Powerscene
CLASS 20
IF ever there was a success story from the 1955 Modernisation Plan, then it was surely the English Electric Type 1 design. During September, examples of this aged class handled main line rail tours, undertook gala appearances and returned to revenue-earning freight traffic, the latter perhaps being the most unexpected.
On hire to Devon and Cornwall Railways, under the current operator Cappagh, Type 1s Nos. 20118 Saltburnby-the-Sea and 20132 Barrow Hill Depot took 16 empty wagons from Chaddesden to Barrow Hill and back on September 24 and next day formed the 6Z31/05.42 Chaddesden-Basford Hall.
There the wagons were loaded with spoil and taken in two separate trips of eight wagons to the former Esso Sidings at Longport, booked to leave Basford Hall as the 6Z36 at 15.41 and later the 6Z38 at 20.40, the Class 20s performing similarly over the next two days while the blue-duo of Nos. 20096+20107 took over on September 30.
London Transport-liveried No. 20142, along with the 4TC coaching set and former Metropolitan electric locomotive No. 12 Sarah Siddons, took part in trips arranged for the Amersham Heritage celebrations over the weekend of September 7/8. The Type 1 accompanied by classmate No. 20007 then ran light from West Ruislip to Derby RTC on September 11, prior to continuing to Tyseley. By September 15, however, Nos. 20007 and 20205 had been paired in order to take newly repainted Type 3 No. 97303 from Derby (Loram) to Toton depot returning to Derby on September 19 with both Nos. 97302 and 97303. The same Type 1s enjoyed a further outing over the following weekend when moving two snowploughs from Derby RTC to Humberstone Road, Leicester.
The Branch Line Society’s ‘Birmingham Balti Bash’ tours on September 22 employed EE Type 1s Nos.
