(1) A nice moment of classic British Rail traction for a change - at 11.08 Colas Rail Class 56 no. 56096 heads north, winding down to enter the freight loop at Abington a few miles ahead. I'm at the foot of Castle Hill and the train is the 6S37 09.34 Carlisle N. Y. to Ravenstruther empty stone, made up of a rake of new yellow Wascosa bogie open wagons. The Class 56s are not giving up yet! At the time of writing there had been two previous "farewells" to this stoic class of locomotive: First time in 2004, when EWS retired their fleet, then early 2023 when GBRf finished with them. But there are still the Colas Rail and DCR locos in service, so one more "farewell tours" for sure coming up? Take this link to my You Tube channel to watch 56096 pass by, the driver giving a friendly "toot"!
https://youtu.be/xOmi0gA9sGg
