The Short Set Chase | 27/07/19

This video is property of "Richard Chalklin"
2160p 4K HD!
A brilliant day chasing the Short Set around The Wherry Lines on Saturday 27th July 2019. Locations are Norwich, Reedham, Buckenham, Lingwood and Church Lane near Brundall Gardens.
Class 37 info:
The British Rail Class 37 is a diesel-electric locomotive. Also known as the English Electric Type 3, the Class was ordered as part of the British Rail modernisation plan. They were numbered in two series, D6600-D6608 and D6700-D6999.
The Class 37 became a familiar sight on many parts of the British Rail network, in particular forming the main motive power for InterCity services in East Anglia and within Scotland. They also performed well on secondary and inter-regional services for many years. The Class 37s are known to some railway enthusiasts as "Tractors", a nickname due to the agricultural sound of the diesel engine of the locomotive.
Despite all members of the build now being over 50 years old, over 60 locomotives are still mainline registered and remain active undertaking a variety of passenger, freight and departmental duties on the national rail network in 2019. Approximately 30 locomotives have been preserved.
Background:
As part of the large scale dieselisation brought about by the British Rail modernisation plan a need was identified for a number of type 3 locomotives of power output 1,500 hp (1,100 kW) to 1,999 hp (1,491 kW). English Electric had already been successful with orders for type 1 and type 4 diesels, and had produced locomotives of similar power for railways in East Africa. A design based on the exported locomotives was put forward and accepted. The design was for a general purpose locomotive and initially found service in British Rail's Eastern Region.
Duties:
The class was designed for both passenger and freight work and was as much at home hauling heavy goods trains as it was on passenger services. Many of the original locomotives were fitted with boilers for steam heating. D6700-6754 were fitted with boilers from new, along with D6758, D6775, D6781-D6818, D6875-D6892. D6960-6968 received boilers from D6701-6709 during 1967/68. 37247 was fitted with a boiler in 1977. With the withdrawal of many Type 2 and Type 3 locomotives in the 1980s the 37s were selected as the standard Type 3 and many of the fleet were given a heavy overhaul to prolong their life into the 1990s and beyond. Some were fitted with electrical train heating (ETH) equipment in the 1980s to become the 37/4 sub-class, initially for use on the West Highland Line, the Welsh Marches line and South Wales - Bristol area services and Far North Lines but later seeing use in north/mid Wales and occasionally the West Country. In 2010, they were used on passenger services on the Cumbrian Coast line and The Wherry Lines.
Class 37/4:
With ETH (Electric Train Heating) replacing 'steam heated' coaches, some of this class received ETH Supply when refurbished at Crewe Works during 1985 and 1986. During this refurbishment, the locomotives also received regeared CP7 bogies and the English electric generator was replaced with a Brush BA1005A alternator.[15] Extensive re-wiring, as well as a full repaint into BR Large Logo was undertaken. The modifications allowed the rebuilt locomotives to work passenger trains all year round, with the 31 strong fleet being split between Wales and Scotland, Scotland receiving the first 25 and Wales the other six.
After the extensive refurbishment, the locomotives were allocated the 37/4 sub-class, following the trend of renumbering 'ETH' fitted locomotives xx/4s, (e.g. 47 4xx and 31 4xx).
The next chapter saw the entire sub-class pass to Transrail Freight, which was one of the three regional freight operating companies prior to the privatisation of the entire British Rail network.
Over the years, the locomotives have received a large number of liveries: BR Green, Regional Railways, Trainload Grey, EWS maroon, Transrail Freight, BR Large Logo and Mainline, to name a few.
The Cambrian, North Wales Coast, Rhymney, West Highland, South Wales and West Country all benefited from the use of 37/4s.
Locomotive hauled operations have taken a big hit within the past couple of years, thanks to the widespread introduction of diesel multiple units, and the replacement of loco hauled trains by multiple units, although the sub-class did hold out on the Cardiff - Rhymney trains for Arriva Trains Wales latterly. 37411 and 37425 were painted especially to mark the end of loco hauled service on the line in April 2005, these repaints being funded by Arriva.
In late 2010, DB Schenker put all of its remaining 37/4s up for sale with many examples expected to be sold for scrap. DRS has since bought the remaining class 37/4s as of April 2011. The DRS ones are currently (Summer 2017) used on Northern services on the Cumbrian Coast.
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