Map
Early in 2018 in Rugby Stabling I mentioned that revised maintenance arrangements would need to be made following my departure from Willesden Depot for stabling, for the time being, at Rugby. I managed to arrange for a 'C' exam and other maintenance work by Nemesis Rail at Burton upon Trent back in February 2018 but, although the 'C' exam was performed, not all of the other maintenance work was completed before my charter commitments for 2018 forced a return to Rugby.
Accordingly, on 20th December 2018, 86259 returned to Burton upon Trent firstly by travelling 'light engine' from Rugby to Lichfield in the capable hands of Phil Spice and then being dragged from there to Nemesis Rail by diesel loco 31128 Charybdis in company with another diesel loco.
Dazzling Blue
With its owner and namesake Les Ross sitting in the second man's chair talking to driver Phil Spice, 86259 'Les Ross/Peter Pan' sits in the bay at Rugby before departing as 0Z86 to Lichfield Trent Valley CE Sidings.
Soon after it left, Tom Beasley and I were approached by Les who asked if he could use some of our photos for the 86259 website (www.86259lesross.com/).
After chatting for a few minutes we caught a train back with him. He told us all about the history of 259 and the costs and benefits of owning a loco.
Les is an absolutely top bloke, and even invited us in the cab once 259 is back from winter maintenance at Burton Nemesis! He and his team have done a smashing job in restoring and maintaining such an iconic, yet rare, loco and I would go as far as saying its the most stunning heritage loco on the network! © Lewis Hurley on flickr. 20/12/2018 (** below)
Not aged at all.
86259 'Peter Pan' 'Les Ross' leaves Rugby working 0Z86 Rugby - Lichfield Tv C E Sidings on her 53rd anniversary of leaving Doncaster works. © Tom Beasley on Flickr.
Not aged at all.
86259 'Peter Pan' 'Les Ross' leaves Rugby working 0Z86 Rugby - Lichfield Tv C E Sidings on her 53rd anniversary of leaving Doncaster works. © Tom Beasley on flickr.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
In view of both Les' DJ history and the catenary equipment, I'm thinking:- "Lucy in the sky with diamonds"? Webmaster
Not aged at all.
86259 'Peter Pan' 'Les Ross' leaves Rugby working 0Z86 Rugby - Lichfield Tv C E Sidings on her 53rd anniversary of leaving Doncaster works. © Tom Beasley on Flickr.
86259 passes and sits at Lichfield Trent Valley working 0Z86 Rugby to Lichfield TV CE sidings seen 20/12/2018. © Jack Meakin on flickr.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Having passed from the 'down' to the 'up' lines we see faces a sign saying "Electric trains" "No access to sidings 2 & 3" whereas the signal specifies Siding 2! The curved rails just in front of 259 lead from the sidings up to the high-level track to Burton. Webmaster
31128, Lichfield Trent Valley 20/12/2018
On the 20th December 31128 made a return to the mainline with a short 'light engine' run to Lichfield Trent Valley.
Here 31128 is seen at Lichfield having collected 86259 for the return run back to Nemesis Rail Burton.
This return to traffic before the new year has maintained the continuous service of class 31s on the network since 1957. © Jason Busby on flickr.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The reduced-height centre cab window, together with the snow plough blades, make this Class 31 look distinctly 'butch' to me but Les has pointed out to me that its height is less than that of the diesel loco behind it and the 31 is actually quite small. 31128 Charybdis, (owned by Richard Goodyear of Nemesis Rail) was hauled from Burton to Lichfield by 57001 (actually on test at the time) and is now ready to return from Lichfield siding 1 with both 57001 and 86259 at the rear
The consist has now passed and is pulling away from the photographer but compare the sky with all the other images (above) as the weather changes rapidly. © Robin Mathams.
Andy ("Googie") Withers, who has long been familiar with 86259, checks the taps on the transformer.
You do not usually see the inner workings of 25kV electric locomotives and, as 3 more such photographs are available, these may be viewed, if you are interested, by clicking on***:
Another photo of the transformer of 86259
And another photo of the transformer of 86259
And yet another photo of the transformer of 86259
(** above) Photographer's original text slightly edited by Webmaster.
(*** extra images) If, for some reason, the 'Extra Images' button (above) does not work in your browser then the images can be seen Here