Main Line Locomotive - Hauled Passenger Trains

Looks at locomotive-hauled passenger trains on Britain's main lines.

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This book sets out to illustrate locomotive-hauled passenger stock in the twenty-first century.

Whilst the vast majority of regular timetabled services are now in the hands of multiple units, there is a surprising variety of hauled workings still to be seen; in fact loco haulage has seen a small renaissance in recent years with the Chiltern Railways services between London and Birmingham and the Arriva Trains Wales services, amongst others. Longer established services include the Sleeper trains between London and both the South-West and Scotland.

In addition to regular timetabled services, several operators run extra trains to cater for special events, and stock for these is provided by spot hire companies such as DRS and West Coast Railways. Such services can take locomotives to destinations normally only served by multiple units and provide interest for the observer!

There is also a wide variety of charter and special workings employing steam, diesel and electric traction. Some of these have the additional interest of being hauled by preserved diesels of types no longer to be seen in normal use such as Classes 40, 52 and 55. Quite often these special trains also cover lines normally only used for freight.

Lastly, there are empty coaching stock movements, both as positioning moves for forthcoming services and to transfer stock to depots/works for maintenance. Some of these can also produce unusual traction provided by one of the spot hire companies.