Readers' wives

A kind reader pointed me in the direction of a stash of photos of British Rail Class 76 locomotives -- here a pair rest in the snow.


That was just to lull you into a false sense of security: the rest of this post is resolutely black and white.


Which is probably appropriate for a locomotive that was designed by the London & North-Eastern Railway in the 1940s, although electrification of the trans-Pennine route for which it was designed was interrupted by the Second World War and the class only finally commenced their heavyweight haulage duties in the late 1950s under British Railways.


Their job was Hellish: hauling immensely heavy mineral trains up and down the steep gradients of the Pennines, and working through the Woodhead tunnel (which until electrification was near permanently clogged with choking smoke from the steam locomotives).


Simple and functional machines, the 76s (originally called Class EM1) turned out to be very effective. Hauling express passenger traffic as easily as coal trains, they were genuine workhorses on this difficult route.


Their working lifespan was relatively short: the decline in the use of coal, and coal production in the fields they served, meant the raison d'etre of the 76s disappeared.


In the 1960s British Railways was engaged in a desperate struggle to close as many railway lines as possible, and "duplicate" lines were the first to go. There were three over the Pennines, and the Woodhead route, despite being the only one electrified and modernised, was selected for closure.


The 76s ended their days in scrap yards, prematurely killed off, though a couple survive in museums (including the National Railway Museum at York).


Here they can be seen resting in their luscious "blackberry black" British Railways livery, the first they carried.


It was some sight with the maroon and cream carriages then in use, although a few years later BR changed to plain maroon for the carriages, and Brunswick green for the locomotives -- a look they carried rather well:


I know, I know, that was a Class 77, the bigger (heavy express passenger) brother of the 76 but, as you can tell, it followed the same design principles. Very tasty.