37414 Railfreight Construction
The introduction of Class 156 ‘Super Sprinters’ on the West Highland from January 1989 and on the Far North/Kyle lines in the May triggered an exodus of Class 37/4s to freight work. By the end of that year, Laira, Motherwell and Tinsley had gained allocations, while Immingham and Thornaby both acquired three locos each in the middle of 1990, by which point half the sub class were south of the border. One of these was No. 37414, which was on china clay duties in Cornwall until transferred to the North Lincolnshire depot’s FABI pool that September. This loco, which retained its Western Region-style lamp irons at the No.2 end only, had been repainted in the Roundel triple grey scheme with Distribution decals in August 1989, but quickly swapped these for more appropriate Construction brandings after its move. This saw it mostly outbased at Buxton in the Peak District to haul aggregates, cement and the iconic ICI limestone trains.While it wasn’t completely allergic to passenger work during this period, it moved to Crewe Diesel in November 1992 to join the RCMC Regional Railways North West pool, initially to work Liverpool Lime St/Crewe-Cardiff trains, still wearing its classic Railfreight image. In March 1993 it became the first member of the fleet to receive the new Regional Railways livery along with the name Cathays C&W Works 1846-1993, becoming a stalwart of the North Wales coast and the famed ‘club’ trains from Liverpool and Manchester Victoria. It soldiered on until it was stored by EWS in March 2000 and was scrapped at TJ Thomson’s of Stockton exactly nine years later.