November - Intercity Railway Society

ICRS Trip Report
Freightliner, Basford Hall, Crewe 27 th Oct 2012 by Mark Richards:
Our visit to Freightliner’s Basford Hall Yard was accompanied by fine, albeit cold weather providing
excellent conditions for viewing and photographing the locos and wagons that were present.
Unfortunately for us some of the locos and trains that should have been on site had been dispatched
from Basford Hall earlier in the day due to overhead line damage that was affecting services north of
Crewe. However there was still a decent count of 19 locomotives that we were able to see and
photograph during the tour, with Classes 66, 70, 86 and 90 present.
90047 & 90045
Variations of the Freightliner livery included the latest colours as applied to the Class 70s and also
seen on 86622, 86637 and 90045, two-tone grey as worn by 90047 as well as the plain green with
yellow cabs applied to the Class 66s and Class 86s. Two DBS 66s, 66068 and 66147 broke up the
Freightliner monopoly, both still being in their original EWS red and gold livery.
70004 'The Coal Industry Society'
In addition to the twenty members of the ICRS party there were at least two, possibly three other
groups on the same tour, indicating just how popular these visits are. Our tour started at the fuelling
point at the Crewe end of the yard and we proceeded from there back through the various sorting and
stabling sidings. The Freightliner guys escorting us did an excellent job keeping such a large group of
enthusiasts in order, allowing us access to photograph all of the locos present and ensuring we did
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