The Absent Shunter

GB Railfreight hosted it's second of 2 charity railtours for 2017 on Sunday 13th August. Following on from the success of July's 'The Charitable Chibble' it was the turn of 'The Absent Shunter' to take centre stage. The tour began at Newcastle with General Motors Class 66 No. 66762 subbing for the unavailable Colas Railfreight Class 47 No. 47749 "City of Truro" which unfortunately failed with an oil leak the day before. Nevertheless it was the thought of raising money for good causes that counted the most. So onwards it was to Crewe behind 66762. We would leave Newcastle at 08:33 and travel via Darlington, York, Wakefield Kirkgate, Huddersfield, Stalybridge and Stockport, arriving into Crewe around 12:45 for the first of 2 loco swaps.

66762 seen at Newcastle prior to departure.

66762 seen on arrival at Crewe.

So we were then to have the heritage part of the tour with Caledonian Sleeper liveried 1960s built Class 86 No. 86101 "Sir William A Stannier F R S" taking us for an absolutely superb run down the West Coast Main Line to London Euston.

86101 seen at Crewe prior to departure.

86101 seen at London Euston after arrival.

The final leg of the tour would take us to Basingstoke via Ealing Broadway and Reading. Operating this section of the tour was the spectacular looking General Motors Class 66 No. 66723 "Chinook" which had just been repainted at Eastleigh Works in the week prior to the tour.

66723 seen at London Euston prior to departure.

66723 seen at Basingstoke shortly after arrival.

All in all another fantastic day out that took in a whopping 387 miles, as well as yet another good raise of almost £7,000 for the three charities selected by GB Railfreight for 2017 the British Heart Foundation, Woking Homes and the Ripple Project. This brings the GB Charity tours to a close till the new year where they are set to be even better with a 4 day tour already advancing in the planning stages.

Thanks for reading!