remaining stock. That train would then go forward to Warrington, departing via Duddeston and Bescot."
A classic 2000 scene, combining vintage electrics, on 22nd March.
Outside of specialist circles, the dawn of the new millennium is probably not remembered for a fat lot today. Most of us who are old enough may have some hazy recollection of a world-destroying computer bug that failed to destroy the world, a botched diamond robbery involving a JCB and a speedboat… and maybe a party that didn’t quite live up to the spectacle that Prince optimistically forecast in 1982.
But at the centre of UK rail operations, the year 2000 fell amid a period of accelerated change. And in Birmingham, the year brought an end to a good few long-time rail traffic institutions. The Class 309 EMU, the Class 310 EMU, scheduled mail duties for Class 47s, and booked Class 37-hauled passenger services. The ongoing delivery of Class 66 diesels continued to devastate variety on the freight scene, which, as we’ll see in this pictorial, did have a presence at New Street station...
I initially intended to focus this post on one specific night at New Street. But it gives a better overview of traffic as a compilation of several photo sessions from around the turn of the century. So let’s step into the time machine, and remind ourselves exactly how Birmingham New Street would look on a typical Millennium Night…
First North Western’s 19:08 to Manchester was a Class 309 turn until May 2000, at which point the operator withdrew its archaic micro-gang of ‘Clacton’ sets. The above shot shows 309617 in position to form the duty, alongside Virgin Class 86 No. 86244, terminating from Euston. You’ll see in the Virgin Electrics info-pictorial that 86244 was better remembered as a CrossCountry loco, but here in 2000 it’s working from the West Coast pool. These pool switches were extremely common among the 86s.
And a view of the 309 from the other end, near the time of departure. These two images were shot on the legendary Kodachrome 64 transparency film, whose inability to neutralise the colour of flourescent lighting gave night shots a greenish-cyan hue. All daylight-balanced film to some extent produced a perception of distorted colours in artificial light. But far from being considered “wrong” or “ugly”, K64 produced a sought-after effect.
Around the turn of the century, one of the great attractions of evening time at Birmingham New Street, was the mail traffic. These EWS-operated trains would typically employ 86s or 90s on electrified sections, and 47/7s in diesel territory. Many of the locos still retained their pre-privatised liveries. In this shot, 86417 wears the very common Res livery. Res stood for ‘Rail express systems’, and was a dedicated British Rail mail brand. Its aesthetic was an early 1990s adaptation of the Parcels Sector livery, which had its roots in the 1980s. One of the reasons British Rail had chosen to update the Parcels livery rather than invent something completely different, was the prospect of livery-chaos. They wanted to avoid jumbles of wildly mismatched stock. And they were right to be concerned. Parcels livery survived into the 21st century alongside Res.
Another of the surviving liveries at the start of the new century was that of Railfreight Distribution. Once again, the loco depicted is allocated to mail duty. 90033 is sitting in the dock of the bay, as I’m sure a certain Mr Redding would have noted in his spotting book. If he’d been a trainspotter, and Class 90 electrics had existed in the 1960s, that is. The bay, or dock, behind Platform 12a, was used to store locomotives which had significant layovers at New Street station. It routinely harboured (sorry) the loco for the 20:06 to Warrington, as is the case here.
Although the privatised operators of multiple units in the Midlands had started adopting their own liveries by the end of the 20th century, this image shows that in 2000, BR’s old Regional Railways identity was still the most common sight. Wales & West’s 150247, in Regional Railways blue, is allocated to the 20:05 to Swindon. But there’s also evidence of Classes 156 and 158 working for Central Trains in their Regional Railways Express liveries.
Virgin CrossCountry still had a considerable stock of InterCity liveried locos in 2000. Here alongside Centro’s 323206, is 47847, which would become a celebrity after a large logo blue repaint the following year. In fact, despite only being the previous year, this shot comes two liveries before the celeb guise, as ’847 was painted Virgin red in between InterCity and large logo. You can see the other liveries in the Class 47/8 post.
Beginning in 2000, the appearance of two Class 47s on one train became more common on CrossCountry, although it was not an everyday occurrence until latter 2002 when the Brush 4s began to sub for the Voyagers. Some ran top and tail – a practice which increased from late 2000 going into 2001, and especially 2002. But more typically in the first half of 2000, the instances would run double-headed. Most of the planned pairings were logistical moves.
I described and heavily illustrated First North Western’s Class 37-hauled extravaganza in Tractors to Brum, but there were many shots I couldn’t squeeze in, and here’s one of them. This is the Sundays only 23:50 Birmingham – Holyhead in its customary spot on Platform 1, with 37412 and 37429 ready to wreak havoc. Booked workings just about held out until the end of 2000, but these fantastic old-school trains were among the early casualties of the new millennium.
What I didn’t cover in Tractors to Brum was the odd instance of an EE Type 3 (or in this case two) visiting New Street on non-passenger duties. This gem shows Mainline blue 37198 on weed-killer duty, with Mainline grey 37892 just visible at the other end of the consist.
Moving into straightforward freight, here’s a sign of the times. 66014 and its steel flats have been routed through New Street, and the train stands next to Alphaline Class 158 No. 158843 – in the other Platform 12 dock, at the ‘b’ end. These 158s were operated not by Central Trains, but Wales & West, although they did cover a lot of the same territory. Although it looks like the shot has been captured in daylight, it’s actually 9.26pm, in June. It looked darker in the moment than it does in the shot.
I’m concluding with a return to the mail sector. Firstly, Class 47 No. 47787, which has arrived wiith the 15:09 from Plymouth. The 47/7s were relieved of their booked mail duties through the spring of 2000, and replaced by new Class 67s. They did continue to dep for 67s right up until the final fling for these postals, which to all intents and purposes came at the Christmas of 2003. But broadly, forward from mid 2000, one would not go to New Street expecting to photograph a 47 on a mail train.
We’re back in that bay again. This is actually the Class 86 you can see to the left of 47787 in the previous shot. After the 15:09 from Plymouth arrived at New Street, it would be split. The front portion would go forward to Low Fell, hauled by the diesel that brought the train in. The electric loco would then come out of the bay, and couple onto this end of the remaining stock. That train would then go forward to Warrington, departing via Duddeston and Bescot.
For more info and pictorial matter on the diesel and electric types found at New Street station in the year 2000, see…