Wheels in motion - Class 37/7s in ‘Big T’ and blue: NOW SOLD OUT

With one pack covering Loadhaul, it would be imprudent to omit the other two ‘shadow privatisation’ freight operators that covered the remainder of the country.

THE SPLITTING UP of the former BR fleet of refurbished Class 37/7s saw locomotives spread across all three of the 1994 regional freight companies in the run-up to privatisation.  With the request for Loadhaul models satisfied by our first twin pack, it was not a difficult decision to provide Transrail and Mainline Freight machines in this combo, prompted by their similar ‘rolling wheel’ logos.

Transrail, colloquially known as the ‘Big T’, spread its tentacles widely, taking in the entire west side of the country from Cornwall up through the West Midlands and the North West to Scotland with the WCML acting as an artery.  Wales also fell within its geographical remit, offering plenty of steel and coal traffic.  Mainline Freight covered the South East, East Midlands and East Anglia with aggregates and coal supplying the main traffic base.

A typical duty for the Transrail ‘heavyweights’ is seen here with 37702 Taff Merthyr & 37897 powering away from Cwmbargoed in June 1997 with a train of hoppers loaded with coal for Aberthaw power station. Phil Sangwell

On completion of its heavy general overhaul and life extension at Crewe Works, No. 37702 was reallocated to Cardiff Canton shed and found regular employment in the South Wales valleys on merry-go-round coal traffic, gaining its Taff Merthyr nameplates from a Class 56 in 1989 and Transrail brandings and depot plaques in 1996. During this period it was fitted with unusual rectangular buffers that are faithfully replicated on our miniature copy.

No. 37798 was another launch locomotive, one of the first to be painted in the bright aircraft blue and silver lining of Mainline Freight. It was officially photographed at Stewarts Lane shed on November 13th, 1994, before making a tour of Mainline facilities. The loco eventually earned small-time celebrity status by managing to retain its blue livery into the EWS era, right up until it was scrapped in 2009, having travelled systemwide.

Showing signs of wear and tear but still looking good, No. 37798 drifts through Foxhall Junction, west of Didcot, with a 4C13 Calvert to Bath & Bristol empty ‘binliner’ train in March 1998. Brian Daniels

Both models utilise new tooling commissioned by RAIL EXCLUSIVE comprising revised bodysides, flush-fronted nose ends and riveted construction roof, the last two elements of which first saw use on our earlier Class 37/5s and met with widespread acclaim.