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Two preserved Class 25's May go Mainline
Two Class 25's May go Mainline according to the December 2011 edition of Railways illustrated, p.19, under the headline, "Main line plan for Churnet 'Rat'".
"25322 'Tamworth Castle' could be the first preserved 'Rat' to gain nationwide main line accreditation after the group restoring it...announced it hopes to return the loco to mainline standard,"
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Well, dynamite news if this is true. A mainline 25 would be absolutely superb but not very useful to the railtour companies. But two class 25's restored to mainline standard would definitely be marketable.
Enter into the mix the other other class 25 that is reputedly going to be retuned to mainline standard, 25309. This is currently at WCRC's Carnforth depot. It was getting restored very slowly due to the staff having commitments to West Coasts ever growing group of mainline diesels. It seems that more people are volunteering to work on restoring 25309 to working order.
Restoration to mainline standard may well take a lot of time and money. But I, for one, am prepared to wait!
Watch this space.
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