17th June 2023

"Shoe boxes" on the Southern Mainline west! (2): On the rear of the 1Z61 07.14 London Waterloo to Exeter St. Davids "The Magic Carpet" railtour was a dead GBRf Class 66 no. 66768 (one of the few unnamed examples, and also rare for this line). The '66 brought the ECS into Waterloo for the tour and the story is that it was left on the train as there was no driver available to take it away, so an additional 125 tons of dead-weight for the two '73s to handle! Apparently the train was down to 20mph just before Honiton Tunnel!